Last Downton ramble but one
Nov. 15th, 2015 08:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessDownton 6.08
A close contender for the most satisfying moment of the show was the reveal of SEPTIMUS ‘CASSANDRA JONES’ SPRATT. Beautiful. (Actually, if it weren’t for a couple of things, I would love to have a spin-off about the magazine, featuring Edith and Whatshername the editor being pals, Audrey being the competent secretary backing them up, their incomprable advice columnist and their wacky but stylish shenanigans.)
But no, the most satisfying moment (moments, really) involved Edith and Mary, after Mary went beyond the pale, as it had been obvious she would, and dropped Edith in it in front of Bertie. Edith was absolutely right to let rip later – in fact, it’s a shame, as she said, that she didn’t say it before, because what Mary did was just nasty, lashing out, and it’s part and parcel of a pattern of behaviour that’s been going on for years, and Edith has been the object of it most often. (Sure, she’s hit back, but it’s never been on the same scale and Edith’s pretty ineffective at viciousness.) It was as satisfying and cathartic to hear Edith as the trailer had promised.
I also liked the scene where Edith came back for the wedding and they had their reconciliation, because I loved the reason why Edith was forgiving her sister. It wasn't too easily given, but it showed that she’d thought through things that Mary patently hadn’t, like the future and the value of memories. Of course, Mary should have got all this when Sybil died, Edith evidently did back then and has learnt from her losses, but Mary’s an egoist.
Edith totally deserved getting the final shot of the episode, because there’s unfinished business there.
Of course she was sympathetic. A part of you wants to shake her, because even if it hadn’t been obvious she should have told Mary after the Drewe abduction – would Mary still have been a bitch? Possibly, but I think that she used feeling there was a conspiracy that she was outside of as fuel to stoke her bad mood.
But Edith, my love, WHEN YOUR MOTHER AND AUNT ARE TELLING YOU TO TELL BERTIE...I was crying out for her to be brave, and she wasn't and it was so sad, but understandable, because they did a very good job of making circumstances militate against her telling him in this episode. Bertie’s elevation (is that the phrase? I guessed marchioness right.) changed the stakes, and was a brilliant development (even if they tried it on with Isobel becoming Lady Merton and leapfrogging Violet last season), with previously humble Bertie and Edith potentially of a higher rank than everyone and Robert being all for it at any price. There was also the talk of Bertie's mother, what she was like, and that Bertie was grieving and looking for the Edith he’s put on a bit of a pedestal to help him in his new position and responsibilities...
So, it wasn’t just your usual Edith dithering, which leavened the frustration. And when he took her yes, she didn’t get much of a chance to speak - she might have said if she'd had more time and less pressing circumstances.
But she didn’t trust him, and that was the crux of it. How do you build a marriage on that basis?
Heartbreaking stuff!
However, I have hope that he will forgive her (although I did roll my eyes a lot at the general tenor of ‘without these men, the Crawley sisters have thrown away their Last Chance of Happiness' – both have work to do, children to love, health, excellent wardrobes...) I’m clinging to the spasm that crossed his face when Edith talked about the wonderful life they could have had. I very much want love to overcome and for Edith’s suffering because of another of her weaknesses to end – especially because Mary got her man.
Mary was, as pretty much everyone said the worst - a bully, who lashed out because she was unhappy. (Even during this episode, I was suggesting ways Mary could die.)
There's been some self-awareness of how low Mary's sunk and how dislikeable she's been, Mary in the black (if you ignore the hairnet) was very striking – and not subtle about how she was going to behave. (Mary in the cardigan thingy of accepting the proposal was a rare wardrobe foul-up.)
I’ve gone on about how Mary/Henry hasn’t floated my boat, so despite the acting, the fact that we've been here with Tony and Charles and that all the romances after Matthew have been underdeveloped compared with her relationship with Tom, made me indifferent. With even Anna coming on side, it felt that I was being told a lot about how wonderful a couple Mary/Henry would be rather than seeing enough of it.
But I do want a bit about how the show’s handled consent and Mary’s attiude towards it. That Henry listened to her when she said ‘NO. Go away,’ in this episode, which was the second clear rejection, and went away is a good thing. Even if she is contrary, it’s not some romantic battle of wills if he didn’t listen to her at that point. What Pamuk did wasn’t romantic, it was dubious consent. Even Tom crossed a line by encouraging Henry. Maybe she was wrongheaded to fight against her feelings, but as a principle, I think they should all have listened to her and respected that it was her choice to turn him down, even if it was self-defeating fear and snobbishness.
It was almost weird to have such a quickie wedding, when every wedding up till now has bene the subject of extensive debate and preparations. I got excited at seeing Downton’s resident vicar turning up. They even wangled Harriet Walter for basically being one person in the crowd.
