The Crown (TV Series) The Balmoral Test (2020) User Reviews

Symbolism

[Techmama68 · 9/10 · 16 November 2020]

If you think this episode is about killing animals, you're missing the point. This episode is about the royal family privilege and the process of the search for and appointment of a suitable future Queen. The original buck in the dining hall represents Charles and new newly acquired trophy represents Diana.

The writing and acting are astounding, and Emma Corrin is absolutely stunning as Diana.

This is a character-driven show; if you're looking for action you're howling up the wrong hill.

Diane and Thatcher's Fitness to the Family

[Oktay_Tuna · 10/10 · 15 November 2020]

The juxtaposition between what the family thinks of Diana and Thatcher was clearly demonstrated in this episode. In the first half we see how Thatcher didn't fit in with the family. She thought the family's activities were very time consuming and unnecessary. She is a representation of the people whereas the family is the high class. As it is said in the episode, work was Thatcher and her father's play time. Diana on the other hand is completely different. She fits perfectly, even better than how Prince Charles fits in with the family. She loves getting her pictures taken at the end. Even though she is not in high class right now, she is cut out for it. Stag metaphor in the episode was also very well integrated. The stag is both Diana and Charles but the difference is, Charles knows he is the stag(he even compares himself to it in the episode) whereas Diana is nowhere close to realize that. One of the best written episodes of The Crown, in my opinion.

Scathing indictment of Charles and Camilla

[phd_travel · 9/10 · 20 November 2020]

This episode and the one after it play out like gothic horror - Jane Eyre or Rebecca. The mood with the gloomy castles the metaphor of killing the animal are mesmerising. Diana's isolation in the large palace rooms is effective. Very well done scenes with the nightmare lunch with Camilla and callous behaviour of Charles towards Diana before the wedding. A scathing indictment of them.

Balmoral

[Calicodreamin · 8/10 · 27 November 2020]

A very interesting parallel between the privileged life and normal life; which is kept up throughout as Diana excels and Thatcher fails. Wonderful acting, and a good storyline.

An Exciting, Comical Episode

[littlebizzare · 10/10 · 15 November 2020]

This episode not only exposes the privilege of The Royal Family and their acknowledgement of their privilege, but it also portrays it in an amusing, yet silly and humorous manner. Thatcher's lack of awareness of all the policies was comical, yet very awkward to witness. It was also compelling to witness the contrast between Thatcher and The Royal Family during their hunt.

Who Ever Thought They Would Feel Sorry for Margaret Thatcher?

[dizexpat · 8/10 · 29 November 2020]

Until watching this episode I would never have thought of Margaret Thatcher as a sympathetic figure. That fingernails on a chalkboard voice, which Gillian Anderson captures with the most irritating perfection, coupled with her utter lack of humor makes her a difficult person to like. But let's face it. How many of us mere mortals could ever pass the Balmoral Test? I'm not sure which was my favorite moment of discomfort. Either watching her get severly scolded by Princess Margaret ("Not "my sister". The Queen!" "Nobody sits in that chair. That's Queen Victoria's chair!" Telling Thatcher "I beg your pardon" is how a servant would talk. You get the feeling Princess Margaret was loving putting this common woman in her place), or Mrs. Thatcher suffering through an incredibly childish game of "Ibble-Bibble-Bubble-Bobble"--or whatever it is--as if she was having a tooth extracted. (It would have been fun to watch Margaret Thatcher getting a tooth pulled. One imagines that after five minutes of the dentist furiously yanking it out, she would very quietly say "Ow.") Let's face it. In these scenes we are Margaret Thatcher, as awful as that sounds. We feel her discomfort. But we also feel the Royal Family's discomfort at having to put up with a woman none of them can stand. And that contrast is what makes this episode special.

'Cinderella' goes to the Ball-moral.

[Starfilmsgold · 9/10 · 25 February 2022]

Diana was like the fairy tale 'Cinderella', cooking and cleaning for her elder sister, the gorgeous red head debutante, Sarah Spencer, who was dating the Prince of Wales. Diana was told to remain out of sight whenever the Prince visited, and that she'd not be going to the ball. 'Cinder-diana' even had a cat and 'mice' (hamsters) for pets, cat was named 'Marmalade' (and not 'Lucifer').

And an 'evil' Stepmother (Raine Spencer), who pushed Diana out of her family home. Diana moved to a flat in London and worked at a kindergarten. Dressed plainly, she lived an ordinary life, till one day her Prince Charming (Charles) came along and asked her out. To Balmoral, to meet the Family.

