Downton and Strictly results
Nov. 12th, 2013 07:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessDownton Abbey series 4 finale
Crammed-full extra long episode – for some reason, I was surprised by the length - with most things developing organically enough, but a few things (Lord Merton admiring Isobel!) coming out of nowhere and other things having gone on so very far beyond their best by date – well, mainly Alfred is Really Leaving This Time and Daisy’s Okay With That.
Downstairs, aww, Mrs Patmore, I was proud of Daisy for being over Alfred too, now if she could just stop being a cow to Ivy, that would be nice. The return of Mr Mason reminded me that I still think the best outcome for Daisy would be to leave Downton and be a little more independent, and the Mason farm is the most realistic way for that to happen.
I really enjoyed Baxter and Molesley. I thought both actors played it beautifully, tiptoeing along the serio-comic line. It went predictably enough, mind.
So, all the characters that know about it think that Bates did the right thing in ‘York’. Ohh-kay then. It would be nice for someone to point out that he is definitely a murderer now and that’s not a good thing, actually. What was mainly worrying Anna and stopping her from telling the police (I think also social stigma and totally unwarranted shame, plus being traumatised were factors) came to pass...and feh.
Mrs Hughes giving Greene death glares at the kitchen table was awesome.
Upstairs, perhaps the bit that tickled me the most was all the ladies’ response to Mary’s many suitors (poor Evelyn, nice but dull). I think the joke was over-played, but it put them in sympathy with the audience and showed a sense of humour about the way All The Men love Mary. (Except Tom. Who loves her platonically, I suppose. I blame the show for giving me enough to believe in it for a little too long.)
Blake picked up a red-faced screaming George. Game, set and match, although Gillingham all but promised us a most un-English-lord-like wedding scene in the future. Season 5 is a go. I’d like to actually meet Mabel at some point and hope she wasn’t as wet as Lavinia. Describing her reaction as ‘stylish’ shows promise.
Ooh, Mary’s dress when she went to London, the pale blue one with grey and white square silhouettes was the best thing she’s worn all season. I also liked the black and white patterned one.
I agreed with her take on Rose (a flibbertigibbet). I was nodding through most of Mary’s conversation with Jack Ross. I didn’t quite get why he’d let Rose talk him into getting married when it seemed as if he’d made up his mind not to marry her notwithstanding Mary. Pointlessly trying to up the drama. Having it be a bit of a rebellion against her mother was a good character note.
Tom looked good in the car-fixing scene. So, Not!Sybil is actually Sarah and, amusingly, she has a bit of season 1 and 2 Branson’s chip on her shoulder. Well, I say amusing, while Tom being unsure about where he stands politically as in life, now makes sense for the character, given the showrunner, I'm not looking forward to the handling of their political views.
I still love Isobel having adopted him.
And the use of the kiddies was manipulative, but it worked. Sybbie and George are going to be interesting ages when the second world war begins. I’m not saying the show will run that long, though.
Oh, Edith. It does seem as if Fellowes can’t let you be happy. Rosamund was again her mother’s daughter, and quite right to quosh the half-baked farmer plan. Just cause a man can look after pigs as well as run a farm doesn’t mean he can adopt bastards at a drop of a hat or whatever Edith was thinking.
Cora was mostly stuck being in a flap about the bazaar and oblivious to most of the undercurrents, although her relief at Robert’s return showed how much she’d missed him. IT struck me during their reunion that it should have been from her POV as the one who’d stayed at home, but it made sense that we had everyone greeting Lord Grantham.
Still a little soon to corral my response to this series. I presume the Christmas special will be Rose’s coming out and PAUL GIAMMATTI boggling my brains.
Caught up with the Strictly results, loved the pros’ opening number, loved Aljiaz and Janette’s dance – I’m used to seeing him with tall Abbey so it took a bit of adjusting to see him with someone shorter, but as he flung her about, you could see why it worked:). I don’t know if everyone thought through how singing a song called ‘Forever Young’ with poppies in the background to commemorate fallen soldiers in a tradition going back to world war one might not work.
Everyone bar Len thought Dave was and should be gone – I thought it was a mistake to announce his name at the end of the first group. Mistakes aside, Mark is a better dancer than Dave, always has been.
