The Crown (TV Series) The Hereditary Principle (2020) User Reviews

Great acting and hidden relatives

[Graham0001 · 8/10 · 17 November 2020]

Very well acted by HBC.

As with many episodes there is so much speculation regarding motivations.

It's ironic the story centres around 'hidden' relatives when the writers/producers seem to have completely overlooked Princess Margaret's two children and the impact they will undoubtedly have had on her life.

Wow

[Calicodreamin · 8/10 · 28 November 2020]

Helena Bonham Carter slays this episode as Margaret, great acting with heartfelt conveyance. The royal family is certainly no stranger to controversies.

Helena Bonham Carter takes the main stage as Princess Margaret struggling with Mental Health.

[emerson37 · 9/10 · 21 November 2020]

Must I say, Helena Bonham Carter's portrayal as Princess Margaret is impressive. HBC portays the Princess in her later years as a purpose driven (through the scene where she asked the Queen to give her more royal duties), but yet lost and struggled with both her physical and mental health declining. Peter Morgan's take on the secret cousins are bold, with a juxtaposition of the royal family celebrating Prince Edward's birthday with the Bowes-Lyon sister's celebration in the Royal Earlswood Hospital. HBC's portrayal of Princess Margaret shows empathy and also immense anger for the Royal Family's cover up on the secret cousins, shows that the Princess herself feels a similar sense of abandonment from the Royal Family all those years, with her royal duties replaced by Prince Edward adding on to it. I love episodes diving into individual Royal Family members, but I am absolutely blown away by HBC's performance in this episode.

Helena Bonham Carter Is A Powerhouse

[littlebizzare · 10/10 · 15 November 2020]

I always enjoy the Margaret-focused episodes every season, but with Helena's portrayal of The Princess adds more layers to this fascinating character. Although I wish they focused more on Margaret's mental illness, the bombshell twist of those secret cousins being hidden by the Royal Family exposes The Royal Family and honestly, Peter Morgan is very bold for implementing this situation in the show.

Tour de force by Helen Bonham Carter!

[rrtiverton · 10/10 · 16 November 2020]

Wow! Blown away by her performance as Margaret! Incredible! Awesome story!

Helena Bonham-Carter saves one episode

[Waldorf-1979 · 18 November 2020]

An important topic well written paired with the best actress in the series make this episode the best of the season, by far.

HBC is dynamite

[neurocore · 10/10 · 4 January 2022]

Helena Bonham Carter is a treasure. Such an amazing performance. At this point I was sure that nobody will beat Tobias Menzies after Moondust. I was so wrong! Soundtrack 10/10 too.

Not a docudrama, yet a great series "based on true events"

[rod-duncan · 9/10 · 21 November 2020]

If the viewer is capable of separating fiction from reality, this episode is guaranteed to produce all sorts of emotions: Helena Bonham Carter, as Princess Margaret, gives a superb performance, oftentimes without speaking a line of dialogue, and is beautifully photographed. However, the production takes 'artistic license' to a whole new level, distorting history, and timelines. For example, the Queen Mother did become aware of what happened to her nieces, the Bowes-Lyon sisters, in 1982, making Margaret's discovery implausible. By the time of Prince Edward's coming of age, in 1985, Margaret was already grand aunt to Prince Harry. Therefore, the episode should be enjoyed as great fictional storytelling, loosely based on true events.

Helena Bonham Carter

[parade1-528-416939 · 10/10 · 21 November 2020]

I would like to crown Helena Bonham Carter the queen of season 4. In the role of the sad, wicked, fun and tragic princess Margaret, always number two and by the years even more irrelevant, HBC manages to make the princess number one, at least in the series. Mesmerising performance. Bravo!

Powerful

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 15 May 2023]

Seasons 1 and 2 were quite excellent on the whole, with even the weakest episodes still being good. Season 3 started off rather slow and finished underwhelmingly, but it did have high points with "Aberfan" for example being one of the best episodes of 'The Crown' in my view. Hearing that "The Hereditary Principle" was a Margaret-centric episode left me feeling mixed, loved her development in Season 2 but Helena Bonham Carter in general when she replaced Vanessa Kirby didn't do much for me.

"The Hereditary Principle" was a big turning point for Margaret character writing-wise on 'The Crown' and made me feel for me for the first time since Season 2. Bonham Carter's interpretation for Margaret improved massively in this episode as well. "The Hereditary Principle" is another great episode and one of the better episodes of a much better than expected Season 4, having seen a lot of criticism for the season and some elements such as Gillian Anderson's Thatcher.

It is true that there is a lot of artistic licence, anybody that has any prior knowledge of the event will find that Margaret's discovery does veer on implausible when taking into account what really happened. But it is also true that like all of 'The Crown' the episode should be judged on its own merits and as a standalone rather than as a piece of history.

As said, Bonham Carter is outstanding here and gives by far her best performance of the show. While Emma Corrin and Josh O'Connor were the best and most consistent actors this season, one of the best performances of the season goes to the truly poignant one of Bonham Carter in "The Hereditary Principle", some of her best moments being the smaller ones. All the acting is great, but this is Bonham Carter's show all the way, and the episode does so well at making Margaret the most interesting and rootable she has been since Season 2 with illuminating character development that made me really feel for her.

Furthermore, as ever the production values are superb. The production and costume design are both classy and sumptuous, but it's the photography that stands out in this regard. The music is not overbearing or low key. The scripting is thought provoking and intriguing, uncompromising yet sensitive in its handling of this subject without descending into melodrama.

