YMMV / The Hollow Crown

• Alternative Character Interpretation: It's Shakespeare, so this is practically a given. And in fact the entire series practically thrives on this.
• Broken Base: The existence of the 2016 continuation provoked this. Some people were happy that the Histories would be completed with the Wars of the Roses cycle, others felt it was a needless extension of something that was close to perfect. The casting of said series then caused its own Broken Base.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Bordering on an In-Universe example and perhaps somewhat inevitable given the casting, but Richard III certainly qualifies. Regardless of history, in the plays the series is based on, Richard is undoubtedly a villain (and even admits as such) but the series portrays him as being practically forced into it and it's not unknown for viewers to try and make even more excuses for the terrible things he does. The fact that the series came out in an arguable time of pro-Ricardian renaissance (what with the real Richard III's rediscovered remains having been just reburied with a state funeral a year prior to the debut of the show) probably adds to it.
• Evil Is Cool: Richard III practically embodies this trope. He murders his way to power (even killing his nephews), and is generally horrible...but he's also a Deadpan Snarker and is more than capable of overcoming his disabilities and holding his own in a fight.
• Funny Moments: The extemporised play between Hal and Falstaff at the Boar's Head is one of the great comic scenes—made even better when Tom Hiddleston takes the role of the king and does his best Jeremy Irons.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Considering both series have All Star Casts, there is a considerable portion of the audience who only tuned in for that reason.
• Narm Charm: The fact that Margaret, after her defeat at Tewkesbury, is apparently allowed to just wander around the palace making cursed prophecies. It adds a quite unintentional note of absurdity to the events of Richard III. It's even lampshaded by Rivers:
  "I muse why she's at liberty."
• Questionable Casting: Casting Benedict Cumberbatch as a deformed and undesirable (a fact he is constantly lamenting) murderer... In fairness, they do their best to make him look bad, and he naturally has an unusual look to him, but it still comes off almost silly whenever Richard starts moaning about how no one would ever love him. This irony may be seen as in-universe as well—right after this scene follows the one where he manages to woo Anne over the coffin of the dead king, to even his own amazement.
• Rooting for the Empire: Technically, you're not supposed to be rooting for Richard III at all. Doesn't seem to stop most people.
• Tough Act to Follow: Many considered this to be the case when the Wars of the Roses cycle was announced since the previous series had been so well-received.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: We never see Falstaff again after the newly-crowned Henry V publicly sheds all association with him at the end of Henry IV, Part 2. He dies offscreen at the start of Henry V and his reaction to Henry's desertion is only exposited through the minor characters of his friends. (This also occurred in reality: Falstaff proved so popular with audiences that Shakespeare ended up writing The Merry Wives of Windsor in which Falstaff is a major character).
• Values Dissonance: In Shakespeare's time, physical disabilities were considered a sign of a person's evil and/or punishment from God (not that writers don't still use this trope, but at least they get criticized for it now). That can make it jarring to watch even the pure-hearted Henry VI skip over Richard's reprehensible choices and insult him solely on the basis of his disability.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: Intentional or not, Season 2 / The Wars of the Roses attracted no shortage of political subtext, especially as a) the Color Blind Casting (particularly that of Sophie Okonedo) attracted much racist abuse in online media and b) the series came out just a month before the 2016 European Union referendum that led to "Brexit". The fact that Richard III's Rousing Speech at Bosworth can be easily read as xenophobic/anti-immigrant harangue (thrown against the invasion of Henry Tudor) is difficult to ignore—regardless of one's sympathies to Richard III's historical rehabilitation.

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