Downton Abbey

[mausi]

I'm really tired of Bates.

:violin:

Innocent Bates gets kicked around by Thomas and Obrien --> Bates overcomes

Innocent Bates has a crazy wife who comes back and does crazy things --> Bates overcomes

Innocent Bates goes to jail --> Bates overcomes

Innocent Bates is bullied in jail --> Bates overcomes

:violin:

This particular story-line is so predictable that it's driving me crazy-- even more than all the other crazily predictable aspects of the show.

/end Bates rant

[nokidsmom]

Good question! I hadn't thought of that possibility.

Affairs did happen back then and if Alfred is her son she would've had to cover it up so she wouldn't be dismissed.

Hmmmmmm.....that is an interesting possibility. :think:

I have wondered if O"Brien's past included something like this or at least a romantic relationship gone wrong. There's probably a lot more behind that prim, proper, very severe exterior.

[Soldier of the One]

Am I cray cray for speculating that O' Brien might be gay?

Hence a touch of initial sympathy for Thomas?

[MamaJunebug]

Off topic a little, why is Thomas recently called "Mr. Barrow"? I presume it's some kind of promotion? What is his new title? (I know, I could get this all from TWOP but the place still worries me. My TSU would never stop talking about it if *I* got malware on the ole compy.) TIA, fellows & belles!

[CrankyCatLady]

He's the under-butler now and was valet to Robert before. Valets and under-butlers go by their last names. Footmen go by their first names.

[Bethella]

He's the under-butler now and was valet to Robert before. Valets and under-butlers go by their last names. Footmen go by their first names.

Same with the women, upper servants get called by their last names and under servants get called by their first names. For example: Mrs. Hughes, Mrs. Patmore, O'Brien and Daisy, Anna, Ethel, Ivy.

[Lillybee]

Since Anna is now a ladies maid to Mary, she should be known as Bates but as Mary said it would be confusing, so she is still Anna.

[PennySycamore]

Am I cray cray for speculating that O' Brien might be gay?

Hence a touch of initial sympathy for Thomas?

Nope, you're not crazy.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Argh! JUST ended Season 3 here on Illinois public TV, what is that ending!?

...someone on another forum spoiled it but then backed off and said they were just kidding trolling (falsely in a move to try and save face) so the moment I saw the car speeding down the road I just KNEW that wasn't a troll after all, but I did not think they'd cliff-hang it before the rest of the family even finds out!

...okay. Off to read the thread now! :)

[Loveday]

Argh! JUST ended Season 3 here on Illinois public TV, what is that ending!?

...someone on another forum spoiled it but then backed off and said they were just kidding trolling (falsely in a move to try and save face) so the moment I saw the car speeding down the road I just KNEW that wasn't a troll after all, but I did not think they'd cliff-hang it before the rest of the family even finds out!

...okay. Off to read the thread now! :)

I knew what was going to happen thanks to all the spoilers I couldn't resist, but I found myself screaming at the TV anyway, and now I'm awash in tears. :cry: This season, I can't even. And now we have to wait almost a year for Season 4. :angry-banghead: :angry-cussingblack:

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I love love love Maggie Smith and would watch anything she is in. :mrgreen:

Or as the SNL spoof fake ad for Spike TV (http://www.metatube.com/en/videos/13086 ... E-Preview/) put it, "The Chicken Lady." LOVE. HER.

Mary needs to birth a boy, and THEN smother him in his sleep.

How prophetic, looking back here from after the final episode...

I thought pre-eclampsia was cured by ending the pregnancy... I never realized that acting too slow would mean that she would not die while pregnant but die after giving birth.....

Technically it's about birthing the placenta, which is why they induce birth or do a C-section. I guess she hadn't delivered it yet? But she seemed fairly "done" so yeah I wonder what that was all about too... maybe TV leeway.

As cindyluvs24 writes too, there were plenty of symptoms that from the vantage point of 2012 were obvious to us modern wimmin... just made it all the more frustrating. Sure, a C-section in 1920 is more dangerous than now but really...

