Downton Abbey

[Deleted03]

Could it be that her hymen was still in place? and that supposedly was making things difficult? Or she just had syphillis from that guy who raped her (I,m sorry but I hate the BS of it was lust, the guy plain forced himself on her). Anyway, just don't see why this is a drama if everyone is happy glory in the end...

[JesusFightClub]

I get really annoyed by Branson, so much I can't watch it (yes, yes, I know, I need a life).

[Guest Anonymous]

I get really annoyed by Branson, so much I can't watch it (yes, yes, I know, I need a life).

But he is a revolutionary, like you! He can't help the fact that it now makes economic sense for him to turn the tenant farmers off their land, in order to preserve the future of the landed gentry. :mrgreen:

[JesusFightClub]

:lol:

I spend my time arguing with my mum about it.

Me: But this is completely incorrect, because...and because....

Mum: Do you want to shut up? It's called fiction for a reason, you know.

:oops:

(Thing is, IRL he would have been shot, and he would have richly deserved it.)

[Irishy]

Has anyone seen the Christmas special? I'm horrified by the ending. They didn't need to do that. It's getting more like bloody Eastenders.

[Guest Anonymous]

They needed to do something because the actor declined the option to continue into series 3.

And because the great British public had been subjected to enough smug, sappy "I'm so terribly happy, darling" drivel to make us shudder throughout this lifetime and the next.

I'm glad insipid Matthew is gone. Bring on a dashing relative of Parmuk, I say, and let Lady Mary have some more fun.... :D

[Irishy]

Ah well that explains it. Still though, you can't give birth in that family without having a parent die. Extreme.

[Abi]

I've recorded it, but still haven't been able to bring myself to watch it :(

[crazyforkate]

Christmas special - GAH! That was horrendous. And my parents haven't seen it yet, so it's bloody impossible to keep my mouth shut...

[shrewlu]

Has anyone seen the Christmas special? I'm horrified by the ending. They didn't need to do that. It's getting more like bloody Eastenders.

Yup.

They were dropping so many hints all through the episode that something was going to happen to him that when it finally did, imo, it didn't have the weight it would have if they hadn't been practically advertising it the whole time. That said, I still found it sad and the thought of poor Mary sitting there blissfully in the hospital with her baby is terrible. But that is the 2nd death that related to birth...hope no one else gets pregnant next season.

Is next season the final season?

[Guest Anonymous]

You don't have to use spoilers here: there is a separate 'no spoilers' thread for those following a different viewing schedule. :)

I agree that there were too many hints for the death to have real impact. Lady Sybil's departure was so much more shocking by comparison.

Also.... the whole programme was so bitty and nothing much else happened that hasn't been done before with different characters.... the family went on a(nother) picnic and Edith sneaked along a(nother) unsuitable lover.... the servants went to a fair and a(nother) senior female staff member got a proposal but turned it down... Tom Branson nearly got himself into trouble (again), but he didn't mean to and he cried, so it was all good. Thomas made advances on other men, but he was punished in a round about way and, in the end, everyone liked him again, while still quietly decrying his gayness. If Matthew hadn't died, even though it was the second "new parent death" in the series, there would have been no point to the episode at all.

[OkToBeTakei]

You don't have to use spoilers here: there is a separate 'no spoilers' thread for those following a different viewing schedule. :)

I agree that there were too many hints for the death to have real impact. Lady Sybil's departure was so much more shocking by comparison.

Also.... the whole programme was so bitty and nothing much else happened that hasn't been done before with different characters.... the family went on a(nother) picnic and Edith sneaked along a(nother) unsuitable lover.... the servants went to a fair and a(nother) senior female staff member got a proposal but turned it down... Tom Branson nearly got himself into trouble (again), but he didn't mean to and he cried, so it was all good. Thomas made advances on other men, but he was punished in a round about way and, in the end, everyone liked him again, while still quietly decrying his gayness. If Matthew hadn't died, even though it was the second "new parent death" in the series, there would have been no point to the episode at all.

I was so nauseated by the Matthew/Mary vomit fest scene I kind of was more interested in what they would call the baby than the death. Gosh I'm callous :lol:

[crazyforkate]

I just hope they don't call the baby Matthew, we've already got a Dead Guy Jr. in Baby Sybil.

