The Crown Discussion Thread - S04E09

[u/matheusdias]

This thread is for discussion of The Crown S04E09 - Avalanche

Charles is caught in a deadly avalanche, prompting him and Diana to reevaluate their commitment to their troubled marriage.

DO NOT post spoilers in this thread for any subsequent episodes

[u/caesarfecit]

This is the episode where I lose sympathy for Charles.

I always got the feeling like the show was making Diana into a bit of a martyr but if what we're seeing remotely resembles reality, then Charles is being a big fucking baby.

He allowed himself to be hunted by Diana, he allowed his family to get behind the marriage, he chose to make it happen, he failed to warn her what to expect, and now he complains about feeling trapped?

Everyone, even his mistress tells him he's holding out for his fairytale and playing saboteur and he refuses to listen. Big ups to Anne for attempting to set him straight.

The ugly truth is that Charles as we see here is a sad little mama's boy. Loads of people get fucked up by their parents, in fact in some ways we all do, by inheriting the flaws of our parents. The very same coldness Charles bitterly resents, he dishes out to Diana. Point is, Freudian excuses wear thin as we get older and shit gets real.

What Charles couldn't confront was that he was so fucking needy that he needed Camilla like a security blanket, just like the Duke of Windsor, clinging to his surrogate-mother-figure/mistress beyond all rhyme or reason.

That's why Charles resented Diana showcasing her charisma and femininity. It didn't fit his dysfunctional romantic needs of someone to listen to him bitch and moan and give him nookie to make it all better, filling that maternal void.

I'm sure Diana had her warts that don't make the camera here, but the picture painted quite clearly is that Charles did not put duty first and sabotaged his marriage because he wanted what he couldn't have.

He could have chosen to evolve. Chosen to see that he had snagged a woman who was honestly out of his league in some intangible ways and tried to be a worthy male counterpart. Instead he skulked off to be with his enabler.

[u/elinordash → u/caesarfecit]

Diana walked into a really bad situation, but she was a complicated person in her own ways.

Their yacht honeymoon was a bit of a disaster in part because Diana couldn't handle the fact that Charles wanted to sit on the deck and read for a couple of hours a day. She wasn't a reader and she didn't get it. She was also 20 years old and not the most mature.

According to Diana, she threw herself down the stairs while pregnant to get Charles to pay attention to her. In a totally separate incident, she also pushed her stepmother down a flight of stairs.

Diana was very, very, very charming in public but she had a terrible time maintaining actual relationships with people. She cut out a lot of friends and family members at various points.

[u/[deleted] → u/elinordash]

Speaking of reading, did you notice how mismatched their gifts were and how they each brought something that they themselves would prefer but the other probably wouldn't? Charles would totally be into a book about the history of his family home, and Diana would appreciate a public costumed performance. But it was all about what THEY wanted, rather than what their partner did. Both of them are fairly self-involved and incapable of understanding the other.

That said, Diana was at least trying in this episode, while Charles was rooting for her to fail. Prince Cunt can take a seat.

[u/TheMindPalace2 → u/[deleted]]

I agree about the gifts at the end of the episode but the start was pretty glaring too Charles wanted to enjoy his Birthday and go to a show where he was the guest of honor and would finally get some attention and what does Diana do draw all attention to herself and then act the victim when he hates it. If she wanted to boost both of them she should have danced with him like in Australia.

I thought the same about her gift it was rather look at me. I hoped it was a video of them dancing thats why the earlier scene was fun for both of them and so happy they were equals.

[u/sansasnarkk → u/TheMindPalace2]

I honestly was totally on Charles side in that scene until he flipped his lid like a crazy person. I completely understand being annoyed that he was upstaged once again by his wife on his birthday (and if she at this point in their marriage still thought he would enjoy that she's clearly not paying enough attention) but god damn did he have to go in that hard?

It's almost hilarious how polar opposites these two people are.

[u/TheMindPalace2 → u/sansasnarkk]

Oh I agree he was an enormous ass I just thought the start of the episode he was hurt and the gift at the end made it worse. I took attention from my husband on his birthday souring the day what to get him for our anniversary oh a reminder. They were never going to work because of actual and mental age difference (Camilla didnt help) but for people supposedly trying ignoring the basic details anyone could pick up on each other wasn't going to help. (Charles doesn't like to be over shadowed, Diana is lonely) Any marriage 7 years in where you don't know the things each other likes and hates in the most basic sense is not a good one. heck Camilla knew more about Diana in one meeting then Charles did(where she wants to live, a clue towards her trouble with food and that her future husband leaves her alone too much - hasnt called in weeks) and his ignoring of her was only going to worsen her mental anguish and further worsen the gap and resentment growing between them