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<p>I got to see her in that play. It was Tom Stoppard’s Travesties, which came to Broadway in 1975. Thanks for reminding me!</p>
<p>I do see a pregnancy in Season Four, but not necessarily for Anna. We’ve seen through Ethel’s story what happens to servants when they become pregnant out of wedlock; now it’s time to see what happens to an upper-class woman. Edith is not giving up Gregson and Rose, in the parlance of the times, is “no better than she ought to be.” It’ll be one of those two.
As for last night, I’d seen the episode and was over the shock of Matthew’s death, so some other things jumped out at me:
- Could Mary possibly have been nastier to Edith over Gregson? I know she was eight months pregnant, but still. And Robert going on about why the newspaper hires amateurs, etc. They’re pushing her right into his arms. She’ll never win with either of them and she knows it and Gregson sincerely loves her.
-I felt sorry for Susan - she’s so obviously the odd person out in her family and that’s so hurtful. With Rose out of the picture temporarily maybe she and Shrimpy can patch things up.
-Isobel isn’t going anywhere - Downton is her home now. I loved her scenes with Mary before the birth and it was refreshing to see her not being annoying for once.</p>
<p>Mary will learn of Edith’s elicit romance and bring back the guy who left her at the altar to be her own new hubby.</p>
<p>Couldn’t Gregson go off to some other country where divorce laws were more liberal and divorce his insane wife? Maybe even the US. I don’t know the details, but I vaguely recall from previous TV shows and movies that at some point unhappily-married, wealthy Brits used to travel to America to get divorced.</p>
<p>I think that Tom Branson has done a masterful job of walking the tightrope between being a former servant, a member of the family, and the manager of the estate. I loved the scene with him and Mrs. Hughes - until then it hadn’t occurred to me how totally alone he is - he doesn’t really fit in anywhere, in the family or with the servants, and he deeply loved Sybill. Matthew was probably the only person who he really liked and trusted and now he will be gone as well. I don’t think Branson and Mary would ever happen - she’s too much of a snob (although I truly LIKE Mary) and she’ll be so wounded by Matthew’s death. Although since the two of them will both be in mourning in a way no one else would understand… nah. Not gonna happen.</p>
<p>I loved seeing the Scottish castle and the interior decoration, the bagpipes around the table before dinner, the dramatic landscape and clouds, the hunting excursions, the Ghillie’s ball and dances, etc. I wish those sort of domestic details were more the focus of the show. There’s plenty we still don’t know about how Downtown is actually run</p>
<p>right! The castle looks like Donegal (sp?) in Downton Abbey. ( the one in Monarch)
I loved the scenery in episode 1 :)</p>
<p>
I thought of this myself …</p>
<p>Actor defections in midseries rarely turn out well for the actor, do they? Or do I only remember the actors that sunk straight to guest starring on The Love Boat after leaving a popular series? </p>
<p>John Amos Good Times
Suzzane Sommers Three’s Company
David Caruso NYPD Blue
Mclean Stevenson MASH
Wayne Rogers MASH
Shelley Long Cheers<br>
Don Knotts The Andy Griffith Show
Lisa Bonet The Cosby Show</p>
<p>Personally, I think it is a mistake for an actor to leave a series in mid run. I hope it works well for the two who left Downton Abbey, but history doesn’t suggest that leaving is a great decision.</p>
<p>But then there’s George Clooney and Julia Margulies leaving ER (not that I’d compare Dan Stevens to George Clooney), and John Travolta leaving Welcome Back Kotter (going way back on both, I know). I think it depends on the skill and charisma of the departing actor. Stevens doesn’t impress me on either score.</p>
<p>I was thinking that Tom did himself no favors by staying at the big house, where he has no opportunity to have relationships–friendly or romantic–with others in the social class he now occupies as an estate agent. He really needs to establish an independent life.</p>
<p>Allen Leech, who plays Branson, is doing a terrific job. The casting in general is wonderful, but much of it follows the tradition of masterpiece theatre style while Branson’s character is somewhat different and he plays it less traditionally. As has been noted, the scene where he breaks down is vulnerable in a modern way unlike what we usually see in costume drama. And his ability to play the tension in his former chauffeur/member of the family/estate agent/Irish Republican is also more modern. I’d say the actor has walked the tightrope that’s been noted. </p>
<p>Lily James also shows promise as Rose. At first playing, she was a flighty, rebellious idiot but in Scotland she showed a lot of range, from hurt to rationality to pure joy - the look on her face as she grabbed Anna for the dance, etc. Again, with a modernity. Her first real conversation on screen is with two servants and she carried off that kind of intimacy, including real gratitude, as though treating servants like people with minds equal to your own is normal.</p>
<p>I thought Elizabeth McGovern did a nice job after Sybill’s death, but most of what she has to do is pretty traditional costume drama stuff. They do a decent job of letting the actors show more range - Carson with the baby, Mrs. Hughes with Branson - but those are mostly moments within the box that is this sort of thing. </p>
