“The Crown” Ends with a Whimper

The show can be divided into the B.D. era, Before Diana, and the A.D. era, After Diana. “The Crown” in the B.D. years was stuffy and prim. Its most moving characters were Prince Philip, the Queen’s husband, and Princess Margaret, her younger sister—perhaps because, while Morgan admires the self-sacrifice it takes to sit impassively on the throne, his heart is with those who must stand next to it for decades with a forced smile. When Diana Spencer (a lively, elfin Emma Corrin) was introduced, in the fourth season, she jump-started the series by unsettling her in-laws and inviting the audience to see the family through an outsider’s perplexed gaze. “The Crown” has clung to her ever since. After her death, Morgan even resorted to necromancy, reviving the People’s Princess (now embodied by Elizabeth Debicki) as an apparition who soothes a disconsolate Charles (Dominic West) and makes peace with a grieving but resentful Elizabeth (Imelda Staunton). Debicki, for her part, turned out to be perfect casting; like Diana, she’s magnetic when she’s trying not to look sad, and failing miserably.