Casual.
Her Maj is, to my mind, insufficiently concerned about all the victims in Wales here, but at least her floral day dress is pretty?
I enjoy this chunky knit, and also this show has been VERY BAD at explaining to us who this woman is -- she's Wilson's private secretary, Marcia Falkender, who recently died. Every TV show in the world manages to introduce its characters in an organic way and it sort of makes me nuts that The Crown requires so much research. (I ENJOY research but you shouldn't need to do it to follow a TV show.)
I am not going to include wrenching shots of the victims of a disaster in this recap, but I will say that I think this episode was beautifully shot, as you can see here. The scenes leading up to the disaster itself were very tense and stressful.
This moment, where Tony Armstrong-Jones gets his gear and leaves the house to go to Aberfan immediately after hearing about it on the radio, and crosses paths with a drunk Margaret coming in from a night out, was well done (if a little obvious). However, he also refused to tell her what happened, which, like...it's a national disaster. Just tell her what happened, Tony.
Later, though, he and his pinky ring call to ask her to kiss the children for him.
Margaret, predictably, does not take news of this tragedy well -- she's drunk at breakfast and very sad, but at least her sunglasses are good. Basically everyone is shook except the Queen?
"WHY CAN'T I FEEL???" (I mean, I'd venture that there's a lot of room between Drunk At Breakfast With Grief and Heartless Automaton, but. Maybe not for women on TV!!!!)
Another well-framed shot -- with a perhaps unrealistic placement for any actual living person's television. Magically, it appears to need no electrical wires!
I did enjoy this scene of Marcia really yelling at Wilson -- which she does with great elan. This must have been a fun part for this actress, too. (The fact that she's yelling at him when they're at home (???) and no one else was there really did have me thinking....is this his wife? What is happening? This show is needlessly confusing sometimes.)
A sensible manicure, a sensible robe.
DO NOT drink every time you see a shot of the back of someone's head on this show. You will die. (This is a good one, though.)
Literal clutching of pearls.
This scene between Philip and Elizabeth was also quite good, wherein she asks him if he cried while he was in Aberfan and his response was essentially, "wtf? obviously."
Please gather 'round for a chorus of Three Men Telling a Woman What To Do! It's a VERY familiar song.
Didja notice that her shirt matches the marble of the fireplace? Because SHE TOO is made of stone.
This scene, where the Queen meets with some survivors, was -- like all the Aberfan scenes - very emotional. It's an INCREDIBLY terrible story and I think the show handled it deftly.
In reality, Philip came with her for this visit, and this IS exactly what she wore. Which is interesting to me because she still wears a very similar outfit, hat and all.
This was just a good shot.
DRINK! (This particular Person Arrives In a Car at a Place moment is also REALLLLLY long.)
Y'all, honestly, you cannot have six of these shots in one episode. I am truly sympathetic about this habit -- Heather and I once got a note on a book that we used the word "dude" 46 times and needed to trim that (it was NOT The Royal We), so I feel them in terms of having a stylistic crutch. But still.
A SINGLE PERFECT TEAR.
