Game of Thrones and its various crown-wearing players may rule the Emmys with an iron fist, but it was Netflix’s freshman royal contender that walked away with the top prize at the Golden Globes Sunday Night. But anyone who has actually watched all of The Crown can’t be that surprised. Though it had a lot of stiff competition this year, The Crown was an intoxicating blend of costumed prestige and compulsive watchability. What made this examination of the life of Queen Elizabeth—on the surface, potentially, a stuffy topic—TV’s most compelling new drama? Oh so much—but here's just a taste.
Claire Foy’s Exquisite Bitchface: Unlike Queen Cersei, Queen Elizabeth is not even remotely an evil queen. That makes her occasional expressions of displeasure all the more cutting. Come for her earnest efforts to rule well; stay for when she loses her patience.
Fantastic Performances You’d Expect: The Crown is packed to the gills with performances by beloved and venerated actors. 90s literary adaptation heartthrob (yes, that’s a thing!) Jeremy Northam (Emma, An Ideal Husband) shines with mustachioed charm. John Lithgow paints a credible, vulnerable portrait of Winston Churchill without ever delving into caricature. Legends like Eileen Atkins and Victoria Hamilton are perfection as the elder women of the royal family. But it’s Jared Harris as the dying King George who, manfully staring down the barrel of his own mortality, steals the entire show. Well, for as long as he lives, which—spoiler alert for history—isn't long.
Fantastic Performances You Never Would: Matt Smith is beloved of genre fans who fell for him as the eccentric alien (time lord) in Doctor Who. He continued his genre work with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Terminator: Genysis, but perhaps not even the most loyal Smith devotee knew he had this kind of peevish performance in him. Smith is perfection as Prince Philip—who may be a good dad, and charming when he wants to be, but proves, at least in these early years, to be a very disappointing husband to Elizabeth.
Historical Scandals: You may think you know all the skeletons in the British royal closet, but The Crown gives new life to oodles of delicious-yet-dusty scandals. The devastating affair of Princess Margaret, for example, gives The Crown all the stranger-than-fiction juice of Downton Abbey at its best.
Historical Obscurities: And then there are the little moments and little people that nobody but the most detail-oriented royal obsessive would focus on. Here, in the quieter corners of history, is where The Crown shines brightest. Take, for example, Tommy Lascelles, who served as secretary to both the Queen and her father before her. Pip Torrens plays him with delightful, low-key bitchery, which makes up for any lack of snarkiness on behalf of her royal highness. Elizabeth may rule the kingdom, but it take the entire kingdom to make The Crown rule.
