The Crown (TV Series) Assassins (2016) User Reviews

A subtle and deeply moving penultimate.

[TouchTheGarlicProduction · 10/10 · 9 November 2016]

This show has made it clear from the very first episode that it is character based, not event based. With that in mind, this is a very fitting penultimate episode. It does not contain any shocking reveals or exhilarating moments. It just artfully and skillfully draws Churchill's arc to a close, and brings Elizabeth and Phillip's to a crisis point. The "assassins" are not literal assassins, but assassins of the mind. It's an episode about denial, art, jealousy, and sense of self.

While the episode spends some time on Elizabeth reconnecting with her childhood friend Porchey and fighting with Phillip, most of the episode focuses on Churchill. The government hires artist Graham Sutherland to paint his portrait in honour of his 80th birthday. Through his interaction with Sutherland, Churchill is forced to confront his own demons, to accept his own physical condition. Lithgow digs deep, and the actor who plays Sutherland (formerly Stannis Baratheon on Game of Thrones) also does great work here. The result is deeply moving, particularly due to the fact that you can feel that this is the end for Churchill; he lives another 11 years, but his character arc is satisfied and his role in the show is complete. He may still show up every once in a while, but this is likely his last major episode.

In summation, The Crown delivers yet another moving, riveting episode which seems uneventful on the surface yet oozes subtext and subtlety.

Absolute perfection

[lee-lewell · 10/10 · 3 June 2018]

Everything about the interaction between Churchill and the painter is perfect.. everything

Insight

[joydwalker1957 · 10/10 · 29 December 2018]

Lithgow's performance as Churchill sharing his loss during his portrait sitting is worth every penny spent on this series. Just wow.

This episode is A Masterpiece

[saitanooj-87469 · 10/10 · 24 February 2019]

John lithgow deserve an Oscar if it is a movie . By far the best episode of The crown

Alas Poor Winston

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 4 December 2016]

Throughout this series, Winston Churchill has been on the ropes. Despite his amazing accomplishments in the Great War, he is now seen as a liability by the conservatives. Anthony Eden is waiting in the wings and is getting more and more frustrated. Churchill reminds one of Brett Farvre, feeling he can go on forever, but getting in the way, hanging on to his reputation. There is lot of tension in this episode and a remarkable scene where the Parliament has commissioned a portrait of the great man. He is appalled when he sees it and believes it puts him in a bad light. The artist tells him that age is unfair, but the portrait is honest. We also have tensions between Elizabeth and Philip. She is so caught up in her world (sometimes she must be) that he becomes a nuisance. She also has a bit of a flame burning for an old boyfriend, Porchey, with whom she spends a lot of time. Philip is jealous. Their bedroom seems strictly for sleeping. The subtleties of this character presentation are excellent. Only one to go.

So moving and beautiful

[Nastasha · 10/10 · 17 September 2019]

I have watched this series a couple of times and this remains one of my favorite episodes. The last five minutes of "Assassins" is incredible. Claire Foy's performance is always spot on, but never more than in this episode. She's hurt and angry, but those feelings are superseded by dignity, which is the very essence of who she is. I can't wait for season 3.

Churchill's Inner Self Revealed With Graham Sutherland's Relationship

[baldopedro-91646 · 10/10 · 24 December 2020]

As a young boy, I remember reading a piece of writing that shed incredible light into Churchill's enigmatic personality. It seems that both Sutherland and Churchill were instantly inspired by each other's character and demeanor, when they first met, and that their relationship thrived out of what this friendly "rivalry" that art inspired for each one of them (in their own particular ways, you might say). But Churchill's cantankerous and flamboyant being fell deeply in contrast with the more reserved, yet self-assured Sutherland, who played the great statesman's compassionate flailing side, and manipulated his emotions. It turns out in the end that Churchill became a victim of Sutherland's overwhelmingly mesmerizing silence and observation. This chapter's climax of the clash between the two men occurs when Sutherland makes the comment while drawing his 6B graphite sketches : " One has to turn a blind eye to so much of oneself in order to get through life "- This completely takes Churchill by surprise, derailing his self esteem, and bringing sad memories of past failures in his life (and probably present ones, at that moment). It seems that after that encounter, their relationship was never the same. Churchill, overbearing, presumptuous and many times rude to the core, is dismantled to the naked bone, like a small kid, and left totally vulnerable. This is probably the reason why, after this , Churchill was poignant and openly aggressive to the artist, (even though he might not have wanted to act this way at all, in the first place), because he felt he was losing a battle of wits against the intriguing Sutherland. It is remarked in that article, that Churchill could never recover from losing this man's friendship (or rather, casting it away), because he deeply needed it. The episode "Assassins" is so wonderfully written, Peter Morgan is absolutely a master of the pen. The essence is conveyed beautifully, of that "Bulldog" goon, left "wrestling with himself- chasing his own tail, so to speak", looking deep into that pond for a piece of his being that seems he can never quite focus, never capture again. Sutherland takes away his motive and confidence, and he is left a carcass without a purpose in a split second.

