New intro music, sadly not as dramatic as the original one. I loved how most of the show looked misty and muted and then the day of the luncheon, it switched to clear and bright when Mary came out of mourning.
I will miss O’Brien as she was my favorite character. She trod the fine line between malevolence and devotion. So I hoped the nasty nanny would take her place but she was outta there tout de suite. She was only ever shown being supercilious with Thomas and it was a bit heavy-handed. I would’ve liked to see her interact with Carson, Mrs Hughes, the cook, or Anna to give a fuller picture but Cora got a fine scene there.
My favorite scene was Moseley’s butle audition at the Dowager’s house. I hope they keep him as a background character and write similar scenes. DA needs a bit of slapstick.
Someone remind me, what was the deal between that maid and Branson? I remember there being some attraction and flirting, but I don’t remember what all happened.
I think that was just for the first episode and the next one will begin with the regular credits. The first episode of each series usually doesn’t have the dog butt credit sequence.
I think it was a good introduction back into the series, though I wish O’Brien had been given a better exit. I still hate Thomas, though I liked his scenes with little Sybil. I was hoping he would have changed as a character after what happened at the end of series 3, but guess not, he’s still exactly the same as always. Great character development there Fellowes. :rolleyes:
I don’t know why Grieg was brought back, didn’t he try to blackmail Lord Grantham in series 1 and he paid him to leave? Why do we care about him now?
Really? Edna again? I was so relieved when we were rid of her last time.
In the preview for next week
Another goddamn letter from beyond the grave!? :rolleyes::rolleyes: Jesus Christ, Fellowes has only got about three plotlines and must he reuse them every series!? I wonder what someone will hide to try and frame someone else *this *time?
In one scene, she asks Thomas to bring a message to the kitchen (no egg for Baby S?). He asks why she just doesn’t tell Cook herself and she says she’s left the kiddies alone upstairs and she needs to get back to them.
I think he used that as the basis of his talk with Cora, that Nanny leaves the kids alone and that is a dangerous habit. Of course he made it sound worse than it was. Also, not sure why she would not have just rung for a maid to convey the message to the kitchen. I mean, it’s obvious plot-wise but it is bad writing.
Of course in a great house like Downton she’d have little if any direct interaction with them. Nannies and governesses basically lived “between stairs”, highly indulged (even more so than lady’s maids) but clearly not part of family while at the same time being above all the other servants. Governesses were even more isolated because of their middle-class background.
Big Sybil was the closest thing Thomas had to a friend (well other than that blind guy who offed himself); it makes perfect sense that he’d be extremely protective of Little Sybil. Speaking of Thomas; I really hope he get’s some this series. It’s been 10 yrs since things went sour with the Duke of Crowborough.
Not to mention that kind of stuff is what the nursery maid (the girl pushing Sybil’s carriage) is for. :dubious: It’s not nearly has bad writing as Matthew, a solicitor, never bothering to write a will (granted even without one Lady Mary is hardly a poor widow). Now that she’s gone the role of bitch needs to be filled & from the looks of the preview [del]Edna[/del] Miss Braithwaite will step into her shoes.
Mrs Patmore’s prophetic comments about the electric wisk aside; did anyone else notice one of the maids using a vacuum cleaner? And it seems downstairs finally has electric lights too. Just how much does everyone know about Lady Edith & Michael Gregson I wonder? She’s being pretty brazen; she didn’t just dine alone with him in a post London restaurant she was making out with him. :eek: Just imagine the Dowager’s reaction, then her reaction to the 2 of them heading off to Germany to live in sin.
I totally watch it now while anticipating the good Guardian comments for each snarkable moment. It’s too inconsistent to watch straight without getting annoyed. Those comments make it worth watching.
The main thing that struck me with this episode was the shaky hand-held camerawork for many of the interior scenes. Did they always do that? It seemed jarring and at odds with the aura of stability and reserve those stately rooms should project.
Quite. But it’s odd that it was always Thomas she was bumping into. In the upstairs hallway, she could just as easy run into Anna and then we’d have another insight into the situation.
And thank you for pointing out the vanishing nursery maid. Fellowes is losing track of his characters and it’s only Episode 1.
See my thoughts here are that, barring another too-convenient death, Edith and MarriedBoyfriend will just set up housekeeping in London. It is post-war, the old standards are falling, short skirts, Jazz Age, yadda yadda. They are running in a bohemian literary crowd. It was foreshadowed by the kiss in the restaurant. It will be a scandal but not an inexpungible one (except to the Dowager). Edith would love the attention, especially from her parents, even if it is negative. She’s always looking for a way to define herself and this would be it.
Now going to live in Germany four years after the war or marrying a “German”, that would be crossing the Rubicon.
