PeterPirate

Charles Dance narrates a mini-series on Netflix called "Rise of Empires: Ottoman". It's about the siege and conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire, which also marked the end of the Roman Empire. Just. Saying.

The ending to Something Beautiful is a signature moment of the entire series, imo. This is the scene where Jimmy read the letter from Chuck. Kim started crying, ran to the bedroom, and pushed the door halfway closed--but didn't slam it all the way shut. I think she was feeling tremendous guilt and remorse over Chuck's demise and her role in contributing to it. But she also didn't shut Jimmy out of her life over it.

Another great Martin Sheen video.

There is one nice scene when Elizabeth is having dinner with Porchy when they allowed Olivia Colman to use facial gestures. My gut reaction is that he was talking about Montgomery. I had uncles who fought for the United States who made similar comments about Monty. There are two famous war movies, Patton and A Bridge Too Far, wherein Montgomery comes across quite badly. Monty doesn't appear in the second movie, except in some brief archival footage, but Americans who follow war history generally give Monty the lion's share of the blame for that debacle. I am not aware of any stories that blame Mountbatten for the loss of American lives.

Going back to the episodes in Season 2, I think they've done an effective job showing Charles as particularly emotionally deprived and perhaps even stunted. I'm not sure how they are planning to introduce Diana Spencer, as a passive ingenue or a conniving schemer, but sooner or later she is going to find her voice and give those snooty royals whatfer.

From Bad Moon Rising, in recognition of the passing of Kirk Douglas: CJ - It's me, okay? I am Spartacus.

Personally, I found season 3 to be better than the previous two. I think another problematic factor is the subject material. Frankly, at times these royals are downright unlikable--reprehensible, when it comes to Andrew. Think of the all the posts here about the troubles between Charles and Diana. How can they possibly make a TV show about them that people are going to enjoy watching?

The story about Andrew appeared on numerous American news sites, even Fox News. I think it was considered newsworthy because the FBI was quoted. And here is another story about Andrew from the New York Post no less. Ghislaine Maxwell had special access to Buckingham Palace, former cop claims

From And It's Surely To Their Credit: Tribbey - Leave here, and don't ever come back. It's time for you to write your book now.

Plus, the fact that Josh was in Germany.

I wonder how they are going to portray that on the show. Because the Crown must win.

I think one positive aspect of the "the Queen can't cry" plot device was the replaying of the singing by the Welsh choir. It was truly mesmerizing. The bit about the teacher standing as the coal slag bore down on him reminded me of the scene from Titanic where the captain stood on the bridge waiting for the water to flood in. Also, the scripture passage from this episode was the same as the one being recited in that movie.

Just for fun, a parody of Olivia Colman.

CNN is airing commercials about a series they will air about the Windsors in February. As someone who is relatively uninterested in the current royal family, it seems to me that H&M are carrying on the Windsor tradition of adapting to meet the changing times. They have their own brand--Sussex Royal--and in order to maintain their income they will have to behave responsively to the market's demand for proper royal behavior. More power to them, I say.

Great trailer. I think Season 5 is going to be their best yet.