Much of 'The Crown's' Season 1 was excellent. Although "Gelignite" and "Gloriana" disappointed somewhat for similar reasons to each other (though they were still not bad at all, far from it), "Smoke and Mirrors", "Scientia Potentia Est" and "Assasins" in particular were exceptional. So expectations for Season 2 of one of the year's gems when 'The Crown' first began were very high. Expectations that on the most part were lived up to and the best episodes being up to the same level as the best of the first season.
While not one of the best episodes of Season 2 or 'The Crown' at its very best, "Misadventure" still manages to be a great start for the second season, with plenty of what makes 'The Crown' so good as a series more than evident. It deals with two major subplots and, while one is to me more interesting than the other, they both are very well written and intriguing, handled well structurally for an episode that could easily have been disjointed and show a lot of character growth for Elizabeth.
Occasionally, the pace is a little on the too deliberate side, especially in the Phillip subplot. Otherwise, "Misadventure" is an absolute winner.
Visually, "Misadventure" as ever for 'The Crown' couldn't be any more classy and sumptuous. The photography and production and costume design are evocative and a sight to behold. 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.
Can't say anything bad about the writing either, which is intelligent and intrigues. The subtle but also tight tension of the dialogue in the Suez crisis subplot stands out and the Phillip subplot's writing avoids being soapy. The story on the most part is incredibly compelling, the better of the two subplot is the one detailing the Suez crisis. Tighter paced and had more tension and intrigue. But both are handled beautifully on the whole and tie very well together, there is never too much of a disconnect from each other.
All the characters are written with no problem, Elizabeth is written with a lot of nuanced complexity. Margaret's screen time is brief but she was a lot more bearable than she was in Season 1, not near as much of a sense that the series going too far on making her unlikeable. The acting is superb all round, particularly the subtly powerful turn of Claire Foy.
Summing up, great beginning to Season 2. 9/10
While not one of the best episodes of Season 2 or 'The Crown' at its very best, "Misadventure" still manages to be a great start for the second season, with plenty of what makes 'The Crown' so good as a series more than evident. It deals with two major subplots and, while one is to me more interesting than the other, they both are very well written and intriguing, handled well structurally for an episode that could easily have been disjointed and show a lot of character growth for Elizabeth.
Occasionally, the pace is a little on the too deliberate side, especially in the Phillip subplot. Otherwise, "Misadventure" is an absolute winner.
Visually, "Misadventure" as ever for 'The Crown' couldn't be any more classy and sumptuous. The photography and production and costume design are evocative and a sight to behold. 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.
Can't say anything bad about the writing either, which is intelligent and intrigues. The subtle but also tight tension of the dialogue in the Suez crisis subplot stands out and the Phillip subplot's writing avoids being soapy. The story on the most part is incredibly compelling, the better of the two subplot is the one detailing the Suez crisis. Tighter paced and had more tension and intrigue. But both are handled beautifully on the whole and tie very well together, there is never too much of a disconnect from each other.
All the characters are written with no problem, Elizabeth is written with a lot of nuanced complexity. Margaret's screen time is brief but she was a lot more bearable than she was in Season 1, not near as much of a sense that the series going too far on making her unlikeable. The acting is superb all round, particularly the subtly powerful turn of Claire Foy.
Summing up, great beginning to Season 2. 9/10