Downton Abbey - Season 2

[selenak]

In which I have at last a favourite character whom I'm rooting for, because Julian Fellowes inadvertendly manages to push every dormant Jacobin bone in my body with his writing for this season. (Note: the season, not the Christmas special, which wasn't on the dvds, so I haven't seen it.)

Comments

[likeadeuce]

First of all, agree that Daisy was the best-written character of season 2. Her story was heartbreaking but nothing about it felt manipulative, whereas so much else that happened (Matthew's injury and then his recovery, Lavinia's death) seemed narratively convenient. This story, sad as it was, felt fresh and really complex.

A note re: Sybil/Branson and the "what work?" comment -- apparently they wrote and filmed a scene where he apologized, then cut it. Which, I know, deleted scenes aren't canon, and it says something that when making decisions about what they needed to keep, the fact that 'oh, he actually does respect her' was considered disposable says something about the overall attitude of the show. On the other hand, it does let my fanficcer's brain imagine there was a lot going on there that we just don't see (for instance, they have conversations about the Russian Revolution and Sylvia Pankhurst that only make sense if they're an extension of similar conversations that have happened before.) Hence, ignoring everything they say to or about each other, as I mentioned earlier (including the idea that he's her ticket out, which only makes sense to me if it's a rationalization she thinks she has to offer -- ie, she doesn't think that being in love is a sufficient excuse for what she's doing, so she has to frame it as a road to independence, even if that makes precious little sense. Yes, I have put a lot of energy into working out nonsensical things in this show.)

There's another whole thing to say about why I find Branson, despite the dumbness of the love story, more fundamentally sympathetic than Thomas (though you have good points abut the way Thomas is written). BUT mostly I'll comment that I like your ideas about what happens next. Mine tend to be of the, "Characters who I find interesting should move somewhere else, such as --

this Lavinia-lives AU, where she and Mary move to Paris, which was expanded on in this comment thread

[selenak]

The Lavinia lives AU is amusing, and them in Paris only misses out the lot of them running into Lawrence of Arabia during the Versailles conference. :)

On the other hand, it does let my fanficcer's brain imagine there was a lot going on there that we just don't see (for instance, they have conversations about the Russian Revolution and Sylvia Pankhurst that only make sense if they're an extension of similar conversations that have happened before.)

Oh, that's what we fanficcers do. :) *waves the banner of co-created Darla/Immortal fanon*

re: Branson vs Thomas: there's no doubt that Thomas even in his three dimensional state is a piece of work and Branson is someone earnestly believing he can make the world a better place; it's just that I find Thomas an interesting piece of work as presented in canon and want to find out more about him (and am currently in the process of discovering there are some good fanfics around, thank you, Yuletide), whereas nothing in canonical second season Branson encourages me to want to know more. This is a subjective individual impression thing, which is different for all of us. Also, well, just look at a couple of the other characters in other fandoms I like. (Arvin Sloane would so hire Thomas. They'd probably doublecross each other even faster than Sloane and Sark, but hire him he would.)

[likeadeuce]

I actually was planning to rewatch A Dangerous Man in light of that Peace Conference bunny though I haven't gotten around to it yet :).

As far as sympathy, I wasn't talking about who's the better person -- there are plenty of manipulative types I find interesting in a way I don't find Thomas -- so much as the way they hit emotionally. The thing lacking in Thomas, to me, is that he doesn't seem to be attached to anything at all outside his own self-interest. I think if we had seen more of his relationship with the injured officer (either before his death or more of a reaction afterwards), or even more of a hint that he's willing to put anything on the line for O'Brien (which MAY be there but I can't think of anything; her willingness to go to lengths for him is obvious, but not vice versa). And I personally have trouble getting into a character who doesn't have anything BUT self-interest. If the comparison is to Sloane, Thomas has nobody in the capacity of Jack or Sydney or Emily. Lilah, even putting whatever one thinks of the Wesley relationship aside, has interesting interplay with Holland Manners, Bethany Chalke, and of course Angel, before the Wes ship ever comes into that picture. I can't think of an equivalent for Thomas. Again, not saying the show needs one (and I'd certainly be pleased if it developed one); I just think that's what keeps me from being more intrigued by him, when he's a character I naturally feel like I should be more intersted in.

Whereas, Branson, even when I think he's being obnoxious and otherwise badly behaved re: Sybil, grabs me because I feel like he's basically flaunting his vulnerability, all the time, basically begging to be shot down (sometimes literally, if the household staff had reacted to the the idea of him as a potential assassin less discreetly), which is interesting to me in a male character. I echoes a bit what I like about Peeta in Hunger Games (which I saw last night) and in both cases probably has a lot to do with the actors involved. I think if either character were played by somebody who radiated innocence less completely, it wouldn't work as well for me.

Anyway, different strokes, but that's what I glommed onto. I'd certainly be willing to get on the Thomas train, either in fic or canon, if I felt like his context or his outward dimensions were developed a little more.