Spoiler alert!!!
Well now, last night's episode of Downton Abbey was wonderful. I was completely caught up in the lives of the Grantham family and their servants in the expensive soap opera. I'd say the episode was quite satisfying, if the end hadn't left poor Bates in the custody of the police just after marrying Anna, and Matthew poised to make a martyr of himself because Lavinia, his self-sacrificing fiancée, happened upon him dancing with and kissing Lady Mary, and finally with Lavinia dead of a broken heart and the Spanish flu. And the dignified Lord Grantham dallies with Jane, the maid! Shocking, just shocking!
And isn't Bates, sexy, despite the fact that he's a tad overweight (and it's not all muscle!)? And Anna, with her hair down, is lovely. Remember the old movies with plain and prudish women characters who come alive as beauties, simply by letting their hair down? Of course, Anna smolders even with her hair hidden away in her cap.
Dame Maggie Smith, as the Dowager Duchess, speaks a good many brief lines which, if spoken by another actor, might be throwaways, but with Maggie, no lines are throwaways. She commands every scene where she appears. There's none like her. I had the great privilege to see Dame Maggie in Peter Shaffer's Lettece and Lovage in London from the second row. She was magnificent, and I shall never forget her performance.
What a change from last week's episode, which was ruthlessly edited into brief scenes with little context in so choppy a manner that I could barely follow the story. Downton Abbey is soap opera certainly, but, at its best, soap of a very high order.
Mimi, count me among the faithful to Downton Abbey and especially to the Dowager Countess, who steals every episode with her one-liners. I do have to say that her scene with Matthew was very touching. She may have started out pulling for a Mary-Matthew alliance for the obvious reasons but the strongest part of her argument was simply that she knows Mary is in love with him. And I simply swooned during the Mary-Matthew Dance Scene. No wonder Lavinia gave up the ghost after witnessing that. Yes, a satisfying episode, to be sure! (And what do you think will become of Thomas? Has he repented, or is he simply hatching another self-serving scheme?)
ReplyDeleteI do wish the Beeb wouldn't let people outside of the UK watch this drivel.
ReplyDeletePenny, Thomas may try to reform, but his villainous streak runs strong, and I doubt he'll succeed. Besides, if Thomas reforms, that's one less conflict, and we all know that conflict makes for a good story.
ReplyDeleteMatthew is no stranger to over-the-top performance in the poignant scenes, such as the deathbed scene with Lavinia and the graveyard scene with Lady Mary.
Neal, lighten up, luv, and allow us gullible colonials to have our fun. I was not all that taken with the series originally and wondered what all the fuss was about, but now I'm hooked. I'm curious. Did your Beloved watch the series?
I am totally hooked. I wept at O'Brian's tenderness. Such complex characters.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, what you say about the complexity of the characters is quite true. These people are not your usual cardboard soap opera characters.
ReplyDelete@theme: The Beeb doesn't control your remote's power button.
ReplyDelete@Fellow Downton fans: Next season with Shirley MacLaine as Cora's mother is bound to be even more delicious!
A meet-up between Dame Maggie and Shirley should be delicious, indeed, Bex.
ReplyDeleteWait until you see next week's episode. I've already seen it.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying not to watch the next episode.
ReplyDeleteWe ordered the DVD's as soon as we could, and they cam last week, but the Lovely Wife won't let me watch them, and wouldn't forgive me if I watched them without her.
I quite agree about Dame Smith. I was, in fact, thinking last night that no one could make of those lines what she does.
And the lovely bits, like Daisy switching on the lights in the kitchen (they've got electricity!), when her first lines in the first series were to question why electricity would ever be introduced to the kitchen!
(Yes, I have the DVD's of the first season, and I've watched them more than once. Why do you ask?)
I'm hopelessly taken by this series. I only saw the end last night. I have the DVDs now for both seasons, which I understand does not have the awful BBC America editing. That's one way they've gotten back at us colonials -- deciding that our attention spans are so short that we can't see full episodes. No matter -- I'm enjoying it immensely. (and it's ALL Elizabeth's fault for getting so many on to this - thank you, Elizabeth).
ReplyDelete(and what a fascinating word verification - "hotaity")
...and delighted I am that's the case Bex. I am of course secretly delighted at their ability to flog this stuff abroad, my licence fee would probably be extortionate without their guile in making money from other countries.
ReplyDeleteSo --I think it is the vile news paper mogul editor fiance that actually killed Bates's first wife (and yes --it felt like mighty-redemption seeing those two lovers in bed) --and perhaps the vile fiance killed Lavinia too --because remember he had something on her.... and I am thrilled that daughter #3 ran away with the help --LOVE it!
ReplyDeleteBut the best line of the night --I'm trying to remember the exact wording, something like --Don't be so defeatist dear, it's so middle class!
love it! We don't have TV here (too expensive) --but we do have internet, and so we are watching the episodes on-line!
James, I'll wait.
ReplyDeleteRmj, if you wish your marriage to remain intact, then you'll have to wait, too.
