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Downton Abbey

999 replies

missmogwi · 18/09/2011 22:18

Bloody mum rang to ask me about how much Internet she can use before it's full. Don't ask.

Why did bates have to leave?? Aaargh missed crucial bit!

OP posts:
Summerbird73 · 19/09/2011 10:22

indeed, i know that in Pride and Prejudice the whole family were tainted for a while after Lydia's indiscretion but then that was almost a century earlier, maybe times had changed and people were more tolerant in the early 20th century..

i too was 'dislodged' by Mary's demeanour last night, she seems to have mellowed somewhat - and why am i starting to talk like the Granthams...? Hmm

hiccymapops · 19/09/2011 10:27

I said that to dh. Mary was awful before, but she does seem to have mellowed, it really threw me. Surely someone can't have a personality transplant between a series? Grin

ppeatfruit · 19/09/2011 11:09

I love it, great stuff!! straight in as if it hadn't been away! Isn't it repeated sometime in the week?

I think Lady Mary is now is in love 'cos she can't have him, hence change of character, i'd have gone straight for him he's cute!!

diddl · 19/09/2011 11:12

"i'd have gone straight for him he's cute!!"

Indeed-he´d have done for me as a lawyerGrin

I think the two of them will end up together as fir some reason I can´t see the writer wanting Downton to fall into the hands of two "non aristos"

Summerbird73 · 19/09/2011 11:20

or there will be some legal wrangling involving Matthew Crawley making sure the entail goes to the girls (because he is such a looovely character!). i think he tried it in the first series but may find some loophole somewhere.

or Cora has another boy (though she was looking rather 'tired' and less fresh faced in yesterday's episode - ooo is that a sign! Hmm )

oo YY - cute, puppy dog eyes, lawyer, soldier type - i am melting as we speak!

and why am i in love with Mr Bates? Confused why not! Grin

VelvetSnow · 19/09/2011 11:25

I don't think Lavinia will be as dull and boring as they want us to think...

PortBlackSandWitchIsThere · 19/09/2011 11:33

I liked the fact that Lavinia looked very 'London' - almost 1920s in style - made the Downton ladies look old fashioned in monochrome.

I find it hard to believe half of London knows the circumstances of Turkish chaps death but it hasn't reached Lord Grantham's ears....

Feel sorry for the miad having to be the 'girl' of someone she doesn't love - to give him strength at war - i suspect a lot of that went on.

My biggest surprise was Julian Fellows at the awards talking about his wife - i thought he was gay for some reason...Grin

diddl · 19/09/2011 11:34

I don´t think primogeniture really changed until after WW2 did it?

Surely the whole problem with anything going to the girls is that if they marry, it has then gone outside the family?

Still, if he marries one of them, one can have the house his mother is in & the other can have the house that Lady Violet is in-so they´re all OK for propertyGrin

PortBlackSandWitchIsThere · 19/09/2011 11:34

Mr Bates looks just like my dog - very jowly. I'm glad i don't kow the actor personally, i would end up wobbling them and going "Budshybudshyboo"

SheWhoMustNotBeFlamed · 19/09/2011 11:36

Yes, I think Lavinia will turn out to be a right cah.

HattiFattner · 19/09/2011 11:48

Can't watch downton now without thinking of the comic relief version from earlier this year .

Especially the "everyone finished with their looks?" - off to watch episode 2 now Grin

Balconygarden · 19/09/2011 11:48

I loved it as much as ever - the characters, the house, the dresses - but a few things confused me too.
Earl Grantham didn't put up much of a fight when Carson refused to divulge any details about "the scandal" - I would have thought he would have demanded to be told!
Cora seemed very affectionate when asking after Thomas - am I wrong in thinking that the fact he tried to frame Bates was out in the open and that he was heading for the sack, but resigned before it could happen? (I'm glad he's still in it though - and I'm sure he'll be taken back into the fold so that he can scheme some more).
I also think that William will get killed, and Lavinia will turn out to be not very nice at all (I thought her dress was very 1920's too, and even if fashions were changing by then it seemed abit glam for wartime).

LeBOF · 19/09/2011 11:54

I am so used to watching great TV series on box sets or online that I'm feeling really frustrated not being able to just gobble it all up at once- how can I watch this just once a week?

SoupDragon · 19/09/2011 12:03

I watched the entire first series over the weekend on Virgin Medias TV on demand :o

Personally, I think Mary and Edith were as bad as each other. Writing to the
Turkish Ambassador would have been a huge thing back then. Given that it would have "damaged" Mary's marriage prospects , her reaction is not surprising.

From the Next Week clips, I got the impression that Matthew and Mary get back together. I confess I was trying to change channel so as not to see that bit so maybhave misunderstood.

scarlettlips · 19/09/2011 12:25

I too also think Lavinia is not what she seems. Must be something wrong with her..surely! That newspaper chap - Mary's new flame will also be trouble. I can see him and Lavinia having had a past.

I think Mary will mellow out and get off her high horse. Doesn't she also become a nurse too. Oh I really do hope her and Matthew get it together. He's wonderful [gulp]
Sybil is so sweet, i hope we see more of her. Sybil is just bored..i like her, can't wait to see her get into some trouble! She's such a typical middle child!

I think we might see some ass kicking from Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes, not sure in what form, but it must have something to do with Anna and Mr Bates.

William is evil and along side O'Brien are sodding brilliant together. It shouldn't work but it does.

LeBOF · 19/09/2011 12:31

I think you mean Thomas, don't you? William is the decent young footman desperate to go to war. He is not long for this world, I fear.

diddl · 19/09/2011 12:35

People who want Matthew & Mary to get together-why?

Doesn´t he deserve better than her?

SoupDragon · 19/09/2011 13:06

Sybil is the youngest child isn't she? Edith the Dull is the middle one.

SoupDragon · 19/09/2011 13:08

I don't think Mary is bad though, I think she puts up that front because of how she feels about not being able to inherit and being constantly nagged to marry. I think she actually loves Matthew (and he her) and that has come as a surprise and a revelation to her. I think Bad Mary was a protective front.

Summerbird73 · 19/09/2011 13:10

LeBOF i feel exactly the same, i just want to watch it all now!

(incidentally - are you LeBOF as in BoF/BitofFun? Have wondered this before Confused )

diddl · 19/09/2011 13:26

"because of how she feels about not being able to inherit"

But she´s female, she was never going to inherit.

She was willing to marry to marry to keep her lifestyle/status-as long as Downton was part of the deal.

daenerysstormborn · 19/09/2011 13:28

love downton, met julian fellowes earlier this year, it was all i could do to not make myself look like a dribbling groupie and ask about downton. tried to sound intellectual and ask about gosford park instead.

ppeatfruit · 19/09/2011 13:29

Is it me or are there more adverts in this series than the last one?I I agree with the poster who complained they are SOOOO annoying (apart from providing get a drink,snack and go to loo breaks) Grin.

Sybil is the one learning to boil water !! Edith is cheering up now she's driving and as i said Lady M. is in luuuurve (what's the betting Mathew returns from war a mentally or physically disabled shadow of himself and she has to marry him from guilt).

LalalalalalaSummerHoliday · 19/09/2011 13:34

We couldn't get reception on telly at 9pm, wail! Which also meant it didn't record. Finally got it back about half past, by which time dh was riveted by Hugh Dennis and Ben Fogle... will be watching on itvplayer tonight. But to avoid mother phoning problems again, I recommend recording on the dtr so you can at least rewind to start when you get her off the phone...

LeBOF · 19/09/2011 13:46

Yes, it's me, Summerbird. I liked it when you wondered why you were talking all Downton- I do that Grin