Stuff and TV and vids and stuff

[destina]

Greetings LJ. Or at least, those of you who are still here in the ghost town. I reached 40K on my paperlegends story last night and then I stopped and stared at it in despair, because it's still not done and it's a mess and there's not much time. WHY DID I PACK SO MUCH PLOT INTO THIS STORY. *weeps*

In much better news, obsessive24 and jetpackmonkey have finished up their respective

Comments

[sef1029]

Oh, thank god, someone else who hates Mary. I find Edith, for all her flaws, to be more admirable. What does Mary have besides good looks? Laziness, self-pity, condescension, entitlement. And cruelty, as you say. Why her parents treat her like the best of their daughters is beyond me.

(Spoken like the third child of four, eh?)

[ann_tara]

Oh, thank god, someone else who hates Mary. I find Edith, for all her flaws, to be more admirable.

Raises hand! Me too!!!!!! I've hated Mary since season one, and my favorite of the three sisters has always been Edith, who takes too much crap from her family for no good reason. I want her to win!

And Thomas is such a cartoonishly horrible character that I just don't understand why he's still around.

[destina]

Heh! I think maybe Mary is the child who best epitomizes the old world the parents embrace, the social order and the casual embrace of wealth and privilege and its trappings. Plain Edith wants to work on a farm and help soldiers; Sybil wants to live a regular life with a chauffeur. So Mary is the only one who thinks and acts like they do (ostensibly), except for, you know, how she has no character, unlike her parents. *g*

[slb44]

*waves*

Been melting here all week long. Waking up to a humidex of over 100F everyday is so not fun.

Add me to the hate Mary column too! And I'm right up to date on the series. I was sure I was all alone out here with that opinion. Glad to know that isn't the case.

[humming_along]

Yeah, my dad is in a local riding club. They ride, then go back to the American Legion post and drink beer and play canasta. Not exactly a threat to public safety.

[destina]

So true, so true. *g*

[geekslave]

Good luck with your PL!

I know a lot of people like Thomas, but yeah, I don't like him much either. I know being gay in that time period couldn't have been easy, but I don't think it excuses so much of the crap that he pulls.

I actually like Mary though. I didn't at first. But I think around the time with dead guy in her bed situation I started to soften towards her. I think she can be quite unlikable. But she has great moments as well and is funny.

I probably should like Edith more, I usually like the middle kids on TV shows, but I don't find her that interesting. I do really like Sybil and Anna and Bates.

Stacey

[destina]

Upstairs Downstairs was such a great series! It's on iTunes now and I recently bought season 1, and it's as good as I remember. And you're so right, they are all improving as they face the end of their lifestyle. It's been interesting to watch.

[destina]

I sometimes forget that Thomas is gay, because it's been such a non-issue in this last season. After they used that tidbit about him as a plot point, they sort of swept it aside, which is fine, except it doesn't contribute to him being a well-rounded character. Instead, he's the evil, scheming gay character, which is annoying.

I'm a fan of Sybil, too. I think she's kind of adorable. :)

[ariadnes_string]

Ugh--the Daisy-William thing was one of the many things that made me break up with DA halfway through S2, despite having loved S1 a lot (though I think I had exactly the opposite reaction to Daisy--I couldn't believe people's lack of compassion for her, trying to force her to marry a man she didn't love). Not trying to convince you to like her--obviously a YMMV situation

Good luck with your PL fic!

[destina]

I think my problem with the Daisy thing was that if she was going to show a backbone, she should have done it when they were trying to push her into being William's fiancee BEFORE he went to war. When he came back almost dead, that was the wrong time to be wailing about how wrong it was; it would have been cruel (and selfish, let's face it) for her to own up then. It's one of those things where unburdening oneself to a person who is dying is about one's own guilt, and not the person who's dying. She's so damn immature that she didn't seem to understand why doing what was "wrong" at that point was the right thing. The wedding, not so much, but everything else, I was fine with. I agree tho, YMMV.

Daisy has always been kind of a twit. I thought they were going to let her show some growth when she wised up about Thomas, but she's continuing to be annoying in season 3.

[corbyinoz]

Yes! To all of this. I'm not watching S3 TBH. At some point it all kind of slithered over into Soap, instead of being small case soap.

And joining the Mary hate/Edith love brigade, too.

[kathyh]

Best of luck with the PL fic!

I feel the same about Bradley, but in a British series :)

I'm about to break up with Downton Abbey as the only character I retain any interest or sympathy for now is Edith. Thomas actually got a little bit more layered in S3 (I think, as I've forgotten how many series there have been now) so I like him better now than I did, but that's not saying much. The writing is getting clunkier and clunkier too.

[destina]

Ah, but if Bradley lands a US series, there will be twice as much of him to ogle! (22 eps of TV per season in most cases as opposed to 13 or 7 or, you know, 3. British series production numbers are so random and odd. *g*) So that's why I'm rooting for him to stay in the land of sunshine. Altho frankly, if he is here right now in this weather, I'm sure he is a bit WTF, because it is so, so hot.

I like Edith so much, and the show just dumps all over her. I just reached the wedding that wasn't, and it was so predictable. And so sad.