The Queen was like the fairy Godmother granting Diana her wish to go to the Palace and marry the Prince. Her fairy tale Royal Wedding to Prince Charles at St. Paul's cathedral in 1981 was watched by 750 million people on TV and stunned the world. Overnight, she became the greatest sensation.

(Excellent performances from lookalikes Diana (Emma Corrin), Prince Charles (Josh O'Connor) and HM the Queen (Olivia Coleman)).

Impressed with Margaret Thatcher and Diana character

[stupidslamp · 8/10 · 8 January 2021]

Opposite, I felt an empty feeling of the royal family in this episode, most of focusing on hunting, unmeaningful talking, rule, and not open in mind except the Queen. You can find out a scene about the price minister comes for lunch with the royal family. Is it true in real?

Brilliant!

[mostlyharmless-30728 · 10/10 · 28 March 2021]

At the start of season three I have to say I was rather put off by the recastings. None of them are bad per-say, they just don't compare to the first two season's younger versions. But since then, we have had four absolutely phenomenal castings in the form of Anne, Charles, Thatcher, and Diana. I would argue that these portrayals have given the show new life, and I am now more engrossed in the show than ever before.

Bravo

[parade1-528-416939 · 10/10 · 21 November 2020]

One of the best episodes of the forth season. The symbolism and all the layers. But I find Diana irritating and perhaps Gillian Anderson, though I like her interpretation of Thatcher on the whole, is making her a bit to old. I am also delighted that the makers didn't make Charles into a monster. He was indeed the wounded deer, shot down by both his family, and a manipulative Diana.

Penultimate narcissism

[helenahandbasket-93734 · 8/10 · 18 November 2020]

But not what one might presume- The narcissism of the entire cluster of royals- not the least of which is Charles, who stumbles through life feigning only a passing interest in anything other than CPB. He's the worst of what the royal family brings to the table, second only to his sniveling aunt, Margaret.

He completely and totally ruined Diana- jealous to his core at the adoration and affection she garnered, which only served to showcase him more as the fumbling ineptitude he exudes to this day. Never a person who conveys anything remotely resembling respect, reverence, or loyalty. If not for him, the royal family may have been a force to be reckoned with.

He simply cannot and will not get out of his own way- Harry seems to have taken after him while William learned greatly from and was influenced by Diana.

PM Thatcher, brilliantly portrayed by Gillian Anderson (yes, the tone and intonation is quite spot on) was well out of her comfort zone at Balmoral and was done in at every turn by the royals, those in her own cabinet, and by men who never gave her an inkling of a chance, solely because of her gender. She was actually a solid PM who fought against those who supposedly were supporting her. She forged an unlikely friendship that brought about the end of the Cold War, and it was highly unlikely anyone else could have been capable of befriending both Reagan AND Gorbachev, and then bringing the two of them together. To downplay that historical occurrence is a monumental mistake.

The groundwork laid bare here, for both of these characters, is solid. While one may be inclined to view both in a less-than light, both have pivotal roles in portraying the royals in the light they deserve to be viewed in; contemptuous, clueless, insipid inbreds that live quite 'fat' despite a country that struggles mightily under the weight of the royals.

A disturbing curiosity

[szweda-18555 · 7/10 · 17 November 2020]

One can only wonder what non-Brits make of our crazy nation after they have watched this episode. On the one hand you have, again, an incoming leader, the country's first female PM, meeting the establishments leader, a Queen who has already been there seemingly forever. Poor Maggie, an excellent performance by her and DT, having to holiday with this clique of overprivilege with their wax coats, boots and traditions. We were cringing with Maggie - never thought I would do that - while the Royals disported in nursery style amused as much by the PM's discomfort as their own inane parlor game. Then the coin flips and we see the antithesis of Mrs T arrive and be a great success. Subtle? Maybe not. True? Well, err, only they would know what really went down that weekend. It was all very well carried by all concerned though I left it uncomfy and dismayed that this might well be how the people who run this country spend their time and considerable money. But then maybe that was the point.

Has The Crown Jumped The Shark and Is Heading Down.

[buickman-20245 · 2/10 · 28 November 2020]

Margaret Thatcher would be 54 years old here. But they show her being around 80 years old and feeble. Thatcher would not have risen to the top of British politics and held office so long if she was as dumb and clueless as they portray her on this show.

BTW, Gillian Anderson is only 2 years younger than Thatcher here; so all that was needed was a change in hair style to how Thatcher looked at 54 (not 80), and her accent from Bleak House.

