<p>Maggie Smith will be on 60 Minutes this Sunday.</p>
<p>Edith and Strallan. What??? I think I need a do-over.</p>
<p>Anna and Bates. Not surprised.</p>
<p>Mary and Matthew for me and H.</p>
<p>Mansfield, I got Edith and Strallan too… So many questions I had no good answer for… LOL this show has sucked me in, I have to admit. But gosh, there are a lot of UK shows about the decline of the Old House, old ways. Anyone ever watch the Forsythe Saga?</p>
<p>We finally had time to watch last week’s episode. Some great lines. As nasty has Thomas has been, I felt so so sorry for him.</p>
<p>Unless it will give too much away, to those of you who have watched the finale, do most of the servants go up to Scotland with the family or are most left behind? I know the valet and ladies’ maids must go, but do they travel with the cook and most of the rest of the indoor staff (except, perhaps for the young servants who haven’t been given names)?</p>
<p>Edith and whatshisname, too. Like treetopleaf, no good answer for many of the questions.</p>
<p>I’ll be in the air for Sunday’s finale and I don’t think Jet Blue has PBS. :(</p>
<p>Really? Matthew and Mary?</p>
<p>Unlike many here, I really do like Mary - but I’m sure NOT Mary.</p>
<p>Maybe you’re Matthew?</p>
<p>ha - good point, missy, but I’m not so wild about Matthew either.</p>
<p>I wish Carson and Mrs. Hughes were a couple. I wouldn’t mind being them!</p>
<p>In the normal course of things, a house has its own cook so no the cook doesn’t travel. The only people who travel are the actual maids and valets for individuals. A terrific rendition of this is in Gosford Park, a movie that’s well worth seeing.</p>
<p>The odd thing about Downton is they don’t travel. This isn’t a country house but THE house. That’s not wholly abnormal but many landed families lived more like you see in the Austen novels: living in the city for society, opening the country house for holidays, shooting season, etc. Those were larger movements of people; the cook, for example, would likely stay with the family as it moved house to house, as would the butler and the footmen. The housekeeper might move back and forth because she was responsible for projects - like new curtains, larger cleanings, etc. With the railroad, it became more common to have weekends - or long weekends - in the country. I’m less familiar with how that affected staffing in the city and country.</p>
<p>In the first season of Downton, the family went to London for the Season and Sybil’s (God rest her soul) debut. Carson went with them then, but a housekeeper for the London house was mentioned. I really wish they’d shown the debut, et. al. - more insight into how the rich lived before the war.</p>
<p>^^^^For some reason, that tickled me. A very sweet sentiment, though Sybil doesn’t actually exist.</p>
<p>I guess they seem very real indeed, though. :)</p>
<p>Will have to make sure I watch 60 minutes this Sunday :)</p>
<p>I have seen season 3 in early December, but the DVD that was borrowed to me did not include The Christmas Special, so I googled and googled and finally discovered that it aired a few months after the main series. As a result of my search I basically know what is going to happen , nevertheless I am looking forward to my final evening with Downton Abbey series 3 in a couple of days !</p>
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<p>As daughters of an Earl in the early 20th century, all of the Crawley girls would have made their debut by being present to the King at court.</p>
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<p>There are various mentions of the house that they have in London (though we never see it on screen), Lady Rosamund is visited in London, and the upcoming Christmas special is spent in the Highlands. They do travel, it’s just that we don’t see that much of it on screen, presumably because kitting out a whole new set for one episode is expensive.</p>
<p>Can someone remind me what happened between Thomas and O’Brien to turn them into enemies?</p>
<p>I just got caught up in time for the finale. I really enjoyed last week’s episode, wife-in-the-asylum and all.</p>
<p>It’s not clear to me what the family has in London and that is obviously intentional. Rosamund is Lord Grantham’s sister. Does she live in the “family” house? Or is she/was she married with a grand house of her own? We don’t know. It’s all artificial. The family seems to stay in Yorkshire during times of the London season but again they don’t tell you on purpose. The show is called Downton Abbey not The Crawleys for good reason. I don’t mind. It’s a nice soap opera. </p>
<p>I was a little surprised that Lady Edith seemed so insulated from London nightlife. She’s only 26. She must have heard jazz and been out, though the show has her essentially kept up in Yorkshire.</p>
<p>I believe they have their own home in London, because Rosamund has a lot of money from her late husband, so she’d have her own place. I think the Crawley house is shut up when they’re not there, so it would be easier to stay a night or two at Rosamund’s.</p>
<p>I get the feeling that post-WW1, the routine of going down for the Season has been often interrupted.</p>
<p>And i think that a family at that social level, especially ones who mostly live far from London, would not be initially part of the Jazz Aage crowd, even if they’d heard of it.</p>
<p>There was a phrase tucked into an episode after Sybil’s death in which Mrs. Patmore describes her as a “bright young thing”. That is, I think, an anachronism for 1920 but it refers to the young aristocratic party scene in Jazz Age London. I highly recommend Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies in that regard. Terrific somewhat black comic novel from that era. Keeping in mind this is all fiction, young aristocrats were the driving force of much of the craziness then. I suppose it made some sense, given the horror of the war and the loss of so many of their peers and elders.</p>