(it’s possible for you to take the boy out of Gordonstoun, etc., etc.)
Ward apparently comes highly recommended by the likes of Winston Churchill and Duncan Sandys (what a pair!
), and he quietly manipulates Philip’s neck while speaking in soothing tones about tension and emotional strain.
Mark Mainz/Netflix
“I enjoy putting people together,” says Ward, and oh brother isthatthe truth.
you might read all about ithere.)
There’s an investigation with the beautiful Christineturns out she’s also been having relations with a Soviet spy.
Oh, and maybe John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War.
Where did they meet?
Stephen Ward’s house, naturally.
There’s a photograph of a lanky, big-eared fellow with his back turned who sure looks familiar.
Christine doesn’t say who he is.
He’s labeled Mystery Man.
Prime Minister Macmillan has a man-to-man talk with Profumo.
Profumo denies everything and Macmillan tells his wife later that he believes him.
She nails it when she calls him an incredulous, trusting fool.
Turns out Mags is redoing her house and the banging and hammering are unbearable to Aunt Marina.
She goes off to tell her husband the good news but he’s nowhere.
“It’sWednesday,” says the queen.
Meanwhile, things are closing in on Stephen Ward.
Profumo will be no doubt resigning any moment!
Guess who he’s talking to?
Hotter-than-hotMatthew Goode, a.k.a.
Tony Snowdon, who is talking about going on assignment to Paris.
Nah, he says, his home is a construction site.
Margaret is apparently pregnant again and Tony says it’s good to know what bonds a couple.
For them, it’s absence.
Margaret, as usual, looks fabulous and not a second pregnant.
Of course, that sweetness does not last when Elizabeth tells Margaret to chill out on the noise.
This woman needs to rest, but there’s no time for that.
Macmillan has come to see her and tell her he’s ready to resign.
She’s like, Uh, no way, bro.
She needs him to pull it together and lead the country.
She tells him it would mean a great deal to her personally.
Then she rings her goodbye bell.
God, I love her goodbye bell.
Macmillan is taking a drubbing from the public.
I kind of hate her.
I don’t love him either, but she seems just straight-up mean.
She tells him to go see for himself.
Philip packs more than anyone I’ve ever seen.
Not a chance: He’s going to St. Moritz.
“How mysterious,” she bites out.
“You enjoy the mountains, dear.”
We also see a bit of Ward’s trial and of him sketching in a notebook.
Before he can hear his verdict, he kills himself.
While going through his things, they flip through his sketchpad and find a drawing of Philip.
The plot thickens, does it not?
(Next: Elizabeth and Philip finally have it out.)
Poor Elizabeth is now really pregnant and exhausted.
He has to deliver the news about Ward killing himself, and about the sketch of Philip.
They apparently knew each other from that lunch club.
Oh, lord: that goddamn lunch club.
You know who hates being humiliated more than anyone?
She thanks him and sends him out.
Meanwhile, Michael has still more unpleasant news to deliver.
Turns out Macmillan thought he had a cancerous tumor but really it was benign.
Still, this loser wants to resign.
She visits him in the hospital and he’s super dramatic about the whole thing.
His mind can’t be changed, he’s resigning.
He suggests his replacement, her close friend the Lord Home of the Hirsel (great name).
Elizabeth is straight-up furious at every single dude in her life for failing her.
She switches over to calling him Mister Macmillan and man, is she mad.
“They’ve been too old, too ill, or tooweak.”
Guess which one you are, Harold!
“A confederacy of quitters.”
The look of disgust she gives him on the way out is priceless.
Philip returns and is shocked by protestors outside the gate.
Inside is Margaret, quite pregnant.
Tonywhose natural state is languidlies and smokes on the floor.
But Elizabeth has flown the coop to Scotland.
He makes his way to Scotland.
He’s very pensive.
If he was worried maybe his wife was ready to murder him, he’d be correct.
She is ice cold.
Philip tells her if she wants him he’ll be in the main house.
Neither one budges all night.
Perhaps these two are much more alike than we had previously imagined.
Finally, he breaks and goes to her.
And man, the rest of this scene is just so good.
She’s so mad and he tries to explain to her that he gets it.
And he’s there for her come what may.
She just gives him a withering look and says, “Ifonly.”
He finally is like, Okay, tell me what you are so mad about and what’s up.
She spits the name: Stephen Ward.
Philip does a hilarious kind of,Who?She tells him about the portraits.
Philip denies it all.
Especially the Mystery Man photo.
Elizabeth says that heisa mystery man to her.
She’s like, Listen, level with me.
Tell me the truth.
I can’t stand not knowing.
Philip walks over and looks at it.
He shuts the drawer.
“Like me.”
He says quietly he knows that his job is Elizabeth, he’s always known.
He’s in, not out.
And here is where Philip really rises to the occasion.
He says everything she needs to hear and…am I a sucker for believing him?
He’s in the roomwhen she gives birth.
She turns and smiles at him and you’re able to see how much she still adores him.
He grins at her.
Everyone is sort of stunned into silence and then…and THEN.
My favorite moment ever happens!!
Elizabeth gives the tiniest hint of a smile and reaches for Philip’s hand.
He turns to her with a smile.
AND YAY, we are ending with these two in good shape.
What a tremendous job they did and have certainly set the bar for seasons to come.
