WiC Watches: The Crown season 3

Photo: Ben Daniels, Helena Bonham Carter, Olivia Colman and Marion Bailey in The Crown: Season 3.. Image Courtesy Des Willie/Netflix

Episode 309: “Imbroglio”

In the season’s penultimate hour, Prince Charles’ growing affection for Camilla is the titular messy situation that pulls their family members in like a black hole. At the funeral for Prince Edward, his widow, Wallis Simpson, warns Charles to watch out for his family. A long shot of the Royal Family from Charles’ point of view casts them almost as criminals in a police lineup. The future king sees himself as increasingly separate from his repressed and duty-obsessed immediate family, and it feels as though a storm is brewing at Buckingham Palace.

The other swirling disaster in this episode involves a mining strike that results in energy shortages and shutdowns that appear to have been entirely preventable but for the stubbornness of Prime Minister Edward Heath. It’s implied that some of Heath’s unpleasantness is caused by his lack of marital companionship. Prince Philip explains to Queen Elizabeth that the love of Heath’s life married another man. Given what we know about Charles and Camilla’s story, the script is practically winking at us here.

As it becomes increasingly clear that Charles is deeply in love and committed to marrying Camilla, the elders in his family take action. The Queen Mother and Lord Mountbatten conspire to separate the two, and it’s enjoyable to see the older Queen Mum (now played by Marion Bailey) take a more active role than we’ve seen her do in this season. Her scene with the parents of Camilla Shand and Andrew Parker Bowles is played with the relish of a spider luring flies into her web, and her every gesture feels like a power move.

Princess Anne continues to be the most badass member of the Royal Family, and her intervention scene with her parents is a deftly delivered mic drop moment.

By the end of the episode, the energy strike is still on, Camilla Shand has become Camilla Parker Bowles, Prince Charles is heartbroken on naval assignment far away from home and yet another member of the House of Windsor has been denied a chance at lasting happiness. To borrow a phrase from a Nirvana song, the lights are out, but it’s absolutely no less dangerous.