More Philip. Sigh. The more they show him, the less I like him, which I think is the opposite effect of what they intend. I'm supposed to sympathize, I think? But I don't.
In "Paterfamilias," Philip insists that young Charles be sent away to the same school he attended. Never mind that Philip himself was unhappy there; he considers is "character building" to go someplace that is just shy of an abusive military school. So then we get Philip's story in flashbacks, and I think that's what is supposed to make us feel sorry for him or at least give us insight. But look, misery loving company is no reason to subject your child to said misery. And sure, maybe Philip thought the school would toughen Charles up, but not all children are the same, and they don't have the same reactions to external pressures. Some rise to the challenge. Others shrink. It doesn't mean the shrinkers are bad people; it simply means their strengths lie elsewhere, to be discovered in other ways.
The episode made me a bit frustrated with Elizabeth, too. She should have put her foot down. I understand the line she's walking in trying not to rule Philip in family situations, but in this case it would have been merited.
As for "Mystery Man," Jesus, what a mess of an episode. It was as though a bunch of plot bits were thrown into a pot and stirred.
So Philip gets a crick in his neck and goes to see an osteopath named Stephen Ward. He's invited by Ward to a house party, but instead of showing us whether Philip attends, we skip ahead a year to Ward being on trial for the Profumo scandal. You have to know a bit of British history to understand this bit because the episode doesn't make it very clear at all. Short version is that Ward's house parties introduced very young women to older government officials, including possibly a Russian agent or something? Anyway, Ward commits suicide, and in going through his personalty, drawings of Philip are found (Ward being an artist). There is also a newspaper photograph from one of Ward's parties, and a man with his back turned looks remarkably like Philip.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth is pregnant (as is Margaret). She goes off to Balmoral under doctor's orders to rest while Philip skips off here and there. Again, if they want me to like Philip . . . Well, but history is history, I suppose. When he does finally wander home, he and Elizabeth have it out. He swears he didn't go to Ward's house party, that he only even saw Ward the one time because the guy was weird. Elizabeth confronts Philip with the photograph of the ballerina, and he gives a really circumlocutory speech that, summed up, means he loves her and wants to stay with her. (The speech did nothing to warm my heart, and what choice does he have, really?)
We end with the birth of Prince Edward and a family photo.
In total, the season was a good one though not (in my opinion) as good as the first due to meandering interests that went away from Elizabeth much of the time. Things did always loop back to her eventually, but the episodes that heavily focused on Philip or Margaret only made me irritated with those characters. Also, a severe lack of corgi this season.
That said, it's still a fine show with remarkable production values and well worth watching. I look forward to more.
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