(no subject)
Hello everyone - I'm a Downton addict who just joined yesterday, and I'm very happy to have found a place to indulge my addiction! I'm actually very new to LiveJournal and left a long post on my journal yesterday that I'm trying to figure out how to copy and paste into the Downton Community without typing it up all over again! :)
I'm generally more of a fan of the downstairs characters, although I happily follow every story on the show. My favorite characters are Thomas (don't judge me!) and Mrs. Hughes. I think Thomas is a fascinating character, and it's a testament to RJC's talent that he makes a character who can be so nasty into such a poignant figure. I'm not sure how he does it, but he manages to convey loads of repressed emotion with barely perceptible changes of expression (Siobhan Finneran is another master of this art). I'm in the United States, so I haven't seen any of series 3 yet, but I'm very much looking forward to his storyline - it seems that we'll finally get a glimpse into Thomas' psychology and see him really struggle with the ramifications of his sexuality. That theme was hinted at in S2 with the all-too-brief Lt. Courtenay subplot, but other than that I don't think the writers did enough with his character in this regard. I'm glad they're addressing it now.
I love Mrs. Hughes - seemingly so conservative, but with a such a warm, progressive heart under the starch and corset. I also love her muted (and sometimes not so muted) skepticism about "the family" and Lady Mary in particular, in contrast to Carson's unquestioning devotion. She only shows this side of herself to Carson, and only he's heard her refer to the Dowager Countess as "the old bat" (before the flower show in S1), and to Lady Mary as an "uppity minx" (now one of my favorite expressions). I was silently cheering when she got a bit snippy with Carson after he made that "boys will be boys, but girls should just say no" comment about Ethel. And she's wonderfully practical while Carson can be a bit of a panicky drama queen (not that I don't love Carson as well - grandiosity, vapors and all!).
Other thoughts on downstairs folk - Mrs. Patmore and her one-liners are fabulous. I liked Daisy's S2 character arc. I thought it was completely plausible that she'd hold on to her guilt over William for as long as she did, and it gave her the chance to show some depth and be more than just the cute, ditzy kitchen maid. William, sweet as he was, just never struck me as an interesting character - nothing against Thomas Howes, it's just the way the character was written, too good, too unflawed. Bates was a very interesting character in S1 - radiating decency but also showing a bit of a dark side (when he shoved Thomas against the wall for behavior that was obnoxious, but that hardly warranted what amounted to a death threat). I think his S2 story got out of hand with the "noble martyr" theme, though. My favorite Anna scene was the one where she confronted Bates in the pub - he immediately got all wistful and goo-goo eyed, but she kept her back up and refused to play until she had received an explanation for his behavior. Loved the inner steel she showed in that scene, and her comment about how the divorce laws were unfair to women.
Okay, this got a lot longer than I had intended. I could ramble on endlessly about this show, but I'll save some for later. And I don't mind spoilers. :) Looking forward to chatting with you all!
I'm generally more of a fan of the downstairs characters, although I happily follow every story on the show. My favorite characters are Thomas (don't judge me!) and Mrs. Hughes. I think Thomas is a fascinating character, and it's a testament to RJC's talent that he makes a character who can be so nasty into such a poignant figure. I'm not sure how he does it, but he manages to convey loads of repressed emotion with barely perceptible changes of expression (Siobhan Finneran is another master of this art). I'm in the United States, so I haven't seen any of series 3 yet, but I'm very much looking forward to his storyline - it seems that we'll finally get a glimpse into Thomas' psychology and see him really struggle with the ramifications of his sexuality. That theme was hinted at in S2 with the all-too-brief Lt. Courtenay subplot, but other than that I don't think the writers did enough with his character in this regard. I'm glad they're addressing it now.
I love Mrs. Hughes - seemingly so conservative, but with a such a warm, progressive heart under the starch and corset. I also love her muted (and sometimes not so muted) skepticism about "the family" and Lady Mary in particular, in contrast to Carson's unquestioning devotion. She only shows this side of herself to Carson, and only he's heard her refer to the Dowager Countess as "the old bat" (before the flower show in S1), and to Lady Mary as an "uppity minx" (now one of my favorite expressions). I was silently cheering when she got a bit snippy with Carson after he made that "boys will be boys, but girls should just say no" comment about Ethel. And she's wonderfully practical while Carson can be a bit of a panicky drama queen (not that I don't love Carson as well - grandiosity, vapors and all!).
Other thoughts on downstairs folk - Mrs. Patmore and her one-liners are fabulous. I liked Daisy's S2 character arc. I thought it was completely plausible that she'd hold on to her guilt over William for as long as she did, and it gave her the chance to show some depth and be more than just the cute, ditzy kitchen maid. William, sweet as he was, just never struck me as an interesting character - nothing against Thomas Howes, it's just the way the character was written, too good, too unflawed. Bates was a very interesting character in S1 - radiating decency but also showing a bit of a dark side (when he shoved Thomas against the wall for behavior that was obnoxious, but that hardly warranted what amounted to a death threat). I think his S2 story got out of hand with the "noble martyr" theme, though. My favorite Anna scene was the one where she confronted Bates in the pub - he immediately got all wistful and goo-goo eyed, but she kept her back up and refused to play until she had received an explanation for his behavior. Loved the inner steel she showed in that scene, and her comment about how the divorce laws were unfair to women.
Okay, this got a lot longer than I had intended. I could ramble on endlessly about this show, but I'll save some for later. And I don't mind spoilers. :) Looking forward to chatting with you all!