However great weekend--49rs won, we celebrated Three Kings a week late with our Arizona family and we watched Downton, episode 2 together.
Please do not read on if you didn't watch last night's episode and plan to.
We'll see if I'm right. And will Bates be released before he does something bad to his cell mate or the cell mate does something bad to him? What else did I like? Great lines from Maggie Smith, as usual. Mr. Carson's revealing how much he cares about Mrs. Hughes. That whole storyline handled nicely. I like the way Daisy is developing into a more confident young woman and the hint of future romance with Alfred.
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Several things I didn't like: Sir Anthony walking out at the wedding. He struck me as an honorable man. He'd have come to see Edith before to tell her he couldn't go through with it, not left her like that.
The letter from Lavinia giving her blessing to the money so that Downton can be saved. A little too pat, don't you think?
Ethel having turned into something out of Les Miserables. I'm sure she could have found some honest laundry, ironing, mending work.
Thomas becoming too outrageously evil.
So what did you think? As good as previous seasons or not?
I also thought it a bit odd for Sir Anthony to walk out on Edith at the altar. Pretty bad form, and not like him. I was hoping Edith would slap him...hehe.
ReplyDeleteI like your theories on Mrs. Bates. I was thinking she just killed herself to set him up and ruin his life. But yours is much more plausible and more fun that she unintentionally did herself in while trying to kill Mr. Bates..lol. I also wondered about the aura thing.
Poisoning is not a man's crime. Except maybe for Thomas. Does anybody besides me think that Thomas poisoned Pamuke?
ReplyDeleteWith you entirely on St. Anthony. This was not credible. He would know what a cruel thing this was to do in public. I see this as a major motivation/plot problem that I will be delighted to use in my fiction writing classes!
ReplyDeleteThe Lavinia/money thing was also a little over the top. Frankly, my choice (as an author) would have been to kill Matthew off - then Mary inherits his money and she can save Downtown. (Oops - I can hear the gasps all the way up to Canada :)
Rhys, love your take on the poisoning. befun to see if that's the way it turns out.
ReplyDeleteI was so surprised by Sir anthony walking out on the wedding. maybe that's what the writer's were going for. Hope that finding Edith "something to do" will give her more backbone and get her out of the poor-me mode.
Mary/Matthew giving the money to save the ancestral home was way too simplistic. didn't we all know it would happen one way or another? I think they should have moved to the "small" house, put the Abbey on the market...make more of a story out of it.
Fun to see other perspectives on the show. Thanks!!
I think Anthony is sufficiently wishy washy that that was the only way he could do it. He is such a malleable character, formed in and of tradition and while he would not plan to do it, I think his character is entirely capable of doing what he did, bursting out with a "NO". Alas, Edith. Thomas is sleazy and I don't think they are making him nastier, just giving him more screen time in which to be nasty. However, I have faith in O'Brien. Her malice is mighty, her wiles as crooked as the Meander River. I also think that the first Mrs. Bates was planning to murder Bates, and with arsenic. Where is CSI when you need it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Melodie, Matthew is leaving anyway...(oops, did I say that?)
I love your idea about the poisoning! And am kicking myself that I didn't see that! Actually, I could see Sir A being a weenie at the last moment. Edith was the one brave enough to push him to what she wanted, and I think she thought he wanted it as well. Sir A is a creature/victim of his time and envirnoment. It is his lost as I think Edith is going to become someone very very interesting.
ReplyDeleteMy burning question is who is behind plaguing Bates in prison,planting contraband and all?
Brilliant, Rhys! Though I must say the Bates plot can't end soon enough for me. What I can't wait to see is what fresh hell Miss O'brien visits on the oh so deserving Thomas.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that OBrien did it to shut her up. Was afraid that she would somehow harm her mistress with scandal.
ReplyDeleteAn arsenic aura. . . new one to me. Poor Edith; she may love Anthony but he is such a sister! I was afraid he was going to drop dead at the altar, he looked so ill at ease. My mom suggests Edith should go to America and stay with her grandmother. This nonsense with the letter to Matthew was so soap opera-ish to be ridiculous! Also, did anyone notice that we did not hear the health verdict for Mrs Hughes? She saw the doctor alone.
ReplyDeleteThis is not the first time that Julian Fellows wrote a corny plot for our favorite characters. I hated that love affair between The Lord and The Maid in series 2. What a waste of time. It was not in his character to sneak a quickie because his wife was too busy.
ReplyDeleteI've already seen the whole season, and I won't spoil anything, but I do want to say that I really feel Mrs. Hughes has really shown?/shined? this season. She really has become a great character, very caring and wise.
ReplyDeleteI'd say you summed it up. I like your theory about the arsenic and will watch for it.
ReplyDeleteI just watched all of seasons 1 and 2, and the first 2 episodes of season 3, all on one week. I didn't know what I was missing! I too was very disappointed by the "pat" answer to the financial crisis. However, there are many story lines waiting to be developed and I suppose there have to be choices about which ones to follow.
ReplyDeleteI still watch Downton, but I'm not sure I respect myself in the morning. Would any new or obscure author be able to sell something with the implausible plot twists of a deathbed letter which gives a legitimate reason to keep the money, and the left at the altar scene? I think not.
ReplyDeleteGreat theory on the poisoning! I hope that's how it turns out. I'd never heard about the arsenic aura effect before.
I like the idea of Thomas poisoning the Turkish diplomat. I mean, it IS quite unlikely for a young man in seemingly good health to just drop dead suddenly.
ReplyDeleteAnd I wonder why they even bothered to have a financial crisis at all. Nothing has really changed, and it was all resolved so quickly. Kind of a waste of screen time imo.
Edith getting left at the altar, quite literally...honestly, that was too too dramatic...Sir Anthony was all sweetness and love the day before...it just bordered on the absurd...and I wondered if it had anything to do with the 'divorced' couple Edith mentioned to him the night before...he said he liked the woman; would this little hint have anything to do with his sudden change of heart? And Mary and Matthew are beginning to grate on me...do they ever NOT disagree? I still love the show...just some scenes are getting far fetched...am eager to see how Bates gets out of prison...because he will...
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of your responses. However, did any of you catch what Maggie Smith was saying at the church (and loud enough for Sir A to hear it too). I am wondering if that might have something to do with Sir. A leaving Edith at the alter.
ReplyDeleteWhen the neighbor said that Mrs. Bates was "scrubbing at her nails" after making the pastry, it made me sure that she was planning to poison Mr. Bates. I don't think it was a suicide - I think it was an accident.
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