Downton Abbey - anyone excited?

[turnitup]

Im so ready for a good period drama,

can't wait

anyone spot the Upvc windows?!

Ha ha yes I spotted them!

apparently there have been yellow lines on the road and tv aeriels too

I think that too suzi.
All will be lost in the Flanders mud.

Do you think the youngest with the interest in women's rights will turn out to be gay? Following in the footsteps of Radcliffe Hall...
As for Mary, she needs a slap- wants her own way all the time but won't toe the line and do her duty as eldest daughter and make a good marriage! [hgrin]

The flower show thing was in Mrs Miniver.

Article here

Why exactly do Thomas and O'Brien hate Bates so much? I mean they're nasty but why not just leave him alone?

I like Bates and Anna. Find their storyline lovely.

Really enjoying this. Find the spectre of WWI creeping in is working well.

And it was nice that Lord Whatsit and Edith got on well tonight.

I really enjoyed tonight's episode. I reckon Matthew will freak out when he finds out about Mary though.

If Mary doesnt want him I'll have him...

The time thingy doesn't seem quite right though. How can it be two years? It was May June for flower show I presume, now it's high summer, but no sign of anyone looking hot.

Beginning to like Mary now, bored by Lord G, and besotted by Matthew. Bates seem to have too many dark secrets and there seems to be far too much gossip going on between Master and Servant in general.
I liked the scene where they were all in one smallish room after Sybil's accident shouting at each other, seemed much more like realistic family life

Couldn't care less about the anomalities. Its great....[hgrin]

swanriver I thought the two years thing was really odd too. Bates said he had been working there for two years, yet we saw him arrive in epi 1? I had assumed the whole series so far had taken up not more than about 3 months, so was gobsmacked by 2 years?

Or have I got it completely wrong?

D

Episode one said it was 1912 and was the day they heard the Titanic had sunk (April 1912) and last night's said 1914 at the beginning.

I agree they could have given more hints about the passage of time (played with seasons etc) because I was also taken aback by the 2 years thing. Must mean they are now only months from the Great War starting.

Glad I wasn't the only one to be a bit dicombobulated by the passage of time!

SOH In episode 1, Thomas was temporary valet to the Earl. Then Bates came and took the job and Thomas had to go back to his previous role. That's why Thomas hates Bates, but I don't know why Thomas and O'Brien are in cahoots - that hasn't been explained yet.

I'm sfraid that my enjoyment is waning. The story isn't holding me (see article about rehashed stories and I am getting fed up with being held in suspense about Dark Secrets) and I don't care about most of the characters (they are mostly cardboard cut-outs). I will stick it out to the end of the series (?next week?) and then be done with it.
Oh, and the historical inaccuracies are extremely annoying.

What is puzzling me is that Lady Mary and her mother know the blonde maid knows about the Turkish chap. But they don't know the kitchen maid saw anything or that Thomas took him to the room in the first place.

So why aren't they blaming the blonde maid for the leaks in London?

Who did leak the info though? Was it Edith?

I understand Thomas being pissed off with lack of promotion but the joint campaign to get him sacked doesn't seem proportional to the events. Presumably, it will all come out in the wash.

There are too many stories at once, time passing too fast etc. Needs slowing down a bit. I mean last night alone you had a Thomas/O'Brien/Bates wine saga, the big reveal about Bates' past, Edith and the Lord, Dowager Countess finding out about Mary, Matthew proposing, Token Political Sister Being Political, 2nd footman's mother concealing an illness etc etc. It's a good story, great premise but they're packing it in rather.

It was Edith after she learnt it off O'Brien i believe.

I know she muttered that she who laughs last bit at the end of last week's. Blonde servant (Anna is it?) too nice. Must be her mustn't it?

Blimey. Just read next week's info on Sky box. Well. Blimey. Looking forward to that!

(But why put a big spoiler in the two line info about the show? Why??)

It was Thomas who leaked the info about Mary. There's a scene with him and O'Brien along the back-stairs where he says he wrote to Lord Someone's valet that "Lady Mary was no better than she ought to be" and O'Brien says no wonder it's all over London then as Lord Someone has "less an open mind and more an open mouth"

Aah, that'll teach me to look away from the screen for 10 seconds. Off to look at spoilers for next week...

Edith also leaked it I think, or at least she wrote a letter to the Turkish Embassy last week after all the "she who laughs last" stuff.

I watch each episode twice so I do tend to know most dialogues off by heart