Bloodstains in Buckingham: A Threnody

I think Dazzle likes Margaret too much to throw that in her face. He does try to make a case that royalty isn’t worth it, but he won’t go quite that far. And it feels like Margaret’s point about being in the centre is based more on her little-f family. There is a still a deep closeness between the sisters.

They do rush through the medical storyline, but I’m kind of glad they didn’t mention George VI. As you say, sometimes the show gives us no credit and spells out every connection, but showing Margaret spitting up blood recalls one of the first (and direst) scenes in the show without needing further elaboration. Her…

I keep hoping Margaret will step up and be a sympathetic ear to Diana, but she’s clearly more comfortable making the odd snide comment to Elizabeth and wallowing in her own bitterness.

When I heard the name Adeane, I raised my eyebrow. Then I realized who he must be. People’s kids are really reflecting poorly on their parents this season. It’s a great joke that the handlers who bossed around the royals now have children bossing around the children of the royals.

I agree that sometimes it’s not well done. With The Crown it’s hit and miss. But if it’s the SOP rather than the exception, we would be wise to make our peace with it, as we have 2.5 seasons to go. I’m defending the concept because historical fiction would be pretty lousy without it, but I’ll cop to enjoying the show…

“I tend to think you use the facts right up until they ruin your story.” - Victor LaValle

There is a mild Freudian tie to the first season when the Queen has to deal with Parliamentary flack and is advised to give these men holding the highest offices in the land “a dressing down from nanny” because it’s what they secretly want. Later, her final words to MacMillan (what a great speech) have the ring of a…

That version of Edge of Seventeen is a really effective choice. The song’s so ubiquitous that I hardly ever listen to the lyrics anymore, so the stripped down take gives them more urgency and relevance.

You mean Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and (a very young) Sophia?

In the curtsy scene, I think Diana felt things were going to pick up where they left off at Balmoral where everything was fun and games and she didn’t have to constantly be on her guard. She learns in less than 5 minutes that holiday time is for holiday, and this shit is for real.

But... she positively gushed!

The episode did a good job of making me annoyed with, and sympathetic for, both the royals and Thatchers at various times. I find it hard to believe that nobody briefed Thatcher about what might happen at Balmoral or what to pack - haven’t we seen the Crown employing a whole team of stage managers for these kinds of…

Lots of royals wistfully touching and/or killing different animals in this one.

I decided to check out the hype around this show called MASH, and it was one where some doctor gets on a helicopter and dies, and everybody’s sad, but I was like, “Why should I care, I barely knew him?”and you don’t even get to see the helicopter go down, which seems like something you should see on a show about wars.

But this one worked. This is kind of the ideal format for Reiser. He gave some clever answers, he was charming and funny, and the questions actually suit his particular brand of observational, domestic, gently off-the-wall humour. Even the one he didn’t answer he saved by being self-deprecating. If you didn’t know…

Was The Hater the feature that annoyed so many people that they started just taking over the comment board, talking about various other topics, and built a regular community there, which was how they ended up forming another site that became The Avocado? I mean, I know those last things happened, but I’d forgotten how…

We now await your apology for the term “DIGITAL effects.”

I didn’t catch him in the classroom scene, but the uniformed ghost appears in a flash of lightning during the kitchen scene where Rebecca and Peter talk about her ambitions.

Troy McClure just popped into my head...