Season Two covers a lot of ground from the crisis stemming over the Suaz Canal to Margaret (Vanessa Kirby) finally getting married and then a scandal surrounding the prime minister, Harold McMillan (Anton Lesser). The first three shows cover Prince Philip's (Matt Smith's) travels around the world visiting the vast colonies of England and perhaps even having an affair. He has to fire his private secretary, Mike Parker's (Daniel Ings's) wife has filed for divorce so he has to leave his position. And Philip wants more power and respect in his own marriage. It must be hard to be married to the most powerful woman in the world.
But his power comes at a price, sending Prince Charles to his old boarding school against Elizabeth's (Claire Foy's) wishes but he has to bit her tongue to save her marriage.
In the meantime, upset that Peter Townsend (Ben Miles) is marrying a teenager, Margaret persuades her fling Tony Armstrong-Jones (Matthew Goode, too old for the role but good nevertheless). Now, while Tony is against the institution of marriage and is currently seeing other women and men, he agrees but his secret to making it successful is traveling constantly.
In the end, Elizabeth gives birth to a healthy baby after a difficult pregnancy and Philip declares his love to her, though he might be covering for seeing a communist chiropractor, who divulges information about other patients which is unethical to say the least. While Elizabeth's second delivery is completely different, and Philip is allowed to be present for this one, he remains at a distance, not truly involved in the process.
All-in-all, this second wasn't as good as the first, as it covered too many years and didn't have the vibrant John Lithgow as the prime minister. The strongest episode was the one where the Queen is under securinty as she gives a speech which is dated. She needs to truly become modernized. John Heffeman gives an excellent guest performance in that one. Also strong is when her uncle (Alec Jennings) visits and she discovers his secret Nazi past. However, the episode where the Kennedys (Michael C. Hall and Jodi Balfour) come to visit, let me done. I know everyone can't be as good as Natalie Portman, but I found their performances not that effective though Mrs. Kennedy's part was especially well written.
That being said, this is still an excellent show, transporting you back to that time period and showing you how isolating power can be. And the it feels like you are watching the events as they unfold with completely natural performances (save the Kennedys). Grade: B+
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