Downton Abbey: Series 1, 2 and cast career discussion thread- Page 4

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 9:14am

I thought the contrast was great between Thomas and the cook's nephew, and I can see why it was written in. Just not with that method. It was cliche even back then, and nearly everyone who tried it using those tactics would have been caught. Thomas (being the crafty sh*t that he is) probably would have done something far less obvious. Something that couldn't be considered "self-induced" enemy fire.

I'm hoping they'll bring the incident back in the plot and place him under suspicion for the crime. Maybe even courtmartialed, then released without enough evidence. Although, it's a little late for that. Still, he would not have gotten off scott-free without being seriously put to to test, especially due to the nature of such an obvious "injury."

Updated On: 1/13/12 at 09:14 AM

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 3:41pm

Thomas is crafy alright, but I gathered that the war had really gotten to him and this was more an act of desperation rather than some genius scheme.

It was a fairly minor injury...were soldiers sent back to the front once healed? I remember at the end of last season when he went valiantly off to war and they seemed to be building it up and setting the scene, so I was expecting a bit more than one episode.

Updated On: 1/13/12 at 03:41 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 4:46pm

It was definitely an act of desparation. No question. He wanted out, any way he could get out. I was just surprised that Thomas, of all people, wouldn't have realized how "obvious" his staged injury was.

Think about it. It wouldn't take a Sherlock to figure it out. He was shot through the hand at night. Not while bullets were flying and richociheing during an assault. It was quiet. He was on a night watch. The only way for him to sustain an enemy gunshot wound in the hand was if he stuck it up and out of the foxhole. It was done all the time, sadly. And it was usually caught and tried accordingly.

The writing of this story and the characters are both excellent, so I'm still hoping this will come back to haunt him in later episodes and correct that little bit of "questionable" history I'm having with a plot point. That's what I love about Thomas, too. He gets away with a lot, but then he gets his comeuppance. Actually, it would be great if he even did a lot of "good" a the hospital and convalescent center first, and THEN got caught for the "bad" thing he did on the front. One of the best aspects of this show is that the good people aren't all good, and the bad people aren't all bad.

I love Mary. She was a the frosty bitch at first, but she's become genuinely compassionate and mature toward Matthew. I wanted to cheer, at first, when things didn't go her way, and now I genuinely feel sorry for her, even if she had it coming. She has "grown a woman's heart," at least where he's concerned. Maybe too little, too late.

The characters are complex. So it would be great to have this war crime come back to haunt Thomas AFTER he did a lot of good at the hospital. And I would love nothing better than to see the cook confront him when it's revealed that he got away with the same crime her nephew was executed for. What a scene that would be!

Updated On: 1/13/12 at 04:46 PM

[Scripps2]

Posted: 1/14/12 at 12:12pm

"I want to BE in Downton Abbey."

Have you got a pair of cowboy boots?

(Lord Grantham will explain the reason for my question in the Christmas special, which I guess you'll get in February)

[romantico]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 11:03pm

Not crazy about tonight's episode. Out of all the episodes,tonight's was my least favorite.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/16/12 at 10:09am

It gets better.

[romantico]

Posted: 1/16/12 at 4:49pm

I know it will. I absolutely love this show! Off topic but there is a new movie coming out with Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, and Penelope Wilton. Looks awfully good. Odd seeing Penelope and Maggie out of character in something other than Downton Abbey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDY89LYxK0w

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/16/12 at 5:03pm

Since the series are show short, I almost think it's best to bank them all and watch them in one sitting. That's how I did it.

[romantico]

Posted: 1/16/12 at 5:23pm

That's how I did it to and I agree. I watched them on Netflix. My problem was, I watched one episode and found I could not stop. I stayed up one night until 4:30 in the morning watching them all.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/16/12 at 5:31pm

Yeah, it's pretty addictive. I can't believe how much I liked it. I thought all the hype would have spoiled it for me, but it lived up to it.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 1/16/12 at 6:03pm

One sitting sounds ideal for Julian Fellowes' upcoming 4-part Titanic series, but for an 8-parter like Downton I imagine I would be drooping near the end - you must have great stamina.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/16/12 at 6:10pm

Ha. I guess. It just depends on how into something I am. Since the advent of dvd, I've become a big fan of watching episode after episode of the same shows in one sitting.

I think I did the first series of Downtown Abbey in two sittings, actually.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/16/12 at 9:10pm

You paused and rang for tea, no doubt.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/17/12 at 2:18am

That, and I also had to drag a body back to the guest quarters, didn't I?

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 1/17/12 at 9:10am

I hope your scullery maid didn't see you, Phyllis.

[romantico]

Posted: 1/17/12 at 9:38am

[Scripps2]

Posted: 1/18/12 at 3:38pm

Prof. Schama is not impressed:

“Nothing beats British television drama for servicing the instincts of cultural necrophilia.”
"The series is fabulously frocked, and acted, and overacted, and hyper-overacted by all the Usual Suspects..."

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 1/18/12 at 3:58pm

Take a chill pill, Prof.

Why does he single out America? Um, do his arguments apply to the masses of viewers in the UK too?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/18/12 at 9:31pm

Prof Schama, who has become a celebrity himself in America due to his populist books...

LOL!

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 1/18/12 at 11:42pm

I had never heard of him before... It's a drama--I love how he also feels the need to mention its link to Upstairs/Downstairs (which they've never denied) which ruins his own argument anyway since it had just as many infamous historical inaccuracies if not more...

I admit though that now they have said the show could go on indefinitely--even a movie. ITV has a rep for being as bad as American networks at dragging out series, but Fellowes did go on and on about how he had it all mapped out as a three season show with a clear era for each season and previously claimed it wouldn't make sense to do more. I love the show but often it's better to quit when you're ahead with tv.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/19/12 at 8:09am

Professor who?

Next.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 1/19/12 at 4:19pm

"Why does he single out America? Um, do his arguments apply to the masses of viewers in the UK too?"

He's certainly sticking his neck out - 4 million is about 1% of the US population I think, whereas over here it gets 13% of the population watching it. He's probably given up on UK audiences as a lost cause; he shouldn't, he made his name as a TV art historian over here.

Interesting to note he's not as well known in the US as he would like us here to believe.

[romantico]

Posted: 1/20/12 at 3:38pm

Sh*t the Dowager Countess Says

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs5_E1J_9hY

[NYadgal]

Posted: 1/20/12 at 4:24pm

Brilliant lines.
Priceless delivery.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 1/21/12 at 4:03am

He singles out America to make Brits feel they're dumbing down their product for the continent. A number of my British online freinds know who he is--NO one I speak to in Canada or the US does.