Klady, the episode last night seemed well edited. I don't know what the English version is like, but I completely suspended disbelief and sank into the story.
margaret, I never thought of the newspaper mogul as the murderer. If Lavinia was murdered, then Matthew's conscience might be eased. On the other hand, with dangerous strains of flu, relapses often occur. We shall see. We all know Bates didn't do the murder.
The bed scene was lovely and tasteful.
Well, I loved every minute of it last night! But I can feel no empathy for Mary. She seems to show herself to be very unfeeling for everyone except herself. Her insensitivity for others just makes me want to get her comeuppance. Although her line about not being able to change anything having to do with her and Matthew's situation was a good one. It's sort of like my mother saying, "You've made your bed, now lie in it." I hate her 'husband to be.'
ReplyDeleteLavinia took something herself, I think, either that or just died of a broken heart as was said.
"All this unbridled joy has given me quite an appetite!"
ReplyDeletesusan s., I don't feel as harshly toward Mary as you. She's human, and I believe she's matured somewhat in the course of the show. To be yoked to the horrible Richard will be a punishment, indeed.
ReplyDeleteYes, that was a good line.
I'm actually hoping something bad will happen to the horrible Richard! And I'm pulling for a real change in Mary, but neither one may happen before next season!
ReplyDelete(I hope something horrid happens to Horrible Richard too.)
ReplyDeleteI think you two can be pretty sure that all will not end well for Richard. One way or another, he will get his comeuppance.
ReplyDelete"All this unbridled joy has given me quite an appetite!"
ReplyDelete"that's strange darling...it simply makes me hurl."
Oh dear! I hope you're near a receptacle.
ReplyDeleteI'm on the whole with Theme. I did quite enjoy the first series but couldn't warm to the second, for whatever reason. I liked the idea of the younger sister running off with the chauffeur tho. Not sure if it happened, however, since I never got round to the final episode. I saw Michelle Dockery play Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion at the Old Vic three or so years ago. She was quite funny.
ReplyDeleteCathy, I'm a recent convert to the show. One episode in Series 2 was so choppy and badly edited that I could hardly follow the story, so the results this season are mixed. The most recent episode was very good.
ReplyDeleteLady Edith is off with the chauffeur AND with her father's blessing.
I liked the idea of the younger sister running off with the chauffeur tho.
ReplyDeleteArgh, the one s/l that makes ME want to *hurl*. With the flu coming on, I was all "Please let Branson cark! Please let Branson cark! Please, please, PLEASE!" I loathe that insufferable twit [And, as you may remember from my comments here last season, I was SO hoping for a ship---or at least some subtext---between my lovely Sybil and cute Gwen the maid--turned-secretary. Now THAT was right Up my Downstairs! ;-) Please, Gwen, come back next year---maybe Shirley Maclaine will require a secretary to keep track of her Roarin 20s stocks&bonds?]
If Shirley Maclaine (I think her her name will be "Martha Levinson"?) gets wind of M'Lord's dalliance, I trust she'll tear him a new one!
Was anyone else reminded, w/ Lavinia's passing, of Sir Larry O carking at the end of "Brideshead Revisited"? Lavinia imparted a parting Protestant guilt-trip, while Julia got freaked into a Catholic guilt-trip by daddy's crossing (as it were). The results were the same: "We can't be together now". Oy vey...
Do love me my DA. Don't fight it, Brit snobs---give in to the suds! ;-D
"Now, Sybil dear, this sort of thing is all very well in novels, but in reality, it can prove very uncomfortable."
ReplyDeleteJCF, I had to look up 'cark'. I'll thank you to use words that I understand in the future. ;-) Ah, but you're heartless about Branson, although he does seem quite an earnest and humorless lad.
ReplyDeleteSo you wanted a lesbian romance? Well, as KJ hinted, in the period in which the show is set, the affair between the two women would have had to remain hidden away in the closet. But then again, the roaring 20s are set to arrive...
Now that you mention it, I see the two deathbed scenes have similarities, although Lord Marchmain was no martyr.
There's going to be a lesbian romance in the second series of Upstairs Downstairs, if that's travelling to the US. Starring that woman who played Dr Corday in ER.
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched enough of Downton Abbey to be put off by the chauffeur's earnestness :) I just like the idea of one of the characters running away, I think. If that was my family that's what I'd do. That may well say more about me than anything else.
Cathy, you did run away. :-)
ReplyDeleteEdith trained to be a nurse, and once she had a taste of doing useful work, she didn't want to return to a life of wealthy leisure, drinking tea, and dressing up for formal dinners.
I expect the second series of U/D will show over here. The first series was enormously popular.
You mean Sybil trained as a nurse, though Edith's character became far more likable this season.
ReplyDeleteIf I hinted of a lesbian hook-up, it was inadvertent. You know how I feel about that whole gay thang.
KJ, now you're confusing me. Sybil is the one without a boy friend. She was joking about being the maiden aunt. Maybe she's a lesbian, but I know how you feel about the whole gay thing, so I won't say more.
ReplyDeleteRemember the maiden aunts of days of yore, who lived with their close 'friends'? Oops! I said more.
I'm not intentionally trying to confuse you, but gently guide you to clarity. Edith is the "old maid," and Sybil is the nurse, marrying below her station.
