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shadowkatSaw the latest episode of Downton Abbey last night, was less than impressed - actually almost dozed off during it. The plots aren't so much melodramatic as ...well, cliche. Maybe I've just read and watched too many of these types of series? At any rate, it's making me miss the first season which was sort of fun.
* Matthew continues to remind me of Ashley Wilkes by way of England. He's so pretty and so wimpy. Get some backbone.
Matthew: I don't know how to put this...but the estate is horribly mismanaged, but I just don't know how to go about fixing it without twisting everyone's noses out of joint. I don't want to upset Robert and Mary...Do you know how I can do it without putting their noses out of joint?
Dowager: Well, if it has to be done, it has to be done. But really, there is no way your going to be able to do it without putting 'noses out of joint'.
I love Maggie Smith's Dowager. I think I'm watching Dowton for the Dowager, Mrs. Hughes, Carson, and Edith at the moment. Well that and the fact that I'm admittedly curious to see how they write Matthew out (since the actor announced he was leaving at the end of this season, and really who can blame him?). Can they kill him? No, too melodramatic. Maybe he can just wander off...?
* Mary seems to be as fed up with Matthew as I am. He keeps hovering and asking about babies, while at the same time questioning how the estate is run. Doesn't the man have a career as a lawyer? Mary seems busier than Matthew.
*Edith is also bored. The Dowager tells her to stop whinging about it and find something.
Write to the newspaper, find a cause, sew, something. So, Edith, much to the Dowager's considerable chagrin as well as her father's and Carson's, writes to the editor of the paper about women's rights. Go Edith. Edith has apparently picked up the mantle that Sybil dropped when she feel for Bransen.
*Bransen is starting to remind me of a Matthew. Is it just me or are the men in this series a bit on the wimpy side of the fence? All fire and spunk, but when push comes to shove, he abandons his wife and runs to Dowton for help. Once he gets help, he whines endlessly about not being allowed to return to Ireland and insists he must return - regardless of the danger to himself and his family. And insists his first born must be born in Ireland, again regardless of the danger. Then threatens to leave his family behind. Selfish bastard. Sybil's well rid of him. I'm starting to agree with Robert and Carson about him.
Edith really did pick the best guy in the lot - got to give Doherty credit for not wanting to be Edith's pet project.
* Bates...I still have no clue what is going on there. Except apparently someone at the prison kept Bates and Anna's correspondence from reaching its intended destination - so neither got any letters from the other one. That is until Bates found a way to make sure they did. So finally at the end - they got each other's letters and much weeping ensued.
Seemed sort of silly to me, and rather cliche. But the murder mystery and Bates freedom is still up in the air.
* Evil Valet and Mrs. O'Brien - they are actually rather entertaining. But I'm not sure I like the direction they are going with the valet, who we know is gay, flirting with the pretty new Footman, and getting outted by O'Brien. These sort of shows never really handle homosexuality well - they tend to retread time-worn cliches. So, am wary. Also, have been seeing this particular plot thread coming for quite some time now. They laid the ground work back in S1, and have been slowly building up to it - Mrs. O'Brien is the only one who knows about EVIL Valet's homosexuality.
* Mrs. Crawley and Ethel and Mrs. Hughes. Felt rather sorry for poor Ethel. In today's world - they wouldn't have been able to fire her for having a kid out of wedlock, she'd have gotten maternity leave. We have progressed. But that said, this too was a cliche storyline that has been done to death. I also thought it had been resolved last year. But no, it's back again. Ethel has resorted to prostitution to keep alive. She finally decides against Mrs. Crowley's advice but in the best interests of her child - to give him up to his paternal grand-parents, who are quite wealthy and live, I believe in the US. As much as she dislike's the grand-father, she knows he loves her son and will do well by him. The kid didn't seem that upset, which was unrealistic. A child that age would be screaming if he was separated from his mother like that.
I was bored by the storyline. I know, I know, I should have been moved. But I found it dull and stupid. Call the Midwife did similar stories a bit better.
