Kaka

Helena Bonham Carter's performance as the eccentric princess in this episode matches Vanessa Kirby's commanding performance from the first and second seasons. So, for fans of this bittersweet character full of love, sadness, anger and big emotions, this episode will be the right choice. Of course, once again, family ties and associated ancient wrongs and key decisions that influenced much of the sequence of events that followed are brought to the fore.

Technically, and in fact in terms of overall formal stylisation, it is certainly the most daringly shot episode to date. It's full of frenetic editing and interesting camera work, with plenty of boldly spectacular shots. Similarly, Diana's transformation from a shy little girl to a refined lady is portrayed with equal skill and confidence. Her natural charisma and vivaciousness brings the people to a boil and easily draws the attention of the crowd to herself, which is not at all to the Crown's liking.

Michael Fagan's troubles are portrayed with perhaps more veracity and urgency than he himself. Situations that an awful lot of people around the world have to deal with. The traditional inflexibility and inability of the authorities to change anything. Apathy, routine and the daily hell of the poor in a country with high unemployment. And as expected, the conversation between the Queen and the intruder has a very interesting dynamic and course. An unusually suspenseful and refreshing episode.

Parents vs their adult children. An interesting family relationship story and a great probe into the fragile bonds between older and younger generations, their different opinions and attitudes and often mutual misunderstanding. It's also probably the first episode that reveals all of the Queen's children.

The beginning of the end. Diana under pressure from the press for the first time, strong hints of anorexia, loneliness and isolation at Buckingham Palace, relational tensions depicted early on in a seemingly idyllic marriage.

The clash of the working middle class in the leadership of the political establishment, versus a bunch of aristocrats with all their annoying traditions and customs. Gillian Anderson impersonates Thatcher fantastically, and the Queen does her traditional thing. I wouldn’t consider this to be the best episode of the season, but it’s still the usual high standard.

Watching Titanic again after so many years, in a remastered 4K and 3D version is a truly sensual experience. All the more so when you watch this 25-year-old opus and realise that a better film will be hard to find in cinemas this year. Titanic resonates even more intensely when its screening is preceded by trailers for Quantumania, parallel universes, digital fests of all kinds, in short, recyclates that either make your head explode or your eardrums pop. But as soon as the old familiar melody plays after 20 minutes of trailer hell and the black and white "old" intro with the silhouette of the ship comes on, I am in my element. In 20 seconds, James Cameron produces more emotion in two cuts than all those future supercomics combined. Titanic is a celebration and homage to modern filmmaking, a benchmark of cinema. It stuns with its breathtaking fragility, old-world wisdom, palette of iconic scenes and colossal epic. The pinnacle of world cinema and deservedly one of the best pieces of all time. One of the few that has avoided ageing.

Few, if any, episodes had more going on than this one. The deadly IRA, an assassination attempt, Margaret Thatcher famously played by Gillian Anderson and finally the innocent Diana in the original opening. A very intense first episode that set forth the themes for the next few.

This season stumbles slightly behind the first two. It's not that the polished artistic value of the previous seasons was higher, but the change of the cast made an unpleasant crack at the beginning, which was later stabilized, but I can't help feeling that I would rather appreciate the original actors under the hands of make-up artists, but with the original acting appetite and style.

A very well portrayed toxic relationship between Margaret and her husband. Psychologically well thought out and superbly acted by the leads. Helena Bonham Carter may not have the subtlety and expressiveness of Vanessa Kirby, but she still plays the harried lady with great dignity.