Can Tom get a wee plot that isn’t wrapped up in playing Cupid/being overinvolved in Mary’s love life in the Christmas special? And building a garage with Henry doesn't count. However, he was indeed the sensible one by bringing in grannie. I have to admit that not even Maggie Smith could quite sell me on the speech about love, but I did think that Mary’s terror of losing Henry to a car crash was a credible motivator (they didn’t have her actually tell him to stop racing, though.) Shame Violet didn’t have a conversation with Edith, in some way, but they’ve always emphasised the Violet-Mary parallels.
Nice Isobel stuff. Yes, make Larry grovel before you rescue Lord Merton! And, again, Penelope Wilton played the sceon the extrne with Mary at the graveside beautifully - even if I spent most of it thinking about how Dan Stephens' decision to leave when he did put the writers in a hole for several seasons, really.
How very dare Robert be mean to Rosamund, when his family has used her pad as a hotel for years? Boo!
Cora being lovely to Bertie was lovely, though, while the whole verbal dance about how the dead Marquis was gay went on too long.
I did get it wrong when I was arguing everywhere that no way would they go for suicide with Thomas because it’d make the Crawleys look so bad. Making it an attempted suicide was the better choice, you got the sobering effect on the other characters as they realised the depths of Thomas's despair, without it being fatal. The Christmas special needs Carson to apologise or SOMETHING to him, because I need more than Carson admitting he’s been a curmudgeon – he’s been worse than that. Robert was more sympathetic – not just over Thomas, but also Mrs Patmore, for whom I felt really sorry. as everyone else sniggered. This was her nest egg!
Yay for Molesley (somehow) becoming a great teacher. I loved his bravery in admitting the first day hadn’t gone well even if I have no idea how he learned classroom control overnight.
I don’t actually believe Daisy is that brainy based on all we’ve seen, so I’m going to pretend that her results didn’t happen.
Once again, they made an effort to film the big house from different directions. It was a decent job at giving enough closure for the end of the series proper, while leaving plenty for the Christmas special.
Predictions: Bertie comes back for Edith, PLEASE MAKE IT SO. I think they will because they have to cast someone amazing as his mother.
Anna has a difficult birth, but I think both mother and child will make it.
I even think Violet may survive.
Denker finds out about Spratt’s advice column.
Larry Grey will be put in his place.
There may be some movement on the job front with someone leaving.
If the editirix is visiting again, I think they might fob her off on Tom.
The kids will be cute.
I have no idea what the last shot will be - I hope it's of a group of people. Perhaps it'll be a car taking someone and us away from the house, or it could be an epilogue-type flashforward to the future where a Crawley welcomes the descendant of one of the servants to the house?
That took me longer to compose than I'd hoped!
A close contender for the most satisfying moment of the show was the reveal of SEPTIMUS ‘CASSANDRA JONES’ SPRATT. Beautiful. (Actually, if it weren’t for a couple of things, I would love to have a spin-off about the magazine, featuring Edith and Whatshername the editor being pals, Audrey being the competent secretary backing them up, their incomprable advice columnist and their wacky but stylish shenanigans.)
But no, the most satisfying moment (moments, really) involved Edith and Mary, after Mary went beyond the pale, as it had been obvious she would, and dropped Edith in it in front of Bertie. Edith was absolutely right to let rip later – in fact, it’s a shame, as she said, that she didn’t say it before, because what Mary did was just nasty, lashing out, and it’s part and parcel of a pattern of behaviour that’s been going on for years, and Edith has been the object of it most often. (Sure, she’s hit back, but it’s never been on the same scale and Edith’s pretty ineffective at viciousness.) It was as satisfying and cathartic to hear Edith as the trailer had promised.
I also liked the scene where Edith came back for the wedding and they had their reconciliation, because I loved the reason why Edith was forgiving her sister. It wasn't too easily given, but it showed that she’d thought through things that Mary patently hadn’t, like the future and the value of memories. Of course, Mary should have got all this when Sybil died, Edith evidently did back then and has learnt from her losses, but Mary’s an egoist.
Edith totally deserved getting the final shot of the episode, because there’s unfinished business there.
Of course she was sympathetic. A part of you wants to shake her, because even if it hadn’t been obvious she should have told Mary after the Drewe abduction – would Mary still have been a bitch? Possibly, but I think that she used feeling there was a conspiracy that she was outside of as fuel to stoke her bad mood.
But Edith, my love, WHEN YOUR MOTHER AND AUNT ARE TELLING YOU TO TELL BERTIE...I was crying out for her to be brave, and she wasn't and it was so sad, but understandable, because they did a very good job of making circumstances militate against her telling him in this episode. Bertie’s elevation (is that the phrase? I guessed marchioness right.) changed the stakes, and was a brilliant development (even if they tried it on with Isobel becoming Lady Merton and leapfrogging Violet last season), with previously humble Bertie and Edith potentially of a higher rank than everyone and Robert being all for it at any price. There was also the talk of Bertie's mother, what she was like, and that Bertie was grieving and looking for the Edith he’s put on a bit of a pedestal to help him in his new position and responsibilities...
