Wow, that was one critical review. ^^^^ Interesting, and I can’t disagree.
"As we said before, the only two developments that spark any real interest in us are Isobel’s marriage proposal and the story behind Violet and Count Chocula. " Best line EVER!
Count Chocula - ha! Tom and Lorenzo are great.They also do a good job with recapping/analyzing “The Walking Dead.”
I was also happy to see Bunting leave…you aren’t in the minority at all. I think Violet doesn’t want Isobel to marry for a number of reasons 1) won’t she be Violet’s equal now, since she will also be the wife of a Lord? and 2) Isobel will be busy…Violet won’t have her friends as much.
I still would like to see Rose and Tom together. I’ve really grown to like him.
I was glad to see Bunting go as well. The crafting of her role never made any sense to me…she “hates” them, but is happy to dine at their table repeatedly…fine, if she was interested in free food, but she’s also tremendously “principled.” It never added up.
The character never made any sense to me either. I wanted to like Sarah Bunting. On paper, she’s someone I would like: she’s strong, she’s smart, she’s hard-working and good at her job, she’s independent, I agree with her principles (come on, those Russian aristocrats had it coming). But for some reason, Fellowes wrote her to be gratuitously, aggressively, pointlessly rude. And we never saw Tom spend any time with her to developing the supposed relationship they had. It just didn’t make sense.
I thought it was manipulative to have Bunting’s character be so rude. Puts the viewer on the defensive: you are pushed to identify with these massively entitled land owners who still want to control what happens in “their” village, a feeling you might not get if Bunting were nicer and less insistently rude.
I’m quite tired of Edith’s degradation. She’d become strong and independent but they’ve put her in this position where all that she had become is jeopardized by absurd notions of scandal, as if titled classes didn’t have sex and family scandals galore.
It’s sort of weird too because the reason a woman would hide an illegitimate child is because it would hurt her prospects of marrying. With so many men having died in World War I --particulary among the upper classes–and so many others being shell-shocked, Edith doesn’t have great prospects. Add to this that, as portrayed in this show, she’s not especially good looking and she has only a very small fortune–unlike Mary. She’s most definitely getting up there in terms of age as well, so she’s unlikely to marry anyway.
Of course, there’s a chance that Robert and Cora would kick her out, but I view that as very small, given Cora’s help in removing the young Turkish diplomat from Mary’s room and the fact that Sybbie and Tom have a home at Downton. And even if they did, the implication is that Edith has enough control over Gregson’s affairs to be able to earn a living from his business.
I do feel sorry for her though because if Gregson were alive she’d be okay and if Gregson is dead, she’d be okay. It’s only not knowing that leaves her in limbo.
Oh and all that stuff between Bates and Anna about kids is because it’s probable that he will find Lady Mary’s contraceptive device which Anna got for her and hid for her and think Anna is using it without telling him. Just my guess.
I also think a much more likely future match would be Tom and Edith rather than Tom and Mary. And I think if the true ID of Marigold came out, Tom would not be scandalized about it. I think it would actually e a good match. He’d get a mommy for Sybbie --one that Downton wouldn’t disapprove of, whom he knows likes children, and whom Sybbie already knows --and Edith would get a decent man as a H. For Lord and Lady G, Tom would be preferable as a H for Edith than no H for Edith.
I too disliked Ms. Bunting’s character. When Tom’s brother was rude to Lord and Lady G, Tom called him on it. That’s utterly inconsistent with letting Ms. Bunting get away with worse.
The reason is Fellowes’ political stance. From a 2011 New York Times profile:
In the world Fellowes has created, the aristocrats are occasionally muddleheaded but ultimately benevolent, while members of the working class are either blissfully oblivious of the inequities of British society or crude rabble rousers with no appreciation for tradition and no understanding of economics. But when is there ever much room for subtlety in a soap opera?
I don’t like the idea of Tom ending up with Edith or Mary. Too weirdly incestuous.
Mary and Tom give off a strong sibling vibe. Not sure about Edith.
I don’t see Tom ending up with any of the DA women. I like his character and I’m afraid they’re going to have him leaving, probably for America, as has been intimated on the show. I think the fact that they have written out Miss Bunting makes this even more likely, unfortunately.
“I too disliked Ms. Bunting’s character. When Tom’s brother was rude to Lord and Lady G, Tom called him on it. That’s utterly inconsistent with letting Ms. Bunting get away with worse.”
Have we forgotten that as a form of social class protest Tom himself once attempted to dump a tureen of filth over the head of an important guest at the Crawley’s dinner party? But now we are endlessly offended by Miss Bunting because she makes sharp comments,and in the same breath we love good ol’ Tom and wish him well. Those two degrees of rudeness are not even on the same planet.
Talk about getting away with worse…
Not me. I thought Branson was a complete jackass and that he treated Sybil poorly for the most part. As sometimes happens in real life, tragedy, fatherhood and general life experience matured him (although too late for Sybil to benefit). I do like him now which was why I really couldn’t stand him getting together with Ms. Bunting. Fortunately, he was wise enough to “punt the Bunt” as some witty poster on the Tom and Lorenzo site put it.
At the time though, I was sorry that Carson and Anna stopped him from carrying out his stupid plan. If he had, I thought that the scales would fall from Sybil’s eyes and she would abandon her infatuation with him. Oh well…
I thought the way Tom was written early on reflected a stereotype of the Irish and, in particular, Irish Republicans. I see the show’s treatment of him presented in large part as his “civilizing”, as his developing appreciation for the world he would have overthrown. That’s easier to portray because this house and family are in England. Imagine if this were a Protestant land-owning family in Ireland.
Finally watched the most recent episode. The Russian subplot is really simplistic but now that we have “Count Chocula” I can tolerate it. I am still sick of the Edith/Marigold storyline, but I do agree with her–there has to be another way.
Fellowes isn’t doing that great now that he’s straying from the original “Upstairs, Downstairs” series plot lines.
Just watched the actress who plays Mrs. Patmore guest star on Supernatural as the witch of the Hansel & Gretel story. So cute.
So Edith finally claimed marigold. I cannot imagine in that time period.
Lots of interesting stuff tonight. Edith, Bates finding what we all knew he would,etc. At least Lord G remembered his " more than flirting" and went back to his wife’s bed. I hope the Bates as murderer story line is over soon. How many times does Bates need to be considered a murderer?