Downton Abbey, Season 3, Episode 4
Yays!
1. Yay Edith and the letter to the editor. I hoped she'd do something political/feminist/modern with her free time. (Because, the times, they are a changin'. In case you forgot since last week. And the week before that.)
2. Yay Tom and Matthew, sticking up for Edith. And yay Edith again for being pleased with herself and not allowing the naysayers to dissuade her.
3. Yay Mrs Hughes and the toaster and how chipper she was in dealing with Mr Carson and the fire bucket.
4. Carson to Mrs H -- "I was worried about Branson burning the house down; I didn't think I'd have to worry about the flames coming from you!" Ahaha! (Paraphrase; I don't remember verbatim.)
5. Lady Violet #1 -- "Edith. You are a woman with a brain and reasonable ability. Stop whining and find something to do."
6. Lady Violet #2 -- the whole conversation with Matthew. I love that M knew that he could go to her and that she would say "do whatever has to be done, damn the torpedoes" (well, words to that effect. And how she said dryly that things must be desperate if he's come to her.)
7. Lady Violet #3 -- saying "Let someone please write that down" after Cora agrees with her.
8. Matthew actually grew on me a bit this week. He's going to do something useful, he's not going to let himself be brushed off, he's not being all emo and sanctimonious.
9. Mrs Hughes/Isobel interaction! Might this be the beginning of more personal dealings between them as they try to help Ethel and negotiate their own disagreements about what's best to do? I have high hopes for this Ethel subplot. (And wasn't that an affecting scene as the little boy is driven away? Amy Nuttall is a better actor than I had initially thought.)
Eye-Rolls
1. Why is it all the women who are disapproving of Edith while at least a few of the men support her? (We haven't heard Isobel's response, though.)
2. Despite all the "changing times" rhetoric, DA remains as reactionary as in previous seasons. Typically, DA's approach to people who challenge the class status-quo is that they are dangerous or or foolish or selfish or naive or venal or even criminal. And sure enough, Branson does prove to be dangerous and wrong. Well, not wrong about his views, perhaps ("We all live in a harsh world. But at least I know I do"). But of course then the writers have to go and make him extreme and violent (not to mention annoyingly sanctimonious). Still, I suppose that's part of the soap-opera nature of the beast. I do hope, though, that they don't end up making Branson a "tame family revolutionary" for real. (No, I don't want him to do more arson and pillaging. But still. He's not going to spend too many more evenings sitting with the rich guys over port and cigars, is he?) The result is that the Irish end up looking violent, reckless, and wrong, while the Brits come off looking reasoned, balanced and in the right.
3. Lady Violet Got. On. My. Nerves. *gasp!* There, I've said it. Those tacky, unfunny jokes about how ugly the burnt Irish castle was. . .at such a time, would she really have sat there trying to make offensive jokes about it? "Mama, you aren't helping," said Robert, and how right he was. The whole bit seemed OOC to me.
4. Mary just gets stuffier and snobbier and more annoying with each passing week. Soon she will take over from Matthew the coveted position of "upstairs character who most irritates me."
5. When did Robert become so anti-Catholic? Should we see this a personal response to Branson (paving the way for more hostility between the two), or just a rather heavy-handed attempt by the writers to make Robert more obviously Not Perfect?
Other Stuff
1. I confess to being baffled by the inside-the-prison intrigues. I get that guard or someone had it in for Bates and stopped his correspondence, that another prisoner somehow knows about it and helps Bates because he (the other guy) hates Bates's cellmate. But...how does the helper find out all this stuff, exactly? Why does the warden (or whoever) initially decide that Bates is violent and out of favor? How, precisely, did planting something (whatever it was) on Bates's cellmate put Bates back in favor? Do I even need to know all this? From a plot standpoint, the only purpose of all this seemed to be to introduce a little tension and conflict into the Anna/John subplot without any actual personal problems between them. So maybe the details don't matter.
2. Next week! Homosexuality rears its head (so to speak).
3. The new footman is nice-looking enough, but he's not *that* exciting, is he? The maids are all far too agog, if you ask me. And Thomas is about to flip his lid, too. Violet: "He looks like the footman in a musical revue." Ha! (And despite her comment, I don't believe O'Brien is taken with the new guy. That comment was just for Thomas's benefit, I think, to push him into being interested in in Jimmy/James so that Thomas will over-reach himself and get the sack. Such is my theory.) Remember -- next week! Homosexuality rears its head!
4. Love Isobel's modern new wardrobe. And of course it makes sense that Violet is still wearing her pre-war get-ups. (Because the times are a-changin' and Vi is behind them! Get it?)
This entry was originally posted at http://kelly-chambliss.dreamwidth.org/208165.html. Please comment there using OpenID.