So, Downton Abbey's back...

[im_ridiculous]

I'm not gunna lie, this fact has significantly improved my mood and my general outlook on life.

First things first? We've legit just hit the 1920s, people...

Hellooooooooooooooooooo fashion!!!! Oh dear god, the clothes. Look at all the beautiful clothes!! Paradise!!!!!

Comments

[im_ridiculous]

OK! CrackFicOfDoom Chapter 1 is posted and I am back with Downton Abbey feels!!!!!!

[If anyone else is reading this comment thread... if you haven't seen Downton Abbey's S03E05... stop now. Really - run, don't walk in the opposite direction. Now.]

OMG I know!! Edith! Poor Edith - I just like her more and more actually, she is increasingly interesting. She was so unbelievably hideous in the first season, I guess they had to, but I think the war really changed her, and she doesn't know who she should be and where she fits in the world and what she can contribute and I just.... my heart. And she loved that man, and I just.... I can't believe he did that to her. You're right, she should NOT have had to beg, but I just... oh Edith. Darling one.

And as for.... well....SYBIIIIIILLLLL!!! Oh my god, as soon as she started saying things to Mary like 'you'll fight for them, when the time comes', and FUCKING LORD GRANTHAM GETTING THE OTHER IDIOT DOCTOR IN etc etc, I was like... err... show? What the what, show. No. No........ SHIT YOU DIDN'T JUST DO THAT!!!! And I was all *hands over face* but in shock and no tears..... until Cora was sitting there with her and then.... *floods of ugly sobs*

Just.... Oh god. And Mary and Matthew.... winegums, I'm seriously concerned. I think we're not only in for fertility!woes, I think we're also in for Mary-taking-Grantham's-side-over-Matthew's!woes too.... and that deeply, DEEPLY CONCERNS ME. *deep breaths*

And yeah, I really don't want Anna to lose her husband, because I love her, but I've always found Bates a bit........ underwhelming? So, yeah. Boring storyline is boring. Moving on. Unless moving on means killing more people/Mary and Matthew's marriage.....

So in conclusion.... holy shit, right in the feels.

[winegums]

Ideally I would have liked to send Edith across the pond with ginger grandma so that she can go to New York and be a flapper, but since she has to stay at Downton, I want her to have that newspaper column and become a cool career girl.

And she also deserves to find someone nice who WON'T jilt her at the altar (and seriously, why did Robert object that hard? It's not as if the war didn't kill off most of the young men of marriageable age that they knew, like she pointed out).

Preview from next ep looks like Mary is going to make a break from Robert over the matter of the baby's christening, to which I say thank goodness. Even if she's still loyal to him on other issues, and it WAS assholic of Matthew to be discussing business the day after Sybil died, I mean he couldn't wait a few days and go to London or sth?

[im_ridiculous]

RE: Edith. Yes, America might have been a good option for her. At first I worried she might have been a bit overwhelmed by the whole New World brash and optimistic America vibe, but she always seems to cope better with change and new things than everyone gives her credit for, bless. She probably would have done quite well.

But yeah, I want her to absolutely nail that newspaper column and go up to London and become a feminist suffragette friend of Emily Pankhurst and get her Room of One's Own, and basically just be Virgina Woolf, but with, y'know, less of the tragic suicide and the complicated love life, perhaps. I want her to find a nice middle class writer who just thinks she's simply the most fabulous creature he's ever met and for her to have someone on her side for a change. Although I do like that Matthew is an ally for her.

(As for why Robert objected that hard, I suspect for the same reason he got Dr Douchbag McIdiot to come deliver the baby: while he is a good man, and has good intentions, Robert. Knows. Best. Also he has serious bad judgement issues ((investments, the doctor, can't run his estate properly etc etc. Seems to me that the only time he's materially acted outside his world view was when he told Mary to ditch Rupert Murdoch and hang the consequences. And I did really love him for that at least, to be fair to him)).)

I think Mary's going to fight for what Sybill wanted, absolutely. But the fact that she couched it in "I'm always on your side, but..." or whatever she said... just makes me worry. Also, she's much more a traditionalist than Matthew and for me, she's a total daddy's girl, rebel or not... which I think means she's going to be uncomfortable with Matthew's plans for change, because she'll be worried about how that reflects on her dad as the manager of the estate, and his whole identity as a man is tied up in his being the manager of the estate, so clearly... it's not going to be easy for him, and I think he'll be hurt and react against it, and she'll be upset to see her father hurt and..... :s Anyway, we shall see.

And yeah, Matthew was a total arse to be talking business the day Sybill died. I mean, dude. ... Duuuuuuuuude. WTF.

Wow... word vomit. !! This show, man. I am in its clutches!

[winegums]

yeah, I do like that Edith and Matthew get on, it's sweet especially considering that she and Mary don't. I think she's got classic middle-sister syndrome, feeling ignored (and let's be real, playing second fiddle to Mary can't have been easy for most of her life, since Sybil was too sweet-natured to really attract hate). But I would support her going back and forth to London and becoming a bluestocking with a nice wardobe, with the nice writer who thinks she's awesome.

And yes, Robert is such a ridiculous flop in so many ways, the best thing he's ever done on this show is not judge Mary after her disclosure of the Pamuk fiasco and support her in breaking off her engagement - and for someone like Mary, who is such a daddy's girl and who hated Matthew at first in no small part because he was the son to Robert that she couldn't be....I like that that loyalty stays with her, even if it becomes a flaw it just makes her more three-dimensional.

I' not even that attached to the show (never felt the need to seek out fanfic or even wanted any, is a good indicator in my book) and it drives even me to word vomit. WHAT HAS IT DONE TO US?!

[im_ridiculous]

Dude, attached or not, it is a rare, rare thing that drives me to fanfic. Pilots, Avengers, that's it. Well, and some TINY dabbling back in the day with Josh and Donna. It is a matter of great amusement and bemusement to me that I find myself WRITING freakin fanfic these days.... *shakes head* Slippery fandom slope is damn slippery...

Wordvomit, on the other hand, is always in style! :D

Classic middle sister syndrome indeed. Not helped by the fact that she really HAS always been second (or third) fiddle in the family's eyes. Bless. I just find her an increasingly compelling, interesting multi-dimensional and sympathetic character as the series goes on. You go Edith, I say.

Robert. Man, I just wanna shake him. And I'm super glad that Cora's going to have the shits at him for a while, because he freakin deserves it. You're right about Mary's loyalty though, I agree, it's a good thing......... I just worry what the writers are going to do with it... Because they're all about the trauma as we know. Bastards. (Who am I kidding, I love it.)