Downton Abbey

[chanelnumber5]

The second season premiere was AMAZING! My heart broke for Anna.. I think Mrs. Bates is giving O'Brian I run for her money in terms of the most hated character on the show..

I know, I was so sad for Anna. And I already HATE HATE Mrs Bates, I hope someone hits her hard in her stupid, smug face, urghhhh. The war scenes and Matthew and Mary at the station, and her praying later, made me a bit teary too. All of the war scenes were really well filmed (the one with Thomas was shocking and heartbreaking at the same time), but very sad as well, I always find WW1 scenes pretty distressing.

The Dowager Duchess is still my very favourite character not only is Maggie Smith incredible, but she also gets the best lines ('What is a weekend?'). Also despite the frosty exterior she is a total softy underneath, its so sweet how supportive she was with Sybil and how she was trying to protect William and the other servant.

I so wanted Sybil (she's definitely my favourite of the three daughters) to kiss Branson, they would make an adorable couple Oh and Daisy and William are so cute!

By the looks of it *next episode spoilers* Matthew's fiance has a bit of a colourful past which the newspaper guys knows about (hope for Matthew/Mary shippers yet!). Also apparently the new maid is meant to get pregnant by a Major staying at the house, and there is also meant to be a man on the horizon for Edith!

So happy Downton is back, highlight of my Sunday evenings!

 

[Empress Merel]

May contain spoiler: Edith is seriously one little minx. But yeah, you can see her kissing a farmer in the season trailer. Was it the man Isobel Crawley helped saving from his heart problem?

And on Mary/Matthew, I do agree on Mrs. Hughes. She broke her own heart.

 

[YoninahAliza]

I found the first episode online (because apparently I can't wait till it premieres in the states. lol)... and OMG! So many twists and turns. And I think that Fellows has set up the season very well; I cannot believe all the things that went on in one episode! The war scenes were just heartbreaking and filmed so well. And Thomas, wow, that was truly surprising and upsetting. But so accurate in terms of what war does to people. To be honest I was surprised he did that but I had a feeling he wouldn't be able to handle war very well. As for all the other bits I'm annoyed at Sybil for not kissing Branson when she had the chance... they seriously better end up together. I'd love to see her families reaction. And also, Mrs. Bates is a bee-yotch. Certainly giving Ms. O'Brien a run for her money! As a die-hard Mary/Matthew shipper the scenes of them together were... ugh... so beautiful and upsetting. So basically, I'll be super happy if Mary/Matthew, and Sybil/Branson end up together. I really don't care about who Edith marries, I find her really insufferable at times!

 

[Tiffannie]

I live in the States so I watched it on Netflix just last month and I shall watch it on PBS on january 8 I'm so glad that they're airing another season.

I love Sybil, Bates, Lord Crawley, and The Dowager Countess

 

[advo]

FAVOURITE NEW SHOW! I can't believe I waited so long to start watching, bah!

My favourite characters... Eh whatever. I love so many of them! Aside from teh evil Ms O'Brian and Thomas of course. Oh yeah, and Edith. Ugh. Gross. As the eldest of 4 girls, I know ALL about competition between siblings - and amongst girls! But FAMILY LOYALTY over everything else, biatch! Other than the black cow of the family, my favourites are the Crawley women. HBICs the whole lot of them, except from Sybil who's too nice to be true but so adorable in her goodness that I can't dislike her for being a tad one-note.

Downstairs, I really like all of them. They are all good people, and the romance between Mr. Bates and Anna is cute and I hate the crazy wife already! (It doesn't help that she's played by Queen Catherine of Aragon.)

Matthew needs to lose the fiancee ASAP! I don't think it was wrong of him to reject Mary since she was too uncertain in her love, but that doesn't mean jumping the next available girl WHEN YOU STILL LOVE MARY! Plus, she gave him her lucky charm and prayed for his life!!!

 

[Empress Merel]

^Omg yes she played Catherine in The Tudors! I was breaking my head trying to think of where I knew her from. You're a life-savior, forreal. It was driving me mad.

 

[advo]

^ I know the feeling! Always drives me mad too when I can't place people.

 

[MulletProof]

Just finished tonight's episode.. a little bit boring but I get it's a sequence needed for major plot parts on the next episodes.
I went from hate to pity when it comes to Edith, girl is in SO MUCH need, I mean, farmer claps and she's high in the clouds.
I knew someone that was very Edith.. you feel bad for their situation/unfortunate personality, but on the other hand, they make it hard to generate some sympathy!.

Thought the scene with Mary and Mr Charles was very sweet. They have such a great sort of grandpa-granddaughter relationship.

