Downton Abbey

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So I'm on a bit of a re-watch, started with season 4. I've watched season 1-3 several times, but post Sybil and Matthew's deaths I still watched but only as the episode aired, and never rewatched.
Season 4 is when the whole Mary-Charles-Tony triangle of boredom starts. They really dragged this out until I couldn't possibly care anymore lol. Neither men ever respected anything Mary said, and ignored her every time she said she wasn't ready for another marriage. I remember being annoyed at her indecision back then, now I think she was right to toy with those two idiots.
I still feel sorry for Edith and everything she went through, but wow, I had completely forgotten that she had given her child to two families, took them away from both and basically caused one family to lose their home in the aftermath. The fact that Robert of all people realized how messed up that was, is quite telling. Robert is a fool 98% of the time. But sometimes he does get it right. Speaking of Edith, Mary really was a lot crueler towards her after Matthew's death. Like, unnecessarily cruel. I'm glad she got called out on it a few times. Her remarks when Edith was clearly in distress over the whole Gregson disappearance were awful.

Absolutely love Branson's journey throughout the series and how the entire family loved him so much in the end. I barely made it through those awful scenes with that rude teacher though. I respect what she stood for, but making her unbearably rude every time she was invited to dinner with the family, was...a choice. It made it seem like she wasn't even into Tom that much, but only hung out with him to check out the family and be a completely awful person towards them. Every after Tom had told her several times that he loved that family, she still asked him if he didnt despise them. Girl, he's told you he doesn't! One of the few times I cheered for Robert was when he screamed at her to leave the house and never come back lol.

The less said about Mr Bates the better. Anna deserved better. I cant believe those two started out so strong at the beginning of the show and ended up being so annoying (imho).

Season 5 really was the weakest one. Things dragged so much, entire scenes were basically repeated every episode and even all the great guest actors (Richard E. Grant!!!) couldn't save it. I'm watching episode 3 of season 6 right now.
 
londongirl2001 said:
So I'm on a bit of a re-watch, started with season 4. I've watched season 1-3 several times, but post Sybil and Matthew's deaths I still watched but only as the episode aired, and never rewatched.
Season 4 is when the whole Mary-Charles-Tony triangle of boredom starts. They really dragged this out until I couldn't possibly care anymore lol. Neither men ever respected anything Mary said, and ignored her every time she said she wasn't ready for another marriage. I remember being annoyed at her indecision back then, now I think she was right to toy with those two idiots.
I still feel sorry for Edith and everything she went through, but wow, I had completely forgotten that she had given her child to two families, took them away from both and basically caused one family to lose their home in the aftermath. The fact that Robert of all people realized how messed up that was, is quite telling. Robert is a fool 98% of the time. But sometimes he does get it right. Speaking of Edith, Mary really was a lot crueler towards her after Matthew's death. Like, unnecessarily cruel. I'm glad she got called out on it a few times. Her remarks when Edith was clearly in distress over the whole Gregson disappearance were awful.

Absolutely love Branson's journey throughout the series and how the entire family loved him so much in the end. I barely made it through those awful scenes with that rude teacher though. I respect what she stood for, but making her unbearably rude every time she was invited to dinner with the family, was...a choice. It made it seem like she wasn't even into Tom that much, but only hung out with him to check out the family and be a completely awful person towards them. Every after Tom had told her several times that he loved that family, she still asked him if he didnt despise them. Girl, he's told you he doesn't! One of the few times I cheered for Robert was when he screamed at her to leave the house and never come back lol.

The less said about Mr Bates the better. Anna deserved better. I cant believe those two started out so strong at the beginning of the show and ended up being so annoying (imho).

Season 5 really was the weakest one. Things dragged so much, entire scenes were basically repeated every episode and even all the great guest actors (Richard E. Grant!!!) couldn't save it. I'm watching episode 3 of season 6 right now.
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I agree, the Mary-charles-tony was boring and felt like it went on forever. Although rewatching it didn't seem quite as bad.

Agree on Bates too, never got why he was made such a main character. And he and Anna never made sense
 
I'm all for this show coming back. Surely in the land of 'make- believe' they can figure a way to bring Matthew back. (maybe he wasn't dead after all)

I am very late to watching DA, so I didn't experience the grave disappointment regarding Matthew. A bit surprised this was done during the Festive Season.
 
JulesWake said:
I'm all for this show coming back. Surely in the land of 'make- believe' they can figure a way to bring Matthew back. (maybe he wasn't dead after all)

I am very late to watching DA, so I didn't experience the grave disappointment regarding Matthew. A bit surprised this was done during the Festive Season.
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I was a right grumpy cow that Christmas because of him dying 😂 think my mum was ready to throw me out 🙃🙃
 
I'm alone in this but I was glad Matthew died. Boring character and dull actor.

Lady Sybil however....that was a shocker
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I've never found any of Mary's suitors interesting actually. Maybe that's because she is such a strong character, all the men have paled next to her. She needed a really strong character to play off of.

Barrow was a great character too.

Oh damn I think I need to start rewatching them again. It was such great autumn tv.
 
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Mark81 said:
I'm alone in this but I was glad Matthew died. Boring character and dull actor.

Lady Sybil however....that was a shocker
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I've never found any of Mary's suitors interesting actually. Maybe that's because she is such a strong character, all the men have paled next to her. She needed a really strong character to play off of.

Barrow was a great character too.