Same for Thatcher's husband Dennis, who was actually quite a down to earth well traveled business person; not the crazy, awkward old man shown here.

The Spencer family have been aristocrats since the 1400s. Diana lived and grew up in a large 14,000 acre British estate with servants. But Diana is somehow totally clueless of protocol and need to be tested and instructed from scratch as if she just got off the bus from Liverpool. LOL.

Trophy Wife

[sallykeller-51142 · 10/10 · 22 November 2020]

Such a great metaphor of the stag that was bagged, stuffed and put on display perpetually for an audience it would hardly see, feel or know. A short and glorious life on broad sunlit uplands.

As we speak journalists across the commonwealth who are political ideologues are calling Princess Di a breading mare and that season 4 of the crown is a fiction, terrified of their plans for a republic...

What they don't understand is human nature and that people need inspiration and a further quota need leadership. When that is embodied in someone with a warm and generous spirit then you can't fight it, no matter how much cause you have.

Make no mistake the events of The Balmoral Test are real. Fictionalising these milestones make them important to understand the unseen, the unsaid and the unknown years, decades and even centuries of context.

Maggie Thatcher famously called it purgatory and the stark difference between the executive of the government and their figureheads is seen. Republicans should find comfort in the balance offered in this story telling.

In Princess Di's famous last interviews she shares the emotional drag that privileged people with too much time on their hands can be, particularly at this country estate. She was the answer to breathe new life into the Monarchy. Like many of us with affections for a millennia of tradition, William is still that answer.

The director of photography must be beside himself with these images. Gorgeous landscapes and diffused light of the Scottish & English country side coupled with the beginnings of a fairytale courtship, this episode could spin into its own movie.

In the Balmoral Test I believe the very imperfect royal family did the right thing in recommending Di for Charles. The majority of other arranged marriages all around the world work and people grow and grow in love. Ask me how I know...I was one and honestly could not in my youth have selected such a beautifully matched husband. Shame on all you who think you know better.

The only thing missing from this episode was co operation from the royals to provide the actual true to life backdrops. Perhaps the producers wont be so kind and fair in season 5.

Favorite among them all

[ben-morat · 10/10 · 17 November 2020]

I've never enjoyed a series episode more than this. I think that sums it up.

Posh

[bevo-13678 · 10/10 · 20 November 2020]

I like the bit where Margaret thatcher talks like an old granny

Diana fooled them all...... and poor Mrs T

[dera-70388 · 9/10 · 6 November 2023]

What I got from this episode's de is Diana fooled everyone. From stalking a stag, the "I'm an outdoor girl at heart"......it's well documented that Diana hated Balmoral......she certainly moulded herself to the circumstances and ingratiated herself with the family. Was it self misrepresentation to get herself a prince, did she do it to fit her family ambitions or was she just being a people pleaser! Quite an eye opener and maybe her own family had as much responsibility as everyone else in pushing an unsuitable match.....tradegy for all involved.

As for Margaret Thatcher, I felt sorry her as a fish out of water and some members of the RF we're certainly less than kind......never thought I'd say that.

Getting Diana Into the Game

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 11 December 2020]

Marriage for love is a relatively new concept, especially when it comes to royalty. Charles needs to marry. He is in love with Parker-Bowles but can't have her. So because he has had a good time with Diana and she is young and pretty, she falls to him. Margaret Thatcher has taken the government by storm and has an off with their heads mentality. Her visit to Balmoral is a disaster. The problem with this whole episode is that Diana would have had lots of experience with the trappings of the royal family. Also, why wouldn't Thatcher have some knowledge of what she would face on this outing? The story is interesting but is sitting on a weak foundation.

Ludicrous and preposterous

[shlomzion6 · 2/10 · 19 November 2020]

This was embarrassingly bad. First, Denis Thatcher, a well travelled businessman who must surely have played golf at St Andrews, and often been a guest in grand houses, is portrayed as a bumpkin who tries to tip a Balmoral servant, telling her "It's English money but you can use it in Scotland" (No kidding!). Then we are expected to believe that whereas Camilla P-B, who was from a less noble family than Diana, knew her way around all the protocols while D. did not. Furthermore, that Diana Spencer, daughter of one of the oldest earldoms in England, whose sister was a lady in waiting, whose grandmother, Lady Fermoy tutored debutantes in court protocol, had somehow reached the age of 19 without knowing how to curtsey or conduct herself at court. I think the scriptwriter is suffering from a crippling social inferiority complex and should try something else.

Episode 402

[bobcobb301 · 7/10 · 23 July 2021]

A good way to introduce Diana and a fresh face that the show desperately needed.

