Previously on The Crown, the episode “Alma Mater” focused on Prince William (Ed McVey) meeting his now-wife, Kate Middleton (Meg Bellamy), and his struggles with the spotlight of being a Royal family member. In this next episode, “Ritz,” there’s a major focus on Margaret (Lesley Manville) and her tragic sickness, with Queen Elizabeth II (Imelda Staunton) helping as much as possible.
It’s May 8th, 1945, with young Princess Elizabeth looking out the window, seeing people celebrating. On the radio, Winston Churchill announced that the German High Command signed the act of unconditional surrender of all German land in Europe. Elizabeth and Margaret, her sister, sneak out of their home to celebrate with others.
It’s now present time and the two sisters are playing cards. They reminisce on that night in 1945. While Margaret thinks that Elizabeth should be more outgoing, Elizabeth feels that she’s okay with how she is right now. After their conversation, Margaret goes on vacation to Barbados for the weekend. It’s very clear to see how different she is from her sister. As she’s talking with people, she gets dizzy and tries to ignore it.
It’s the next day and Elizabeth gets a call from Margaret. She had a stroke, which is noticeable. The stroke impacted her mobility, speaking, and facial emotions, which the public notices as she was speaking on the phone with her sister, being carried onto the plane to return home. She gets told that she will have to change some of her lifestyle habits, quitting drinking and smoking. As she gets help and gains momentum during her recovery, she gets better with time. However, she interrupts her recovery and flies to a different country.
As Margaret starts to take a bath, everything is fine until she freezes, noticing a change in how she feels as she grabs her head. She struggles to turn off the water, grabbing the hot water knob and turning it warmer. She starts to painfully groan as the hot water starts to get hotter. The lady who’s there with her notices steam coming from the bathroom, so she goes to check on her. The woman finds her lying on the bathroom floor, unconscious, with burns on her feet just above her ankles.
The scene then transitions to Elizabeth nervously waiting for her sisters’ arrival back home. The burns on her feet affected her mobility, causing Margaret to use a wheelchair. Her speech has also changed back to how it was when she had her first stroke. She updates her sister on everything, mentioning how she wants to have a party for her birthday. But Elizabeth doesn’t want to.
The episode then goes back to the night of 1945. They make an entrance to a big party. Elizabeth walks into someone as she goes to the coat room and he tells her to come with him and his friends. Before making her decision, it goes back to the present time. Margaret has her birthday party at The Ritz, which is where she and Elizabeth snuck off on that certain night. Before Margaret can tell her party about Elizabeth’s different side as a young girl, Elizabeth interrupts her.
Once the party is over, Elizabeth and Margaret talk on the phone as they both sit in their beds. After the conversation, Margaret starts to grab her glasses and suddenly gets a ringing in her ears. She painfully stands up, getting out of bed. She walks to get her medicine, but the ringing gets louder. She ends up having another stroke.
She’s lying in the hospital bed when Elizabeth comes to visit. It’s a heartbreaking visit as Margaret expresses to her sister that this is the end for her. She doesn’t have an appetite and can hardly feel anything. She returns home, staying at the castle. While her right arm is strong, her left arm isn’t. And despite getting a little better, her walking and talking remain impaired. She talks with Elizabeth and tells her that she has a well-written plan for her funeral. Elizabeth listens, clearly uncomfortable and saddened by the situation.
After Elizabeth leaves her sister’s room one night, the scene transitions back to 1945, where Elizabeth has accepted the man’s offer to meet his friends. Once downstairs, Elizabeth sees that they are all Americans, mostly African Americans. The man grabs her and they start dancing. While she’s having fun, Margaret and their friends come looking for her. Soon Elizabeth grabs her sister and they start dancing with each other.
As the two of them make it home, Margaret suddenly stands in place. Elizabeth asks her if she’s coming inside. As the camera turns back to Margaret, it reveals her older self. She tells her sister that she is not coming back with her but will always be by her side.
Overall, this episode was heartbreaking but beautiful. Getting a chance to see this different side of not only the Queen, but Margaret as well, was incredible to watch. In this episode specifically, Lesley Manville did an incredible job as Margaret, especially in the scenes where she suffers the strokes. It takes such an incredible talent to act the way she did. An episode like this one ranks high on the list of the best acting throughout the entire series.
Rating: 10/10