<p>I have no idea what happens to Edith either, but I would be astounded if no character died this year. Sybil isn’t playacting when she talks about all her male friends dying. In the real world, WWI killed an appalling percentage of young Englishmen.</p>
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<p>I’m not either, but Edith is not a woman. She’s a fictional character. We can be as mean as we want to people that don’t exist. Kinda like declaring war on a fictional country. Nobody gets hurt.</p>
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<p>Yes. In the decades after the war there was an entire generation of thousands of young English women who never married simply because there weren’t enough men left to go around after the slaughter of WWI. </p>
<p>These English spinsters were so common that they became a stock character in later British fiction. Miss Brodie from “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” is an example of one.</p>
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<p>I don’t think it matters whether they are fictional or not. It still provokes the notion of derogatory name calling towards women. It provokes the notion of it which can lead to future generations doing it also. I know I am not going to win this at all but I don’t think Edith being called a hussy was ever needed.</p>
<p>Cardinal Fang are you a woman or a man ?</p>
<p>Well put coureur and that is what is so much fun about it. The show is an escape from reality! I will take it over a scripted reality show any day. Move over real housewives…and actually I love the idea of declaring war on a fictional country just because I can. Putting that on today’s to do list.</p>
<p>I am in the same came with ebeeee and coureur (which makes sense as both coureur and I got called names in another thread). Declaring war, calling names, falling in love with another man are all fair games with fictional characters.</p>
<p>Article in the NY Times today about books relating to the interest in Downton Abbey: [Mad</a> for Downton?](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/12/business/media/mad-for-downton-publishers-have-a-reading-list.html]Mad”>Mad for ‘Downton’? Publishers Have a Reading List - The New York Times)</p>
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<p>One of my favorite books/movies, and of course the latter stars Maggie Smith. “I am in the business of putting old heads on young shoulders, and all my girls are the creme de la creme.”</p>
<p>I’m a woman. A woman who thinks it’s hilarious that anyone would want to protect the tender feelings of a fictional character.</p>
<p>I should make it clear that I’m an equal opportunity name-caller. Drake is a cad, a heel and a bounder for coming on to Edith when he has a wife. And Thomas is a conniving weasel.</p>
<p>CF - I love your descriptions. And “hussy” is such a great word to describe a woman in a show set in that era. I don’t think we use that word anymore! I will have to ask my daughter to quiz her 11th grade students and find out how many know the meaning. </p>
<p>Here, here for equal opportunity.</p>
<p>Name calling? The writers had Edith behave as what would in those days be termed a hussy, so how is it not appropriate to describe her that way? In fact, if she and her farmer friend showed up at my doorstep right now, I’d call her a hussy and him a cad right to their faces! They both behaved contemptibly even by today’s standards. I wish the farmer’s wife had pushed Edith into a pile of cow patties. She’s a nasty thing (ooh, more name calling!), and it’s not surprising that even her own family doesn’t care for her much.</p>
<p>Downton Abbey just picked up a Golden Globe for Best Miniseries. Last year the picked up the same award at the Emmy’s.</p>
<p>Just finished watching tonight’s episode. Can’t wait for next week. Edith likes the soldiers.</p>
<p>Any guess as to what will happen w/Bates and Anna?</p>
<p>Just watched ep 2. Lavinia seems so sweet-- too bad she has to break up with Matthew. And Edith has found a role and a job for herself. Maybe she’ll find a nice officer to settle down with.</p>
<p>Series 2 is rubbish, it makes no sense at all. Mathew is back and forth from the frontline so often it’s ridiculous. In realty people didn’t get to take a weekend off from war and go home to see the family.</p>
<p>Downton (Highclere) is obviously huge, just enormous. It has something like 50 bedrooms! Also, the Saloon, the State Dining Room, the Library, the Music Room, the Drawing Room and the Smoking Room. It’s not clear to me why the family couldn’t have had a few rooms to themselves.</p>
<p>The real Highclere Castle was turned into a military hospital in 1914, run by the Countess. I don’t know if she kept some of the house off-limits to patients.</p>
<p>[Highclere</a> Castle, Earl and Countess of Carnarvon, Downton Abbey](<a href=“http://www.highclerecastle.co.uk/index.html]Highclere”>http://www.highclerecastle.co.uk/index.html)</p>
<p>I’ve been kind of expecting them to rehabilitate Edith at some point. I thought they were making her so totally disagreeable as to threaten her believability. It appears that maybe her redemption began with last night’s episode and the wounded soldiers. I’ll be interested to see how far they take it before they have her do something nasty again.</p>
<p>I also notice that Edith has a slightly different accent from the rest of her family - a little bit more exaggerated “upper-crust” sound to it. But that may be a function more of the actress than of the character.</p>
<p>It’s not often I agree with Dionysus but I too thought Series 2 was rubbish and almost gave up watching (having loved Series 1) - the plot twists got more and more preposterous. But I’m so glad I hung in there because the finale is a knockout. ( And then the two hour Christmas Special was a bit of a dud - they said Julian Fellowes had to rush the writing of Series 2, hence the uneven quality, but I don’t know what the excuse could be for the Xmas extravaganza that fell flat).</p>
<p>Bates has another secret, clearly. Poor Anna.</p>