DOWNTON ABBEY Season 3 Discussion Thread - SPOILERS WITHIN- Page 5

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/19/12 at 9:25pm

Cora survived the Spanish Flu and Violet is still alive, so this family has already been tempting the mortality gods.

Sybil was my favorite of the daughters, too, and she was the kindest and most thoughtful of the tree, which makes her death more poignant.

I think you must be the only person in the world who doesn't like Bates, Jay!

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 10/19/12 at 9:29pm

He is insufferable, playing the victim since episode one. I love Anna, so want to see her happy...but I love myself more - I was devastated when his death sentence was commuted.

Edit - I realize that he is supposed to be stoicism personified, but that just annoys me more.

Updated On: 10/19/12 at 09:29 PM

[romantico]

Posted: 10/19/12 at 9:51pm

Has anyone noticed that Bates no longer has a limp? In prison I guess he is not allowed to use a cane like he did when he was Robert's valet.

I thought I heard they talked Maggie into doing a 4th season. Didn't Julian Fellows say he would do only one more season of Downton? He seems to really want to do the prequel now so maybe there will be just another season left.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/20/12 at 12:00am

"I guess I agree with you, Eric, about writers killing off characters...my post was an emotional one, typed through tears. :) But why Sybil??? I'm sure Tom is next for the high jump, perhaps the Irish Civil War of 1922 will work its way in. I agree with whomever said that Matthew and Mary will raise the new baby...the seeds have been sown. "

Ha, well that's understandable.

I think it's the Little Women, "Beth" rule--kill the sweetest, most understanding both because it will be the most emotional for readers, and it gives drama to the other characters who ALL cared about her. Also, I think it's hard to write such a *nice* character in a serial (I'm judging this by daytime soap operas where those almost Dickensian heroines, after a year or two with a romantic story or something, frustrate the writers so much that they either kill them off or make them evil).

Phyllis, that's what my mom said. In those days, particularly, it would be almost unusual to not have someone in the family die before their time--and really the whole family has been having the best luck lately--for the most part (like I said, saved at the last minute from giving up their estate, etc, etc--of course Edith hasn't had great luck. Poor Edith).

Romantico, Julian says whatever he wants to. Way back he said he had the show structured to be three seasons and nothing more. Last year, I swear he said something like *6* seasons which I admit worried me. I could see--even with the prequel, getting at least two more.

[romantico]

Posted: 10/20/12 at 12:13am

I think 4 seasons is enough. Maybe 5 but hopefully no more than that.It shouldn't be how long Julian wants to do it for but how long Dame Maggie wants to do it.

So weird seeing the cast out of character. Mrs.Hughes and Mrs.Patmore. Both are very attractive and look younger than they do on the show.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/20/12 at 4:50pm

I saw photos of the cast at a UK awards thing, and had the same reaction (I didn't even recognize Daisy).

[Scripps2]

Posted: 10/20/12 at 4:50pm

I found Bates insufferable in series 2 and am glad we haven't had to see so much of him in series 3. It's not that I'm against being honourable but they seem to wring every last desperate drop of pathos out of Bates' self-sacrificing decency.

Saw Zoe Ball (Lavinia) as Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof this week. Her Southern accent was ropey and took some getting used to but once past that hurdle she gave a very intense performance.

[romantico]

Posted: 10/21/12 at 7:38pm

***SPOILER***






Good episode tonight. It ends well for Robert and Cora and it looks like Bates gets released next week. Two more episodes left plus the Christmas episode on Christmas day.

I am surprised the men are so harsh on Ethel.I guess back then they were more concerned with gossip and scandal.I love Carson but he was kind of a dick tonight.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/21/12 at 11:21pm

And anything regarding a woman and sex would be a scandal in those days. Remember how long the shadow of Mary and Mr. Pamuk hung over everyone? I loved that the women all put aside that nonsense and just helped Ethel because it was the decent thing to do. And it's something Sybil would have supported, because she was a protofeminist through and through.

To most the most incredulous part is all that religion fretting. The times, they is a changing though. I wonder if they are sowing the seeds for the next season with all the talk of the nobility not being able to sustain itself.

I'm happy for Bates! Sorry, Jay!

I thought Elizabeth McGovern was marvelous in this tonight. I feel like she's been waiting three years for the kind of scenes she's had in this episode.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/21/12 at 11:23pm

I thought both Robert and Carson were MAJOR douche canoes tonight. Frankly, I think Robert has been nothing but a douche all season, ESPECIALLY to Edith. He didn't want her to marry Strallan, and then is unhappy when she wants to make another life for herself? Does he want her to just stay at Downton like Quasimodo or something? And then when he didn't even acknowledge what Dr. Clarkson said about how arrogant the other doctor had been? Just the worst.

That being said, the ladies all kept it real this week. And I really of want Carson, Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Patmore to have a Three's Company type sitcom spinoff.


