How M/M via DS Non-Ironically Ruined My Life Meme: Ditch Him

[shanghaiedinla]

"We don't always get our just deserts."

[Downton Abbey S3 Spoilers Ahead]

Day 9 - Most memorable Matthew scene in S3.

It should not come as any surprise that Matthew's final moments on screen are the ones which will stick with viewers for a long, long time. (And per usual, eolivet deserves credit for putting a finger on just why his death was so disturbing to watch.) I myself have

Comments

[eolivet]

Hey, love the new page!!! :D So pretty, bright and cheery. :) And your default icon is very cool. :D

I had a visceral hatred of that shot when I first saw it but it took a couple of viewings to really understand why: it is because I cannot (as hard as I try) see Matthew in that shot at all; I only see Dan Stevens happily driving Matthew into a ditch, happily "ditching" the show which has meant so much to so many. It is as if I can hear Stevens' interior monologue: "Finally, I'm giving this bozo the ending he deserves,"

You know, that's a good point -- because he's awfully smiley for Matthew. Matthew isn't even so smiley in the scene where he meets his actual son. It's pretty OTT when you think about it.

I think what also bothers me about it is it doesn't ring true. It's not like the guy came out of nowhere, and Matthew couldn't help but hit him. He's NOT LOOKING AT THE ROAD. As my husband joked when it first aired, "Clearly he saw a dinosaur on the side of the road!" As a result, it loses some of that "natural tragedy" element to it.

In that sense, the meta implication of Matthew's death really comes through. Because I believe JF wanted the audience to know "Matthew caused his own death." It couldn't be he was hit by some distracted lorry driver, that he was any kind of victim of a terrible accident. He. Was. Not. Looking. At. The. Road. It's like...Driver's Ed 101. :/

"We don't always get our just desserts," it's true -- but in this case, I wonder if that's sort of what we're meant to imply. That Matthew, and nobody else but Matthew, was the cause of his own death.

Gee, I wonder what meta implications there are about that... :/

[shanghaiedinla]

Aww, thanks. (Still haven't figured out the "comment" issue but luckily it's not too difficult to remember the HTML tags for italics at least!)

because he's awfully smiley for Matthew

And it's the way he's smiling. It's more like a smirk than a happy Matthew smile. Like I said, DS through and through. ... It's not until we see him lying on the ground pinned under the car -- the first shot, not the one where he's bleeding -- that I see Matthew again and it's heartbreaking.

That Matthew, and nobody else but Matthew, was the cause of his own death.

Yup. And that it was senseless and it didn't have to happen and no one -- except the man in the driver's seat -- could have prevented it. :/ (As you say, meta is pretty clear.)