The Pond

[lavatch · 9/10 · 9 June 2019]

The centerpiece of the ninth episode of "The Crown" is the Graham Sutherland portrait of Churchill commissioned for the occasion of his eightieth birthday and unveiled at Westminster Hall on November 30, 1954. Churchill hated the painting, and it was eventually lost. The program offers a creative conjectural recreation of how the painting was lost to posterity.

The program barely addresses the artistic properties of Sutherland's portrait, which do indeed turn Churchill into a pug-faced caricature. Churchill is thus led to surmise that Sutherland is one of the "assassins" of his character, which is the title of the episode. But the heart of the program is the discussion of the personal aspects of painting discussed by Churchill and his portraitist. The two artists analyze each other's work with Sutherland pointing out the recurring feature of the pond at Chartwell.

Churchill first denies that the pond has any personal significance. But as the discussion grows more intense, it becomes clear that the pond was constructed by Churchill shortly after the death of his child Marigold. In perhaps the most touching moment of the entire series, Churchill comes to the realization that his recurring painting of the pond was a subconscious reflection on the shocking loss of a beautiful daughter.

In the episode's major subplot, the Queen renews her association with Lord Porchester ("Porchey"), who is a horse breeder. At some point in the past, Elizabeth was attracted to Porchey and the couple had even considered marriage. The program suggests that the couple still have a deep personal connection.

In the most outlandish moment of the episode, the marriage of Elizabeth and Philip is compared to the coupling of two of the royal horses, which implies that the act of "breeding" was central to Elizabeth's purpose in marrying Philip. But his apparent late-night philandering and his lack of support for Elizabeth are appalling. Indeed, the various programs of "The Crown" depict Philip as such a cad that it would take an entire second season for him to redeem himself in the eyes of the Queen and those of the audience.

Painting of brilliance

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 2 February 2021]

"Assassins" is Season 1's penultimate episode so already expectations were high. They were further high hearing that it was Churchill-centric, he was a very interesting character whenever he appeared with thoroughly engrossing subplots and John Lithgow's casting was on paper curious but actually something of a masteclass. Also Season 1 of 'The Crown' was incredibly good and already made for 2016's best series, the best episodes show high-points.

One of those high-points is "Assassins". Brilliant doesn't describe it enough, it's very powerful and also truly moving that had me in tears and biting my nails. To me it is something of a special episode, all the great things executed in almost all of the previous episodes (with only "Gelignite" disappointing somewhat) are here in "Assassins" and executed even better. On par with another seaosn and show high-point "Scientia Potentia Est".

Visually "Assassins" is faultless. The expense really does show in the classy, sumptuous period detail and the atmospheric and elegant way it's shot. The music for me wasn't too intrusive or low-key and was beautiful scoring on its own. The main theme is not easy to forget.

Writing probes a lot of thought and is never less than intriguing and emotionally investable, it never veers into soap-opera land and doesn't sound too modern. The story handles its tense conflict with aplomb, with understated tension and shocks, but in a beautifully subtle way and Churchill's story arc is intelligently and poignantly written, allowing one to root for him every step of the way faults and all.

Lithgow is perfection in the role, giving a performance of great authority and raw emotional power. Everybody is wonderful, with Claire Foy as ever showing a lot of expressive nuance and class as Elizabeth, but Lithgow here is in a different league.

Altogether, special. 10/10

What I see

[estelle58 · 10/10 · 27 November 2020]

I love this series. The history of the monarchy is so fascinating. I recognize the names, but didn't know about anything other than stories of Diana.

This is a spoiler, in that I am just putting my opinion out there about Churchill's painted portrait. I went to Wikipedia and found the history of the painting as well as a copy of it. My first impression, it depicted an elderly man, staunch and serious in nature, who was not into frivolities. His expression said, sitting for this portrait is really just a waste of my time. Too bad his self criticism destroyed this lovely work of art.

If this was movie, deserve for Oscar

[yosakrai · 10/10 · 6 September 2019]

Deep to event in history, even who don't interesting for history of Britain and Windsor.

Plot point for 'Assassins' ep

[kafcampbell · 22 June 2017]

** SPOILER ALERT**

First: the actor playing the artist Sutherland, Stephen Dillane, is brilliant. That could have been a tiny role but he made a mastery of it. The one conversation between him and Churchill in which Sutherland explains the art behind the portrait was amazing. Watch Stephen Dillane in 'The Tunnel' for more subtle excellence.

