<p>OH NO!! How could they?</p>
<p>The good news is that Maggie Smith will be back next seasom. I had read a while ago that she wouldn’t be, but in the 60 Minutes interview they told us she would. Losing both of those characters would have been a death-blow, I think.</p>
<p>Dan Stevens has become a hot property and is scheduled to film a movie as as soon as he wraps up his performance in The Heiress on Broadway. He wanted to leave the show. <a href=“Dan Stevens | Financial Advice and News”>Dan Stevens | Financial Advice and News;
<p>Oh, link has a possible spoiler, so don’t look if you don’t want to see it.</p>
<p>OOPS! See others beat me to it!</p>
<p>Downer Abbey strikes again. Waaahhh. Terrible.</p>
<p>I knew what was coming, but I still hated the ending. Overall, I found Season 3 to be very satisfactory. I love how they have developed Mrs. Hughes into such a wise matriarch of the staff. I think she keeps Carson from being completely obsolete and she is kind, but firm, with all the other staff. I loved how she counseled Branson. Lots of wonderful lines for Lady Violet throughout the season. I hope someone puts a season 3 compilation out on YouTube of all her zingers as they have in previous seasons.</p>
<p>I thought they were going to Glen Eagles, so I googled Glen Eagles last week and got the spoiler. I cried so hard during tonight’s episode, and I knew what was going to happen. I am so sad.</p>
<p>Oh goodness, it does seem that “having a baby” signifies the end of another character in the story. Possible next tangle: Mary becomes interested in Branson? About 10 minutes ago, I thought Branson’s love interest might be Rose. Lots of single women under that roof now.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, why was Anna so secretive? I thought she might be pregnant too. Glad Jimmy and Tom are buddies now.</p>
<p>Boooooooo! DH and I were both yelling at the TV. BOOOOOOOO!</p>
<p>I thought the best scene was between Mrs. Hughes and Branson. I got teary-eyed when he broke down, missing Sybil.</p>
<p>Nobody here likes this ending, even if they had to write Matthew out of the story. At least it makes it easier to let go of Downton Abbey for another year. It wasn’t so easy last year!</p>
<p>Well, I read that Season 4 is already filming, so I guess Dan didn’t change his mind.
Mary will ditch Downton, too, and all will go to pot.</p>
<p>Hasn’t Julian Fellowes ever seen Bewitched? Just because an actor doesn’t want to come back doesn’t mean that a character has to be written out of the show. . . . and Dan Stevens is not the most distinctive of actors . . . it’s not like the Dowager Countess or Carson were leaving.</p>
<p>So, what did everyone think of the episode BESIDES the last 60 seconds? I LOVED the jaunt to Scotland. . . . (Been dying to talk about this for the last couple of weeks after downloading on Amazon. I’m on the West Coast and it hasn’t officially aired here yet.)</p>
<p>I was shocked to discover something else, that the writer of this series, Julian Fellowes, stars in the series I am watching right now on Netflix - Monarch of the Glen. Check it out! Takes place in the scottish highlands, the first 3-4 seasons are fun, then it turns into a soap opera…but the castle remains beautiful :)</p>
<p>WHAT was that? Merry Christmas, here’s Matthew lying dead in his own blood?</p>
<p>Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!</p>
<p>Cardinal Fang, exactly! Downton on Christmas Day here in the UK was quite the downer. And keep in mind, we had no spoilers warning us. The news that Dan Stevens hadn’t renewed his contract was out but it was thought to run into the next series so the implication was he’d be around for a couple more episodes. Nice Christmas present from Fellowes to the Downton audience!</p>
<p>I had figured it out from some hints (leaving series, and back in my thread, someone had said they’d googled and found out about TWO deaths in Seasons 3), so I was ready. But I kept thinking–how is he going to die? every time they went shooting, I cringed!</p>
<p>It didn’t make me as sad as Sybil, but still, he was an important weight to keep things moving so much of the time.</p>
<p>Rose has much improved (teenagers do that, don’t they?)</p>
<p>I also figured Anna was pregnant–that she could dance a jig after lessons didn’t seem like that big of a big deal…</p>
<p>I also loved the Mrs. Hughes/Branson scene. Seriously teared up for that.I can’t see a Branson/Mary romance, ugh. Even Matthew had to keep telling her how wonderful she was to him, despite what she or anyone else thought! Her mother actually used the “snobby” word. </p>
<p>But I am seriously sad for her–she did love Matthew tremendously.</p>
<p>And Omigod, poor Matthew didn’t have a chance what with Robert pontificating on how happy everyone was these days and how good they’re life has become! kiss of death!</p>
<p>Oh dear, I hope Branson doesn’t fall for Rose. </p>
<p>I wonder if running the entire estate is now going to fall on Branson. Robert is of no use.</p>
<p>My D had bought the DVD of Season 3 so we had already watched it.
I tend to lose interest when favorite characters are knocked off… H and I are not interested in viewing Season number four at all.</p>
<p>Monarch of the Glen was another series we stopped watching, although I think there are books you can read based on the series.</p>
<p>Well, at least Downton has its heir. All is settled in that regard.</p>
<p>I thought it was touching when Shrimpy (what a name!) told Robert how smart he was to have managed his estate in a modern way. And then Robert acknowledged to Cora how Matthew had saved Downton.</p>