Sacred duties

(This review contains spoilers!)

Is it easier, or harder, to stay faithful to your spouse while the world is watching your every move? Season 2 of The Crown, available now as 10 hourlong episodes on Netflix, could easily be subtitled “A Study in Marriage.”

Last season, we watched Queen Elizabeth II adjust to the figurative weight of the English crown. This season, much of the drama revolves around royal marriage, or maybe more accurately, royal infidelity.

Some might call it slow, at times. But the way The Crown shows the English monarchy modernizing, and the way it keeps the audience guessing about marriages we already know the ending to, is anything but boring.

For example, writers strongly imply Prince Phillip cheated on the queen, and Princess Margaret continues her long search for romance and identity through marriage to a philandering photographer.

While these high-stakes marriages are the predominant theme, the very best episodes of the season show Elizabeth growing as a leader and even as a Christian. Episode 6 depicts the Queen’s introduction to evangelist Billy Graham (Paul Sparks).

True to life, it depicts the queen inviting Graham to preach in her private chapel after seeing him on TV and consulting him afterwards. (The TV part is a little fuzzy, but the two did strike up a friendship that has lasted for years.)

During one meeting, the queen struggles genuinely with forgiving her uncle, a Nazi sympathizer. Graham helps her to conclude that forgiving an oppressor, and even praying for him, is not the same thing as giving in to his demands.

It’s a fabulous episode, one show creator Peter Morgan called “the best bit of writing in the season.” Episode 7, however, contains a graphic sex scene, a choice that feels out of place in an otherwise largely safe-to-watch season.

The show enjoyed a number of awards and nominations last year and has already appeared on a couple of lists for 2018.