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Post by Ladybug on Jan 22, 2013 12:02:50 GMT -4
I completely tune out when Bates/Anna come on the screen. I have no idea why the inmates don't like him, just that whatever was going on prevented him and Anna from communicating. It really is so boring.
I like Matthew and his attempts to call out Robert on his poor management of the estate. I can see an aristocrat who's had it pretty easy in life looking at the books with an attitude of "oh well, everything will work out, it always does, we're rich aristocrats after all!" That attitude won't work for them anymore.
Ethel's story broke my heart. I hope she can reconnect with her son in the future. I'm glad the grandmother seemed sympathetic. I don't know why Isobel had to be such a pill about Ethel's choice. She has good intentions, but wow is she self-righteous and annoying!
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Post by bklynred on Jan 22, 2013 16:24:27 GMT -4
I was really rooting for Bates and Anna...at first. But it's just going on and on...
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Deleted
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Sept 30, 2024 8:32:20 GMT -4
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2013 16:35:06 GMT -4
I don't know why Isobel had to be such a pill about Ethel's choice. She has good intentions, but wow is she self-righteous and annoying! Isobel's a really well-conceived character in that she really, really doesn't get why her middle-class values and condescending progressivism don't apply to everyone. On the one hand, she's benefitted from the class system her whole life and her son just fell ass-backward into two different fortunes he didn't work for. On the other hand, she thinks she can wave the class system away whenever it's convenient for her (running the convalescent home out of Downton, helping the "working girls"). Mrs. Hughes was the much-needed voice of reason. The little boy's life as the son of a prostitute or even a former prostitute would have been hell. He'd have been subjected to poor schooling, probably no academic education beyond 7 or 8th grade, and if he was lucky, an apprenticeship in a menial trade. Every aspect of his life would have been dictated by his mother's "fall" and his status as a bastard and it would have been miserable. Ethel herself would be better off starting over in Canada or elsewhere in the commonwealth. It was a brutal time and place. Bates can die now. Really. Any level of interest I initially had in that story is gone. I don't care if he killed his wife or not. Just wrap up that plot and move on. Also, it's been eight years (?) since the first episode and Daisy hasn't grown a single brain cell. I think there might be a gas leak down in that kitchen.
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eveschmeve
Sloane Ranger
Posts: 2,330
Mar 7, 2005 15:24:15 GMT -4
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Post by eveschmeve on Jan 22, 2013 17:38:36 GMT -4
The Bates stuff is awful. It's not like their accents are difficult to understand, but the combination of their accents plus all the whispering and talking out of the sides of their mouths about various dudes makes it nearly impossible for me to follow anything that's said in those scenes.
All I hear is, "whisper whisper RANDOM DUDE'S LAST NAME whisper watch out for RANDOM OTHER DUDE'S LAST NAME whisper whisper."
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Post by kostgard on Jan 22, 2013 18:07:22 GMT -4
I'm beginning to think Robert is just kinda stupid. I mean, if money problems were brand new, then I could see the attitude of "Hey, whatever!" applying. But he married Cora because his father had pissed away the fortune and he needed Cora's money to save the estate, then he pissed the money away himself by putting all his eggs in one basket and was only saved through the pure dumb luck of having a son-in-law who was once engaged to a saint and inherited her fortune because the only other candidate was kind enough to die in India. Yet despite his family losing their fortune twice in his lifetime, he still poo-poos Matthew's effort to actually pay attention to the money. He's an idiot. Even if that wasn't "done" back then, you'd think his two close calls would be enough for him to consider forgoing tradition. Hell, you know if Violet were in charge of the money she would have learned from those lessons. Cora too, I suspect.
I too really liked Anna and Bates at first, but god, just end already! I don't know why Fellowes wants to drag this boring as shit stuff out while he sprints through everything else. I mean, Matthew was crippled, recovered and walked again, lost his fiancé and then married Mary and saved her family's estate all in about the same timeframe Bates has been dealing with this murder shit. And Matthew dragged his feet on those last two items!
And it makes me feel bad for Anna, because I really liked her character. She was a smart cookie in a house full of dumbasses and drama queens. Now she just sadly pines for her jailbird husband.
