The Crown S03E07，48岁的菲利普亲王遭遇了一场中年危机。导火线是电视机里的一场发布会。1969年的夏天，美国人在为人类的登月计划做最后的准备。美国航天局的三位宇航员尼尔-阿姆斯特朗，巴兹-奥尔德林和迈克尔-科林斯将代表人类跨出历史性的一步。菲利普亲王和电视机前的5亿人一样，对人类登月充满了好奇、激动和敬佩之情。更甚于旁人，他对科学家的此番壮举陷入一种狂热的痴迷，浓烈到甚至产生了嫉妒。他嫉妒电视里的年轻人可以一展抱负，实现飞天的梦想，探索宇宙的奥秘，揭开月球的面纱，而自己只能困宥于华丽空乏的宫廷，埋藏曾经的雄心壮志，成为女王的陪衬。这种不甘越来越难抑制，平静和满足的状态不复存在，他不断用长跑发泄，并且公开流露对教会的不屑。
和主教罗宾-伍德的两场对话是这集的高光。第一场对话发生在此刻。菲利普亲王耐着性子参加了一场聚会。牧师们担忧日益丰富的世界分散人们对教会的热忱。从前，人们从上帝这里寻求答案，现在，科学试图回答一切。
“Five hundred million people getting from televisions what they used to get from the church. A sense of coming together, a sense of community, of awe, of wonder. From religion to science. The greater the achievements in science, the more mysteries are explained,the more questions are answered, the less need there is for a god to provide answers.”
菲利普亲王显然觉得这是一场无病呻吟。人们不需要上帝，幸福来自行动，以及行动带来的果实。他略带讥讽地回应：
“I've never heard such a load of pretentious, self-piteous nonsense. What you lot need to do is to get off your backsides, get out into the world,and bloody well do something. That is why you are all so lost. I believe that there is an imperative within man, all men, to make a mark. Action is what defines us. Action, not suffering. All this sitting around thinking and talking...Let me ask you this.Do you think those astronauts up there are catatonic like you lot? Of course not. They are too busy achieving something spectacular. And as a result, they are at one with the world. At one with their God. And happy.“
阿波罗计划成功后，三位英雄开始在各个国家巡回旅行庆祝胜利。在英国站，他们受到了皇室的接待。菲利普亲王利用职务之便，争取了额外15分钟的私下会谈。为此，他还特意准备了几页问题，渴求科学家们帮他解答疑惑。这场对话没有顺利地进行下去。当被问到登上月球那一刻是什么感觉时，三位年轻人回答，他们的全部精力都集中在操作流程上，顾不上其它，并抱怨舱内的水冷却器发出的恼人声响。这个答案和亲王期望的相去甚远。他没有听到到把一件事情做到极致带来的幸福感如何如何强烈，也没有听完成一项令全世界瞩目的使命带来的成就如何如何不凡。三位年轻人反而满脸好奇又兴奋地问他，他有多少宫殿，有多少仆人，认识多少名流…这更让他大失所望。
原来没有人能自我满足。菲利普亲王羡慕阿姆斯特朗，奥尔德林和科林斯，反过来，他们也羡慕菲利普亲王。前者享受无尽荣耀和富贵繁华，后者享有卓越成就和举世功名，他们都代表了人类的最高追求和欲望。即便如此，他们自己本身也没有比普通人更满足。人是欲的化身。叔本华说，所谓人生，就是在欲望和欲望的成就之间不断流转。
菲利普亲王徘徊在这样的迷失里，月球上有什么？这集故事的小标题就是个答案—moondust。“nothing，just dust，silence，monochromatic void. we see no god behind those rocks and space dust，simply an unknowable vastness"。
最后他回到了主教罗宾-伍德那里，做了一场关于信仰的告白。
"Without faith, what is there? The loneliness and emptiness and anticlimax of going all that way to the moon to find nothing, but haunting desolation...ghostly silence...gloom.That is what faithlessness is. As opposed to finding wonder, ecstasy, the miracle of divine creation, God's design and purpose. the solution to our problems, I think, is not in the ingenuity of the rocket, or the science or the technology or even the bravery. No, the answer is in here.
Or wherever it is that faith resides. I now find myself full of respect and admiration and not a small part of desperation as I come to say help.Help me."
信仰是人类的终极归途吗？我无法回答，我还未抵达某个终点，从未有过极致光芒，并未尝过欲望的果实，但菲利普亲王的答案或许也是很多人的答案。
第10集
