Downton Abbey - I'm hooked

[The Wiser Hatter]

Oh the last episode showed here good. I felt they ended on a real sad note this year. But this really is a soap opera really so what to I know. I just think it was a real downer ending. I know Dan wanted to leave the show and this was one of the ways he could have left. But the viewers had just began getting over the Sybill's death and he comes Tom's. I suspect the show will jump ahead a few years at the beginning of next season so that we do not have to go thru Mary's heartbreak to start a season. There always has to be a balance of bad things happening and good things happening for viewers to enjoy a show. This season had too much dark stuff going on for me. But I enjoyed it none the less.

 

[Zemke Fan]

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.

With a FEW notable exceptions. George Clooney being one and Julianna Margulies another.

And now that it's all over, can I just say that this season jumped the shark?

Yep. The shark hath been jumped. I'm out.

 

[McMurdo]

It was a sad ending to the season, I have always thought the story of Downton was really the story of Matthew and Mary. I was glad to see that they got the highland wear correct, as it is something many costume designers get wrong.

 

[olive bleu]

Well, unfortunately, i accidentally read a spoiler so I knew Matthew was going. It kind of ruined the fun of watching the last episode as I spent the whole time wondering how/when it was going to happen.Other than that, I didn't feel that there was too much going on in that episode that will keep me wondering til next season.

I did kind of feel that It was sort of rushed through..just no real "meat" to it. that being said, whatever i felt was lacking will not be enough to persuade me to stop watching it.I'll still be counting down the days come next winter,

 

[Fletch]

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...

That's a concession to the times. There was no place for a woman of the uppercrust to be a rebel in the 20s unless she made the break and went full bohemian. Marrying an Irish Republican newspaperman and going to Dublin wasn't going to give her that option. She put her rebellion on hold for the love of a rebel.

the Earl's attitude toward Thomas' homosexuality [...] 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.

I don't disagree. They know their audience, and gays are a serious and opinionated segment of that audience. It goes with the period and the genre.

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.

Again, that's a concession to the times. Even a woman from a noble family had an early sell-by date back then. "Suitable" men don't bother with her.

 

[AmateisGal]

Again, that's a concession to the times. Even a woman from a noble family had an early sell-by date back then. "Suitable" men don't bother with her.

I disagree on this point. With the shortage of men due to the war and Edith being the middle daughter with no good prospects, there really shouldn't have been any earthly reason why the Earl and the Dowager would have interfered with her marriage to Sir Anthony. They probably should have been glad she was marrying at all.

 

[dhermann1]

Also, if they're so all fired "traditional" in their outlook, older man younger woman marriages were MUCH more traditinal then than now in that class. Pretty silly plot angle. Like we've come top expect from Downton.

 

[Lily Powers]

The Earl... 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).

Sometimes it seems as if the "indiscretions" of women were less tolerated only because they were women (the servant who sold her body to earn money to feed her child was bad, but the men who bought her services were just being men - that type of mindset). I thought maybe the Earl was so dismissing of Thomas' actions because perhaps not all the boys who the Earl claimed tried to kiss him in school failed in their attempts.

The "born that way" thinking was actually posed by a German writer, Karl Heinrich Ulrichs in the 1860's.

The next season certainly has left a lot of doors open for new characters and story lines.

 

[AmateisGal]

The "born that way" thinking was actually posed by a German writer, Karl Heinrich Ulrichs in the 1860's.

But was it a normal mindset among the English aristocracy in the 1920s? That's where I doubt the authenticity of the Earl saying it.

 

[Rathdown]

But was it a normal mindset among the English aristocracy in the 1920s? That's where I doubt the authenticity of the Earl saying it.

Well, that was certainly the mindset of my grandparents generation (married in 1909) and of their social set. As long as one "didn't do it in the streets and frighten the horses" it was accepted, but never commented upon, at least not in company. Those who didn't abide by the unwritten "rules" of society as it was then constituted, went to live in Italy or, if they lacked income, Tangiers.

 

[sheeplady]

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.