Also doing well in showing more than one point of view and in a way where all are understandable. The storytelling continues to advance and while deliberate it is also very absorbing and emotional. The second half did break my heart emotionally.

Really great episode overall. 9/10.

Saved by HBC

[dierregi · 7/10 · 25 November 2020]

As usual the episodes focussing on Margaret make for the best viewing. Maybe because she was so deeply flawed and also because HBC is great in the role, although she looks nothing like Margaret. She plays the inner core of the princess, more than the real person.

Margaret is worried about her mental sanity and she gets some bad news. On a side note, although I agree about the fact that wealthy families should do better with their unfortunate members, I wonder how many actually feel responsible for their cousins.

Especially when you come from a huge family (in the past people tended to have several children so one might end up with over 20 cousins and never even know some of them).

Lineage

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 10 January 2021]

This focuses almost entirely on Margaret. She has begun to spiral downward and, for the first time, is aware of her mental stability. She has always been an enigma. What happens here is a search through the records to find people with mental handicaps who are part of the royal family, but who have been institutionalized to keep people from thinking badly of the "inbreeding" of the family. This strains the conscience of Margaret and she goes on a quest in order to solidity her own piece of mind.

The Hereditary Principle

[bobcobb301 · 7/10 · 22 July 2021]

A well-done episode that tackled an important topic for the monarchy that is still relevant today.

Disappointment

[aliilhangs · 3/10 · 19 January 2021]

I really struggle to understand the pacing of this series. Princess Diana is way too over rushed and they just add another episode of old margaret's unnecessary plot. It is just plain and simple a waste of time this season could have been excellent if only they had put diana more.

Conflicted.

[W011y4m5 · 7/10 · 21 November 2020]

Just not feeling this season at all. Despite addressing scandals which shape our perceptions of the royal family (questioning the ethics of their behaviour - bringing their moral judgement in to question) the punches simply aren't landing like they used to & the impacts of these revelations feel somewhat underwhelming & limp.

The closest direct comparison could be made to the episode confronting the secrecy around The Duke of York & his Nazism - that episode delivered a merciless hit to the stomach & left me feeling breathless by the time the credits started rolling. Here however, I cannot say the same; though I'm aware the information conveyed is equally as damning of the monarchy (which is essentially shown to be a state sponsored institution for eugenics), for some reason (I'm still unaware of), it's rather "meh". One can only assume I'm either desensitised & hence, unsurprised - at this point - by the family's irredeemable inhumanity OR the execution (be it the writing, direction or editing) was far superior in the aforementioned installment than this one.

Best episode of the season

[memayrinck · 14 March 2021]

Amidst Charles and Diana's childish & exhausting drama emerges this wonderful episode about mental health and obligation vs. morality, which is always the choice the Sovereign has to make and the smart ones will always choose duty over any morals. The dealing of mental health kit as taboo but as something Margaret clearly struggled with her whole life and having the help of lost Charles and tough Anne is a very good subject. Helena Bonham Cárter eats this character up and is by far the best actress and best role of this 2nd aged series and she really brings complexity and depth to achar could've been a vapid and empty character, Princess Margaret. When she confronts her mother about licking the cousins away it reminded me of my other favorite episode when you f queen Elizabeth confronted her mother about why she hadn't gotten an educational was told that she learned how to be quiet. An overall terrific episode in a much waited and disappointing season. I really can't stand Diana and Charles moaning about when each one knew exactly what they were getting into before doing so and having a great life given to them then whining day and night about it. Tell Margaret's story from Bonham Carter's craft and The Crown is back on!

Never mind the quality Jessica......

[glasslens · 3/10 · 25 November 2020]

Great acting from everyone and a great script - howbeit never letting the facts getting in the way of the truth! But......

Up to now, this series of The Crown has been a triumph of direction and an example of the very finest visual quality. If you listen to DP Adriano Goldman talking at great length about how he worked with the director and production designer you realise how beautifully crafted the look and feel of the production so far has been. Goldman talks of the "adult" pace, of using one camera to photograph each scene without any unnecessary camera movement, and making scenes last for as long as it takes. Each scene like a painting in which the characters andplot develop. The result is a thing of beauty to see. Sadly Goldman hints that for the later episodes that he is not responsible for, starting with this one, the pace will be quickening and becoming more "modern" to use that ghastly euphamism.

And, here is the first episode that shows this, and what a dog's dinner it is compared to the previous ones. It looks more like a soap opera directed by someone just out of film school, with lots of fast, unnecessary and crass reaction shots and unnecessaty camera movement. It's all about moving along at pace almost as though the Director was scared that people would loose interest or fall asleep. But, perhaps to be more charitable, the big-wiggs at Netflix forced this on her.

I always knew it would be too good to last.

Now onto the subject matter and how it was treated. There were far too many shots of far too many people with learning difficulties - it just went on and on. I have no idea how some of these people could have agreed of their free will to be in the production. To feature so many of them so much was simply ghoulish in the extreme - it should have been much more subtle, concentrating more on the small number of people in the group that were important to the story. But this is probably the first sentance you have ever read in which the words Subtle and Netflix appeared.

With the same DP and Director in future episodes I fear we have lost something very special in this otherwise fabulous series.

Ok

[darkdementress · 5/10 · 3 May 2021]

I love HBC and her portrayal of princess Margaret in this series. Just goes to show how messed up the whole royal thing is, how humans limit themselves and their happiness. Every family has dirty secrets and skeletons in their closet, even royals.

Felt like the writer was pushing some agenda about handicapped people..Those types of mental disabilities,the people wouldn't know the difference between the royal life and the psych ward..