Outside of that...not much going on. Which may explain why I kept dosing off. I'm not quite sure why this series is such a huge hit...it's not the writing. Maybe the acting? (shrugs)
* Matthew continues to remind me of Ashley Wilkes by way of England. He's so pretty and so wimpy. Get some backbone.
Matthew: I don't know how to put this...but the estate is horribly mismanaged, but I just don't know how to go about fixing it without twisting everyone's noses out of joint. I don't want to upset Robert and Mary...Do you know how I can do it without putting their noses out of joint?
Dowager: Well, if it has to be done, it has to be done. But really, there is no way your going to be able to do it without putting 'noses out of joint'.
I love Maggie Smith's Dowager. I think I'm watching Dowton for the Dowager, Mrs. Hughes, Carson, and Edith at the moment. Well that and the fact that I'm admittedly curious to see how they write Matthew out (since the actor announced he was leaving at the end of this season, and really who can blame him?). Can they kill him? No, too melodramatic. Maybe he can just wander off...?
* Mary seems to be as fed up with Matthew as I am. He keeps hovering and asking about babies, while at the same time questioning how the estate is run. Doesn't the man have a career as a lawyer? Mary seems busier than Matthew.
*Edith is also bored. The Dowager tells her to stop whinging about it and find something.
Write to the newspaper, find a cause, sew, something. So, Edith, much to the Dowager's considerable chagrin as well as her father's and Carson's, writes to the editor of the paper about women's rights. Go Edith. Edith has apparently picked up the mantle that Sybil dropped when she feel for Bransen.
*Bransen is starting to remind me of a Matthew. Is it just me or are the men in this series a bit on the wimpy side of the fence? All fire and spunk, but when push comes to shove, he abandons his wife and runs to Dowton for help. Once he gets help, he whines endlessly about not being allowed to return to Ireland and insists he must return - regardless of the danger to himself and his family. And insists his first born must be born in Ireland, again regardless of the danger. Then threatens to leave his family behind. Selfish bastard. Sybil's well rid of him. I'm starting to agree with Robert and Carson about him.
Edith really did pick the best guy in the lot - got to give Doherty credit for not wanting to be Edith's pet project.
* Bates...I still have no clue what is going on there. Except apparently someone at the prison kept Bates and Anna's correspondence from reaching its intended destination - so neither got any letters from the other one. That is until Bates found a way to make sure they did. So finally at the end - they got each other's letters and much weeping ensued.
Seemed sort of silly to me, and rather cliche. But the murder mystery and Bates freedom is still up in the air.
* Evil Valet and Mrs. O'Brien - they are actually rather entertaining. But I'm not sure I like the direction they are going with the valet, who we know is gay, flirting with the pretty new Footman, and getting outted by O'Brien. These sort of shows never really handle homosexuality well - they tend to retread time-worn cliches. So, am wary. Also, have been seeing this particular plot thread coming for quite some time now. They laid the ground work back in S1, and have been slowly building up to it - Mrs. O'Brien is the only one who knows about EVIL Valet's homosexuality.
* Mrs. Crawley and Ethel and Mrs. Hughes. Felt rather sorry for poor Ethel. In today's world - they wouldn't have been able to fire her for having a kid out of wedlock, she'd have gotten maternity leave. We have progressed. But that said, this too was a cliche storyline that has been done to death. I also thought it had been resolved last year. But no, it's back again. Ethel has resorted to prostitution to keep alive. She finally decides against Mrs. Crowley's advice but in the best interests of her child - to give him up to his paternal grand-parents, who are quite wealthy and live, I believe in the US. As much as she dislike's the grand-father, she knows he loves her son and will do well by him. The kid didn't seem that upset, which was unrealistic. A child that age would be screaming if he was separated from his mother like that.
I was bored by the storyline. I know, I know, I should have been moved. But I found it dull and stupid. Call the Midwife did similar stories a bit better.
Outside of that...not much going on. Which may explain why I kept dosing off. I'm not quite sure why this series is such a huge hit...it's not the writing. Maybe the acting? (shrugs)
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no subject
Date: 2013-01-24 03:20 am (UTC)Is it just me or are the men in this series a bit on the wimpy side of the fence?
It's not just you.
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Date: 2013-01-24 07:59 am (UTC)