And Matthew is so handsome, and so clueless! totally into the war, and his little girlfriend, and apparently so over Mary. I hate him too now .. what Mary needs to do to get back at Matthew is find herself someone that's been further than the Somme, smarter, liberal, far more handsome and forget about speaking out, won't make a difference. That's my mature, not-at-all-resentful suggestion for the show!

 

[Josephine]

"Edith you are a lady not Toad of Toad Hall."

Also, loved Mary's beaded dress for dinner. So beautiful!

 

[Empress Merel]

The Dowager Countess was full of one-liners again.

I can't wait for episode 3, the plot will truly come alive then. And Edith hun, you could do better.

 

[advo]

Did I misunderstood or were the farmer MARRIED?

Either way, unfortunately, my hatred for Edith runs very deep and all I could think was sl*t! Now usually, I hate sl*t shaming but I make exceptions for hypocrites!

Matthew/Mary broke my heart. I mean, their faces! But her being besties with Carson is like so awesome. Especially in contrast to Edith's "But what about my dress?" COW!

In other (not) news, Maggie Smith continues to be perfection. Never change, Dowager Countess. Never change .

 

[littlepaperstars]

I have such an ominous feeling about William, and it's only a matter of time before Ethel gets herself into some kind of trouble, the way she was looking at Thomas (she may have been wasting her time on that one!) suggests she's very much on the look out for a man (maybe a fling with a visiting Lord or something?).
I have to say I think they're handling the war side of things brilliantly. The storyline with the guy in the hospital and also with new valet (o'Brien in sympathy shocker!) is being brilliantly handled.

 

[advo]

OMG! The dude that Edith kissed is Mr. Drake - the guy who was saved with the adrenaline procedure in episode 2. And to answer my own question: Yes, he's married!

 

[YoninahAliza]

This was a slower episode but still a good one. It certainly set things up for the rest of the season.
I was so worried about dear, ol' Carson for a bit, I thought he was going to die! The show wouldn't be the same without him. And I can't help but worry for all the lads fighting in the war, I don't want any of them to die but I have a bad feeling somethings going to happen. And Matthew and Mary... well they sure know how to repress their feelings don't they? God, Matthew needs to kick Lavinia to the curb (even though she hasn't done anything yet to make me not like her) and sweep Mary off her feet! And honestly, Edith, she should have known better... a married man... really??? But you know, she's a bit of a hypocrite really.
And I'm honestly in love with everything that Mary wears. Seriously, she has the best wardrobe of the whole cast I think (Cora probably comes in second place. She has worn some amazing gowns). That black/cream colored beaded dress was divine!

 

[Empress Merel]

Talking about Edith. What a cow she was awhen Carson was collapsing. Someone should have slapped her so bloody hard.

 

[YoninahAliza]

^Totally agree with you on that one. Carson could have been seriously ill but all Edith cared about was her dress. Someone ought to teach her how to treat people nicely. I would have loved it if Mary had slapped Edith because she really does care for Carson. But I think everyone was appalled by Edith's behavior.

 

[YoninahAliza]

Oh I forgot to add, I have a question that I was hoping some of you might be able to answer. I was a bit confused about what happened to Mrs. Patmore's nephew. How did he die exactly? The clip I was watching at the time was a bit crackly so I don't think I properly herd what was said. Either way, all I could figure out was that it was awful.

 

[MulletProof]

^ unless I got it wrong, I'm 99% sure it was treason, his own army shot him.

 

[YoninahAliza]

^Ahh okay. Well now that makes sense. It just goes to show that people do pretty crazy things during war.

 

[AgrenateD]

i've been meaning to watch this series for awhile and i got to finish the entire season plus the season premiere over the weekend (some serious marathon-ing involved, yes) and i'm just hooked and i can't help but notice how well balanced the whole plot/storyline is despite having such a big cast and various arcs all over the place. it's a very neat series, and i mean that in the most literal sense; it's extremely well edited as everyone gets their fair share of screentime despite the plot being a little Marycentric. plus with so many serious topics being highlighted it would've been difficult for Americans not to exacerbate a series this tremendous, storywise and executionwise. thankgod for them Brits

technicalities aside i seem to love the servants more than the Crawleys to be honest, Anna especially is very pleasing character, and why oh why must that wretched Mrs. Bates come into the picture, someone smite that woman please and with the Crawley folk naturally i like Sybil the most, and the Dowager Countess Violet, what a headbitch, but with heart. i also thought Mary was full of herself in the first few episodes but i'm glad they managed to make her even out. and Edith, ugh i don't even bother

i do have a question though, cause i understand that there are 8 episodes in the UK cut and only 7 in the US version.. did they cut an episode of Sybil debuting in London, and Mary-Matthew finalizing whatever it was from Sybil's ball, from the US version? since their London trip/activities were mentioned in season1's finale and yet i had no idea what they were talking about