Downton Abbey!

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Nick
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Re: Downton Abbey!

Post by Nick »

Was I alone in finding this years Xmas special to be very unsatisfying? Not at all happy with the ending!
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Re: Downton Abbey!

Post by Eddie Muir »

I agree with you, Nick. I particularly disliked the distasteful and unnecessary way the Christmas special ended. :cry:
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Re: Downton Abbey!

Post by Julie2owlsdene »

I enjoyed Downton very much. Okay, the ending was sad, but the writer didn't have much choice really, I don't think. Matthew didn't want to do another series, don't know why, when the series is such a hit, so when the new filming starts, he won't be there. So the writer had to kill him off, as they didn't want the couple to suddenly split! Sad, but it will be interesting now to see how the series will progress without Matthew, as he was one of the main characters for me. :(

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Re: Downton Abbey!

Post by pete9012S »

Yes,I agree totally that the ending was gruesome and bloody.My wife and I felt something awful (as I'm sure many others also did)was in store for poor Matthew after listening to Lord Grantham's effusive and glowing praise of him as a jolly good chap who had saved the Downton family estate.

This feeling of impending doom for the poor blighter was further enhanced by the gooey display of pre and post childbirth affection between Matthew and Lady Mary throughout the episode.

But overall my wife and I enjoyed the sumptuous televisual feast that a Downton Abbey Christmas Episode has become.

My wife and I sat down expectantly to watch it together last night with our real single malt whiskey and imaginary midge nets carefully installed alongside us!

I thought it was an inspired move on Julian Fellows part to show the Grantham/Crawley family in their natural summer habitats as they moved around their social world and peers in a world resplendent with opulence and grandeur.

The Scottish 'Picnic' they enjoyed by the lake was incredible to behold with its attention to detail and the comfort the gentry enjoyed even when 'roughing' it!

The Scottish landscape was truly stunning and extremely beautiful.How majestic and awe inspiring this country truly is.

We of course had heard the rumours that the actor who plays Matthew was considering some alternative offers to appear in panto,and also to appear on stage on Broadway and thus felt that his future with the show may have been left as a cliffhanger of some sort.

We were not expecting him to be violently and dramatically killed off though.I'm not a medical man,but it would appear that he was killed in his car accident? It certainly looked that way to me.

My wife and I discussed his demise and pondered whether it was actually a brave, strong move by Julian Fellows.
We felt that he seems to use all his characters the way an artist uses colours and washes as a palette in his paintings.

Perhaps Julian feels it is best not to be held to ransom about the future plans and projects by any of the actors (even lead ones) of his extremely successful show.

The actors all state that even they don't know what future Julian's plots hold in store for them.
Did Julian plan to kill Matthew off himself as part of his own plot? Perhaps not.But he seems to be supremely confident in his ability to weave new unknown actors in with his established characters at will.

We particularly enjoyed the way Lord Grantham's family were loyal,diplomatic and supportive to the extremely strained "Shrimpie", the Marquess of Flintshire,his wife and wild child daughter,who it seems is going to stay with with Lord and Lady Grantham whilst her Mother and Father are way.

In fact so much of last night's episode showed how supportive all elements of the world that made up the world of Downton Abbey were towards each other.

There were so many enjoyable sub plots and great lines to feast on......the courting of Mrs Patmore by the carry on style randy new grocer/supplier to Downton,Cheeky!

Loved the way Mrs Hughes kindly steered Mrs Patmore away from culinary and romantic disaster.

Also, we saw the Downton Doctor moving in romantically for Mrs Isobel Crawley. This was handled well by her character I felt , and I especially admired the way Mrs Crawley gently deflated his impending prospective marriage proposal bubble with dignity,tact and courtesy in such a smooth way that it allowed the two characters to remain close friends.

Also resolved was the simmering bad feeling between 'Jimmy' or James and 'man's man',Thomas Barrow ,due to Thomas taking a severe beating on the inebriated James' behalf by some fairground toughs.Good stuff!

Two favourite characters I enjoyed watching last night were the sublime Lady Edith Crawley, played by Laura Carmichael whose characters tragic love life with prospective beau's wife installed in an asylum is like something straight out of a Bronte/Austin novel.