<p>I sometimes wonder how many of the stories of actors leaving are massaged. It took years, for example, to come out that Susan, George’s fiancee on Seinfeld, was written out because the other actors didn’t enjoy working with her. The NYT says the inspiration for her death was a comment from Julia Louis-Dreyfuss about wanting to kill her. It’s easier to say an actor left; it’s kind of like sending the actor off with a good reference. And no one cares about blaming the producers. For all the brouhaha about Charlie Sheen, not many people will remember the show runner’s name is Chuck Lorre - and he actually writes his own vanity cards and has put them out in book form (for charity). I’m not saying the stories about Dan Stevens aren’t true. I’m merely saying stories about this kind of thing are not trustworthy. With a child in TV, I’m amazed at how well so many people keep their lips sealed about what happens. For all the sense of prying from TMZ et al, very little actually gets let out about what really happens in production and on set.</p>
<p>It just made me laugh when they were at dinner in Scotland and the ladies were wearing their tiaras. Last summer, we were with all of H’s family at a lake house “up north” and not only were there no tiaras, there were a few bathing suits at the (outdoor) dinner table.</p>
<p>I think Dan Stevens will do just fine. His heart is in the theatre world and his choice not to return so that he could devote more time to theatre is a genuine one. He’s been doing theatre since he was young and has a wonderful reputation in the UK theatre world. He was successful prior to his time in Downton and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he’s just as successful in the coming years. He’s done enough work now in film/tv to give himself the ability to take theatre work without worrying about the financial aspect. He also is very popular in the audio book world. He’s a smart guy who is talented both in acting and writing, something I appreciate because it’s a similar path taken by my D. I wouldn’t worry too much about Dan. :)</p>
<p>Lergnom–I think that’s an excellent analysis. Allen Leech really has shined in this part; he can convey a lot of complex emotion, and it’s a complex part he’s playing.</p>
<p>I agree that living at the big house would be beyond stressful for a character like Tom; he can’t go back to the world he was in, but there’s also little chance he’ll find likeminded souls in the Downton world, especially now that Matthew is gone. On the other hand, Tom probably would fit in the growing middle class world–he’s a professional now, with manners to match (actually, he always had them, but he knows all the middle to high class practices now.) I’d like to see him eventually meet some modern, educated young woman–maybe a teacher, nurse, etc (the kind of world Sybil was choosing to be in) and have a life of purpose where he could feel at home. He doesn’t really fit in his brother’s world (or Edna’s), but he he’s not really Downton, either.</p>
<p>I just hope they don’t mess that up next season–as you say, it’s a difficult tightrope.</p>
<p>Missypie–I had thought the tiaras were more a reflection of 20s Jazz age fashion, signifyng how up to date they’d gotten, rather than another layer of dressy.</p>
<p>Re: Tom - it’s remarkable bordering on unbelievable that Tom has transformed himself from a bomb-throwing radical Irish republican bent on pulling down the aristocracy, especially the English aristocracy, into a bourgeois sort of under-lord of the manor. He’s now almost a full member of the English aristocracy, subject to being burned and bombed by his former buddies.</p>
<p>^He has a daughter now, and wants a secure future for both of them. In his place, I’d do exactly the same.</p>
<p>^Sure, but I bet many of his radical friends back in Ireland have children too and are showing no signs of basically changing sides. I think he has been at least partially seduced by the money and the upstairs lifestyle.</p>
<p>I see him as torn. We know that the scene of the arsoned house in Dublin affected him deeply. He’s not a terrorist, and he’s not violent–he’s not a bomb-thrower. He also can’t go back to Ireland. And the social situation in Britain, though awful, isn’t as starkly one of colonization as it is in Ireland. The Crawleys are the winners in a class society, but individually they are not doing what the British landowners were doing to the Irish. And he does feel a commitment to Sybil not to split from her family, and to bring up baby Sybbie with care for her mother’s family.</p>
<p>I don’t see him as any way comfortable with the present situation, more like he doesn’t know how to move forward into a life which accomodates who he is now.</p>
<p>I think Tom’s character development is really interesting and he is really the only character that is in a totally unique place. He is really a fish out of water… and with Matthew gone, what will be the story line for next year? Will Robert trust Tom to manage Downton… or do you think he will trust him and there will be worse financial situation and he has to get the blame? We are moving along to 1929 at some point.</p>
<p>I don’t see Mary and Tom developing into a romantic relationship…too contrived. I think Mary was willing to embrace him as part of their family because of Sybil. I knew about the storyline with Matthew as I read a piece about him in NYTIMES earlier even though it said spoiler… so when Anna tells Mrs. Hughes or Carson that Matthew will drive himself back from the hospital and then you see him in his cute little roadster… I was telling him… No Matthew don’t do it… you mustn’t drive. … by the way I also saw him in The Heiress this season and he was quite good…he fit very well into the ensemble cast.</p>
<p>I loved the scenes in Scotland and also the Mrs. Hughes/Tom scene but the best was the scene with Carson and the baby.</p>