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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:
dapplegrey · 09/10/2011 22:18

So pleased to see Matthew and William back! O'Brien and Thomas are on cracking form. I've gone off Branston in this series - his love for Sybil has become obsessive in a sinister way and I can see it ending badly. Having said that, there may be a war on, but class barriers (away from the trenches anyway), were still pretty rigid and I think it unlikely that Branson would have been so open. However I wasn't living in a stately home in 1917 so I don't know for certain!

HermanMumster · 09/10/2011 22:22

Vom at Matthew's reedy tenor.

Good to see the Evil Twins back to their plotting.

Northernlurker · 09/10/2011 22:26

JF has really pissed me off with lazy writing in this week's episode. In no army does an officer go 'on patrol' alone with his servant. Blackadder was considerably more realistic than this nonsense. But most critically - that was France/Belgium in 1917/18? With trees? And Hedges? And GRASS?

By 1917 both armies were totally bogged down - literally. Such offensives as occurred involved major bombardment of the area so there were NO TREES.

It looked like this Not Surrey on an overcast day. Whole regions were wastelands and that's why so many missing were never found - their bodies got blasted into the mud.

Actually it might not just be JF's fault - poor from the designer/director too. They might as well not show the war if they are going to sanitise it so much.

Bunbaker · 09/10/2011 22:31

"I just clapped at Matthew being alive"

I got a lump in my throat when they walked in during the singing.

Northernlurker don't spoil it for the rest of us.

Bossybritches22 · 09/10/2011 22:35

Northernlurker....'tis a Sunday evening light entertainment drama not a historical documentary!!! Grin

JF is known,alledgedly, for his attention to historical detail I doubt he'd fluff something as basic as that.

Recce's well ahead of the line surely would be in areas not yet churned up by troops/guns/horses therefore yes grass & trees ? Bombardment was localised as I understand it therefore relatively short range?

(hark at me....no expert but far too much time watching war films with 2 brothers & Dad)

CheerfulYank · 09/10/2011 22:36

I NEED TO WATCH THIS DESPERATELY!

I hate being American right now. :(

minko · 09/10/2011 22:39

Yikes, it went all a bit Sound of Music cringy there for a bit. Wish Mary had made her move on Matthew when he walked in though...

anonacfr · 09/10/2011 22:41

Matthew's return was really moving until He. Burst. Into. Fucking. Song. What is this, the Sound of Effing Music?

Next week's preview had me scared for Sybil. Branston was annoying but he seems to be turning downright scary. Why doesn't she tell him where to go? It's like he's hypnotising her or something.

And can someone remind me how Mrs Bates found out about Mary and the Turk?

And booh at Bates returning. And yawn.

CheerfulYank · 09/10/2011 22:43

I love Bates. In a naughty way. :o

ColonelBrandon · 09/10/2011 22:44

Dunno, NL, have seen pictures of horses and men blown to bits and caught up in the trees nr Sanctuary Wood, it wasn't blitzed to buggery, unlike Verdun, although no idea where the Front's meant to be in DA.

minko · 09/10/2011 22:46

The way he hobbled into shot when he returned to the house, I don't hold out much hope for Anna getting any exciting bedroom gymnastics...

Northernlurker · 09/10/2011 22:46

The trenches stretched for miles. Very little progress was made for a lot of the time by either side. I know it's not a documentary but there are people still alive today who can remember this war. To show it as he is doing is really wrong imo.

Testament of Youth was mentioned below - the most heartbreaking bit of that book is when Vera Brittain is waiting for her fiancee to come home for Christmas. He is due on leave and she waits all day for his arrival and she doesn't even start to worry because things happen and people were late home and so the next day when she is called to the phone she picks it up expecting to hear his voice but instead it is his sister to say he died of wounds a few days before. That is the reality of this story and much as I love the comings and goings and the costumes and what's going to happen with Anna and Bates and Branston Pickle, I don't like stories of such magnitude being glossed up. Matthew is a junior officer - life expectancy of men like him was a month to 6 weeks. Imo it's impossible to show the trenches accurately on the scale and budget open to Downton's producers so it would have been better not to bother. The plight of the wounded is being clearly shown - so I don't get why we get war-lite.

minko · 09/10/2011 22:52

It's war-lite cos it's Sunday night telly. We want a nice bit of drama, romance and pretty dresses.

hiccymapops · 09/10/2011 22:53

Would someone please remind me why O'Brien dislikes Bates so much? I can't remember what he did.

CheerfulYank · 09/10/2011 22:55

Challenges her. And Thomas. And Thomas wanted the valet job but Bates got it.

Northernlurker · 09/10/2011 22:58

Wasn't O'Brien angling for Thomas getting made up to Valet (aka the most desirable job in the country) then they could rule together? Mr Bates put her scheming nose out of joint.

Minko - I know it's Sunday night telly but with a period piece imo you either show things roughly as it was or you don't show it. No need to see them blundering about at all. A shot of them leaving the trench and then the phonecall would have been perfectly effective.

ScatterChasse · 09/10/2011 22:59

I actually cried when he walked in, I think it was the way Mary controlled herself. I obviously couldn't!

And Pickles is starting to get creepy. He seems to grab her hip next week, very odd.

Oh did we have lots of 'darling's this week?

hiccymapops · 09/10/2011 23:01

Thank you Smile I knew he did that, but I thought I'd forgotten something when she mentioned still holding grudge tonight. Maybe she's talking about the time they tried to frame him and he found out. That shouldn't have made her so bitter towards him though.

GeorginaWorsley · 09/10/2011 23:04

I cried too.
Always cry at that song,my great aunt ,who lost her fiance in the trenches in 1918 just a few weeks before the Armistice,used to sing it.Sad
Matthew and Mary have to get together.
They have to.

Northernlurker · 09/10/2011 23:04

Nothinng needs to make her bitter. She just is.

Maybe it's because her hair is mostly knitting..........Grin

celticlassie · 09/10/2011 23:05

I cried too - I was so worried in case he didn't turn up before the end of this week's episode.

Also, Bates is too old for Anna. Presumably, she's meant to be older than she looks (Molesley) but I think if that's the case there should have been some reference to her age at some point.

It'll kill me to wait a week for next episode - it looks great.

Collision · 09/10/2011 23:17

oooooh Matthew was sooo sexy!!!

ColonelBrandon · 09/10/2011 23:28

Can anyone enlighten me, why did Sarah O'Brien have a change of heart about Cora, Countess of Grantham? I thought she disliked her (am watching series 2 having missed/am catching up slowly with series 1)

TipOfTheSlung · 09/10/2011 23:29

Perhaps they should have filmed the 'front' bits after glastonbury

hiccymapops · 09/10/2011 23:33

She thought Cora was replacing her, so while she (Cora) was in the bath, she placed some soap next to it. Cora slipped and miscarried the baby she was carrying. O'Brien felt guilty after, so she's more protective of Cora now. Think that sums it up Smile

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