Mystery Man
- Episode aired Dec 8, 2017
- TV-MA
- 59m
IMDb RATING
8.3/10
4.4K
YOUR RATING
A salacious government scandal hits close to home for Elizabeth and Philip. Elizabeth retreats to Scotland for the rest of a difficult pregnancy.A salacious government scandal hits close to home for Elizabeth and Philip. Elizabeth retreats to Scotland for the rest of a difficult pregnancy.A salacious government scandal hits close to home for Elizabeth and Philip. Elizabeth retreats to Scotland for the rest of a difficult pregnancy.
Joshua Lacey
- Jonathan Miller
- (as Josh Lacey)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe real Christine Keeler died four days after the second season of "The Crown" was shown on Netflix.
- GoofsThere are a number of problems with the photo shoot at the end. Cecil Beaton is using a very large format camera and flash bulbs, both of which take time to load (more than the few seconds that are shown, at least). However, the flash is seen to fire multiple times in quick succession with not enough time to reset the camera in between shots.
Also, due to this slow set up time, any decent photographer using this camera would wait until the group is settled and ready for the picture and not snap away at random as is shown.
- Quotes
Queen Elizabeth II: Do you know, I've been Queen barely ten years. And in that time I've had three Prime Ministers. All of them ambitious men, clever men, brilliant men. Not one has lasted the course. They've either been too old, too ill or too weak. A confederacy of elected quitters.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards (2018)
Featured review
Season 2 was a very well done season on the whole and as good as the excellent first one. A season where even the weakest episode, to me "Lisbon", is still good despite some unbalanced character writing. And where its best episodes, "Marionettes", "Vergangenheit" and "Paterfamilias", are absolutely outstanding and among the best of 'The Crown'. In its prime, Seasons 1-2, 'The Crown' was absolutely fantastic and one of Netflix's best, and contrary to what has been said elsewhere it still has moments of real brilliance.
"Mystery Man" is a mostly very good end to Season 2, though to me it didn't end it on a bang and it was a slight let down after "Paterfamilias". A vast majority of what makes 'The Crown' so good is present in "Mystery Man" and while it is a long way from being one of the best episodes it is definitely worth watching. Also do give it some credit for addressing and portraying the very complicated event that the episode revolves around, though it doesn't come off perfectly.
The government scandal in question was a very complicated one and the sort that would have been portrayed better in a feature film rather than an episode of less than an hour long to flesh it out more. A better job could have been done making it easier to follow and more accessible, as there are viewers that are very likely to not have heard of what happens here.
It did feel slightly rushed at times.
However, "Mystery Man" hits a lot more than it misses and its good points are truly brilliant. Visually, it as ever for 'The Crown' couldn't be any more classy and sumptuous. The photography and production and costume design are evocative and a sight to behold. The music for me wasn't too intrusive or low-key and was beautiful scoring on its own. The main theme is not easy to forget.
Can't say anything bad about the writing either, which is intelligent and intrigues with no signs of rambling or melodramatic soap-opera. Although over-complicated and imperfectly paced, the story is very compelling and Elizabeth's pregnancy subplot for example is very rootable and movingly done (for me this was the better of the subplots). It definitely makes up want to look up and read about the scandal, which does have some nice tension in how it's written.
All the characters are written with no problem, Elizabeth is written with a lot of nuanced complexity and Phillip's character writing is some of his best for the season (if not quite "Paterfamilias" level). The acting is superb all round, particularly the subtly powerful turn of Claire Foy.
Very good final episode to a very well done season. Makes one excited for what's to come, although Season 3 was a slow starter and the re-casting took some getting used to for me it was actually much better than what has been said about it elsewhere. 8/10.
"Mystery Man" is a mostly very good end to Season 2, though to me it didn't end it on a bang and it was a slight let down after "Paterfamilias". A vast majority of what makes 'The Crown' so good is present in "Mystery Man" and while it is a long way from being one of the best episodes it is definitely worth watching. Also do give it some credit for addressing and portraying the very complicated event that the episode revolves around, though it doesn't come off perfectly.
The government scandal in question was a very complicated one and the sort that would have been portrayed better in a feature film rather than an episode of less than an hour long to flesh it out more. A better job could have been done making it easier to follow and more accessible, as there are viewers that are very likely to not have heard of what happens here.
It did feel slightly rushed at times.
However, "Mystery Man" hits a lot more than it misses and its good points are truly brilliant. Visually, it as ever for 'The Crown' couldn't be any more classy and sumptuous. The photography and production and costume design are evocative and a sight to behold. The music for me wasn't too intrusive or low-key and was beautiful scoring on its own. The main theme is not easy to forget.
Can't say anything bad about the writing either, which is intelligent and intrigues with no signs of rambling or melodramatic soap-opera. Although over-complicated and imperfectly paced, the story is very compelling and Elizabeth's pregnancy subplot for example is very rootable and movingly done (for me this was the better of the subplots). It definitely makes up want to look up and read about the scandal, which does have some nice tension in how it's written.
All the characters are written with no problem, Elizabeth is written with a lot of nuanced complexity and Phillip's character writing is some of his best for the season (if not quite "Paterfamilias" level). The acting is superb all round, particularly the subtly powerful turn of Claire Foy.
Very good final episode to a very well done season. Makes one excited for what's to come, although Season 3 was a slow starter and the re-casting took some getting used to for me it was actually much better than what has been said about it elsewhere. 8/10.
- TheLittleSongbird
- Oct 4, 2021
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Filming locations
- Belvoir Castle, Belvoir, Leicestershire, England, UK(Windsor Castle)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime59 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.00 : 1
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