ReplyDeleteKJ, it pains me so to say it, but you are right, and I am wrong. I had the two Ladies confused. Thanks for the correction. (I nearly choked on the words as I typed them. You know I don't like to be wrong!) ;-)
ReplyDeleteYou weren't wrong; You were....confused. Let's blame those British dialects!
ReplyDeleteYes, of course, the British dialects, and Edith and Sybil sound so much alike.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm pondering whether confused is better worse than wrong.
I thought I'd give you something with which to occupy your day.
ReplyDeleteAh, but you're heartless about Branson, although he does seem quite an earnest and humorless lad.
ReplyDeleteOr perhaps "gutless"! I got a (admittedly sick) satisfaction from seeing Branson (actually, the actor who plays him, Allen Leech) hung, drawn and quartered two days later on "The Tudors" [BBC reruns of]. You can see the scene (as well as the history) here...but the vid (very artful) is NOT for the squeamish! }-X [Though it's certainly no worse than the similar scene at the end of "Braveheart"]
Oh The Tudors, that was such a great big steaming pile of codswallop, I thought ... lots of bare bewbage and bumbage and not too much proper history. Also it was very annoying how whatsisface as Henry VIII never got any older or fatter in appearance but just took to making a silly actorish groan when he got up out of his chair by way of trying to suggest he wasn't young any more. You're right tho JCF, the torture scenes throughout were not for the faint of heart.
ReplyDeleteI hope Edith won't end up an "old maid". That was very mean, the way Lady Mary saw off her (admittedly boring) suitor in series one.
ReplyDeleteDid they wear corsets and such by the time WWI rolled round, or had they given up that sort of thing by then? ... I have the feeling they didn't, but am curious.
As well outfitted as they are, Cathy, I would believe that the huge house dwellers still did wear them thru to the mid '20s. It will be fun to see what next year brings in season 3.
ReplyDeleteJCF, I'll take a pass on the video, as my stomach is not as strong as it once was. You really have it in for Leech, don't you?
ReplyDeleteI didn't see the Tudor series, and after what you've said, Cathy, I have no regrets.
From Wikipedia:
Shortly after the United States' entry into World War I in 1917, the U.S. War Industries Board asked women to stop buying corsets to free up metal for war production. This step liberated some 28,000 tons of metal, enough to build two battleships.[16] The corset, which had been made using steel stays since the 1860s, further declined in popularity as women took to brassieres and girdles which also used less steel in their construction. Corsets fell from popularity during the late 1910s but forms of body shaping undergarments often called corsets continued to be worn well into the 1920s.
Will we get to see the younger ladies dressed as flappers doing the Charleston?
ReplyDelete"lots of bare bewbage and bumbage"
ReplyDeleteYou say that like it's a bad thing, Cathy? ;-D
"You really have it in for Leech, don't you?"
Not really, Mimi. Just Branson: he's w/ MY Lady Sybil---to the scaffold w/ 'im! >;-p
Back to "The Tudors": I agree, Cathy, that I've felt cheated that they didn't put JRM in a fat suit (esp. when I *thought* that's where they were going at the end of S2---when he tore into that {Ew} Swan Pot-Pie).
But overall, I've liked it. I've felt the showrunners have been very fair, in showing *everybody* to be a rat b@st@rd! [Inc "Saint" Thomas More, in S1. Henry "I've heard you've been burning heretics?" TM "They were {awkward pause} well done." Touche'!]
*
"Will we get to see the younger ladies dressed as flappers doing the Charleston?"
Oh, what a lovely image. ;-)
JCF, I just knew you were going to make that comment!! ;) In fact I have just come back specifically to mention that there is in fact nothing at all wrong with a bit of bare bewbage and bumbage :)
ReplyDeletePS yes I agree about the fat suit, one of the things that made it all rather silly. Peter O'Toole was in it at one point playing a Pope of some kind, I think, which was quite a nice touch.
ReplyDeleteRe the corsetry, I had a vague feeling that the full-on laced number had been abandoned by then but that some form of restrictive undergarment was still in place. Did they build any battleships with the liberated stays, I wonder?? ... I do hope so :)
Imagine! There was enough steel from the corsets to build two battleships!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Mimo, here's her unedited comment posted at MadChauffeur's blog from Cathy's tiny notebook keyboard (after a dram or two of single malt?):
ReplyDeleteHi everyone. Mimi here from Newcastle.
Johnathan has a sweet side that he doesn't reveal very often. He was quite kind an patient with me when we went shopping for the prop0er shoew for me for trekking in Scotland. He picked ouu thick socks for me qnd even noticed when the clerk at checkout was charging me too much for my shoes. He's a lovely man, you know even if he's shy aqbout letting that part of himself shop.
Mimo
I do love "the prop0er shoew" and "he picked ouu thick socks for me" :) The name Mimo is the funniest bit but there are some other mad typos in there as well.
ReplyDeleteI still laugh to tears when I read the comment. "he's shy aqbout letting that part of himself shop" is pretty funny too.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's the word "shop" that does it :)
ReplyDeleteWas I drunk, or was it the tiny keyboard?
ReplyDelete