In Netflix’s The Crown’s previous episode “Aftermath”, Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) and Dodi Fayed (Khalid Abdalla) died in a car accident. Prince Charles (Dominic West) is heartbroken and his two sons, Harry and William, are as well. Dodi’s father Mohammed (Salim Daw) gets the chance to say goodbye to his son as he goes to the morgue. They have a public service for Diana, while Mohammed has a family service at his home, with a lot of family and friends.
Now, it has been some time since the accident and William (Ed McVey) is starting a new chapter, going back into society, to school. His father drops him off, worried that he isn’t truly ready to go back to his normal life, but he says he is. When William goes to his dorm room, two packages are waiting for him. One is from boys all around the school, with letters sending him their condolences, and the other is from young girls, with some love letters and condolences too.
There’s a scene where William goes back to the palace and spends some time with his family. They have to go to an event and he has to make his appearance known to everyone. As he gets out of the car and waves to all of the people watching, the crowd goes wild. It’s obvious to tell how uncomfortable he was, not only because people were cheering him on, but because it was the first public event he’s been to since his mother’s funeral. William is struggling with everything and even though he is telling people he’s okay and that he wants things to go back to how they were before, he is having a hard time being able to move on.
Prince Charles goes to visit William in school, to check in on him. Charles brings up that he wants the family to go visit Diana’s grave. Charles wants to change things with his boys. He wants them to be closer and to do more things together, not something they have to do, but things they want to do, together, just the three of them. Once Charles comes back home, he has a phone call with his wife, Camilla (Olivia Williams). They haven’t been able to see each other, which has been decided to be the best decision for now because of the public.
Charles, Harry, and William travel to Canada for a six-day trip. Not only does Charles have business to attend to, but he’s also set aside time for him and the boys to have quality time together, which is much needed for them all. As they’re discussing their plans for skiing, William complains to his father about all the press and public, not giving them any privacy. Charles understands William is uncomfortable, but also tries to tell him that it will always be that way with their lives because of who they are.
When William is back in school, he gets a phone call that his grandparents want him to join them for tea. When he goes to the palace, expecting them to be there, it’s his father. It seems they took matters into their own hands and created a meeting for Charles and William to discuss their concerns together and try to fix their bond. William tells Charles that Diana’s death is his fault and that he had something to do with the accident. He’s angry at his father for the way he’s been handling everything. He is upset that his father didn’t love his mother the way he should have and that he left her for Camilla.
King Philip visits William and has a heart-to-heart with him. Philip knows he’s struggling, that he’s still grieving the death of his mother. He believes that his anger is only pushed toward Charles because of the fact his mother is gone. He feels angry that she is gone and that everyone looks up to him to be like her because he resembles her so much. As a viewer, it’s easy to see that what Philip is saying to William will get to him and that he’ll be able to become more comfortable and understand his feelings more.
After their conversation, William rides home with his grandfather, to talk with his father. When they make it, Philip tells William to go on. He finds his father and gives him a hug, which catches Charles by surprise. Philip is watching them with a heartfelt smile on his face.
This episode was pretty good. It focused solely on William and his emotions, and how he was handling the death of his mother. It was intriguing to see his point of view on things and how he was handling the spotlight. There was a lot of tension between the fathers and sons; Philip and Charles, and Charles and William. Ed McVey is captivating as William and as the new addition to the season, he’s the perfect fit with such a resemblance to Prince William himself.
Rating: 8/10