Did he not give much notice? The way he died seemed tacked onto the ending, like they shot an extra scene to make up for a late notice. Otherwise, if they knew well in advance, they could have interwoven it into this season. I can understand that it's a commitment and his choice to do so, but it's a show with a large cast and very few episodes per season. It's not that taxing for Fellowes- he's in maybe 4 hours of tape, probably less per season.

When the show was all cheerful in the end I turned to my husband and said "something really bad is going to happen, because this season is not this bright and cheery. Something really bad." My husband (thinking it ran to 11 instead of 10:30) said there was plenty of time for bad things, and when they flashed the scene of Matthew in the car, I said "Yup, he's dead." But I still can't believe they killed him so suddenly and tragically in the script.

 

[AmateisGal]

From what I understand, he gave his notice at the end of Season 2 that he would only appear in one more season. So yeah, they had more than enough time to write a different ending.

 

[Master Mason]

From what I understand, he gave his notice at the end of Season 2 that he would only appear in one more season. So yeah, they had more than enough time to write a different ending.

They needed to get the new heir born

 

[sheeplady]

SPOILER ALERT!

They needed to get the new heir born

I think it would have been far far more fascinating if the child had been a girl... leaving the estate again in trouble... rather than locking things up.

I was thinking about it last night and I think the dramatic ending with Matthew being killed has to do more with the "soapy" aspect of DA than anything else. If you look at modern U.S. soap operas, they always end every broadcast with a cliffhanger. (I can't comment on soaps in other countries). Unlike the end of season 2, where we see Matthew propose and Mary accept, in a soap opera Matthew would have proposed but we'd wait to see if Mary accepted. Since DA has gotten more soapy, they seem to be using more soap tactics. The dramatic death scene was something I'd expect in a soap, along with the parallel of the countess saying "we don't always get our just desserts, and Mary cuddling with their first born. It just screams "soap opera ending" to me.

 

[Worf]

So... I'm safe to assume that there will be a Season 4 of D.A.? Is there any defined story arc, are they going to take it up to WWII, the Great Depression? Or are they simply going to ride this nag till she drops? I must say the idea of that Blonde Flapper being a main story line doesn't excite. Edith's never ending quest to lose her virginity (?) fails to excite. The whole Branson from Irish Rebel to landed gentry is less than riveting... What in God's good name are they going to write about?

Worf

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Season 4 will start's 6 months after Matthew's death. Soilers below if you want to read.

downton-abbey-season-4-spoiler-welsh-actor-may-be-mary-s-new-love-interest

downton abbey addicts. what-we-know-about-downton-abbey-season

 

[dhermann1]

I keep wondering if Dan Stevens (Matthew) just really hated the show. I mean, I get really irked at it a lot, but I still enjoy it. But maybe as an actor he felt it was too . . . something or other.

 

[AmateisGal]

I keep wondering if Dan Stevens (Matthew) just really hated the show. I mean, I get really irked at it a lot, but I still enjoy it. But maybe as an actor he felt it was too . . . something or other.

I've heard this theory floated around, too, because let's face it - he got wounded in the war, was never going to walk again, and then DID walk again, which was a little incredulous. Perhaps he thought the show had jumped the shark at that point.

To be honest, I was getting fed up with his character in Season 3. His overblown sense of honor was beyond irritating at times.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I think his increased profile from being one of the stars of a hit series was enough to bring in lots of other tempting offers, and he was probably tired of being Matthew.

I mean, he was just on Broadway in The Heiress, with star billing alongside Jessica Chastain and David Strathairn. He certainly wasn't that marketable a "star" three years ago!

 

[AmateisGal]

I think his increased profile from being one of the stars of a hit series was enough to bring in lots of other tempting offers, and he was probably tired of being Matthew.

I mean, he was just on Broadway in The Heiress, with star billing alongside Jessica Chastain and David Strathairn. He certainly wasn't that marketable a "star" three years ago!

This is true. But yet, one of his next roles is in a movie called "Vamps" about two single female vampires that looks pretty darn bad.

I dunno. The old adage of "Don't bite the hand that feeds you" comes to mind in this scenario...