Downton Abbey - I'm hooked

[Bruce Wayne]

Julius Caesar was delivered by C section, or Cesarian section. That's who it was named after.

Supposedly old Juli was delivered by C-Section.

 

[Worf]

With this series, it's hard because it is broadcast so many different places at different times. So I guess in consideration for everyone, if we're going to dish about a show, we should always include the "spoiler alert" at the very beginning of the message. Just a suggestion.

That is ALL I asked for... it's just a common courtesy.

Worf

 

[dhermann1]

Okay, Dhermann1, we know you don't like it.

But that's the tragedy. I love it, but it ANNOYS ME!

 

[AmateisGal]

But that's the tragedy. I love it, but it ANNOYS ME!

lol lol lol

 

[sheeplady]

Julius Caesar was delivered by C section, or Cesarian section. That's who it was named after. There's also a mention in Shakespeare's Macbeth. Macbeth would not be killed by any man by woman born. His killer (was it Macduff? or Malcolm? Whatever.) was "ripped untimely from my mother's flesh", i.e. C section. So it's been going on for centuries, probably millennia.

Although I knew of c-sections existing for a long time period, I guess I was more stunned that they used them for pre-e so early. I guess I always thought of toxemia as a death sentence before the 1930s or so, and that even into the 1960s many women died of toxemia (something extremely rare in developed nations today). I mean this was a world where diabetics tasted their urine to gauge insulin injections through the 1950s, I'd expect obstetrics to be behind that field.

 

[Worf]

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!




SPOILER ALERT!!!!!



DAD GUMMIT SPOILER ALERT!!!!!


Urrrrgh!!!! What an episode... Thank the Lord Above they're finally gonna resolve that prison situation... that was getting tiring. And that whole thing with the doctor lying to bring the family back together was another piece of hooey... Knowing what I know about Granny, I'd wouldn't trust a word from her. If'n she told me the sky was blue I'd go outside and double check! As for the rest, just more hemming and hawing... I've little patience for people unwilling to see the world as it is... as opposed to how they want it to be. Sure a certain amount of nostalgia is nice... a little rose colored optimism is even better but pig-headed ostrichism (my term I believe) get's annoying most rickey-tick.

Worf

 

[Zemke Fan]

Excellent (or at least satisfying) episode this week...

BTW, what's everyone's consensus about the year at this point in the series??

 

[Doctor Strange]

To avoid spoilers, don't look at it until you're done watching the third season, but the Wiki article on DA episodes provides the dates when each one take place:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downton_Abbey_episodes

This past week's took place in September 1920. Next week's finale (the Xmas special that aired several months after the rest of the series in the UK) skips forward a year to September 1921.

 

[dhermann1]

Small complaint: The jazz club scene featured people who danced like modern people who don't know how to dance. They ALWAYS do this in movies, have extras dancing who have no clue how to dance to period music. And the "20s jazz" they were playing was pretty crappy. It's not so hard to find charts for authentic early 20s music. Grumble.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Supposedly old Juli was delivered by C-Section.

As far as I recall -- and I haven't looked it up recently -- his mother continued to live for quite a while after his birth, so I'm inclined to think the story of Caius Julius arriving via C-section is a legend.

On the topic of "Downton Abbey" (half the people I talk to about the series pronounce it as "Downtown Abbey"), I've just recently begun to tape and watch it. It reminds me of the reputation of a series from the '70s, "Upstairs/Downstairs"; was that anything like this one in its focus on both the upper class and the servants in the same household? Apologies if someone else brought this up in the earlier 27 pages.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

It reminds me of the reputation of a series from the '70s, "Upstairs/Downstairs"; was that anything like this one in its focus on both the upper class and the servants in the same household? Apologies if someone else brought this up in the earlier 27 pages.

Masterpiece Classic has brought back Upstairs/Downstairs.

 

[sheeplady]

SPOILER ALERT.

What the hell was that??? Really???

 

[AmateisGal]

SPOILER ALERT

SPOILER ALERT

SPOILER ALERT

Dan Stevens wanted out. Fellowes tried to convince him to stay, even to do just a few episodes for the next season so they could ship Matthew off to a foreign country or something, but Stevens wouldn't do it. He has "other projects to pursue."