[Guest Anonymous]

I gave as much thought to the baby's name as Carson did to the baby's gender. :lol:

[Soldier of the One]

Sorry, haven't read through the entire thread but... am I crazy in thinking that the writers might pair Branson with Mary?

Edited coz I can't type.

[Guest Anonymous]

Sorry, haven't read through the entire thread but... am I crazy in thinking that the writers might pair Branson with Mary?

Edited coz I can't type.

I don't see them as being each other's "type"... but who knows? The writer's are a bit stuffed by two major characters leaving in one series; they may have to improvise. :)

[Soldier of the One]

I don't see them as being each other's "type"... but who knows? The writer's are a bit stuffed by two major characters leaving in one series; they may have to improvise. :)

Agreed - they are not each other's type. Branson, the Irish proletarian, Mary, the class-conscious aristocrat.

But still... there *needs* to be a plotline developing. It's two loose ends, those two! I wonder what they will do to Mary's character now. She has to rise out of the ashes, I suspect - I can't imagine her being the reclusive, maternal type doting on her son. And Branson's character was on the ascendancy anyway.

And what will happen to poor Edith?

[JesusFightClub]

I always feel sorry for Edith. Pretty sure she would irritate the shit out of me if I knew her though!

[cindyluvs24]

Season 3 just started here in the USA on sunday. Not quite understanding how broke nobility can still be nobility. how can he take $ from his wife and still feel like a man? Was this common? How can Cora be so high and mighty knowing that her husband married her to keep up the estate. Sorry but she annoys me. (She's American - she should know better than to get involved in that European title stuff.) :) I love love love Maggie Smith. "Oh I'm sorry, I thought you were a waiter."

[Guest Anonymous]

Season 3 just started here in the USA on sunday. Not quite understanding how broke nobility can still be nobility. how can he take $ from his wife and still feel like a man? Was this common? How can Cora be so high and mighty knowing that her husband married her to keep up the estate. Sorry but she annoys me. (She's American - she should know better than to get involved in that European title stuff.) :) I love love love Maggie Smith. "Oh I'm sorry, I thought you were a waiter."

Oh the heiress hunting was A Very Common Thing.

(Everything that happens in Downton is A Very Common Thing... the whole show is a dumbed-down, prettied-up version of history).

[cindyluvs24]

I watched "Upstairs Downstairs "decades ago and this seems like a copy. I like it, but it makes me yell at the TV. I did like the scene where they were lugging the dead Turk down the hall. Something like that happened to my roomie in college. He was drunk not dead, and German, not Turkish but, oh never mind.

[Deleted03]

My guess for the future: The Bates have a daughter, Mary's son falls in love with her, knocks her up, gets sent into WW2, becomes prisoner of war, then dies when the baby is born. Boom.

[nokidsmom]

Oh the heiress hunting was A Very Common Thing.

(Everything that happens in Downton is A Very Common Thing... the whole show is a dumbed-down, prettied-up version of history).

There a LOT of noveau riche American heiresses that married into British aristocracy in the late 1800's - early 1900's. It was a win-win deal. Husband gets wife's money though not all were struggling like the Earl of Gratham, wife gets fancy aristrocratic title. So much for the American Revolution, lol.

I like Cora but feel she is way too understanding of how her money was shot to hell investing in the railroads. One thing to married for your money and then your husband blows it?

Love Maggie Smith and her zingers. Just perfect.

While I found Edith annoying at first, I have come to sympathize with her.

[August]

Oh the heiress hunting was A Very Common Thing.

(Everything that happens in Downton is A Very Common Thing... the whole show is a dumbed-down, prettied-up version of history).

Netflix Streaming has Edith Wharton's "the buccaneers", it's a great watch, on just this topic.

[Lychee]

Agreed - they are not each other's type. Branson, the Irish proletarian, Mary, the class-conscious aristocrat.

But still... there *needs* to be a plotline developing. It's two loose ends, those two! I wonder what they will do to Mary's character now. She has to rise out of the ashes, I suspect - I can't imagine her being the reclusive, maternal type doting on her son. And Branson's character was on the ascendancy anyway.

And what will happen to poor Edith?

Oooh I think that could happen- but I think they will just replay the Matthew and Mary vibe a bit- a beligerent sexual tension sort of thing http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... ualTension

I do think they need to get a bit more imaginative for the next series.