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Post by Peggy Lane on Feb 11, 2013 0:09:35 GMT -4
This sounds weird, but it was like the show came alive after Sybil died. Everyone was sort of zombified and unlike themselves, or rather simply like the broadest strokes of the themselves, until last week and the two episodes this week. Then everyone fell back into the real selves. Although, honestly, I've never liked Cora as much as I've liked her since Sybil's death. Elizabeth Montgomery's facial expressions are amazing.
Can we please, please never see Ethel again? I thought we were done with her last year. And I'm so relieved Bates is out of that Dickens-meets-Oz nightmare of boredom.
Cousin Oliver-ette, though, what an absolutely terrible idea.
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Post by Martini Girl on Feb 11, 2013 0:11:48 GMT -4
I agree with you about Rose, but I think she's here to stay.
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Post by kostgard on Feb 11, 2013 3:04:48 GMT -4
"Cousin Oliver" is the perfect title for Rose. Feh. Just go away and take your jazz and liquor with you.
But otherwise this was a pretty entertaining episode with a decent number of witty lines - though I think Violet hit her eye roll quota for the year in this episode. I myself was kinda rolling my eyes at St. Bates sticking up for Thomas when he should be glad to see him go, only to end up helping Thomas get a promotion. The martyr Bates must always suffer (you'd think Thomas will stop being such a dick to him, but he probably won't).
The whole Thomas thing brought about some interesting things - I actually felt sorry for the guy, so many people at Downton were suprisingly modern about the whole thing, and Robert made me like him for half a second when he said "If I screamed blue murder every time someone tried to kiss me at Eaton I would have been hoarse in under a month." Oh, those British boarding schools.
And why can't poor Edith have a normal boyfriend? Why does she have to get Mr. Rochester and his mad wife in the attic asylum? Meh, maybe his wife will conveniently die in a fire. It's not like this show isn't above killing people off when they've become inconvenient.
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Post by proper stranger on Feb 11, 2013 3:13:41 GMT -4
OK, so I was only half paying attention for part of tonight's episode, but who the hell is this Rose person and why were we spending so much time on a story with her? She's irritating and I don't care.
I like Bates so much better now that he's free of the lame prison storyline. And I know Thomas has done some evil stuff, but I did feel for him here. Good to see SoapGate play a part in the resolution of the situation.
My heart just goes "awwww" whenever I see Tom holding little Sybil.
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Post by smitten on Feb 11, 2013 14:39:35 GMT -4
I admit I teared up when Tom made his speech to Robert at the breakfast table. So proud of that fictional character!!
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Post by kostgard on Feb 11, 2013 14:56:44 GMT -4
I think Rose was brought on board to introduce Downton to the Jazz Age since the remaining Crawley girls are too old/married/spinsterly to get caught up in it. But who cares. They don't need to shoehorn in a new character for something like that. If they need to do it, let a character who would naturally occur - like Isobel's new cook/maid - do it.
I'm also thinking it is weird that Anna and Bates didn't figure out the soap thing. They do know that Cora slipped on a bar of soap when she miscarried, right? And it shouldn't take much to add that to the fact that the phase "Her Ladyship's soap" was enough to make O'Brien to drop her evil plans to figure out what happened there. I'm also curious as to how Thomas knew about it - did O'Brien confess to him, or did he figure it out?
The recapper at NY Mag suggested that maybe Jimmy James reciprocates Thomas's attraction deep down, and I kinda wonder myself because he did not wake up/react when Thomas kissed him, but when Alfred came in. So either that dude is the world's deepest sleeper, or he wasn't entirely against the idea. Or that scene was directed in a weird way.
That same recapper also compared all the reunion scenes of Anna and Bates taking walks and feathering their new love nest to an extended Cialis commercial, and that is totally correct. The only thing missing was a scene of them enjoying a sunset in adjoining bathtubs.
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Post by tabby on Feb 11, 2013 15:51:19 GMT -4
That would be Elizabeth McGovern (and I agree, she's acting the hell out this part). Elizabeth Montgomery was Samantha in Bewitched (and died several years ago).
Oh, Lord, that mental image of Bates and Anna in a Cialis commercial will be with me forever.
