Fagan

The Crown 4×5

Queen Elizabeth II: The prime minister came to see me today.
Prince Philip: I hope you rolled out the red carpet.
Queen Elizabeth II: Why would I do that?
Prince Philip: Everyone was against us going to the Falklands, but she believed we could pull it off, and now victory's within sight. Her victory. She's finally doing what we've been waiting years for someone to do.
Queen Elizabeth II: Which is?
Prince Philip: Lead this country firmly and decisively after years of incompetence and mismanagement.

Queen Elizabeth II: Who are you?
Michael Fagan: My name is Michael.
Queen Elizabeth II: Out! Get out!
Michael Fagan: You have nothing to fear from me.
Queen Elizabeth II: There is an armed policeman outside this door.
Michael Fagan: No, there isn't.

Queen Elizabeth II: What do you want? If it's money...
Michael Fagan: I don't want money. I don't want anything. I just wanna talk to you, that's all, to tell you what's going on in the country. 'Cause either you don't know, or you don't care.
Queen Elizabeth II: Of course I care. I care very deeply indeed. What a thing to say.

Michael Fagan: Just… gimme a minute, will ya? I'll sort myself out, I'll say what I gotta say, and then I'll go! You don't have a cigarette handy, do ya?
Queen Elizabeth II: No. Filthy habit.
Michael Fagan: I know, I know.

Michael Fagan: I just thought it might be good for you to meet someone normal who can tell it to you, you know, as it is.
Queen Elizabeth II: I meet normal people all the time.
Michael Fagan: No, you don't. Everyone you meet's on best behavior. Bowing and scraping. That's not normal.
Queen Elizabeth II: And this is normal?
Michael Fagan: It could be, if I ever calm down.

Michael Fagan: The richest woman in the world, but look, it's not even electric!
Queen Elizabeth II: What?
Michael Fagan: Your toothbrush. That's the thing about this place. It's even posher than you'd think and yet more rundown.
Queen Elizabeth II: Rundown?
Michael Fagan: Oh yeah. Corridors and state rooms? Shocking. Chipped paint, peeling wallpaper, stains. Decorator. Can't help noticing.
Queen Elizabeth II: Is that what you do?
Michael Fagan: Painter-decorator. You should hire me. You might need a glazier too. I broke a window this time.

Queen Elizabeth II: What is the matter with you? This is private property.
Michael Fagan: No, it's not. It's state property.
Queen Elizabeth II: Either way, you're trespassing.
Michael Fagan: Which isn't a crime. Not if I don't steal anything.
Queen Elizabeth II: You stole a bottle of wine last time.
Michael Fagan: Only to work up the courage to speak to you.

Michael Fagan: I've tried everything else. Writing letters, speaking to my MP. Fat lot of good any of that did. Mirage of democracy. So I've come to you, the head of state. You're my last resort. Someone who can actually do something.
Queen Elizabeth II: What is it you'd like me to do?
Michael Fagan: Save us all from her.
Queen Elizabeth II: Who?
Michael Fagan: Thatcher. She's destroying the country.

Michael Fagan: We've got more than three million unemployed. More than at any time since the Great Depression. Doesn't that bother you?
Queen Elizabeth II: Yes, it bothers me greatly. But there's nothing I can do about it. When you've been in my position as long as I have, you see how quickly and how often a nation's fortunes can change. Joblessness, recession, crises, war. All these things have a way of correcting themselves. Countries bounce back. People do. Because they simply have to.
Michael Fagan: That's what I thought. That I'd bounce back... And then I didn't. First the work dried up, then my confidence dried up. Then… the love in my wife's eyes dried up. And then you begin to wonder, you know, where's it gone?

Michael Fagan: You may think you're off the hook, but she's got her eye on your job, too. You'll be out of work soon.
Queen Elizabeth II: Let me assure you, Mrs. Thatcher is an all-too-committed monarchist.
Michael Fagan: She has an appetite for power which is presidential, and in this country, a president and a head of state cannot coexist. Mark my words, she's put us out of work. She's quietly putting you out of work.

Queen Elizabeth II: Is there anything else you'd like to say to me?
Michael Fagan: No. Thank you.
Queen Elizabeth II: I do hope they don't make things too difficult for you in light of this.
Michael Fagan: Thank you. Well, goodbye.

Queen Elizabeth II: I shall bear in mind what you've said. Now perhaps that cup of tea.

Queen Elizabeth II: While he may be a troubled soul, I don't think he's entirely to blame for his troubles, being a victim of unemployment, which is now more than twice what it was when you came into office just three years ago.
Margaret Thatcher: If unemployment is temporarily high, ma'am, then it is a necessary side effect of the medicine we are administering to the British economy.
Queen Elizabeth II: Shouldn't we be careful that this medicine, like some dreadful chemotherapy, doesn't kill the very patient it is intended to heal?

Queen Elizabeth II: If people like Mr. Fagan are struggling, do we not have a collective duty to help them? What of our moral economy?
Margaret Thatcher: If we are to turn this country around… we really must abandon outdated and misguided notions of collective duty. There are individual men and women, and there are families. Self-interested people who are trying to better themselves. That is the engine that fires a nation.

Margaret Thatcher: My father didn't have the state to rely on should his business fail. It was the risk of ruin and his duty to his family that drove him to succeed.
Queen Elizabeth II: Perhaps not everyone is as remarkable as your father.
Margaret Thatcher: Oh, you see, that is where you and I differ. I say they have it within them to be.

Margaret Thatcher: Now, if you will excuse me, I really must go.
Queen Elizabeth II: Where to?
Margaret Thatcher: To the victory parade at the City of London.
Queen Elizabeth II: A victory parade?
Margaret Thatcher: Yes, ma'am. We have just won a war.

Prince Philip: Well, she's trying to protect you.
Queen Elizabeth II: From what?
Prince Philip: From lunatics.
Queen Elizabeth II: Normal people. My subjects.
Prince Philip: Come on. That man was clearly a lunatic. And a fool.
Queen Elizabeth II: Yes, but in the best sense, like Lear's fool.
Prince Philip: Don't get all… Shakespearean with me.

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