Concerning “living together”–here’s Kenneth Rexroth on Ford Madox Ford:
Ford (when he still used his father’s name “Heuffer”) spent time in Germany before the first war, trying to get residency so he could divorce his wife. In Britain, adultery was the only reason for divorce; he gave her plenty of grounds but she refused to divorce him. He failed, his mistress claimed to be Mrs Ford Madox Heuffer, his wife sued & it became a huge front page scandal.
After the war (in which he served, although he could have avoided it), he retired to the countryside with his next mistress–who gave him a child. They eventually left for Paris; he spent the rest of his life in Europe & the USA, where things were freer. By our standards of reasonable divorce laws & acceptable cohabitation outside of marriage, his life was hardly remarkable; he was regarded as utterly immoral in his home country. Even in the 20’s & 30’s. Not only Edith but her lover would suffer if they shacked up in England.
Thanks BB. I forgot to mention that my opinion was based on reading Nancy Mitford’s books. The Pursuit of Love has Linda in a similar position, and then there was Fanny’s mother…
So not exactly pure research. I guess this means that Mr Lover’s wife should be purchasing burial insurance.
Speaking of the Mitford Sisters; in the early '30s Diana Mitford scandalized her family by openly cohabiting with Sir Oswald Mosley in London while both of them were married to other people. Of course unlike Messrs Ford, Wells, & Laurence Michael Gregson would be cohabitating with a woman who’s his social superior; which is even more scandalous. Edith openly living with a married man is going to be way, way worse than Mary’s night with Mr Pamuk. Mary made 1 mistake, admitted her “sin”, and did whatever she could to protect the family name. Edith wouldn’t be doing any of that.
But remember in Season 2 when Edith was a Land Girl on one of the farms, she was getting very chummy with the married farmer. If the wife hadn’t put a stop to it, how far would she have gone?
He was a married man and a tenant of her family and her social inferior. And then she tattled on her sister in an anonymous letter to the Turkish Ambassador. Or maybe the letter came first, I can’t remember.
Say, her new fella is a newspaper man. Maybe it’s time for the Return of Sir Richard Carlisle!
**How I wish that Cora wasn’t written as such a gullible fool. I have a hard time believing that a woman in her position would stop to listen to Thomas. If she did have an issue with what happened, she’d ring for Mrs Hughes and deal with it that way.
Still don’t understand why Matthew’s mother has all the time to rehab a completes stranger but she won’t help Moseley. The scenes with him and Anna and then him and Bates were well done.
Looks like Episode 3 is when things finally start happening: Kiri Te Kanawa and a new suitor for Mary.
Well it’s nice to know he can still use his powers for evil; though I’m not sure what he’s getting out of this. Why go after Anna after all this time? What did the Bates do to piss him off that much since they saved his ass last year? Or is this all part of some Machiavellian scheme to discredit Braithwaite?
As much as I hate yet another letter from a dead person it’s nice to know that it at least occurred to Matthew that he ought to make some provision for his wife :smack:. Also this probably means that the entail is no longer in effect since there was even a question of Matthew being able to decide who is heir is. At least it was resolved in the same episode. As condescending infuriating as Lord Grantham’s attitude is it’s realistic for a man of his class & generation. Though I do like the suggestion that even the Dowager is annoyed by his chauvinism. Granted she also doesn’t have any illusions about his management skills.
Lady Rose is proving to be a lot more entertaining than Lady Sybil was. A Mary Sue she isn’t. I loved her atrocious attempt at a Yorkshire accent. No new developments on the Edith/Gregson front, other than the clever excuse to get him up to Downton without raising any eyebrows. And as for Mosley; anyone else think they’re setting him up for a suicide? He’s long since passed being the funny butt monkey and is just sad now.
Cora’s always been a horrible judge of character, but to her credit she isn’t privy to any of the stuff that’s gone on with Thomas and this is on the heels of his “warning” about Nanny. From her perspective it actually does make sense to listen to Thomas. Also she wouldn’t ring for Mrs Hughes; that’s not her department. A lady’s maid answers to her mistress and no one else. Nobody downstairs has any more power over Braithwaite than they did over O’Brian; that’s why she was able to get away with even more crap than Thomas. If Cora spoke to anyone about Anna (besides absentminded comments to Robert) it would be to Lady Mary. I agree it’s strange that Isobel would be so willing to help a random stranger than her ex-butler & late son’s valet, but I don’t think she realizes just how badly off Mosley is.
oh right. Wasn’t it about this time that the law was changed? Lord Grantham had a good point though: two sets of death duties.
You are right, of course. That means Anna is also in this category and yet she seems to defer to Carson quite a bit. And wouldn’t the same be true re: valets? Seems like there is quite a crowd of servants who are not under the purview of Carson or Mrs Hughes.
Anna WAS a housemaid, so Mrs. Hughes and Carson were both her superiors in that role. She would continue to show them some deference out of respect and habit.
