There is a concept in television called a bottle episode. It’s where a show puts one or a few characters into a single location and films them in virtually real time for the entire episode. Think about Seinfeld waiting “5 or 10 minutes” for a table before the movie. Or Peralta and Holt trying to break an interrogation with perseverance and a guitar. Often cheap to produce and relying on a lot of improvisation, bottle episodes can be fillers between complex or effects-driven installments.
It is strange to think of this technique in regards to expansive, multi-character period-costume dramas like “The Crown.” With its fifth season recently released on Netflix, “The Crown” takes another time jump to move into the 1990s after it has already covered everything from Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1952 through the birth and lives of her kids in the 60’s and 70’s. Like the monarchy it dramatizes, the show covers every corner of the planet. Sometimes in a single episode. There are expansive balls and paparazzi and state visits with appropriately large crowds to greet the royals.
