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PBS’s website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/
As before, I suggest that this thread remain spoiler-free, with discussion limited to the episode(s) which, at the time of your posting, have already been broadcast in the U.S. - then discuss all you want.
So are we allowed to discuss spoilers, news, and rumours about series 4, or not? 
Because if we can only discuss episodes that have already aired in the US this thread isn’t going to see alot of activity for about 11 months. What’s the point?
Speculation, gossip, discussion and rumors are fine, but please box any spoilers.
Got it.
So … the inspiration for this thread is that Actor X says s/he is not going to be in Series 4. That is a fact, not a rumor. OTOH, talking about what it might mean for the series is rumor/speculation/gossip.
So, is it okay or not to say “I read Actor X is leaving the the show. I bet that means Character Y is going to go off to Africa as a Big Game Hunter”?
I think facts can be spoilers if the the fact (actor X has left the show) hasn’t been revealed on the show. Some people define a spoiler as any info about the show’s direction learned outside of an actual episode itself (info learned from “on next week’s show” should also be xcluded). Is that now how this thread will go?
I know the GOT thread got pretty contentious on the subject of spoilers.
Fans of DA will enjoy several gag references to it in Iron Man 3, now playing in an octoplex near you.
The fourth season begins Sun. Jan. 5 in the U.S.: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/programs/features/news/downton-abbey-season-4-casting-news
Fellowes drives me up a wall and out the window with his obnoxious snobbery but I’ll be his slave on Sunday, glued as ever to the screen. I want Daisy to go work on the farm, Mrs. Patmore to find another kitchen dogsbody to boss around, Carson to dance the jitterbug, Edith to find a man who finally appreciates her, Anna and Bates to have a child, Cora to reveal her flapper side to Robert, Isobel to bring Violet to a brothel and Lady Rose / Cousin Oliver to find Thomas a boyfriend. Mary needs to move to Newport and investigate her American side. I want Grandma Levinson to introduce her to a rich Jewish boyfriend who can shake her up a little.
Just in case you were wondering what I thought.
I’m on board for 90% of that!
Interesting, a review in the paper said “4th season* turns *dark”.
TURNS dark?:eek:
Fellowes has always made sure no one gets to be happy for more than a episode or two. I was very annoyed by this in season 3, I may just skip #4.
Yeah. They killed off two major characters last season. How much darker can you get? They’re the Crawleys not the Kennedys.
It can get darker than that, believe me.
Great ideas Lavender, but I think, far to happy for Fellowes 
And I also will be glued to the screen this Sunday. Will also watch again before next week as I always learn more every time I watch an episode.
I am fortunate to have been able to watch all four seasons consecutively, as the local PBS just completed a re-run of the first 3 seasons. It’s going to be painful to have to **wait **for season five. 
I know…I’m spoiled!:o
Have you all bought your Marks & Spencer DA beauty products?
I know. I’m rewatching series 4 on PBS (& I’ll buy the DVDs). Last year the PBS version had a couple of scenes that weren’t in ITV airing (presumably deleted for running time) so I wonder if it’ll be the same this year. Also I wonder if Fellowes will ever get around to making that prequel (or is he waiting until the series proper ends).
Was anybody else’s video screwed up? I was watching on WUCF in Central Florida and the video would drag behind the audio a little bit and then suddenly speed up to resync, every five seconds or so, through the whole show. It was maddening.
Haven’t seen it yet. Please tell me there was a surprise massacre at a wedding.
Ours (NYC WNET) was a little hiccupy, but not at all close to every five seconds. I noticed it maybe 5 or so times over the entire show.
It was fine in NJ.
Could Cora be any stupider? Surely there must be other candidates for the title of lady’s maid than Edna? Why was she sitting there taking Edna’s word and immediately ascribing nasty motives to loyal Anna? I swear for a moment I thought it was the maid who fooled around and had a child out of wedlock last season sitting there in front of us again. Her only brave moment was to fire the nanny. I thought the conflict between nanny and the servants was realistic. They were caught in the same situation as the lady’s maid: not quite family and not quite servants.
My favorite character of the night was Violet. She struck just the right note with Mary when she told her she loved her. Carson tried to get through to her but he couldn’t quite manage it which is understandable. Robert fell back on his basic belief that women are weak willed. I don’t think he’s going to enjoy butting heads with Mary. Still, I did think she should have been allowed to grieve for at least a year. If my husband passed away suddenly, I can’t imagine anyone telling me six months later to snap out of it. Did they have grief counselors back then? Wasn’t it expected that you would mourn a husband for at least two years even in the 1920s? They act as if her sorrow is almost unbelievable and unsympathetic which struck me as wrong. Even today I would not tell someone under those circumstances to move on or even get help unless they were behaving dangerously like refusing to eat or trying to kill themselves. I thought Isobel’s reaction also understandable. Unlike Mary she needs to feel useful. She needs a cause. Mary never has.
Edith comes across as such as bumbling fool. The married man plotline is dumb. Thomas is a devious as ever. He’s not quite as much fun now that O’Brien is gone. Mrs. Hughes is in every freaking scene this time. I like her better in smaller doses. The Carson plot seemed silly and pointless. Daisy needs a boyfriend. If Lady Rose playing a servant can immediately find one, why can’t she? Bates and Anna were kid of boring tonight.
All in all not a bad start.