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Nov. 12th, 2014 07:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessDownton series 5 finale
Susan, in her attempt to get the whole family to want to divorce her, made Mary less obviously odious, although I was fuming throughout Carson’s little ‘buck up, Lady Mary’ speech, because the fact is that she wasn’t good enough for Tony. No, he wasn’t right for her, but not because of her moral superiority or any classiness on her part. She still makes nearly everything all about her. Believe me, I enjoyed the inspector (nothing like the Gosford Park one) telling her that he didn’t care if she was the Queen of the Upper Nile.
That was about the only thing I cared for in the trundling on of the Mr Greene case. ‘Touched by sorrow,’ indeed. If it wasn’t the Christmas special next, I wouldn’t put it past the show to have Anna miscarry while in custody too. The latest instalment was disappointing. I know they were thinking of the sensational twist of having Anna, who has expended so much worry over Bates (and Robert was worried he’d throttle the inspector. Heh. Shouldn’t laugh) be innocent of the danger she was in. But it’s been obvious for a while where the police’s suspicions were tending. It tends towards victim blaming, though. One could understand her reasons for not coming forward – although I’m glad that it has come out that Greene was a serial rapist, because duh. And expecting her to say she’d been raped in front of all the male police officers, her husband and Carson – I am shocked that other women actually told Inspector Heavy Handed. But Greene was the criminal, and yes, his killer, and dragging it on for three hundred years like this, when the storyline never worked, was the weakest part of this episode. And the treatment of Anna, who was abused, for the sake of drama that doesn’t work, is sickening.
One lesson to learn from all this, though: always listen to Mrs Hughes.
I enjoyed the wedding. I liked how Rose the diplomat’s daughter emerged, how sweet both she and Atticus were. Oh, and I also really liked the visual of Rose, Mary, Tom and Edith just hanging out. I don’t know how it’s going to work in terms of keeping her on the show. Please do not let the answer be that Atticus dies a stupid death, leaving pregnant!Rose forced to return to Downton and mope elegantly. Find a different answer. Or is Lily James leaving?
Good mother (his) one; bad mother (anti-Semitic Susan) nil.
There wasn’t enough Spratt, but what there was was fun.
Kuruagyn (sp?) demanding Violet made a decision immediately on his proposal made me laugh. This is Downton, she will dither for episode after episode, your Russian highness.
Still, yay her for telling Isobel to show those sons and go after her man. I look forward to their campaign.
Speaking of decisions, it is typical that Daisy, having decided she would go (shocking decisiveness and a genuine shock that one of the originals would leave) changed her mind. Nice that she did so around her father figure (Mr Mason) and mother figure (Mrs Patmore) though. Also, ‘you daft ha’pworth’ didn’t make up for all the utterly anachronistic dialogue and behaviour, but I long gave up on that from this show. Daisy’s Voice of the Working Class dialogue was especially dire.
When I thought Daisy was leaving, I thought that at least that would mean that the courting Molesley and Baxter could go on their third date unchaperoned. Although he is so now thinking of marriage and it’s adorable.
The downstairs stuff was far more interesting and important this episode, perhaps because of the different setting. Uncle Thomas (he’s like a gay vigilante, swooping in when young men are wronged) versus Dencker. More Carson/Hughes – he doesn’t deserve her, but so long as she keeps getting lines like the self-awareness one, that’s fine.
I thought it would have been Marigold’s resemblance to Edith that would have jangled Robert’s memory (but I also thought Mrs Drew might kidnap Marigold while they were in London so what do I know?). Deeply unsurprising that the latest Marigold plan didn’t quite work as envisaged. Basically, everyone is going to know she’s Edith’s. Except Mary unless if someone points it out to her.
I don’t care whether Mary or Edith love Branson the most now (I’m not sure if we’re really meant to read this as possibly shippy. I had a speculative conversation with a friend who thought Edith/Tom was coming...I didn’t admit my Tom/Mary tendencies of the last series to them). We were pretty much here with Branson last year. He’s spent a whole year dithering. If America is best for him and Sybbie, fair enough. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he changed his mind during the Christmas episode and stayed, a la Daisy, so I refuse to get too invested.
Lots of threads to be picked up in said Christmas episode, but I don’t know if they will all be.
Gotham 1.05
Same old issues. Dangling a bit of Selina in front of us, but instead of having her and Bruce meet, we had him in danger – which I thought was neat, and I liked Alfred in action, protecting his ward. Isn’t Bruce, however clever he clearly is, getting an education? Although clearly, getting him to eat and exercise and manage his obsessions is work enough. The young detective is going to need to work on his masks, though.
Oh, Jim, I have nothing much to say about you, except you are fine, the faces that McKenzie pulls give a good indication of where Jim is at, and that’s fine. I laughed at Harvey not knowing what altruistic was. There was also Oswald pushing at boundaries with Mafiosi, as you do, Nygma desecrating Spock’s catchphrase, some high-powered but probably corrupt women working for Wayne Enterprise’s subsidiary (I loved Margaret Colin in ID4). Fish’s purpose for her weapon was no surprise, but the Russian really should watch his back around his so-called ally.