Not subtle at all

[dierregi · 1/10 · 19 November 2020]

Metaphors can be good when they're not overused. In a memorable film of 2006, Stephen Frears already told a story about Queen Elizabeth via a metaphorical hunting episode. If you've see that, this looks like a cheap rehash.

Besides, for people who abhor hunting, the royal family certainly looks at its worst in this episode, where the whole gang (minus Charles) is stupidly excited at the idea of killing a poor stag injured by an equally idiotic tourist.

The concept of this episode is to oppose Thatcher and Diana Spencer as guests passing the "Balmoral test", meaning "pleasing the royal family by fitting in their outdated, cruel and childish rituals".

Guess what? Diana passes with flying colours, playing deceitfully naive, while poor Maggie fails miserably. I would have thought that Lizzie and Maggie got along like a house on fire, but I was totally wrong.

Apart from that, very disturbing about the whole hunting business and the despicable glee of everybody involved with it.

Fitting in

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 23 August 2022]

Seasons 1 and 2 were quite excellent on the whole, with even the weakest episodes still being good. Season 3 started off rather slow and finished underwhelmingly, but it did have high points with "Aberfan" for example being one of the best episodes of 'The Crown' in my view. Still liked the show well enough to watch Season 4 and coupled with having a high opinion of Gillian Anderson (after her wonderful acting in 'Bleak House') watching it was on the cards.

Was rather disappointed in the previous episode "Gold Stick", the Season 4 premiere. "The Balmoral Test" is an improvement and sees the season and the characters introduced in this season (so Margaret Thatcher, Princess Diana and Camilla Parker-Bowles) moving forward. It is a long way from a perfect or great episode and is a long way from being one of the best episodes of 'The Crown', but there are many good things (despite not everything working) and this reviewer is not going to be one of those criticising "The Balmoral Test" for animal cruelty when it was representing privilege and the appointment process.

"The Balmoral Test" has a lot to like. As ever the production values are superb. The production and costume design are both classy and sumptuous, but it's the photography that stands out in this regard. The music is not overbearing or low key. The scripting is thought provoking and intriguing and the story is compelling and moves things forward very well, while making one excited enough to see what the rest of the season entails. Charles and Camilla's relationship is beautifully done.

Most of the acting is fine. Emma Corrin stuns as Diana and Josh O'Connor brings out Charles' conflict of choosing royal duty or following his heart with a lot of nuance and in a way where his point of view is understood. Emerald Fennell shows a lot of potential.

For my tastes though, Gillian Anderson never properly disappears into Thatcher's character and it does come over as too much of a Thatcher caricature and Anderson trying too hard. Actually thought that Olivia Colman's acting improved a lot throughout Season 3 but here she comes over as too cold and firm.

Perhaps there are some slow spots.

On the whole though, a well done episode, warts and all, and an improvement. 7/10.

The not so Royal family.

[tullytom · 1/10 · 21 November 2020]

The royal family loves killing things.This is an enlightening and enjoyable show but some times I think The Adams family has a lot more going for them.

The Good and the Bad

[crumpytv · 6/10 · 13 January 2021]

Where to begin? Gillian Anderson is portraying Margaret Thatcher more like a caricature than a cogent personality. Think of Spitting Image! Husband Dennis does not ring true either. He is been characterised as some sort of ignorant buffoon. They did not invite themselves to Balmoral so I fail to see why the Royal Family would behave in the way they are portrayed as snobbish bullies. Just not believable. The whole business of Margaret Thatcher going out deer stalking the way she was dressed is just not realistic. She is being portrayed as an out of depth idiot ... one thing she definitely was not, whether you liked her or not she was nobody's fool. At the time I really did not question the age difference between Charles and Diana, if I was aware of how great it was at all. However, in this drama it just looks all wrong. She is far too young for Charles and the brilliantly filmed re-enactments of scenes featuring Diana that we became familiar with at the time just underlines the fact. If Charles really did think this way as well, then the Royal Family have only themselves to blame for what transpired in the future. The problem is that all the dialogue can only be fictional and cannot be substantiated in any way so what is there to believe in this age of fakery? As a drama it is good, but people giving 10* ratings, please don't think it is real.

Did Margaret Thatcher have Emphysema?

[TheFearmakers · 4/10 · 18 November 2020]

Gillian Anderson can hardly get out a word, much less a sentence. She sounds as if every word spoken were her last. Terrible performance.

Princess Diana and Prince Charles's storyline, which everyone's been anticipating, is okay, but the whole Deer story seems a ripoff of The Queen.