The other being the hilarious butler/valet Molesley, Matthew Crawley's Valet, played by Kevin Doyle.What a good actor he is ,who convincingly and hilariously portrayed a man totally inebriated due to drinking the spiked drink originally meant for Curtain Hair,sorry Sarah O'Brien, Lady Grantham's Lady's Maid, played by Siobhan Finneran!

What will the future hold for Downton Abbey? Only time will tell.It will be interesting to see how the loss of strong lead characters affects the show.
One fear I had was happily not realised,that the incredible Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, played by Maggie Smith did not pass away or leave Downton.I fear that when her time at Downton is over that will signal the final curtain for the Grantham Dynasty.

Finally,my wife and I wondered what someone from that era or old enough to remember that time period would think of this amazing drama.Would they find it accurate and authentic?
Don't think there's anyone quite old enough on the forums to answer that one,but someone may know someone somewhere who remembers that time period.
Might ask my wife to ask some of the residents in the nursing home she manages.
Some of the inmates, sorry residents there are over 100 years old!

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Pete
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Re: Downton Abbey!

Post by Icecream342 »

My granny, my brother, my mum and I all thought the episode was a bit rubbish
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Re: Downton Abbey!

Post by pete9012S »

What did you think of tonight's show?
Losing important cast members might have made Downton a little less appealing to watch,but I found myself enjoying this 1st episode on the whole.
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Re: Downton Abbey!

Post by Julie2owlsdene »

I enjoyed the return of Downton Abbey. I liked the way it was 6 months on from Matthew's demise, and that Lady Mary had been in mourning for all that time. I guess in those days without all the help there is out there today from support groups, 6 months wasn't all that long to go into mourning. Look at Queen Victoria?

I'm glad the nanny was quickly disposed off? I was a bit surprised that Cora's lady maid had left, but then I suppose if the original actress couldn't carry on with that role due to other commitments, then she had to be written out somehow.

All in all I enjoyed it. I hope the series turns out to be just as good as the rest.

8)
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Re: Downton Abbey!

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

** SPOILER WARNING**




I was sorry at Miss O' Brien's sudden departure. She was an intriguing character and I felt there was a lot of scope for more storylines involving her.

I'm enjoying the scenes between Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes (seems we're about to learn about Carson's past), and I love the character of Lady Edith. I'm sure Edith couldn't have imagined back in 1912 that she was going to be involved in so much drama - she was very much the "overlooked" sister but is now leading the most unconventional life.

Funny that the nanny came and went so quickly - we barely had time to get to know her.

Violet (Maggie Smith) is fabulous as always and it's nice to see the warmer rather than the abrasive side of her as she gives much-needed support to Lady Mary and others, who have found it hard to function since the loss of Matthew.

Mrs. Patmore and Daisy are also favourites of mine and I was touched by Mrs. Patmore's confession concerning the Valentine card.

Once I got used to the fact that six months had passed, I soon felt back in the swing of things and I'm eager to see how things will develop. I find the flighty Rose a little wearying and I hope we'll find out that there's more to her character in this series.
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Re: Downton Abbey!

Post by Julie2owlsdene »

I agree about Rose, Anita, I think we'll learn more of her in this series.

It was nice seeing a new invention being introduced into the kitchen, in the form of the electric whisk. :lol:

8)
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Re: Downton Abbey!

Post by Ming »

The electric whisk was a lovely bit - similar to Carson using the telephone and the Crawleys the gramophone in previous seasons. :D :lol:

I really do not like the character of Edna Braithwaite, it feels as if she's replacing Miss O' Brien - both in her profession and her interaction with Thomas (I still can't think of him as Barrow). Thomas and Edna, it seems, will soon become thick as thieves and wreak havoc all over again, but I found O' Brien doing that more enjoyable.

I was very touched by the Cheeky Charlies' past, and it's so refreshing to see such a different side of Carson. Carson is one of my favourite characters, mainly because of the complexities in his personality - he's so formal and stiff, but when he is around Mrs Hughes, Mary, or the children, he seems to be a different person altogether - a mentor, a friend, and generally, a human being rather than a butler.