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Post by Atreides on Jan 22, 2013 21:43:18 GMT -4
I don't know why Isobel had to be such a pill about Ethel's choice. She has good intentions, but wow is she self-righteous and annoying! Isobel's a really well-conceived character in that she really, really doesn't get why her middle-class values and condescending progressivism don't apply to everyone. On the one hand, she's benefitted from the class system her whole life and her son just fell ass-backward into two different fortunes he didn't work for. On the other hand, she thinks she can wave the class system away whenever it's convenient for her (running the convalescent home out of Downton, helping the "working girls"). Mrs. Hughes was the much-needed voice of reason. The little boy's life as the son of a prostitute or even a former prostitute would have been hell. He'd have been subjected to poor schooling, probably no academic education beyond 7 or 8th grade, and if he was lucky, an apprenticeship in a menial trade. Every aspect of his life would have been dictated by his mother's "fall" and his status as a bastard and it would have been miserable. Ethel herself would be better off starting over in Canada or elsewhere in the commonwealth. It was a brutal time and place. Bates can die now. Really. Any level of interest I initially had in that story is gone. I don't care if he killed his wife or not. Just wrap up that plot and move on. Also, it's been eight years (?) since the first episode and Daisy hasn't grown a single brain cell. I think there might be a gas leak down in that kitchen. Isobel has been working my last nerve ever since Downtown was turned into a convalescent home in Season 2. She is so damn pushy. I cheered when Cora shut her down and Isobel moved away to France or wherever. Too bad she didn't stay there. I also haven't liked Bates since the first episode. I cannot stand the Martyr Who Falls On His Sword type character. A lot of his troubles would have been a lot easier if he just opened up. I feel sorry for Anna, who is easily my favourite of the Downstairs crew. All the servant girls plus Thomas lusting after Jimmy the new footman was pretty funny. I think Alfred is just as good looking though and no one seems to pay any attention to him though.
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Post by kostgard on Jan 28, 2013 2:51:34 GMT -4
Well thanks for bumming me out, DA. Robert, you're an asshat. And nice that the doctors stood around with their thumbs up their butts while poor Sybil was seizing and dying. They could have at least pretended they were helping ease her pain or something. Earn their damn paychecks.
And damn, Mary is a cold bitch sometimes.
Edith: Sybil was the only person who thought we were good people. Mary, could we at least try to be nicer to each to honor her memory?
Mary: Nope.
Nice that Thomas acknowledged that Sybil was nice to him. I want him to hook up with Hot James. Maybe he will be less of a butthole if he's getting some.
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Deleted
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Sept 30, 2024 8:32:20 GMT -4
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2013 3:06:41 GMT -4
Well thanks for bumming me out, DA. Robert, you're an asshat. And nice that the doctors stood around with their thumbs up their butts while poor Sybil was seizing and dying. They could have at least pretended they were helping ease her pain or something. Earn their damn paychecks. And damn, Mary is a cold bitch sometimes. Edith: Sybil was the only person who thought we were good people. Mary, could we at least try to be nicer to each to honor her memory? Mary: Nope. Nice that Thomas acknowledged that Sybil was nice to him. I want him to hook up with Hot James. Maybe he will be less of a butthole if he's getting some. One of the doctors suggested morphine but they both knew she was a goner. Good acting by the girl who plays Sybil; those seizures looked believably deadly. Robert is a moron and Mary's his daughter, through and through. They're both arrogant and stubborn, to their detriment. Neither wants to hear any talk about running the estate efficiently. They prefer to throw money around and play the grand poobah, then let someone else pick up after them. And Mary, what Edith did to you re. Pamuk was horrible but dang, everything worked out with Matthew and you're going to be the countess one day, while Edith gets to pound sand. Lighten up, you cow.
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Post by chonies on Jan 28, 2013 10:02:36 GMT -4
I think the conversation over Sybil's body went something like this:
Edith: Oh, Mary, do you think we might get along a little better in the future? Mary: I doubt it, but since this is the last time we three shall all be together in this life, let’s love each other now, as sisters should.
And Mary's "no" was more pragmatic, like, "this won't change anything, realistically." I don't think Edith was asking, more speculating. I do feel increasingly bad for Edith--Robert was probably right about the newspaper only wanting her for her name and title. I'd been way spoilered for this episode, and I'm glad, because I could get through the awful parts, and the smaller details, like Thomas's sobbing and Cora's rage stood out more. Violet, of course, was essential. I can see Mary being upset about Matthew discussing the estate with Murray, but that whole scene was of the contrived rom-com faux conflict variety. Why discuss something sensibly when a huffy fit works better.
Angry Daisy is hilarious, I seriously do not care a whit about the Bates subplot, and I like being conflicted by Isobel's do-gooding. It was anvilicious at times, but I also found the staff's resistance to working with Fallen Ethel an interesting point.
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Post by tabby on Jan 28, 2013 10:06:52 GMT -4
I was completely unspoiled for last night - I hadn't even heard that Jessica Brown Findlay wanted to leave the series - so that was brutal, just brutal. Thomas crying and Violet stumbling as she went to join the rest of the family - Lord. I was a sobbing mess for the last 20 minutes.
Julian Fellowes had better have a damn good reason for Bates's cellmate and that guard trying to destroy Bates completely, because I'm pretty much over that plotline.
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