So, it wasn’t just your usual Edith dithering, which leavened the frustration. And when he took her yes, she didn’t get much of a chance to speak - she might have said if she'd had more time and less pressing circumstances.
But she didn’t trust him, and that was the crux of it. How do you build a marriage on that basis?
Heartbreaking stuff!
However, I have hope that he will forgive her (although I did roll my eyes a lot at the general tenor of ‘without these men, the Crawley sisters have thrown away their Last Chance of Happiness' – both have work to do, children to love, health, excellent wardrobes...) I’m clinging to the spasm that crossed his face when Edith talked about the wonderful life they could have had. I very much want love to overcome and for Edith’s suffering because of another of her weaknesses to end – especially because Mary got her man.
Mary was, as pretty much everyone said the worst - a bully, who lashed out because she was unhappy. (Even during this episode, I was suggesting ways Mary could die.)
There's been some self-awareness of how low Mary's sunk and how dislikeable she's been, Mary in the black (if you ignore the hairnet) was very striking – and not subtle about how she was going to behave. (Mary in the cardigan thingy of accepting the proposal was a rare wardrobe foul-up.)
I’ve gone on about how Mary/Henry hasn’t floated my boat, so despite the acting, the fact that we've been here with Tony and Charles and that all the romances after Matthew have been underdeveloped compared with her relationship with Tom, made me indifferent. With even Anna coming on side, it felt that I was being told a lot about how wonderful a couple Mary/Henry would be rather than seeing enough of it.
But I do want a bit about how the show’s handled consent and Mary’s attiude towards it. That Henry listened to her when she said ‘NO. Go away,’ in this episode, which was the second clear rejection, and went away is a good thing. Even if she is contrary, it’s not some romantic battle of wills if he didn’t listen to her at that point. What Pamuk did wasn’t romantic, it was dubious consent. Even Tom crossed a line by encouraging Henry. Maybe she was wrongheaded to fight against her feelings, but as a principle, I think they should all have listened to her and respected that it was her choice to turn him down, even if it was self-defeating fear and snobbishness.
It was almost weird to have such a quickie wedding, when every wedding up till now has bene the subject of extensive debate and preparations. I got excited at seeing Downton’s resident vicar turning up. They even wangled Harriet Walter for basically being one person in the crowd.
Can Tom get a wee plot that isn’t wrapped up in playing Cupid/being overinvolved in Mary’s love life in the Christmas special? And building a garage with Henry doesn't count. However, he was indeed the sensible one by bringing in grannie. I have to admit that not even Maggie Smith could quite sell me on the speech about love, but I did think that Mary’s terror of losing Henry to a car crash was a credible motivator (they didn’t have her actually tell him to stop racing, though.) Shame Violet didn’t have a conversation with Edith, in some way, but they’ve always emphasised the Violet-Mary parallels.
Nice Isobel stuff. Yes, make Larry grovel before you rescue Lord Merton! And, again, Penelope Wilton played the sceon the extrne with Mary at the graveside beautifully - even if I spent most of it thinking about how Dan Stephens' decision to leave when he did put the writers in a hole for several seasons, really.
How very dare Robert be mean to Rosamund, when his family has used her pad as a hotel for years? Boo!
Cora being lovely to Bertie was lovely, though, while the whole verbal dance about how the dead Marquis was gay went on too long.
I did get it wrong when I was arguing everywhere that no way would they go for suicide with Thomas because it’d make the Crawleys look so bad. Making it an attempted suicide was the better choice, you got the sobering effect on the other characters as they realised the depths of Thomas's despair, without it being fatal. The Christmas special needs Carson to apologise or SOMETHING to him, because I need more than Carson admitting he’s been a curmudgeon – he’s been worse than that. Robert was more sympathetic – not just over Thomas, but also Mrs Patmore, for whom I felt really sorry. as everyone else sniggered. This was her nest egg!
Yay for Molesley (somehow) becoming a great teacher. I loved his bravery in admitting the first day hadn’t gone well even if I have no idea how he learned classroom control overnight.
I don’t actually believe Daisy is that brainy based on all we’ve seen, so I’m going to pretend that her results didn’t happen.
Once again, they made an effort to film the big house from different directions. It was a decent job at giving enough closure for the end of the series proper, while leaving plenty for the Christmas special.
Predictions: Bertie comes back for Edith, PLEASE MAKE IT SO. I think they will because they have to cast someone amazing as his mother.
Anna has a difficult birth, but I think both mother and child will make it.
I even think Violet may survive.
Denker finds out about Spratt’s advice column.
Larry Grey will be put in his place.
There may be some movement on the job front with someone leaving.
If the editirix is visiting again, I think they might fob her off on Tom.
The kids will be cute.
I have no idea what the last shot will be - I hope it's of a group of people. Perhaps it'll be a car taking someone and us away from the house, or it could be an epilogue-type flashforward to the future where a Crawley welcomes the descendant of one of the servants to the house?
That took me longer to compose than I'd hoped!