Crammed-full extra long episode – for some reason, I was surprised by the length - with most things developing organically enough, but a few things (Lord Merton admiring Isobel!) coming out of nowhere and other things having gone on so very far beyond their best by date – well, mainly Alfred is Really Leaving This Time and Daisy’s Okay With That.
Downstairs, aww, Mrs Patmore, I was proud of Daisy for being over Alfred too, now if she could just stop being a cow to Ivy, that would be nice. The return of Mr Mason reminded me that I still think the best outcome for Daisy would be to leave Downton and be a little more independent, and the Mason farm is the most realistic way for that to happen.
I really enjoyed Baxter and Molesley. I thought both actors played it beautifully, tiptoeing along the serio-comic line. It went predictably enough, mind.
So, all the characters that know about it think that Bates did the right thing in ‘York’. Ohh-kay then. It would be nice for someone to point out that he is definitely a murderer now and that’s not a good thing, actually. What was mainly worrying Anna and stopping her from telling the police (I think also social stigma and totally unwarranted shame, plus being traumatised were factors) came to pass...and feh.
Mrs Hughes giving Greene death glares at the kitchen table was awesome.
Upstairs, perhaps the bit that tickled me the most was all the ladies’ response to Mary’s many suitors (poor Evelyn, nice but dull). I think the joke was over-played, but it put them in sympathy with the audience and showed a sense of humour about the way All The Men love Mary. (Except Tom. Who loves her platonically, I suppose. I blame the show for giving me enough to believe in it for a little too long.)
Blake picked up a red-faced screaming George. Game, set and match, although Gillingham all but promised us a most un-English-lord-like wedding scene in the future. Season 5 is a go. I’d like to actually meet Mabel at some point and hope she wasn’t as wet as Lavinia. Describing her reaction as ‘stylish’ shows promise.
Ooh, Mary’s dress when she went to London, the pale blue one with grey and white square silhouettes was the best thing she’s worn all season. I also liked the black and white patterned one.
I agreed with her take on Rose (a flibbertigibbet). I was nodding through most of Mary’s conversation with Jack Ross. I didn’t quite get why he’d let Rose talk him into getting married when it seemed as if he’d made up his mind not to marry her notwithstanding Mary. Pointlessly trying to up the drama. Having it be a bit of a rebellion against her mother was a good character note.
Tom looked good in the car-fixing scene. So, Not!Sybil is actually Sarah and, amusingly, she has a bit of season 1 and 2 Branson’s chip on her shoulder. Well, I say amusing, while Tom being unsure about where he stands politically as in life, now makes sense for the character, given the showrunner, I'm not looking forward to the handling of their political views.
I still love Isobel having adopted him.
And the use of the kiddies was manipulative, but it worked. Sybbie and George are going to be interesting ages when the second world war begins. I’m not saying the show will run that long, though.
Oh, Edith. It does seem as if Fellowes can’t let you be happy. Rosamund was again her mother’s daughter, and quite right to quosh the half-baked farmer plan. Just cause a man can look after pigs as well as run a farm doesn’t mean he can adopt bastards at a drop of a hat or whatever Edith was thinking.
Cora was mostly stuck being in a flap about the bazaar and oblivious to most of the undercurrents, although her relief at Robert’s return showed how much she’d missed him. IT struck me during their reunion that it should have been from her POV as the one who’d stayed at home, but it made sense that we had everyone greeting Lord Grantham.
Still a little soon to corral my response to this series. I presume the Christmas special will be Rose’s coming out and PAUL GIAMMATTI boggling my brains.
Caught up with the Strictly results, loved the pros’ opening number, loved Aljiaz and Janette’s dance – I’m used to seeing him with tall Abbey so it took a bit of adjusting to see him with someone shorter, but as he flung her about, you could see why it worked:). I don’t know if everyone thought through how singing a song called ‘Forever Young’ with poppies in the background to commemorate fallen soldiers in a tradition going back to world war one might not work.
Everyone bar Len thought Dave was and should be gone – I thought it was a mistake to announce his name at the end of the first group. Mistakes aside, Mark is a better dancer than Dave, always has been.
