Downton Abbey Mid-Season 4 Review

Very recently, I have become a fan of the show Downton Abbey. It’s funny how at first, I was resistant to start the show upon my aunt Wendy’s recommendation, because Pollyanna(1960) is my absolute favorite Hayley Mills movie and it is set in the same time period. I just didn’t want to get into something that would be a stale drama where everybody was posh and so hoity-toity and dry. Boy, was I surprised when I actually took the leap and started it! In just two weeks I have finished 30 episodes and although I am not finished, I’d like to do a mid-series review of it. This will be a spoiler filled review, at least up to episode 5 in season 4, so, please be aware of that.

First thing I want to talk about is the cast, and really, it’s just one person on the cast. As much as we all love Maggie Smith for her role in the Harry Potter franchise and it was nice to see her in this, I was most struck by Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley. One of my favorite TV mini series ever is the Hogfather wherein Dockery plays the granddaughter of Death. She plays a sort of morbid yet very straightforward and tough female character in that, and I like how some of those same qualities came forth in her Downton character but softened by Mary’s genteel nature. As you may have already guessed, she is my favorite character. I thought her drama with Matthew was annoying at times but made all the sweeter by their eventual marriage. I think she is smart and I empathize with her emotions the most, even when she is being harsh or unfair.

My second favorite character is actually a duo, Anna, Mary’s Lady’s Maid, and Mr. Bates, Lord Robert Crawley’s valet. Right away I liked Bates and rooted for him to do well and then when Anna started to pay attention to him, my attention shifted to her as well. They’re both the “normal/neutrals” and in a house with so much classist tones and drama both above and below, they are the only ones not worried about starting trouble or overstepping their stations. They’re genuinely good people. Not to say that there aren’t others who are as well, but for the most part, I like their take on things and find the things that happen to them the most interesting. Plus, they’re just so romantic and lovely together.

The character I hate and have hated right from the start is Thomas, the head footman/under-butler. Now, four seasons in, I feel with a passion that he is just awful, the worst sort of garbage person. Everything he does is awful and he is mean and cruel to everybody for no reason that I can figure out. I actually get a little kick sometimes when he fails at things, or when he is humiliated, like the time he mistook the Ottoman diplomat for being open to his affections but he wasn’t! He’s just eternally dissatisfied with himself and it manifests into this maliciousness and desperation towards everyone else.

This show is actually funny because of how much happens! It almost borders into soap opera territory with how much goes wrong and how much goes right from episode to episode. And when it is dry, I find that I actually like it. Like the season I am on has Mary trying to take over for her late husband, Matthew, and the plans he had for helping restore the wealth of the Abbey. The twists and turns and decisions she makes are actually keeping me entertained because I love to see her helping to take this sort of leadership role and help manage the estate affairs.

And the genteel nature of everything, the “properness” and the rules of high society have me fascinated. I love the different codes of conduct that they constantly allude to, the ritualistic dinners they have, the clothing changes, and the avoidance of “scandals.” It’s so much fun and I adore how intricate it all is, because a lot of times, they set up these rules first, and then later reiterate them for the express purpose of breaking them. Like a servant that serves something in the wrong way at the table, or someone wearing the wrong shirt to dinner because of missing or ruined clothes, or someone laughing a little too closely while everyone stands around drinking after dinner. It makes it all very exciting.

I am a bit tired of the risqué plotlines though. Like Thomas Branson, Sybil’s widower, and that one maid getting together and her trying to blackmail him into a relationship. I’m not very fond of Tom as it is; the one time I actually liked him was as Sybil was dying, his emotional outpouring and desperate pleading for her “not to leave him” while everyone stood around helpless. It broke my heart. But his tough-guy revolutionary/communist schtick is really tiring, especially since it seems he’s able to loosen his morals and ideals by season 4. And I am even more tired of his whole, “I’m such an outsider in the family” thing. Sure, Tom. Just go away then.

And I really dislike Rose a lot, the party girl cousin. Every time she tries to convince someone to take her somewhere, I am aghast at their repeated agreeing to it only for her to run off and get herself into trouble. Oh, so nobody in the family or staff saw that coming did they? Does nobody remember last weekend? She’s just not very interesting or engaging, although, I did like the part where the black singer at the one club got down off stage to dance with her. I really hope they bring that guy back because he seemed super charming and genuine and I’d love to see everyone’s reactions to her being in an interracial relationship. I’m also hoping that a steady romance might calm her down a bit, even if the romance itself is a bit “scandalous” for the time period or whatever.

I was also a bit displeased with Anna’s rape. It was very boring and by the book and felt unnecessary. She’s such a good person, I felt it unfair that they made that happen to her and then did nothing with it. Her and Bates get back together within a few episodes and “everything’s fine.” Sure, he might go after the guy once he finds out who it is…and I’m really not eager for him to go back to prison. That was really emotionally draining the first time we all went through that. It just felt like a really insincere threat to their relationship dynamic and yet Bates is such a stand-up guy that we know he’s not going to leave her once he finds out and he’s not going to leave her without finding out; he’s going to keep pushing because he loves her and wants to help her. And Anna’s insistence that she was “spoilt” now was ridiculous. It just felt like this awful thing didn’t need to happen because the stakes weren’t very high in regards to her experiencing trauma from it and neither of them changed anything about each other or grew from the experience. We just have a Mr. Bates waiting to murder someone at sometime once it is revealed to him who did it. Maybe he can pin it on Thomas.

I really just love this show and all the characters. Really glad that I got to watch it and marathon it on DVDs.