 Yes, Season 6 of The Crown has officially begun, and the show's creators have held nothing back in the opening four episodes of the final season. Portraying Diana's death in this medium was always going to be controversial, but how did the show handle this sensitive topic, and is it doing the subject matter justice? This is Matt Rogers and join me today as I take a look at the Crown Season 6 Part 1 and what we can come to expect from the upcoming final part of the final season. And full spoilers for Part 1 ahead. Now I'm bringing you weekly videos covering the best and worst of movies and television and delivering it straight to your subscription feed, so to stay up to date and support the channel be sure to hit that like button, subscribe and ring that bell to not miss a single thing. So which better place to start than the opening scene of the season, and what an opening scene it was. After five seasons, many fans of the show have been curious to see how the tragic death of Princess Diana would be shown, and this is shown to us immediately. A Paris local was walking his dog in his commotion as multiple vehicles are seen screeching past him, leading to the off-screen crash and then a cut to black as a prolonged car horn transitions into the opening theme of the show. What a way to start the season, probably one of, if not the most impactful, teasers to a season I've seen in recent times. Especially considering many viewers are actually old enough to remember this happening in 1997, and this is just the beginning of a very emotional and heavy few episodes with little to no relief. But before we go too much further into the season, as I said, there was always going to be conflict over how Diana's death was portrayed. But I think we can all agree that having the crash happen offscreen was the only way to handle such a devastating crash on screen. My personal opinion and not just for the crash, but the handling of events before and after her death is that I don't feel like they overstepped. Yes, they took some creative liberties, which I'll get into later, but of course they did. It's a dramatization after all. But I would argue it's really as tasteful as it could have been covering this horrific tragedy, and no one in particular was being piled on as the villain, well, almost, which leads me to the dialogue. The crown has always been top of the class for constructing dramatized conversations that no one can really vouch for as no one except those in the room would really know what was said. So the writers, specifically creator Peter Morgan, has the task of putting together the pieces of history that we do know and fills in the blanks of what we don't know. This first part of the season was no exception to the level of quality we've come to expect either, whether it was the private turmoil of Dodie Fyed's marriage, his budding romance with Diana, or the Queen's consultation with her family and staff. All felt grounded and realistic, even though it may and likely did not play out exactly as we see here. Stephen Daldry, who directed episodes in seasons one and two and returned to direct the season six finale, has said, quote, the death of Diana, the tragedy of Diana has been so well documented in so many different forms. It's part of our mythology and it's part of that story. What's really interesting for me is that the details of that story are still on the whole unknown. If you ask people what she was doing in Paris or why she was in Paris or details of exactly what was going on in her relationship with Dodie, no one knows. And all of that is just fascinating to look at, end quote. A great creative, yet unusual choice that I actually quite liked was the opening of episode two titled Two Photographs, where they highlight the generational and cultural differences between a paparazzo and a royal photographer and how they conduct their business. The hunting mentality of the paparazzo and the respectful, friendly manner of Duncan, who the Queen knows by name. Both photos playing an integral part in the royal story, but both coming from almost complete opposing contexts. While on the topic of photography, I do want to take a moment to talk about the beautiful cinematography of these four episodes. The yacht scenes filmed primarily on location were expertly shot with beautiful composition to frame these iconic moments between these perfectly cast characters. Seeing Dodie and Diana in certain shots, it was hard to differentiate what we saw with the real life images. This, of course, is supported by the brilliant hair, make up and costume work that never ceases to amaze me. Not only do they look great, but almost all of the costumes are exact replicas of what their real life counterpart was wearing during these exact periods, recreating iconic scenes down to the last detail. So let's talk about the primary antagonist of these four episodes, almost a character in its own right, the media. The season starts with Diana already being a primary focus of news outlets all over the world. But the slow rise in tension over the first three episodes is almost unbearable to watch the scene showing Diana and Dodie's car getting stuck in the middle of Paris is enough to make you physically sick. A great job by the respective director of each episode. The overarching metaphor of hunting was not lost on me either, starting with the paparazzi hunting for the perfect photos, to journalists hunting for the best stories, to the literal hunting performed by the royals, which Diana, of course, frowns upon. The rise in tension culminates, of course, in Diana's last night in Paris and the crash, which occurs in the final shot of episode three, a devastating cut to black if ever I've seen one, which leads us to episode four, the last episode of part one, and could almost stand alone as its own part, an episode of reactions. Interesting side note is that creator Peter Morgan has actually already wrote a movie covering this exact time period following Diana's death in Helen Mirren's The Queen. I don't know if it's just that we've had all this prior build up in the crown, but I still feel like the crown handled this period better than the Queen movie, though, but let me know what you think. It's no secret that the royal's reaction to Princess Diana's death was not ideal. A country or rather world in mourning looked to the monarch and for an extended period received no reaction from. Episode four gave us a look into how the aftermath could have looked behind closed doors and the conflicts that arose, considering Diana was not quote unquote officially part of the royal family any longer. Interestingly, the blame in the show was shifted primarily to Prince Philip, who took on the role of the conservative defending traditional protocols, who at first was in the Queen's ear, telling her how to distance herself and maintain her sights on her duty. But after some deep contemplation in her own time, she decides to go against his advice and proceed to return to London regardless. Who really knows what happened behind closed doors in real life, but to keep viewers on side, it's easy to see why the writers shifted the blame at least in part from the Queen. Another divisive creative choice in the show was the inclusion of the posthumous scenes showing the ghosts, for lack of a better word, of Diana and Dodie, with Charles, Fyad's father, Muhammad and the Queen, which was jarring at first, but it did serve a purpose in giving more closure to the relationships the two of them had outside of each other. And I was grateful to see the Queen and Diana in one last scene together. I guess I should mention a few critiques I had of the season. So far, I do think that we're off to a strong start, but that's not without some minor flaws. There were some pacing issues towards the middle of part one. Some of the episodes were less than 40 minutes in runtime, but I still somehow felt they could have been edited down. Also, as a result of the Queen taking a backseat for almost all four of these episodes, these episodes felt more like a special event based on the crown rather than a continuation of what we've seen before, which isn't really in itself a bad thing, but rather just didn't have the same tone. It now makes sense why they split this season in two, part one being Diana's and part two, the Queen's. Looking forward now to part two, focus will shift and the Queen will step back into the spotlight, really for the first time since season three, when Diana arguably started to become one of, if not the primary focus. Because of this, Imelda Storten has not really been given the chance to fully shine as a solo performance in the show whilst sharing the stage with Diana. Olivia Coleman really the only other Queen to have scenes with the Princess in season four. But on December 14, this entire series is coming to an end with the final six episodes. And if you're familiar with Royal History, you'd know times don't exactly get easier as we move forward in the timeline. Check out my video on what to expect in season six if you haven't done so already. And remember, we still have an appearance from Claire Foy and Olivia Coleman to look forward to. But what did you think of the first four episodes of the final season? I'd love to hear what you think, so let me know, I'll be down there in the comments. You can also see what I'm watching by following me on TikTok, Twitter and Letterbox, which are all linked in the description. But if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe for weekly videos covering the best and worst of movies, television and pop culture. If you subscribe during this video, then walk them aboard. This is Matt Rogers and that is all.