My Downton Abbey Feelings: Let Me Show You Them

[harmonyangel]

Flist, let's not talk about my mental health of late. It's really best undiscussed. Instead, let's discuss the fact that I've recently become consumed by Downton AbbeyI'm not entirely surprised that I love Downton. Awesome character dynamics, historical fiction, a vaguely Austen-like tone, pretty clothes -- what's not to like? Well, certainly

Comments

[likeadeuce]

I love being in a fannish community with you because it would just never have OCCURRED to me to look for the actors' twitters, much less Dan Stevens' literary magazine. . .

Also, I don't know what it means that I'm the Branson fan but I think Mary is way more attractive than Sybil.

And you should freaking write fic about Matthew and his mom. Because, awesome.

[harmonyangel]

I don't think Mary is NOT pretty -- but there's a hard, square masculinity to her face that makes her attractiveness less conventional. Hence my desire to see her go for the androgynous flapper look next season.

Of course, I think you win here in that it is possible to conceive of Mary/Branson as a pairing but Matthew/Sybil is laughable.

[likeadeuce]

Obviously, they're both really pretty -- there are *lots* of pretty women on this show, including Edith & Lavinia who we are apparently supposed to think are trolls -- but Mary's the one who triggers 'omg hot' for me.

I have course have no idea how people who actually date women feel about this, but I don't think either of our aesthetic judgments is invalid!

And it's possible I want to write a million fics about Branson and Mary bickering. Whereas the Sybil + Matthew in my head is catching up on family gossip while Branson sleeps off his drunk, so. . .

[harmonyangel]

I think your icon has correctly identified just why you find Mary so attractive.

If she ISN'T secretly a lesbian vigilante by the end of this show, I think we'll both be disappointed.

And yeah, Matthew and Sybil wind up reading too sibling-y. Then again, Matthew also reads sibling-y with Mary to me, so. Brother to EVERYONE!

[likeadeuce]

Don't forget *pale* lesbian vigilantes. . .my issues, let me show them to you.

This reminds me that the main difference I seem to have with inlovewithnight about this show is which Crawley sister we think is probably a lesbian.

[harmonyangel]

I think we can all agree, though, that once Edith sheds the last of her socialized repression, she is going to fuck her way through every man in Europe.

[likeadeuce]

Probably some girls too, but that's more incidental.

[harmonyangel]

Sure, why not?

I imagine she spends the 20s as a (hopefully happier) Lady Brett Ashley.

[resolute]

Oh my god, there are so many pretty women on this show.

:IS VERY SHALLOW:

[harmonyangel]

But which one is your favorite?

[resolute]

I don't think I can decide between the Crawley sisters.

I love Michelle Dockery's FACE. Her FACE. She does these ACTING THINGS with her FACE that just KILL ME.

And EDITH, oh my god, I love her to pieces. I think being Mary's sister would make many, many people bitter and nasty, and then SHE GROWS OUT OF IT. Not to mention, Laura Carmichael (is that her name) is stunningly attractive.

SYBIL is this ridic teenager full of RAWR and GRR and I just want to pat her on the head, but ohmydearsweetcrickets, Jessica Brown Findlay is unspeakably pretty.

OH. OH. I almost forgot ANNA, who is like the SINGLE SMARTEST PERSON ON THIS SHOW, DAMMIT, and who ALWAYS knows the exact appropriate thing to say like its her goddam superpower, and I want to be her BFF forever.

And if the gods are very, very kind, I will grow up to be the mad-science clone child of the Dowager Countess and Cousin Isobel.

Um.

I don't think I can pick. At all.

[harmonyangel]

These are good answers!

(I also really like Cora, honestly. All the ladies on this show, other than O'Brien and sometimes Ethel, are totally awesome.)

[likeadeuce]

I was just saying to someone that I think Anna & Mrs. Hughes are the only characters who consistently act like grownups. Even Carson is a baby about some things, and you can catch Bates acting like a little boy acting like he thinks a grown man is supposed to act. Which I don't mean as a criticism of the writing or the characters overall; I think the show's very good at displaying how frequently adults can behave like children. It does bring out how awesome Anna, though.