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<p>Don’t blame the babies. It’s Mary: whoever sleeps with Mary dies! It just took a little longer with Matthew.</p>
<p>I’m with Garland - every time they went shooting, I thought someone was going to die.</p>
<p>I am annoyed with myself that I could allow a tv show to play with my emotions like that. I had to take Advil PM to get to sleep I was so shaken by the Matthew tragedy. I may not restart this series next season because I just don’t like the way they toy with our heart strings. They should have waited until next season to kill off his character.</p>
<p>It’s starting to remind me of Ally McBeal – a pretty show that is determined to resolve every storyline in a miserable, unhappy way. And no one ages. </p>
<p>And Mary is a miserable person, and Edith is just dumb (please don’t tell me we’re going to try and sell the notion that it’s modern and empowering to be someone’s mistress?!) and Branson and Daisy are the only characters that don’t make me wince. Jimmy? Could he fall down the stairs, please? Within the first 10 minutes you could see the whole story arc. Blah. Although I did love Carson and the baby!</p>
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I’m not so willing to bet on that. I think that Canadian Patrick mystery will resurface. If not in season 4, eventually. He scurried away a little too quickly, IMO.</p>
<p>Note to Edith: DO NOT get pregnant!</p>
<p>I wouldn’t want to see Edith as a “mistress.” HOwever, there have always been instances of people living together because a divorce was impossible. “George Eliot” (Mary Ann Evans) lived with George Lewes for twenty years. His wife, though living with another man, would not divorce him, and her children from that man were considered Lewes’. I’m sure there were other, non-literary instances too.</p>
<p>There’s hardly anyone left who is married. The Granthams, Anna and Bates, and now Shrimpy and Whatshername. Is there anyone else? Pretty soon it’ll be a show about widows and widowers trying to find someone to grow old with.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, every possible new relationship that could potentially lead to marriage and happiness is allowed to develop for about 20 minutes tops before someone is exposed as a cad or fired.</p>
<p>We’re all positive Matthew is dead, right? Seemed pretty obvious but I wouldn’t put it past Fellowes to start off Season 4 with a miraculous recovery.</p>
<p>Who’s going to modernize Downton now that he’s gone?</p>
<p>Did anyone recognize Rose’s mother as Cordelia from the original Brideshead Revisited (Phoebe Nicholls)? She has not aged well at all.</p>
<p>question- did mrs. Crowley realize the dr was trying to propose to her?</p>
<p>^ I think so. Isabelle Crowley is no dummy. Of course things will change for her with losing Matthew. Oh and Rose’s mother is named Susan. Not an appealing character to me.</p>
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<p>It better not. That was the first storyline that made me want to stop watching the show. Then Sybil, now Matthew.</p>
<p>Other notes: I think the Thomas/Jimmy story is getting tiresome. So is Anna/Bates. I like Isobel/Clarkson. Susan is awful but seems believable to me, as does Rose (even though she is annoying).</p>
<p>I thought Isobel’s letdown to the doctor was very gracious. I was thinking they’d make a nice couple, but apparently she’s not interested. And I’m with you, DougBetsy! I’ve been saying all along that we haven’t seen the last of Patrick! </p>
<p>Most touching scenes were Mrs. Hughes and Branson - very motherly, then Carson and baby Sybil - so sweet! It will be a long wait until next year!! :(</p>
<p>My guess is “Matthew” was bored w/ the series or wanted too much money for Season 4~</p>
<p>Yes, I loved the scene with Mrs. Hughes and Branson – ummm, I mean Tom. Perfect. He has a very tough road to travel, and one step on either side of the line is inappropriate.</p>
<p>Isobel knew what Clarkson was saying. She is one smart cookie, and she was completely gracious about it. Basically, “I love my life the way it is, unmarried, and I’m so pleased I can have a friend like you!”</p>
<p>It’s possible that Matthew isn’t dead but we’ll have to wait to find out, won’t we.</p>
<p>I’ll repeat a question already asked… who will run Downton now? Will it fall on Tom? Or will Robert take it back with the stipulation that Tom be his right hand man. Tom may have just gotten a HUGE promotion!</p>
<p>sorry my bad, I see that others have posted why Dan Stevens left.
I loved the Scotland scene Nottelling!! My DH and I eloped to Scotland, Edinburgh…and stayed in several castles on our honeymoon, such a beautiful country!! I know some dont like bagpipers, those parts were funny, but they will always bring back great memories for me 
The Brits and Scots are constantly poking fun at each other so the dinner scene,etc. I thought was hilarious. Now I have to find out what reeling is?!</p>
<p>Well, since he’s leaving the series, he’s either dead or brain damaged and will be put away in a rehab type facility. Mary would have to live the tortured life Edith’s editor lives. Can’t divorce, can’t remarry.</p>
<p>Then if Dan Stevens’ movie career doesn’t work out, he can miraculously come out of his fog, return to Downtown to find Mary living in sin with another man. Lots of dramatic possibilities there which have been perfected on US daytime soaps. ;)</p>
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<p>I thought it was the dance they were doing, probably a precursor to the “Virginia reel” that was brought to America.</p>
<p>As shocking as this finale was, I think it opens the door for many new plot lines.
<a href=“Killing Off TV Characters Carries Risk - The New York Times”>Killing Off TV Characters Carries Risk - The New York Times;
I will be on the edge of my seat to see what season 4 brings. In that sense, Julian Fellowes accomplished his goals.</p>
<p>For the most part, I’ve enjoyed the character development in season 3. Last night we saw the nobler part of otherwise-despicable Thomas the footman. He has changed from one who would shoot his own hand to avoid military service to one who was willing to take the blows for a drunken Jimmy (albeit that Jimmy is the object of Thomas’s affections). I think it is good drama when writers expose both bad & good in a character. And I had the same question about who will continue Downton’s modernization now that Matthew is gone. I’m betting on Branson taking a bigger role.</p>
<p>I had to laugh at a drunken Molesly on the dance floor. It was fun to see O’Brien meet & outwit her counterpart.</p>
<p>Here’s what I would love to see in the next season:</p>
<p>Edith and Mr. Newspaper book passage to New York. Edith’s stated plan is to visit her grandmother. He is traveling for business. Both are really planning to consummate their affair. Grandma Shirley convinces them to continue on to California, where they can create a new life. He goes on to create a huge empire in film or newpapers. They live a full and happy, though unconventional and unmarried, life in Los Angeles. </p>
<p>But in all likelihood, Lord Grantham will force them to seperate, and Edith will continue to be the miserable, third daughter. Sigh.</p>