Occasionally it is necessary to convene a conversation between Vulture writers to discuss an important and timely issue in culture. This time, Jackson McHenry and Kathryn VanArendonk come together to discuss what the hell The Crown’s fifth season wants us to feel about the existence of a royal family. At several points during this conversation, they will get frustrated and gesture irritably at their subordinates to find them a better pen. 

Note: This conversation discusses the entirety of season five and includes minor spoilers.

Kathryn VanArendonk: Now in its fifth season, The Crown is full of compelling, often subtle themes about character and generational change. How much does one’s temperament define one’s destiny? How has celebrity changed our perception of leadership in the last several decades? For many public figures, vulnerability and personal disclosure is seen as weakness, but is rigid opacity actually even more damaging? Is tweed actually a timeless classic?

At the heart of it, though, there’s a much simpler question to ask about The Crown, and it’s one that has become weirdly tricky to answer: Does The Crown like the royals? Surely…