Downtown Abbey - S6...
Feb. 22nd, 2016 10:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatThe Finale episode doesn't appear until March 6, for some reason or other. I'm guessing it's the X-Mas episode?
I have mixed feelings about this season.
And while I get that Lady Mary and Mr. Barrows were being paralleled throughout, this season I was sort of hoping that Lady Mary would not get her happy ending. She's such a bully. Although I rather liked her scenes with Mr. Barrows, Lady Edith, the Dowager, and Tom Branson, who states rather aptly, that like all bullies, at heart, she's really just a coward. Which alas is true. Her sister is actually the braver of the two and far more independent. Lady Mary would be miserable alone, but Edith shines forth. And her scene with Mr. Barrows...in which he states that he had sort of done it to himself. That's he's said and done things that have pushed people away and he's not really sure why he does it. Mary responded that she could identify since she'd more or less done the same. [I identified with that to a degree, we all say things we wish could take back and step out of line. In short? I think everyone is a trainwreck waiting to happen. I still have nightmares of saying something out of line and destroying my career as a result of it. I did actually do that once...I had lost control of myself. It wasn't pretty. No one is perfect. Everyone screws up. And we're all horrible hypocrites when others do it, aren't we?] Which brings me to the Dowager, who tells Mary she needs to settle things with Henry, and make peace with her sister. The Dowager wanted her to make peace with her sister first, but she settles with Henry -- and it is Edith who comes back and makes peace with Mary, not the other way around. Like I stated above, Edith is the braver of the two women and has the better character. I think Edith will do better in the coming age, while Mary will struggle more. Because when Mary asks Edith why she chose to forgive her, Edith said that it was because they were sisters. At the end of the day, their shared memories would see them through. No one else had the shared memories that they did of their parents, of their first loves, children, servants, etc...when everyone was gone, all they would have is each other and their memories, and at that point their shared memories of the past and those who'd passed before them would outweigh any mutual dislike they might have harbored towards one another.
So Mary's story has been neatly wrapped up in a bow. Edith's still has a few dangling loose ends.
Did like how they handled each of the servants stories, including the comic relief which was Mrs. Patmore. Poor Mr. Barrows attempted suicide...and in a rather painful manner. But I could see it coming. They built that up well. And made his character multi-faceted enough towards the end, that I rather liked him and was glad to see they'd decided to help him and let him stay.
Isabella's story is also still hanging out there as a loose end. Will Larry Gray decide to acknowledge her as his father's love and provide his blessing? Personally, I agree with the Dowager, she should ignore the man's nasty kids and save him from them.
Mr. Mosely is a teacher and Mr. Sprat an advice columnist at Edith's Paper. Nice turns there.
Overall a good season, just a few loose ends that require tidying. I think we all want Edith's happy ending, and while you want to kick Mary for ruining it, it was in truth Edith's fault for not telling Bertie out-right. As he put it, she just didn't trust him enough.
I have mixed feelings about this season.
And while I get that Lady Mary and Mr. Barrows were being paralleled throughout, this season I was sort of hoping that Lady Mary would not get her happy ending. She's such a bully. Although I rather liked her scenes with Mr. Barrows, Lady Edith, the Dowager, and Tom Branson, who states rather aptly, that like all bullies, at heart, she's really just a coward. Which alas is true. Her sister is actually the braver of the two and far more independent. Lady Mary would be miserable alone, but Edith shines forth. And her scene with Mr. Barrows...in which he states that he had sort of done it to himself. That's he's said and done things that have pushed people away and he's not really sure why he does it. Mary responded that she could identify since she'd more or less done the same. [I identified with that to a degree, we all say things we wish could take back and step out of line. In short? I think everyone is a trainwreck waiting to happen. I still have nightmares of saying something out of line and destroying my career as a result of it. I did actually do that once...I had lost control of myself. It wasn't pretty. No one is perfect. Everyone screws up. And we're all horrible hypocrites when others do it, aren't we?] Which brings me to the Dowager, who tells Mary she needs to settle things with Henry, and make peace with her sister. The Dowager wanted her to make peace with her sister first, but she settles with Henry -- and it is Edith who comes back and makes peace with Mary, not the other way around. Like I stated above, Edith is the braver of the two women and has the better character. I think Edith will do better in the coming age, while Mary will struggle more. Because when Mary asks Edith why she chose to forgive her, Edith said that it was because they were sisters. At the end of the day, their shared memories would see them through. No one else had the shared memories that they did of their parents, of their first loves, children, servants, etc...when everyone was gone, all they would have is each other and their memories, and at that point their shared memories of the past and those who'd passed before them would outweigh any mutual dislike they might have harbored towards one another.
So Mary's story has been neatly wrapped up in a bow. Edith's still has a few dangling loose ends.
Did like how they handled each of the servants stories, including the comic relief which was Mrs. Patmore. Poor Mr. Barrows attempted suicide...and in a rather painful manner. But I could see it coming. They built that up well. And made his character multi-faceted enough towards the end, that I rather liked him and was glad to see they'd decided to help him and let him stay.
Isabella's story is also still hanging out there as a loose end. Will Larry Gray decide to acknowledge her as his father's love and provide his blessing? Personally, I agree with the Dowager, she should ignore the man's nasty kids and save him from them.
Mr. Mosely is a teacher and Mr. Sprat an advice columnist at Edith's Paper. Nice turns there.
Overall a good season, just a few loose ends that require tidying. I think we all want Edith's happy ending, and while you want to kick Mary for ruining it, it was in truth Edith's fault for not telling Bertie out-right. As he put it, she just didn't trust him enough.