Costume Drama Drama
As a Mary/Richard shipper, I find myself mostly at the fringe of the Downton Abbey fandom. It can be a nasty place (tbh, one of the nastier fandoms I've ever been a part of), though the (few) M/R shippers have been left alone in the wake of S3, because the Mary fans (who were the chief proponents of the M/R hate) are now at the throats of the Mary/Matthew shippers. Casting rumors have the M/M shippers (understandably) upset about the possibility of Mary finding a new love interest too soon, while Mary-only fans alternately want Mary to be a strong female who doesn't need a man or a strong female who wants and gets a sexy new man. (Though) mostly I think the Mary stans take whatever stance annoys most of the fandom.
This quasi-shipping war was accelerated a few days ago when the LA Times interviewed Michelle Dockery about S4 production. While most of the fandom is up in arms about whether Mary will or won't move on from the love of her life, this statement caught my attention:
When asked about what's to come for Mary in episodes to come (they've a few episodes left to film), Dockery replied:
"I haven't a clue. And that's what's brilliant about the show. Julian writes as he goes along, and the story develops from each set of rushes he watches."
IMO, "brilliant" is a really charitable way of describing Julian Fellowes' approach to writing the series. When Dan Stevens left the show, he talked about how frustrating Matthew's storyline became in S2, and if this is the approach JF takes, writing as he goes, so that the actors are kept in the dark about the arcs their characters take, it's little wonder some of the key players left as soon as their initial three-year contracts were up (or that the writing has become so uneven after S1). This just strikes me as SUCH an unprofessional way of writing a television program. It's not as if we're talking about a 22-25-episode US season, either. Downton is 8 episodes and a Christmas special. Why on earth would anyone take such a haphazard approach to his own pet project? (I suppose the answer is the money and accolades the show continues to rake in, despite its steady decline in quality since S1.)
This quasi-shipping war was accelerated a few days ago when the LA Times interviewed Michelle Dockery about S4 production. While most of the fandom is up in arms about whether Mary will or won't move on from the love of her life, this statement caught my attention:
When asked about what's to come for Mary in episodes to come (they've a few episodes left to film), Dockery replied:
"I haven't a clue. And that's what's brilliant about the show. Julian writes as he goes along, and the story develops from each set of rushes he watches."
IMO, "brilliant" is a really charitable way of describing Julian Fellowes' approach to writing the series. When Dan Stevens left the show, he talked about how frustrating Matthew's storyline became in S2, and if this is the approach JF takes, writing as he goes, so that the actors are kept in the dark about the arcs their characters take, it's little wonder some of the key players left as soon as their initial three-year contracts were up (or that the writing has become so uneven after S1). This just strikes me as SUCH an unprofessional way of writing a television program. It's not as if we're talking about a 22-25-episode US season, either. Downton is 8 episodes and a Christmas special. Why on earth would anyone take such a haphazard approach to his own pet project? (I suppose the answer is the money and accolades the show continues to rake in, despite its steady decline in quality since S1.)