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Post by Ladybug on Feb 11, 2013 17:27:42 GMT -4
At one point Bates kind of grabbed her lustily and I blanched. The actors have no sexual chemistry whatsoever.
I felt for Thomas when he was in his room debating whether to go for it with James. You could see that he is an incredibly lonely person, and this season he doesn't even have Mrs. O'Brien as a friend and his other sort-of friend Sybill is dead. He's desperate for some human contact and compassion. I wonder how his relationship with Bates will change.
Baby Sybie is ADORABLE! Good baby casting!
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Deleted
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Sept 30, 2024 16:25:45 GMT -4
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2013 18:00:35 GMT -4
I'm also thinking it is weird that Anna and Bates didn't figure out the soap thing. They do know that Cora slipped on a bar of soap when she miscarried, right? And it shouldn't take much to add that to the fact that the phase "Her Ladyship's soap" was enough to make O'Brien to drop her evil plans to figure out what happened there. I'm also curious as to how Thomas knew about it - did O'Brien confess to him, or did he figure it out? I think O'Brien would have confessed to Thomas, probably gloating that she'd fixed it so she wouldn't get fired (that was the worry that compelled her to set up Cora's fall). I don't think the Granthams would have filled the servants in on all the details, just that her ladyship had a bad fall and lost the baby. It's quite possible that even Cora doesn't know or remember how she fell getting out of that tub.
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Post by kostgard on Feb 11, 2013 18:22:16 GMT -4
At one point Bates kind of grabbed her lustily and I blanched. The actors have no sexual chemistry whatsoever. I felt for Thomas when he was in his room debating whether to go for it with James. You could see that he is an incredibly lonely person, and this season he doesn't even have Mrs. O'Brien as a friend and his other sort-of friend Sybill is dead. He's desperate for some human contact and compassion. I wonder how his relationship with Bates will change. Baby Sybie is ADORABLE! Good baby casting! Agree on all counts. I thought Anna and Bates were totally adorable in season one, but...yeah. I'm fine with them making googly eyes at each other across the breakfast table, but I do not want to think about them having sex. And it isn't because I find one or both of them unattractive - I don't - it's that there is zero sexual chemistry there. Not unlike how I like to believe that the cheesy couples in the Cialis commercials are too pruny and sleepy after their long hot baths and just fall asleep without getting around to doing it. And the whole Thomas thing worked for me because of humanity. Otherwise, it was a bit of a mess. I don't think people back then would have been all, "Well, he can't help the way he is. He was born that way." That was totally anachronistic. At best people would pity him the way they would pity a madman - quite literally, because gay people were considered mentally ill. Getting out of there with a good reference would have been the absolute best case scenario for him. But staying AND a promotion? The other staff would be throwing a hissy fit over a "depraved" individual like that not only staying but getting placed in an upper level position like underbutler. Conversely, I totally buy Robert's non-reaction. He's just the kind of douche who would throw a fit over a former prostitute serving lunch at his cousin's house but would then turn around and be all, "A male member of my staff tried to make out with another male staff member? Aw, do I have to get rid of him? He's so good at cricket, though!" But I can set that aside because the stuff with Thomas himself was well done. They've established for a while now how lonely he is and how desperate he is for some sort of connection - from him crying over Sybil's death because she was someone who was actually nice to him to how upset he was over the pretty soldier who killed himself last season. He was just lonely and desperate enough to believe O'Brien. And as he explained to Carson, he can't be open, so everything is a guess and every interaction is a huge risk fraught with danger. And when he makes a mistake and misreads signals, he could be screwed for life. And even if things went well with Jimmy James, it isn't like they would have been offered a cottage on the property like the Bateses. And then how sad and desperate he was in the aftermath was heartbreaking. I hope Fellowes realizes that we need to see more of this side of Thomas. Sure, he can still be a catty, ambitious jerk (Downton doesn't need another boring saint), but tone down the cartoon villainy. If he's gonna be a bitch, give him a good reason to be a bitch, not just because he's evil. And have him acknowledge that he owes Bates a solid. He doesn't have to like it, but he should acknowledge it. And baby Sybil is super cute. Please don't let her grow up to be a cutesy kid on this show. This is definitely a "children are better seen and not heard" situation.
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