Deleted
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Sept 30, 2024 18:09:49 GMT -4
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2013 18:24:17 GMT -4
I felt for Thomas when he was in his room debating whether to go for it with James. That was a fantastic scene. As I said before I hated Thomas before but the actor's performance really made me care and worry for the character in this season. They didn't have to make him a nice guy all of a sudden, it was just a few bits here and there that really showed his utter loneliness. Season 3 really made me dislike Robert more than ever. He gets away with EVERYTHING.
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Post by Peggy Lane on Feb 11, 2013 20:56:01 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. Yes, yes I meant Elizabeth McGovern. I ALWAYS do that. Instead of Cousin Oliver I would've much preferred a plot where Edith gets pulled into the world of the Bright Young Things through people she meets as a writer.
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Gracie
Landed Gentry
Wheeeeeee!
Posts: 537
Mar 10, 2005 9:24:01 GMT -4
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Post by Gracie on Feb 11, 2013 23:57:59 GMT -4
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. These two points - so much! I was surprised at, given the time period, how accepting of Thomas everyone was. Honestly, some people even now aren't that accepting. Also, as soon as Edith's editor told her, I -actually- said out loud to myself, "Jane Eyre?? Really?"
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Post by tabby on Feb 12, 2013 10:15:30 GMT -4
That would have been 100 times better.
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Post by Ladybug on Feb 12, 2013 12:18:10 GMT -4
What's stopping Edith (aside from Fellowes's writing) from ditching Downton and moving in with her Aunt Rosamund in London? She has a job at the paper, she could live with a relative and look like a respectable lady. She could develop a social life. She'd probably find a suitable guy who wasn't as old as the hills or with a crazy wife locked up in an asylum. I don't know what's keeping her tied to Downton besides being near baby Sybill. She's never been close to Mary, her father looks down on her, and her mother and grandmother pity her also. Chuck them and move to London, Edith. Live it up, girl!
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Post by chonies on Feb 12, 2013 12:39:09 GMT -4
I know Edith is kind of a daredevil, but I wonder if she's holding herself back. A practical, non-plothole explanation could be that any income she might be attached to could have a lot of strings, like Robert needing to die first or something.
I do like the Flora Poste-type possibilities, though.
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Post by kostgard on Feb 12, 2013 17:19:36 GMT -4
They really could do so many fun things with Edith - she could be exploring the roaring 20s in London and trying to balance being a high-born lady and being a woman with a career she loves. She could love her career so much that she stops caring about being a spinster, or she could actually find a decent guy in London, where I assume the pool of candidates is much deeper. But, unfortunately, Edith appears to be one of Fellowes' favorite punching bags and like Bates, she must suffer.
But I pray they give her something interesting to do next season, but I think I have to pray harder for Fellowes to hire a writing staff to clean up his scripts and write the juicy scenes Fellowes seems to be unwilling or unable to write (like actually seeing Mary tell Matthew that she humped Mr. Pamuk to death) and who will know which story lines are dead boring (like Batezzzzzzz) and should be dropped, and which deserve to be drawn out and fleshed out and not just suddenly dropped with a "Just kidding!" (Matthew's paralysis, Mrs. Hughes cancer scare, and too many others to mention).
But miraculously, overall I'm much happier with the show than I was last season and the beginning of this season (we'll see if the Christmas special will undo that) and I'm looking forward to next season. But Fellowes has to keep up his game and keep the right things interesting. Like remembering the two reasons why Thomas has a huge chip on his shoulder - he kinda hates that he was born "a working class lad" and keeps trying to move up in the world, and he hates how unfair the world is to him for being gay and how it has doomed him to such loneliness (and maybe the two are related since I'm sure Thomas has noticed that it is a lot easier to be rich and gay than poor and gay). Will he be happier due to his promotion? Or will he screw it up with his arrogance? Will everyone basically forget the whole gay thing, or will it always be the elephant in the room? And he and O'Brien need to have a seriously delicious Cold War going on. She came very close to ruining him forever and he has the info that could ruin her forever and could choose to release it at any time. Bates could do something other than suffer (and what if he and Anna have a kid? How would that work?) and as mentioned above, let Edith be awesome.
