Halfway through the first episode of “The Crown”’s fourth season, Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor) goes to see his father, Prince Philip (Tobias Menzies). Both men, though generally incapable of expressing emotion in anything resembling a human way, are fiercely grieving the untimely death of Dickie Mountbatten (Charles Dance), a stable figure who meant a great deal to them both in the absence of their own fathers showing them any real affection. After three seasons of watching these dynamics calcify, the audience understands all this perfectly well. But in this moment, as in so many moments, “The Crown” takes the time to underline its point over, and over, again.

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