Oh damn I think I need to start rewatching them again. It was such great autumn tv.
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I don't know what it was about Matthew that I liked, he seemed vulnerable at times. Agreed about Mary's various suitors, found them to be bland, lacking charisma. Although it would have been nice to see more character development from Kemal Pamuk, instead of being so short lived.
 
Another series? Fellowes and co must be getting serious offers of $$$ to keep it going.

Matthew was super duper boring, pasty and jowly, and as exciting as a mug of cold Bovril. Was delighted when he died. But after that I could never tell the rest of Mary's gentleman callers apart. Why did they all look the same?

Branson was a twit. From Irish Republican with socialist ideals to fat bottomed member of the aristocracy happy to sit about in his tweeds and be waited on hand on foot. James Connolly would not have been impressed.

But no one irritated me as much as bloody Daisy, the sullen little mouse. She squeaked and chirruped her way through every series and film. And every so often they'd try to tell us she was actually a genius whose academic potential had been foiled by the class strictures of the day. I'm sorry, she was a moron who should have had some sense slapped into her by Mrs Patmore's copper pots.

Bates was an old bore and the enquiry into his wife's death seemed to go on for bloody ever. Would the authorities really have dedicated so much time to investigating the death of a working class woman? I doubt it.

I liked Anna, Barrow, Mary and Edith's cattiness towards one another, Lady Violet of course, Carson the old snob, and lovely old Molesley (although he tested my patience at times), oh and Lady Rose.
 
I was randomly thinking about Matthew's death and how unchristmassy that was the other day 😁 I think it did cause a bit of an uproar, I remember ITV released a statement a couple of days later that basically said 'look, Dan Stevens wanted to leave, and Matthew leaving Mary wouldn't have been believable, so he had to die' 😅
 
MissHavisham said:
Another series? Fellowes and co must be getting serious offers of $$$ to keep it going.

Matthew was super duper boring, pasty and jowly, and as exciting as a mug of cold Bovril. Was delighted when he died. But after that I could never tell the rest of Mary's gentleman callers apart. Why did they all look the same?

Branson was a twit. From Irish Republican with socialist ideals to fat bottomed member of the aristocracy happy to sit about in his tweeds and be waited on hand on foot. James Connolly would not have been impressed.

But no one irritated me as much as bloody Daisy, the sullen little mouse. She squeaked and chirruped her way through every series and film. And every so often they'd try to tell us she was actually a genius whose academic potential had been foiled by the class strictures of the day. I'm sorry, she was a moron who should have had some sense slapped into her by Mrs Patmore's copper pots.

Bates was an old bore and the enquiry into his wife's death seemed to go on for bloody ever. Would the authorities really have dedicated so much time to investigating the death of a working class woman? I doubt it.

I liked Anna, Barrow, Mary and Edith's cattiness towards one another, Lady Violet of course, Carson the old snob, and lovely old Molesley (although he tested my patience at times), oh and Lady Rose.
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Barrow 🩵🩵🩵
 
While rewatching I realize how much I still dislike Daisy. I thought I'd be more generous with her watching all the episodes back to back, but nope, she's even worse, if possible. She's constantly in a bad mood, misunderstands absolutely everything, and then we're supposed to believe she's an intellectual genius with a hunger for education. Sadly, since that rude Miss Bunting was her teacher, Daisy has learned nothing about social clues in her studies, or how to behave in certain contexts. Her embarrassing outburst in front of the new farm owner (who owned Mr Mason's farm) could have been coming from Miss Bunting.
 
You know I really had the hots for the guy Rose met at the Tea Dance -Sam . I do wish he had became a regular character . My favourite storylines were the dramas with Alfred Ivy Daisy and Jimmy and the Isobel/Dowager scenes . I would be quite happy to see it back but I felt the last film lovely though it was everything was just a bit schmaltzy .
 
I'm now at the final episode of the show. God, how utterly evil was Mary when she revealed Edith's secret to Bertie in the episode before. Tom's plea "Mary, don't" and his face of sheer disappointment were the worst. I'm glad he told her how shameful her behavior was. And then of course the glorious scene when Edith let out years of anger and resentment and just called Mary what she probably always thought of her. Brilliant. Hate how easily she forgave her, but at least Mary looked genuinely ashamed when Edith explained why.
So, because I've watched the movies only once and I've completely forgotten: but did they ignore Carson's illness later on? Because I'm now watching the scene where he tells Mrs Hughes about it and I remember that he gives up working or at least, his position as butler. But he's back at Downton in the movies, no?

This season could have been even better if they had just let Tom and Henry date. I love their chemistry (yes I know that would have been a VERY different show, please don't eat me).
 
Haha I'd have loved a gay storyline with Tom. The hottest man in the cast by far for me

Rewatching and I'd love them to explore downtons past. With a house that age it will have gone through so many fascinating moments in history that would make for great storylines
 
God, I got something in my eye when Barrow said goodbye to Master George, damn it!

I saw a post on another forum that suggested they follow young adults George, Sybbie and Marigold in a new series, but I think that would put them right into WWII or after it, and I'm not sure that's a time period Julian Fellowes wants to cover. So yeah, a series about Downton's past and another earl's family and staff would be more likely.
 
A series set during ww2 would be interesting and they could probably get away with such a time jump now. The final series was set in 1925 and aired 8 years ago so that puts it approaching the mid 30s.

Earlier than that you have the great depression/financial crash.

The kids would be approaching adulthood so could have their own storylines and character development too
 
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