I believe the Crawleys are far more aware of the lives of their servants than would be realistic for the time. That obnoxious schoolteacher who Tom Branson was seeing once asked Lord Grantham if he even knew the name of one of his servants. Of course he did but I get the impression that wasn’t typical of the period.
And, of course, our dear Mr. Carson takes the upstairs’ side ;). Though, I did think the jabs by Mrs. Hughes about Lady Mary was a bit… unkind. After all, we know that Lady Mary is basically the closest thing that Mr. Carson has ever had to a daughter - he’s watched her grow up for one, and Lady Mary basically treats Mr. Carson as a pseudo-father at times. It’s a much closer relationship that simply Mr. Carson always listens to the upstairs folks.
And if Edith and Marigold move to London why would the Drews have to move at all?
Here’s something on the incompetent cervix. Didn’t read it all, as I didn’t want to miss the edit window.
Why isn’t erectile dysfunction called “incompetent penis”? I can guess.
So is the endgame for Edith that she moves to London to take over from the nasty editor? (Not looking for spoilers, just speculation.)
And if the Drewes move on, does that mean Mr Mason (Daisy’s father-in-law) can take over their farm? Will he also take over as pig farmer?
Has Edith ever delivered a single line in any episode of any series where she didn’t sound like she was on the verge of self-pitying tears?
I think that has been telegraphed quite obviously… though I don’t watch Downton for its subtlety ;).
Unless they throw in a curveball (has baseball been invented yet?) I think that is just how it’s going to play out.
I do love Mary’s posh accent. Even when she’s being a bitch she sounds so polite.
Probably my biggest gripe with the show, and its biggest missed opportunity. But for better or worse, the Crawleys’ unrealistic likability is probably one of the biggest factors in the show’s success.
According to the doctor it’s perfectly safe, so Anna will probably end up in a coma or something.
Kind of a snooze fest if you ask me. The whole kidnap thing was ridiculous. Seems like they’re making sure things get all wrapped up nice and lovely. They all lived happily ever after!
Have you watched the recent Poldark series? The first season aired last spring on PBS and BBC One, and there will be a season 2 this year. I liked it quite a bit.
I get the impression that Indian Summers, which aired on PBS late last year, is the Great White Hope of a replacement for Downton Abbey in the hearts and minds of American viewers.
(And it’s kind of similar, in that it features upper-class Brits, or at least Brits who pretend to be upper-class, and a servant class.)
I forced myself to watch the first 3 episodes thinking it had to be good, but it just didn’t grab me at all.
Yes, it has. But as they’re British, it’s probably a googly or a doosra (cricket terms don’t sound like real things).
Yes, they are Good People so the showrunner like to shit on them as much as possible.:mad::rolleyes:
And also after Thomas was caught stealing, turning into a asshole when given some authority, etc. It seems the showrunner loves Thomas, as the evil, smoking gay, predator Thomas keeps landing in gold straw, while the decent, honest, hetero couple always lands in the shit. This last Murder thing for the Bate’s was just plain silly.
Looks pretty bad.
Indian Summers comes from Channel 4, which very early on in its career had a huge hit with Jewel in the Crown, but this is a total contrast. Set slightly earlier and trying to include Indians as a range of characters, where Jewel in the Crown was much more focussed on various British types reacting to the end of the Raj.
The trouble was that Indian Summers sketched in the political background a bit too clumsily and there was a bit of a formulaic feel to the set-up and plotting.
The big thing of the moment is Andrew Davies’s adaptation of War and Peace. The anti-bonnet brigade don’t much care for it, but it is very well done as a panorama of a society undermining itself.
Captain Amazing, good points. I hadn’t thought of Thomas’s effect on the Earl’s public standing once the gossips really get going.
Also anti-Catholic bigotry. The Earl made some very veiled comments about his suspicion of Catholicism, but IRL he probably would have unapologetically been a lot more cutting, as most British peers were in the 1910s and '20s.
Oh, definitely. Jane Austen even referred to the game in Northanger Abbey (1817).
I laughed.
Seriously, though, as soon Anna was sounding so defeatist to Lady Mary about ever getting pregnant, I was thinking, “Jeez, even in 1925 you have medical options! Get thee to a specialist!”
Tell me about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OQWFZZE-DY
Well, I wouldn’t call it that veiled. It’s the one prejudice the Earl has pretty much fully copped to. Anti-Catholicism has an air of historical oddity about it today. (At least to non-Irish people.) They can show Lord G. spouting off against Catholics without alienating the audience too badly.