The whole thing just made me very, very upset. Why? Look at Maggie Smith. She's still doing movies and other things PLUS Downton Abbey. Dan Stevens jumped the ship that MADE him famous. He couldn't even be bothered to do this for his fans? To make Matthew's character bow out gracefully? Apparently not. I lost respect for him after this.

People in England were so upset after this aired that the show had to issue a press release stating why Matthew had to go. Fellowes didn't believe a divorce would work because Matthew and Mary's marriage was so strong. And since Stevens didn't want to do anymore episodes (really? Two episodes would have been so hard to schedule? Please.), they went this route.

 

[Gingerella72]

Ever notice how actors that bow out of the shows that made them famous, never really amount to much? It's like they're lured away by promises that the fans that love them will follow them wherever they go, never realizing that the fans are pissed that they abandoned them in their favorite show.

 

[AmateisGal]

Ever notice how actors that bow out of the shows that made them famous, never really amount to much? It's like they're lured away by promises that the fans that love them will follow them wherever they go, never realizing that the fans are pissed that they abandoned them in their favorite show.

Exactly. I think a lot of people (to judge by FB and Twitter and news stories) think him leaving like this was pretty crappy. His choice and his career, of course, but when you abandon a show that has made you famous...well, methinks he is lacking a bit in the integrity department.

And now that it's all over, can I just say that this season jumped the shark? I hope they can get back on track, but it was nothing compared to the first two, IMO.

 

[Gingerella72]

And now that it's all over, can I just say that this season jumped the shark? I hope they can get back on track, but it was nothing compared to the first two, IMO.

Really? How so?

 

[AmateisGal]

Really? How so?

Just unbelievable stuff. Sybil's independent character sort of went by the wayside. She was such a rebel and was really into women's rights, but then sort of faded into the background...Matthew's ridiculous notion of honor about Lavinia and how she died of a broken heart, so he couldn't possibly take her father's money to save his future home...the Earl's attitude toward Thomas' homosexuality...

To elaborate on that...if they had painted the Earl as a progressive character, yes, his reaction to Thomas might have been believable. But the thing is, they took great pains to show how the Earl was behind the times in about every way imaginable - women's rights, class status, managing the estate, etc., etc. He about blew a gasket when his family was being served luncheon by an ex-prostitute, but then he was perfectly okay with Thomas kissing Jimmy in his own house and thinking Thomas was "born that way"? The latter - being "born that way" is an attitude that has only presented itself within the past 30 years or so (I'm just guestimating). I don't buy it. It was completely out of the Earl's character and to my thinking, was a PC move done by the writers. The Earl would have sacked Thomas for doing what he did - not promote him - especially since he also knew that Thomas was a thief.

And Edith - I mean, good grief. That girl has NO breaks in life whatsoever. It's getting tiresome for her to NEVER find any sort of happiness in her relationships.

 

[Gingerella72]

I agree about Thomas's plotline. Very unrealistic. While I personally applaud the PC sentiments, the whole time I was shouting at the TV, "that NEVER would have happened then!!" Although I did get a kick out of the Earl's line, "If I had shouted about every boy that tried to kiss me at Eaton I'd have gone hoarse!" lol

I think Sybill's character and development got sort of truncated since the actress wanted off the show and they had to "kill her off." They have the chance to take up the women's rights issue with Edith in her role as journalist so I hope they show her going more in that direction next season, and that she gets the gumption to tell her father to stick it.

It felt very rushed in this final episode, but I was kind of hoping that Dr. Clarkson and Mrs. Crawley would become a couple.

 

[Worf]

Just a rule of thumb... if someone's happy on a show you love... even if for one episode... they're likely headed for a dirt nap. I have to concur... Dan Stevens should'a talked to Shelley Long (Cheers), Wayne Rogers, McLean Stevenson(MASH) and a million more I could mention. Grass ain't always greener...

Worf

 

[Gingerella72]

Yes. Totally off topic, but when it was announced that Aidan Turner (Mitchell) was leaving BBC's Being Human to go be Kili the dwarf on The Hobbit and that being in The Hobbit was going to shoot his career into the stratosphere, I just shook my head and sighed.