Susan, in her attempt to get the whole family to want to divorce her, made Mary less obviously odious, although I was fuming throughout Carson’s little ‘buck up, Lady Mary’ speech, because the fact is that she wasn’t good enough for Tony. No, he wasn’t right for her, but not because of her moral superiority or any classiness on her part. She still makes nearly everything all about her. Believe me, I enjoyed the inspector (nothing like the Gosford Park one) telling her that he didn’t care if she was the Queen of the Upper Nile.
That was about the only thing I cared for in the trundling on of the Mr Greene case. ‘Touched by sorrow,’ indeed. If it wasn’t the Christmas special next, I wouldn’t put it past the show to have Anna miscarry while in custody too. The latest instalment was disappointing. I know they were thinking of the sensational twist of having Anna, who has expended so much worry over Bates (and Robert was worried he’d throttle the inspector. Heh. Shouldn’t laugh) be innocent of the danger she was in. But it’s been obvious for a while where the police’s suspicions were tending. It tends towards victim blaming, though. One could understand her reasons for not coming forward – although I’m glad that it has come out that Greene was a serial rapist, because duh. And expecting her to say she’d been raped in front of all the male police officers, her husband and Carson – I am shocked that other women actually told Inspector Heavy Handed. But Greene was the criminal, and yes, his killer, and dragging it on for three hundred years like this, when the storyline never worked, was the weakest part of this episode. And the treatment of Anna, who was abused, for the sake of drama that doesn’t work, is sickening.
One lesson to learn from all this, though: always listen to Mrs Hughes.
I enjoyed the wedding. I liked how Rose the diplomat’s daughter emerged, how sweet both she and Atticus were. Oh, and I also really liked the visual of Rose, Mary, Tom and Edith just hanging out. I don’t know how it’s going to work in terms of keeping her on the show. Please do not let the answer be that Atticus dies a stupid death, leaving pregnant!Rose forced to return to Downton and mope elegantly. Find a different answer. Or is Lily James leaving?
Good mother (his) one; bad mother (anti-Semitic Susan) nil.
There wasn’t enough Spratt, but what there was was fun.
Kuruagyn (sp?) demanding Violet made a decision immediately on his proposal made me laugh. This is Downton, she will dither for episode after episode, your Russian highness.
Still, yay her for telling Isobel to show those sons and go after her man. I look forward to their campaign.
Speaking of decisions, it is typical that Daisy, having decided she would go (shocking decisiveness and a genuine shock that one of the originals would leave) changed her mind. Nice that she did so around her father figure (Mr Mason) and mother figure (Mrs Patmore) though. Also, ‘you daft ha’pworth’ didn’t make up for all the utterly anachronistic dialogue and behaviour, but I long gave up on that from this show. Daisy’s Voice of the Working Class dialogue was especially dire.
When I thought Daisy was leaving, I thought that at least that would mean that the courting Molesley and Baxter could go on their third date unchaperoned. Although he is so now thinking of marriage and it’s adorable.
The downstairs stuff was far more interesting and important this episode, perhaps because of the different setting. Uncle Thomas (he’s like a gay vigilante, swooping in when young men are wronged) versus Dencker. More Carson/Hughes – he doesn’t deserve her, but so long as she keeps getting lines like the self-awareness one, that’s fine.
I thought it would have been Marigold’s resemblance to Edith that would have jangled Robert’s memory (but I also thought Mrs Drew might kidnap Marigold while they were in London so what do I know?). Deeply unsurprising that the latest Marigold plan didn’t quite work as envisaged. Basically, everyone is going to know she’s Edith’s. Except Mary unless if someone points it out to her.
I don’t care whether Mary or Edith love Branson the most now (I’m not sure if we’re really meant to read this as possibly shippy. I had a speculative conversation with a friend who thought Edith/Tom was coming...I didn’t admit my Tom/Mary tendencies of the last series to them). We were pretty much here with Branson last year. He’s spent a whole year dithering. If America is best for him and Sybbie, fair enough. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he changed his mind during the Christmas episode and stayed, a la Daisy, so I refuse to get too invested.
Lots of threads to be picked up in said Christmas episode, but I don’t know if they will all be.
Gotham 1.05
Same old issues. Dangling a bit of Selina in front of us, but instead of having her and Bruce meet, we had him in danger – which I thought was neat, and I liked Alfred in action, protecting his ward. Isn’t Bruce, however clever he clearly is, getting an education? Although clearly, getting him to eat and exercise and manage his obsessions is work enough. The young detective is going to need to work on his masks, though.
Oh, Jim, I have nothing much to say about you, except you are fine, the faces that McKenzie pulls give a good indication of where Jim is at, and that’s fine. I laughed at Harvey not knowing what altruistic was. There was also Oswald pushing at boundaries with Mafiosi, as you do, Nygma desecrating Spock’s catchphrase, some high-powered but probably corrupt women working for Wayne Enterprise’s subsidiary (I loved Margaret Colin in ID4). Fish’s purpose for her weapon was no surprise, but the Russian really should watch his back around his so-called ally.
