To be really disturbed and upset about last nights Downton Abbey? SPOILER ALERT

[CiderBomb]

I won't say what happened in case there are people on here who haven't watched it yet, but I was really, really shocked by that one scene in particular and can't get it out of my head this morning. Just when people were saying that they thought it was getting boring they go and throw that in. And a much loved character as well...

I'm not one of these sad people who complains about things on television, especially when they happen after the watershed, but I found that really shocking and it seemed to come from nowhere.

I know it happens all the time in real life, even today, but bloody hell :(

[squoosh]

ScarerAndFuck that really niggles with me too. Apparently ten years have passed since episode 1 yet kitchen drudge is still a teenage girl!

[Thewhingingdefective]

I thought it was quite a dull episode but that particular bit and the performance were very powerful.

[ScarerAndFuck]

"I'm sure I read that Kaye Adams is returning to the show."

This was the comment I could see in the 'threads I'm on' page and I was puzzling to work out when she had been in Downton before.

The one thing that really bothers me about Downton is the speed everything moves at.

Four year long war, done in three episodes. Die in childbirth, next episode that baby is is toddling. Widowed in a car crash, suddenly it's nine months later. It should be 1963 on Downton by now, because time passes so quickly.

[squoosh]

He's already done the bumsex story.

[BoffinMum]

Is Fellowes a MNetter?

He'll have a naice ham plot line involving Daisy next. Or Carson will have a breakdown and start serving Pombears with the sherry. Or Cora will start muttering 'Am I being so unreasonable' into her teacup at at Twatty. Or Pickle will join a 1920s version of Dadsnet to discuss engines instead of estates.

LOOK FOR CLUES!!

[CloverkissSparklecheeks]

Every time I have seen it recently it appears to be following anything that is being discussed on MN!

[SpookyRestingFace]

I absolutely adore Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary, could listen to her read a phone book. All chilly and cut-glass. For those who wonder how she is in a different role, try Hogfather - very different from Downton.

[squoosh]

I'm sure I read that Kaye Adams is returning to the show.

[SirChenjin]

I used to like it aeons ago when Kaye Adams presented it, but it's a bit like watching the TV equivalent of the Daily Mail nowadays

[CloverkissSparklecheeks]

I am a bit suprised as Janet usually disagrees with everything the others say anyway! I actually don't watch often but am sick off work.

[SirChenjin]

Somehow their surprise doesn't surprise me!

[CloverkissSparklecheeks]

It has just been discussed on Loose Women, they were generally suprised that DA would include that sort of story line.

[Itstartshere]

She was in Turn of the Screw, but that was kind of a similar role so not sure if you'd be able to compare. I'd love to see her in something else really different to see which theory is correct- if she's wooden or just playing the part like that on purpose. She just reminds me so much of a very upper class elderly relative of mine who was so similar in every situation and who was horrified by myself and my siblings when we cried or laughed or anything. Everything about her was absolutely restrained and I thought she didn't feel a thing.

[SirChenjin]

She was in something else recently - can't remember what it was called. She was OK, not wooden at all. Not sure if she was brilliant though....

[squoosh]

I agree. The writing leaves a lot to be desired in terms of story lines being dropped and forgotten without any proper resolution.

I think JF holds his own script writing ability in far too high esteem.

[JugglingFromHereToThere]

Yes, I agree squoosh, after all there's more than one poster here not completely convinced by her aristo in mourning act. But like I said I don't think the script-writing is supportive enough to the actors and directors in developing the characters. Not enough depth in anything!

[squoosh]

'I'm also amused that people think Lady Mary is wooden. I think she has the character spot on; the upper classes were very reserved, it was not ok to show any emotion, and beyond that she's meant to be a cold fish. I love her.'

Hmmmmm, I'm just not convinced. She's wooden when she's happy, she's wooden when she's sad...... she's wooden. I get the frosty aristo thing but I'll reserve judgement on her acting chops until I've seen her in something else.

[wannabedomesticgoddess]

Perhaps I am naïve in trusting the shows writers and researchers. I was upset by the episode, but to me that's a mark of good writing, because if I didn't care so much about Anna, or the scene wasn't depicted in the way it was, maybe I would have been shocked, but not upset.

I agree with the posters who have said the aftermath will be more triggering because for me its worse than the act itself.