Next: I dispute the assertion in the previous review that Lady Churchill burns the portrait. I think she finds it burning and is saddened/distressed by the ruining of a unique representation of her husband. Would have been far more likely that Churchill himself had the item dragged out and tossed on a burning pile, watching from a window...

Archie Bunker Churchill's Terrible Portrait

[TheFearmakers · 1/10 · 16 November 2022]

They make modern artist Graham Sutherland look like a kind of saint here, who painted a portrait of Winston Churchill that, if you look it up on Google, you'll think it's from a newspaper story made up of one of Winston's political rivals...

One of those deliberately gruesome renditions made to bring out all the ugliness we all have in us... and if you have someone take 100 photos of you, and only select the bad, awkward shots, and that's what the painting is...

Churchill resembles a dying turtle on a toilet bowl trying to sit up by using walrus flippers... It's a horrible portrait but of course, time has made it into a misunderstood masterpiece...

And yet this show is cheating because the picture of John Lithgow's Churchill isn't bad at all, making that fictional Winston's complaints seem dire and silly, which he's made out to be throughout the entire series...

An old, dying, hunchback bulldog...And the actual portrait is as insulting as Lithgow's blundering performance by the American actor, known for playing goofballs in the first place, portraying the aged, mean Churchill... the angry right winger... but you will NOT see the man who wrote books, painted real paintings, and defeated Adolf Hitler...

By the end of this episode that also includes The Queen's supposed near-affair with a childhood friend who resembles an Oompa Loompa, The Queen and Winston say goodbye for the last time, and he tells her he's taught her everything...

The problem is, so far, we never see the great man teach9ing her anything... Lithgow plays him as such a dolt, she's the one who teaches... and even scolds... him throughout...

What a wonderful episode

[Shantalecinematicexpresso · 10/10 · 10 January 2021]

We actually could feel this episode, the portrait of a great Prime Minister was beyond and a great history behind of this. In other words Elizabeth still was fighting because of her husband behaviour towards her and the monarchy she is grabbing in her shoulders.

Winston's Painting and Horse Breeding

[vivianla · 8 November 2020]

Winston is told he is going to be painted as a present by the government. He is assigned a modernist. Winston himself is a painter and paints marvellously. We see him painting outside by the pond. The modernist is kind of cold and refuses to let Winston see any part of the process. Winston says why does an English man want to be a modernist - give him a German modernist or an Italian modernist. Why change what England has been always known for? Winston is nervous because he wants the painting to reflect him handsomely.

Elizabeth's horse won the race and her and the man she was previously shipped with by many discuss what to do next with the horse. The horse has been invited to compete in America but the man suggests retiring him for breeding.

The man tells Elizabeth the profit they will make from the horse but does not know exact details due to numerical dyslexia, runs in his family as well as high foreheads. Phillip lays on the bed and wants to know is it for a pop? A shag? Meaning is it per mare born or every sexual intercourse?

Elizabeth is shown by the man three horses to pick from. The first horse they wonder might be too bashful and the man fears nothing will happen when leaving the two horses alone. Second is fiery. The third one they both agree on - a beautiful black horse.

Phillip and Elizabeth go to the stables where the two horses circle each other led by men. The man is there and they all watch. Phillip wonders if the horse is attractive enough to be wanted but Elizabeth says it is more about the smell. Phillip says the horses courting is like them in their early relationship. The horses have sexual intercourse and everyone watches. The queen praises her horse and the man comes over saying things seem to have worked well.

Winston steps down as prime minister at last. Elizabeth thanks him for his service. Winston's painting is burned and we see a narrative that this painting is considered one of the most valuable lost arts by the painter.

Many reveals

[jknousak · 8/10 · 12 August 2020]

Others have commented about Lithgow's excellent performance and quite rightly. I appreciated Stephen Dillane's portrayal of Sutherland -- his quietness in the drawing phase was superb and so that when he put it to Lithgow (as Churchill): "Age is cruel!" it had more weight and resonance, so fitting. Elizabeth is cold and stuffy and comes across to me as unloveable. Phillip drew a lousy hand when he married her, so no surprise he may well have looked elsewhere for softness, caring and love. Love is a verb which means to sacrifice for, to do for another which means, at times, put the other first, and the way Liz is portrayed in this series, she does not sacrifice for her husband one iota, indeed quite the opposite. She does as her mother educated: "Keep you mouth shut", and gives him nothing, or at least that is how it is depicted. We see more character in all the other players -- Churchill, Margaret, Mary (her mom), Porchey, heck, even Graham has more depth of character in his one episode. But not Phillip.