I googled a bit and found that all had signed for a 4th and 5th season except the actors playing Matthew, Sybil and O'Brian.

HMM. Makes me wonder what's in store for O'Brien, since she seemed to survive the Xmas episode even. I suppose she can just take another job or retire off camera, but she's a fairly major character...

No idea at all why they introduced a new character in Rose, so close to the end, who did nothing at all for the storyline.

Well now we know - she's the Downton Abbey version of Cousin Oliver :lol:

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?

I think that's the part that's different in the US from places with "traditional" blood royalty. I feel it too, it's like bizarre to me that this family can just sincerely believe that they're just born to this life and so of course they just deserve it and utterly can't imagine it not continuing - but I suppose that's from my place, the US didn't have (official) blood royalty and other than the immediate royal family, Japan crushed it after the war...

But yeah as anniec says, the "marry a rich American to keep up the estate" was apparently very much A Thing.

It's the most beautiful soap opera I've ever seen

I wonder if I just had higher hopes because in the US it was on PBS? And all the actors are so wonderful? And I loved Gosford Park?

That's interesting, I remember having a conversation with Mr. Tudor about it and he seemed upset I called it a soap opera.

I've got nothing against soap operas, either. That's just not what I thought I was watching Season One. Hmm....

I was sucked into the show at the first episode of Season 1, with no expectations whatsoever. Sat down to dinner, turned on PBS, what's this then? Oooh, interesting, some servants show (Anna was on), watched it, got hooked, made a note to be sure that dinnertime on Sunday from then on always ended up at 8.

My first thought was that it seemed like the "period drama" or even 大河ドラマ ("taiga drama" = big time scale drama) on Japanese TV, in that the production values are high and the period is almost the main character. As it goes on, it seems more that way, in that in between parts of the show they just have a narrator saying "and now X years have passed..." so the show spans the lifetime of the main character. Those are plenty soapy too, though they aspire to more. Anyway it was neat for me, to see that "kind" of vibe on a show in English.

I do think it's interesting that in the US a lot of people mistakenly think it must be a BBC show. Probably they think so because it's shown on PBS.

...okay! Now free to read anything without fear of spoilers...!

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I knew what was going to happen thanks to all the spoilers I couldn't resist, but I found myself screaming at the TV anyway, and now I'm awash in tears. :cry: This season, I can't even. And now we have to wait almost a year for Season 4. :angry-banghead: :angry-cussingblack:

Yeah. I managed to avoid just about all spoilers, except some guy coming onto an (American!) review on Salon and spoiling the end with just the name, with "Sybil isn't the only one who dies, just wait until Matthew dies" (but then "backing off" and claiming he was kidding, but that was enough) but yeah, a year for Season 4??? Nooooo.... especially given that they cliffhanged before any of the family even knows!!!

[ceg045]

I happened to go on Google News one day months ago and the headline was that Dan Stevens wouldn't return for Season 4, so I knew that Matthew wasn't long for the Abbeyverse, the only question was how he would go. Tonight I found out. :(

[CrankyCatLady]

Am I the only one who found it to be not emotional at all? Compared to Sybil's death, Matthew's was...meh.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Am I the only one who found it to be not emotional at all? Compared to Sybil's death, Matthew's was...meh.

Not at all. To me it's more "oh my, THAT's a plot twist."

[Lillybee]

Poor Thomas continues to break my heart. I can't imagine how hard his life would have been. I am glad that James is going to be his friend because for the longest time, he had no one.

[FrancineFishpaw]

Am I the only one who found it to be not emotional at all? Compared to Sybil's death, Matthew's was...meh.

This

[Loveday]

Poor Thomas continues to break my heart. I can't imagine how hard his life would have been. I am glad that James is going to be his friend because for the longest time, he had no one.

LOVED that moment, it really hit me then that Thomas literally had had NO friends up to that point. Not even O'Brien back when they were 'thick as thieves.' That wasn't friendship, it was just mutual dislike of everyone else. :?

