Downton Abbey, I've missed you!
Welcome back, Downton. I've missed you, and I thought it was an good opener.
My favourite scene was Cora watching Sybil baking the cake. All the romance going on had nothing on the kind of love that Cora has for her daughter. Elizabeth McGovern's acting was wonderful, silently expressing so much in the touching scene.
I'm confused as to why Bates didn't tell Anna why he was leaving? She already know about Mary and the Turk and she would have understood and tried to help him get out of that situation. Urgh, making her think that he's leaving because he wants to give his marriage another go is possibly the worst decision every. Can Bates be any more stupid? Heartbroken Anna was distressing to see, especially after all the lovely scenes where she looked so happy. I can't believe she was still calling him Mr Bates, though. It's cute.
I'm a huge fan of Branson/Sybil but thought Fellows muffed it up in this episode. Their first scene together, and it's not even about them! Sybil is taking her cake out of oven with Cook, and Branson causally walks into a room. Was the actor even suppose to be in that scene?! LOL, it looked like he just wandered in by mistake. Talk about anti-climax. Then Sybil leaves for her course and we see NOTHING of their car ride togther, when it would have been a perfect opportunity to establish where they are in their relationship rather than spring that clumsy declaration of love, which came from nowhere. I sincerely hope that they're better written in the upcoming episodes. I almost preferred Edith and Branson, much better written and cute and fun!!
Mary *sigh* She was boring. She's a self-absorbed bitch, but at least she was interesting last series. This opening episode? Not so much. At least Richard will be appearing next episode to give her more to do that pine after Matthew and cry besides. I found it interesting that Edith and Sybil have progressed in terms of self-improvement (driving, cooking) and are looking at the wider picture (changing times, war effort) but Mary seems stuck in a rut. Seriously, Matthew ditched you two years ago, move on and do something.
Matthew looked yummy in his uniform, but besides from his scene with Thomas in the trenches (talk about unlikely bonding!), I think he was underused. I thought the front line scenes were outstanding though. It just goes to show how a TV budget can stretch.
I like Lavinia so far, and I guess when Carson sneering at her I was totally on her side. Lady Cora's family name probably wasn't in some snotty lineage book either and she makes an excellent Lady Grantham. Blood isn't everything. I would love Carson say the same thing to either Robert and Cora and seen how well that goes down. At least he stood up for Bates, though and I still love his relationship with Mrs Hughes. I did enjoy her scarcastic response to Carson's stubboness at keeping up the same pre-war standards.
The Dowager can sneer at Lavinia all she likes, though, because she's the Dowager. Seriously, Maggie Smith got all the best lines :)
I'm also liking Edith a lot, but realise she's going to get into trouble fast.
Roll on Episode 2.
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