Warning: Reviews of The Crown season 6 will contain spoilers.

What was it that killed Princess Diana? Yes, the official cause of death was a car accident, but there were so many contributing factors that seem insignificant at first. Conspiracy theories have swirled since 1997 about the myriad ways that the paparazzi, and even the royal family itself, were responsible, and Two Photographs provides enough evidence to make them all plausible.

The episode begins flashy enough, with a quick change of pace as it introduces the two photographers who will surely be responsible for the photographs of the title. They each have completely opposing strategies and viewpoints towards their profession – not to mention the technology – and they each fit in neatly with the “old versus new” that the show has cultivated throughout its run. Here is a monarchy that has always been at war with itself – or at least since the beginning of the show’s run. Which new traditions can be brought in, and which ones should be preserved? At the very least, Two Photographs introduces the royal family’s official website, so clearly the modern era is starting to win.

There’s a fascinating push and pull happening in this episode, as the Queen wrestles with how much she can and cannot control the narrative around Diana. She desperately wishes she would disappear from public life, but does her no favors when it’s clear that Diana’s personal life is overtaking everything else she does. The press conference after Diana’s landmine mission is as heartbreaking as it is infuriating. It’s an opportunity for Diana to do some good in the world, which she’s always strived for, but it’s immediately thrown aside once the photos of her and Dodi are made public. Peter Morgan loves nothing more than a visual metaphor, so thankfully he didn’t hit us over the head too much with Diana literally walking into a minefield.

Dominic West has been undersold during his time on The Crown, but Two Photographs shows just how delightful he is at getting into Charles’ headspace. So far this season, he’s been a kind of naïve doofus, and it’s on full display here. First when he arrives to pick up William and Harry, trying to mend bridges with Diana, and thinking that a few words will make them fully civil again. At least Diana plays along for the sake of their children. It’s not til later when he shows his true colors, taking the first opportunity to one-up her in the press.

But is he fully complicit, or was he manipulated into the photo shoot in Scotland? I’m reminded of the early days of the show, and the game of manipulation that Peter Townsend played, pitting Elizabeth and Margaret against each other. It certainly seemed like Charles was sympathetic to Diana as the press endlessly hounded her, but it didn’t take much convincing by his own version of Peter Townsend for him to plot against her.

Perhaps just as complicit in everything is Dodi’s father Mohamed (Salim Daw), who’s pulling all the strings to bring Dodi and Diana together, going so far as to check on whether they’re sleeping together yet. It’s a fascinating reveal that Elizabeth surmises Mohamed’s hidden agenda behind all of it is to eventually gain British citizenship, which she’s against. (There is a greatly unspoken racial aspect to all of this, which goes further to paint the Crown in a negative light.) But is this aspect factually accurate, or a fabrication for the show? This is the great debate about The Crown, and it’s never been a great concern for me, personally. The development actually paints Dodi as a kind of Shakespearean figure, tragically manipulated by his father’s blind ambitions.

The writing is on the wall for the inevitable, and part of the magic of this episode is in how Morgan shows that Diana’s death was more than just a horrible accident. Could it have been avoided? Yes and no. The paparrazi’s incessant coverage of even the most mundane developments with Diana certainly didn’t help, but Two Photographs smartly posits that there are enough guilty parties that stood idly by. Maybe it’s too early to tell in this final season, but it feels like The Crown is already back to its peak form.