One of the best historical dramas on TV or streaming, ever - The Crown

Season 2 of the Netflix original series The Crown not only lived up to the high standard it set in Season 1 but surpassed it - truly one of the great episodic historical dramas on TV or streaming ever. It's hard to imagine how much they spent on art direction for this series, but whatever amount they spent was well worth the cost: the look of the series from the tightest closeup (items on a desk top, wall hangings in every room or chamber, table settings) to the grandest panoramas (settings that seem to be in Africa, the South Seas, Australia; airplanes, trains, autos, cycles from the period; exterior shots) - just so clear and vivid that you could watch the whole series with sound on mute and still enjoy the spectacle. But of course you'd be missing some of the best acting performances on TV, esp that of the amazing Claire Foy as Elizabeth. Her every look, every inflection (w/ her 50 ways of uttering "yes" or "I see" in that clipped, nasal British upper-class manner), and of course we watch her mature into the role over the 2 seasons covering about 15 years of Elizabeth's life (season 2 ends ca 1963 w/ the Profumo affair). And then there's the writing (Peter Morgan), with each hour-long episode like a terrific drama that could stand alone yet connects across the span for a panoramic narrative; esp in season 2 each episode seems to take on a different theme or crisis - the Suez crisis, African independence, Phillips infidelities, the marriage of Princess Margaret, a visit from the Kennedys, Prince Charles in boarding school, to cite a few - and not one fell flat, each a near perfect drama in miniature, informative, moving, believable. Do I have a quibble? Well, sometimes the utterances are so aristo-mumbled that I'm baffled and have to pick up what's going on by watching the faces and body language. I guess I could play w/ subtitles or get a better sound bar. Otherwise, it's a near-perfect series.