And on the topic of the actors looking different out of costume, Siobhan Finneran was the most surprising one for me.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/21/12 at 11:26pm

I feel like one of the themes this season has been the changing roles of women. I think it's less about Robert and Carson being douchey and more about them just standing for the old world order. The men don't want to change and the women are desperate for it. Even Mary, the daughter most steeped in tradition, is desperate for it.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/21/12 at 11:36pm

Oh, yes, I definitely agree with that, Phyllis. It's just so frustrating to watch all of these smart women fight for that and realize that and have them pushed back by Robert or Carson. I thought the scene with Daisy and Mr. Mason was so wonderful because of that: he clearly sees the way the future is playing out, and knows that a young woman like Daisy is poised to do something great.

Also a friend shared a hilarious comment she read somewhere that Robert has four children: Downton, Matthew, Isis and Mary. In that order.

Updated On: 10/21/12 at 11:36 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 12:00am

I was just reminded of the sad fact that the season are so short and we are nearing the end. I am sad. I have nothing intelligent to contribute.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 5:28am

"I thought Elizabeth McGovern was marvelous in this tonight. I feel like she's been waiting three years for the kind of scenes she's had in this episode."

Definitely.

It was a stunning episode in many ways.

What I do have reservations about is that we are being told by the characters that times are changing but we're not seeing how and why times are changing. Matthew modernising the management of the estate was a product of a plot contrivance that lacked credibility rather than because of the side-effects of WWI. Similarly we are told that big estates won't be able to run themselves in 40 years time but we are not told why. And yet we are not seeing any of the societal changes that resulted in the decline of the aristocracy, possibly because they didn't really start to happen until the mid 1920s. The biggest societal change at Downton seems to be that staff are prepared to dance when they should be working.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 1:34pm

Well Dan Stevens is not coming back next year as of right now.

[romantico]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 2:10pm

Really? I hope they can some how persuade him to commit to another season. Not sure if it is true, but Maggie was the one last year who said season 3 would be her last. However, I thought I had heard she had decided to sign on for another season after the third.IMO, everyone should come back for another season.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 2:59pm

Everyone should do one more season and be done. It's wonderful, but I don't want it to run too long.

[romantico]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 3:00pm

I agree. Season 4 with 8 episodes and then the series finale a 90 minute Christmas episode.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 3:11pm

That was a great episode overall, but the Bates thing was a total anti-climax. I sat through endless walk-about-the-jailyard scenes and this was the pay-off? Okay. I thought surely there would be another hiccup, but then they showed him back at Downton next week. Whatever. Bring back the Spanish flu.

Maybe I'm just a little dense (it's been said before), but why exactly did the witness lady change her mind anyhow? The lawyer chap made some implications about ways and means, but they certainly went over my head. And the cell-mate...that was rather pointless, wasn't it?

One last begrudging nitpick...couldn't Shirley MacLaine aka "that woman" come over for the funeral and to comfort her daughter? Why introduce the character if she's just going to disappear?

I do love this show, by the way!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 3:25pm

Unless they were to put the funeral off, I don't see how she'd be able to get back in time. In theory, she could still be on her way back to New York, I think.

There could always be more to the cell-mate, etc, later on. This show does have a way of dropping little seeds that don't sprout right away (for all the stuff that DOES fly by)!

I know I'm in the minority, but I want this show to run forever.

[romantico]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 3:30pm

I thought the same thing. Why not save Shirley and just put her in one scene to comfort her daughter over the loss of her youngest.

I still want to know why Bates does not have a limp now that he is in prison. If he comes back to Downton limping with a cane I am gonna scream.

One thing I hope in season 4 is that they don't kill anyone off.

I'm just curious to hear how you would write off the show. I'm thinking about showing Downton in the early to mid 60's with Matthew and Mary's son running the place.Maybe even showing Downton in the year 2012.I think I like the idea of Downton going on while the people come and go.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 3:35pm

Or just have them not age and appear in different Eras! Imagine the Dowager in the 60s!

I still get the hunch that next season will be about the end of Downton (the estate, not the show), but I'm wrong all the time about this stuff.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 4:07pm

If Bates comes back to Downton next week, and Robert wants him back as his valet, where will that leave Thomas? (Obviously this will be answered next week, but I can't imagine him being demoted to footman again.)

[Huss417]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 4:13pm

Bates will be the new wet nurse. :)

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 4:18pm

Presumaby Shirley was told of her grand-daughter's death immediately by telegraph or telephone, so she could have hopped on the first transatlantic passage and been over in a jiffy, or a week at most. I'm not sure about funeral customs in those days, but she probably could've made it - it seems odd.

I think I did spot Bates limping at one stage during last night's episode, but just slightly. Maybe he's healed.

I don't want Downton to end any time soon either...four seasons, twenty four episodes, isn't that much really - only about one season in American terms. I have no idea how it will end. Maybe Finnoula Flanagan will show up and tell them that they've been dead all along.