I too found Mrs Patmore's Valentine confession very sweet, and Daisy's acceptance of it lovely as well - "I may not have a Valentine but I certainly have a very good friend."
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Re: Downton Abbey!

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I'm a fan of Carson too.
Ming wrote:The electric whisk was a lovely bit - similar to Carson using the telephone and the Crawleys the gramophone in previous seasons. :D :lol:
Yes, and I remember Violet having qualms about electric lights in the first series!

Despite Mr. Bates' name being cleared, I can't help feeling that there's something rather sinister about him. He looks a bit shifty and sometimes seems to smirk. What happened to his injured leg, by the way? Much was made of it in the first series and it prevented him doing his job properly, but now it doesn't seem to bother him.

Last week we watched an episode from a DVD of Jeeves and Wooster that we'd picked up in a charity shop. It was the early 1990s TV show starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. The story took place in a large house and we recognised it as Highclere Castle, which is where Downton Abbey is filmed. It was funny to see the house, grounds, stairs, passages and library in a completely different context!
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Re: Downton Abbey!

Post by Ming »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:Despite Mr. Bates' name being cleared, I can't help feeling that there's something rather sinister about him. He looks a bit shifty and sometimes seems to smirk. What happened to his injured leg, by the way? Much was made of it in the first series and it prevented him doing his job properly, but now it doesn't seem to bother him.

Last week we watched an episode from a DVD of Jeeves and Wooster that we'd picked up in a charity shop. It was the early 1990s TV show starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. The story took place in a large house and we recognised it as Highclere Castle, which is where Downton Abbey is filmed. It was funny to see the house, grounds, stairs, passages and library in a completely different context!
I never noticed Mr Bates' smirk before but now that you mention it I can quite clearly remember several instances of him smirking. I didn't picture him as shifty, though - but I didn't really like him either mainly because he was such a goody two shoes. I like my people to have faults - that makes them more realistic and easier to identify with. Funnily enough Anna is also as kind as Mr Bates but she doesn't get on my nerves at all.

I wonder, does Mr Bates still use a walking stick? I cannot remember him using it in the past two episodes.

That is interesting news about Jeeves and Wooster, Anita. Do you remember which episode it was? I think I still have the DVD of it but I am not sure. I would certainly like to compare the different sets, though.
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Re: Downton Abbey!

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

It was my dad who bought the Jeeves and Wooster DVD while he was staying with us, Ming, and he has now returned to France and taken it back with him. I know it was a DVD of the second series but I'm not sure which episode we watched. It's likely that Highclere Castle features in more than one episode though. I missed the start, and only came out of the kitchen to watch it when my son called me to say that Jeeves and Wooster were at the "Downton Abbey house".

Edit: Just checked on IMDB and the story we watched was 'The Silver Jug (or Jeeves Saves the Cow Creamer)', Series 2, Episode 1.
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Re: Downton Abbey!

Post by Julie2owlsdene »

They are showing the Jeeves and Wooster on Gold at the moment, and that episode you mentioned was on last week, Anita. I too was surprised and delighted to see they were using Highclere Castle as one of the locations. A very popular place even back then for filming.

Last nights episode was very good of Downton. Pity they had Anna being a bit nieve towards that other servant(can't remember his name) and of course it ended with her being assaulted. She should have told her hubby, but I guess that would spoil what else is to obviously come from that episode. I guess everyone now will be watching to see the outcome. :)

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Re: Downton Abbey!

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

What a coincidence that you also saw that episode of Jeeves and Wooster last week, Julie!


*** SPOILER WARNING FOR DOWNTON ABBEY SERIES 4***


Yes, Anna is going to make her husband suspicious by not telling him what happened - though trying to conceal it makes for a more tense and dramatic storyline! I wonder if the valet had treated other women like that before? If no one speaks out, there may be further victims.

Interesting that the card game played by the servants was Racing Demon. Jack, Peggy, Mike and Nora play that in The Secret of Moon Castle. I hadn't realised each player needed a full deck of cards - or that the game was so fast and furious!

Who looks after little Sybil and George now? I don't remember seeing them in yesterday's episode.
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