I don't think the characters of Anna and Bates were changed, she was being friendly to the guest servants, and he absolutely knows that something is wrong, but he's not pushing her, he knows his wife and he knows that she has her reasons.

I fear that Anna will be pregnant, though I would prefer if she wasn't. Its the way that they handle the aftermath that I will judge, rather than the act itself.

I can see why people might see DA as light sunday viewing, but really, its not at all. I think that it would have died after series 2 if it had stayed light and fluffy, and everyone would be calling it unrealistic for not highlighting how difficult life was then.

Even now, I think it glosses over how grinding life was for the servants, there is very little mention of how long the days are, how little the pay is. Life as a servant in DA looks cushy tbh. I wouldn't want it to turn into The Village, but still.

[Itstartshere]

I haven't seen it but I've read about it. I think for me, I'm just a bit dismayed that it has been portrayed the way it has. It's rape because she screams, because he hurts her, because he drags her about. I just wish if it had to be in the story that they could have depicted rape as it usually happens, so that it might have triggered more debate about how rape is rape even if the person doesn't scream/isn't hit, etc. For me it just compounds the idea that rape is only rape under certain circumstances.

I'm also amused that people think Lady Mary is wooden. I think she has the character spot on; the upper classes were very reserved, it was not ok to show any emotion, and beyond that she's meant to be a cold fish. I love her.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

I also thought that making Anna the victim was interesting precisely because she is very sensible, wise etc. 'It can happen to anyone' is the message there. TBH, after the horrible aftermath and repercussions have been played out, I'm hoping Anna gently gets her revenge on her attacker and we find him face down in the dolly-tub.

[kmc1111]

I'm really surprised that anyone would be surprised. To me Downton Abbey is pretty bleak even in it's lighter moments. The characters rarely achieve any real happiness, and when they do it's quickly taken away. Something horrible happens to someone every single episode.

I enjoy the show for what it is, a soapy melodrama, and it's light viewing compared to a show like Breaking Bad or Boardwalk Empire, but it's not a fun romp. Off the top of my head we've had the show start with two men dying on the Titanic, a young man dying during sex, one of the servants purposefully causing a miscarriage in her employer, we've followed characters into the trenches and seen some die and some be injured, Downton was briefly turned into a convalescence home (lot's of sad stories there), there's poor Ethel being forced to prostitute herself and later losing custody of her son, the young woman Matthew was going to marry died, Bates was sentenced to hang (that whole story line was hideously depressing), poor Sybil dies horribly, Edith being jilted and now dating a man who's wife is insane, then Matthew's death. There's been illnesses and infertility and extra-marital affairs. And that's just the big stuff, there's been so many minor disappointments and sad moments for each character. And there's been violence before, obviously WWI, but we've also seen union riots (I think that's what they were anyway) and there was some brutal stuff with Bates in jail.

It's not a nice, gentle show about fancy people drinking lots of tea. It's a often very dark soap, and it includes all the usual tropes.

[ScarerAndFuck]

I didn't think that at all though Avery.

Anna was just how she usually is, polite, friendly and happy. She treats everyone that way and does have a bubbly personality. She was in a more social situation than normal, with everyone arriving for the concert, and that was a big thing for the servants, it was as much a social thing as it was extra work.

In much the same way that someone now could go away for a work conference or chat like that at the office party.

They would have been changing her if they hadn't had behave as she did. If she had meekly listened to Bates and his bad feeling about Green she wouldn't have been the same Anna.

I don't think it showed her doing anything the deserve it. She happened to be the first woman he met at the house but I don't think it would have mattered how she had been towards him. She caught his eye but I think if the opportunity hadn't come up to follow her he would have attacked one of the other maids instead. He was a rapist looking for opportunity, I think that was clear.

I've also wondered if Barrow will be the one to take revenge, not just because he owes Bates but because Anna has always been nice to him as well. She was the one who was kind to him when Lady Sybil died.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

YABU.. It's a drama. It relies on events and the reaction of the characters to those events to generate the stories. It's totally consistent with the series that some of those events are shocking. I think it was handled very well.

[kali110]

Agree with you eddie!!
The writers are buggered either way.
Its a bloody tv show. Its showing how life was back then, it wasnt all sweetness and flowers!
Cant believe someone even said how unrealistic it was becoming, yes because deaths and rapes dont happen much in real life ...