Downton Abbey

[chiquita]

Mar 7, 2016 12:31:09 GMT -4 piscessiren said:

On Downton Abbey: I think I will miss the clothes most of all. . .

I just attended the "Dressing Downton" exhibit at the Driehaus Museum in Chicago. It was wonderful to see so many of the costumes up close. The detail is incredible.

[Mugsy]

Still working through this show, finishing up season five. I'm reading comments in this thread as I go and I gotta say, I'm stunned by the support for Mary and the meh for Edith. Mary has been a grade A bitch to Edith since day one, long before Edith spilled the beans about the Turkish guy. Mary gets to fuck him literally to death, and plans a secret sex week with Gillingham, but somehow Edith's "sins" of being cranky somehow mean she deserves to be the Downton punching bag? Do not get it.

Edith is bereft about learning that the man she loves is dad, and all Mary says is "I don't know what the fuss is about, we've all known it for a year." What a heinous, haughty bitch - she moped for six months after her man died, and even bitch-faced at Edith during that time because Edith dared to be happy.

Mary plays dumb games pitting two guys against each other, even though she doesn't want either of them, while Edith writes a newspaper column and runs a publishing company while juggling her secret child, yet Mary is representative of women in the era moving with the times? She can't even put on her own damn necklace.

I'm hoping the final season has Mary getting taken down a peg or ten while Edith finds success and happiness, but the showrunners seem to think the sun rises and sets on Mary Crowley, so I doubt it.

[chonies]

I think Edith was an interesting character (and I loved Laura Carmichael), but Mary made for better TV. Edith's story lines were often slow burners in seasons that were already far too draggy, and she didn't often seem proactive to me in a way that Mary did, although I know this is a matter of impression. Edith's stories usually emerged as the result of something happening to her, rather than decisions she made, other than the decision to shag that one guy who's dead. And, of course, compared to Sybil, Edith seemed very timid and safe, which is fine, but I preferred Mary's dragon-lady diva bitchess persona for escapist pretty-time tv. Edith was like a missing character from a book like I Capture the Castle, or Cold Comfort Farm. I think Edith cared too much, and kept hoping things would change, and when they never did, she was surprised or devastated every time. And she tended to lash out at people--defensively, of course--but in a way that read to me like she believed she was the wronged party every time, rather than not sinking to that level or learning from past mistakes.

I think all the sisters, and I guess Rose as well, represented the women of the time--they couldn't possibly embody every woman, so they represent different faces of the changing times, as much as Daisy does.

ETA: I love love love the website TV Tropes, so I will present their list of all the tropes used among the Downton Abbey family. Some of them are goofy ("Of Corset Hurts") and some are a bit more detailed. There may be some spoilers in there, too.

ETA, again: I think what it comes down to for me is two things. Scenario 1) Mary has obligations and chooses to inhabit them in a way that mixes convention and a dash of rebellion; Edith has no obligations of the sort and could do anything but seemingly chooses to do nothing except complain about how no one likes her. I know I'm stretching the characterizations, but there it is. Scenario 2) Edith just has a querulous personality that is grating to the roots, and kudos to the writers for creating a maddening character for whom I still feel concern and interest.

[ladytrentham]

I've always rooted for Edith, but she always reminded me of someone whom I couldn't place. Finally figured it out: Edith is the Edward Gorey cartoon lady in the Mystery credits. The one lying on the wall with her feet tied together.

[pamster]

Apr 13, 2016 12:51:21 GMT -4 chiquita said:

Mar 7, 2016 12:31:09 GMT -4 piscessiren said:

On Downton Abbey: I think I will miss the clothes most of all. . .

I just attended the "Dressing Downton" exhibit at the Driehaus Museum in Chicago. It was wonderful to see so many of the costumes up close. The detail is incredible.

They really are wonderful. Last year a visiting friend REALLY wanted to tour the Biltmore Estate in NC (discussed at the time in another thread) and the "Dressing Downton" exhibit was there at the time. That was the ONLY bright spot for me.

[Deleted]

(From BBC): Will return as a movie, filming starts soon

I love me some DA so of course I'll be seeing it, but I'm not sure where they're going with this. The storylines wrapped up pretty tidily at the end of the final season: Mary married and expecting her second child, Edith married to a Marquess and happy with Marigold, Rose in New York with Atticus, Tom probably getting together with Edith's editor, everyone downstairs happy and knowing where they're going, Dowager Countess is now about 110 years old. Honestly my biggest fear is the DC dying being a plot point -- I want to pretend she lives forever.

[kostgard]

Jul 13, 2018 12:28:52 GMT -4 @ximena said:

(From BBC): Will return as a movie, filming starts soon

I love me some DA so of course I'll be seeing it, but I'm not sure where they're going with this. The storylines wrapped up pretty tidily at the end of the final season: Mary married and expecting her second child, Edith married to a Marquess and happy with Marigold, Rose in New York with Atticus, Tom probably getting together with Edith's editor, everyone downstairs happy and knowing where they're going, Dowager Countess is now about 110 years old. Honestly my biggest fear is the DC dying being a plot point -- I want to pretend she lives forever.

Yeah, these are my objections about it - they wrapped it up nicely. And I don't want to consider the mortality of the DC. I want to believe she is still in some grand pile of bricks in the English countryside casting side-eye at everything and everyone.

[Deleted]

September 2019 release date for Downtown Movie
On my Birthday on my side of Atlantic no less, Woohoo nice pressie for me! The week after for US release it seems.

[kostgard]

Movie trailer

Slightly different UK trailer

Is this necessary? No.

Will I see it anyway? Probably.

But if they don’t reveal Bates to be a man who murders his way out of every problem, I don’t know what we are doing here.

[Deleted]

May 22, 2019 20:08:56 GMT -4 kostgard said:

Movie trailer

Slightly different UK trailer

Is this necessary? No.

Will I see it anyway? Probably.

But if they don’t reveal Bates to be a man who murders his way out of every problem, I don’t know what we are doing here.

I will be seeing this the day it opens. I was concerned when I heard they were doing a movie, as I didn't think there was story there (see my above comment). But this looks like all kinds of fun. It looks like one of the Christmas specials would have looked (good thing except for the Season 3 one, and let's hope this doesn't have anything in common with that). And it seems like Thomas gets a boyfriend!!!! 'Bout time that bloke found some happiness.

The UK trailer is better.