ETA: Come to think of it, does O'Brien have any friends? :?

[CrankyCatLady]

I found season 3 to be all over the map. It's kind of disappointing. I don't know what they're going to do with season 4. Hook Mary up with Branson? I mean, she has no right to the estate now, so I suppose she could go anywhere, but still....it's a puzzlement.

[nokidsmom]

Saw the final episode of season 3 and wow. Now, I had heard Dan Stevens was not returning but I didn't think they would kill him off too. I thought maybe they would work some other twist in the plot to explain his not coming back in season 4, not kill him!

So that leaves one Crawley daughter dead, another widowed, and another who can't seem to win in the "finding a man" department, though I am starting to think that maybe Edith is getting the better deal even with married-with-insane-wife ala Rochester boyfriend.

It's been nice to see Thomas' human side in this season. We see that he can feel love, that he can feel fear when he faces the prospect of being sacked without a reference and we also get to see that he's capable of defending people he cares about. Glad that James came around and offered his friendship, though wonder if there will be any twists to that in season 4. I mean, James tells him he can't give Thomas what he really wants only friendship, which Thomas accepts, but wonder how realistic that will be in the long run?

Looking forward to season 4. I really am starting to think about my predictions for it. Anyone else?

[nokidsmom]

ETA: Come to think of it, does O'Brien have any friends? :?

Come to think of it, I can't think of anyone who has honestly been her friend and not just bonding together because of mutual dislike. Even Thomas now has someone he can count as a friend.

[CrankyCatLady]

Saw the final episode of season 3 and wow. Now, I had heard Dan Stevens was not returning but I didn't think they would kill him off too. I thought maybe they would work some other twist in the plot to explain his not coming back in season 4, not kill him!

Dan Stevens refused to come back even for a couple of episodes, so they didn't have much choice.

The whole Thomas coming out story line was completely implausible. There's no way he would have kept his job after making a pass at another male servant. No one would have been that accepting of him being gay, especially since it was illegal back then. He would have been fired without a reference, not given a promotion.

I have no idea what's going to happen in season 4 - I do know that they're only skipping ahead 6 months when season 4 starts.

[treehugger]

Maybe I'm a cold-hearted bitch, but I am glad that Matthew is gone. He was sort of spineless and annoyingly sappy - and, for being a "pretty face" I didn't find him all that hot ;)

I think next season will be more interesting - now that Mary will actually have to struggle with life and not have everything fall into her lap. I wonder what Branson will do - he intrigues me.... mostly because I am not sure how he can live with himself and his convictions like that (although perhaps he is doing it solely for his daughter?) and I wonder how important his part will be in the next season.

I like Edith. I hope she gets a bigger role now and actually finds some happiness - why it should have to be with a man is beyond me - but whatever works, I guess.

And Thomas - swoon! I really like his character - so interesting (I know, historical accuracy is a bit non-existent, but this is TV and I don't really care).

[nokidsmom]

Dan Stevens refused to come back even for a couple of episodes, so they didn't have much choice.

Guess that it does make sense considering he wouldn't come back, but sounds like they wanted him back for a little while so they could work in some other plot twist. Oh well, should be interesting to see what Mary's future holds now. Bet she will get a boyfriend!

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I found season 3 to be all over the map. It's kind of disappointing. I don't know what they're going to do with season 4. Hook Mary up with Branson? I mean, she has no right to the estate now, so I suppose she could go anywhere, but still....it's a puzzlement.

But she's still mother to the new heir, isn't she? Or is the new baby actually NOT the heir anymore just because Matthew (where the tie to succession for the baby came from) died before the main patriarch Lord Grantham died (meaning the baby's father never technically inherited it yet to pass on)? Do they need to go out to another side branch and start over with whoever would have been chosen AFTER Matthew?

Honestly not sure how this stuff works if an heir (Matthew) dies before actually taking on the office.

Last night I was assuming "well at least they've got the baby heir" but now I'm not so sure. If the baby isn't the heir than this show really is adrift...