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Deleted
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Sept 30, 2024 18:09:49 GMT -4
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2013 20:24:53 GMT -4
Um, can you send Fellowes your resume and writing samples? Because I enjoy where you're going with all of that...
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Post by kostgard on Feb 18, 2013 3:30:36 GMT -4
Well, then. Way to take the circle of life thing a little too seriously, Crawleys. And could they have telegraphed his doom a little louder? "Matthew is amazing. Boy, are we glad we have Matthew. He is the only reason for living and the only source of anything good in our lives, that Matthew!" Of course he was doomed after all that.
But I'm not broken up about it (though I can understand why people got upset when they were served that up on frickin' Christmas when it aired in the UK). Mary and Matthew were getting boring. How many times could they argue about Matthew not taking money/how he runs the estate and shuts her father out/the state of Matthew's penis. Mary has produced a male heir and Matthew secured the estate financially. They've done their duty and they are done. This could actually spin Mary off in some interesting new directions now that she has a smidge more freedom. I miss the Season One Mary who railed against her gilded cage a bit and donked Pamuk because she was looking for ways to break free. I miss that spunk/bitchiness and I hope she gets it back.
Poor Edith looks like she's getting stuck being a mistress, but hell, that's probably the safer route - the other Crawley girls have shown that for them Marriage + Baby = death.
I'm glad that Thomas was tempered a bit - after his promotion (which should make him happier) and his outing and subsequent rescue (which should have humbled him a bit) I would have been seriously disappointed if he was the same old Thomas. But he's still got a bitchy streak, thank god. I don't want him completely nice. It's sweet/sad that he's still in love with Jimmy James, but he could totally do better (especially if Jimmy James never decides that he wants to make out with him). Let's get this guy the boyfriend he so clearly wants. As someone on another board noted, in the timeline of the show the Titanic went down more recently than Thomas has.
So Alfred totally needs to be the new cook at Crawley House, right? We don't know who replaced Ethel there, and with Matthew gone and Isobel turning down the hot lovin' from Dr. Clarkson, she needs someone dote on. She'll love poor, kinda dumb Alfred. He'll be the king of spices and an excellent cook, then Violet can make that face (you know the one) over the fact that Isobel has the better cook than the main house.
I think I'll miss the bromance between Tom and Matthew most of all, but it will be interesting to see Tom step up when it comes to running the place. He needs a lovely lady too. Not a maid. And not Mary.
Poor Molesley gets skunked out of a job again. Where will he go now? Back to Crawley House? Branson's valet?
Well, after falling out of love with the show last season, strangely the horrible deaths have sucked me back in and I'm enjoying the show again and will miss it.
Now that it's over, my MVPs for the season are Thomas (most interesting), Mrs Hughes (most awesome) and Carson (most adorable). Upstairs, I guess it would have to be Tom, though I felt sorry for Edith a good deal. I look forward to seeing them again next season most of all, and now I'm actually interested in seeing what happens to Mary again.
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ladytrentham
Blueblood
Now tomorrow morning, I'll breakfast in bed, and then get straight up into the tweeds.
Posts: 1,882
Jul 18, 2008 18:30:09 GMT -4
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Post by ladytrentham on Feb 18, 2013 3:59:41 GMT -4
You know, after confusing myself reading the above excellent post, from now on I shall refer to Sybil's widower as BransTom.
Anna's smart enough that she'll put 2 & 2 together about "her ladyship's soap" eventually. As a lady's maid now, with the same duties as O'Brien, it'll dawn on her. With the way Fellowes writes, it'll probably be Anna dressing down a housemaid about Lady Mary's bathroom being out of soap and a lightbulb will go on over her head...
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