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Downton Abbey Discussion continued...

999 replies

ErikNorseman · 07/10/2012 22:08

Here!

OP posts:
Northernlurkerisbehindyouboo · 15/10/2012 09:23

Jane - I'm a bit cross about it now I think about it. If it had been hinted at before she would have been prepared but as it was it was a big shock and it was traumatic. She's 14, there must have been lots of 14 yr olds watching. Dd1 is pretty tough as 14yr olds go but I'm betting some of her friends will be in pieces - and yes thereby frightened of giving birth.

SoupDragon · 15/10/2012 09:25

I disagree. To have hinted at it would have spoilt it completely.

Now is the time to have a long conversation to reinforce how it is extremely rare nowadays due to advances in medical skills.

SlightlySuperiorPeasant · 15/10/2012 09:27

It was post-watershed though and MN did predict that she would die Wink Giving a warning before the episode began would have spoiled the drama a bit!

That said, I am a proper grown up and I was crying and had trouble sleeping last night. The last time that happened over any sort of acting was when I was 16, saw Jeepers Creepers 2 at the cinema and had to take the bus home in the dark afterwards!

springyhope · 15/10/2012 09:37

ah but it was clever in that she didn't die in actual childbirth, but afterwards. So the two weren't associated, quite.

'they'll all be having a cup of tea now' my mum used to say when I was upset at sunday afternoon films when I was a child. Looking forward to seeing 'Sybil' alive and well somewhere. They all probably congratulated themselves at the wrap that the filming had gone well and then went off down the pub.

imperialstateknickers · 15/10/2012 09:44

I was in floods last night. Will miss Sybil so much. Quite glad that dds already knew about eclampsia from that v. sad episode of Call the Midwife last year.

LadyHarrietdeSpook · 15/10/2012 09:51

That is true about the journey time and shirley mac. But stranger things have happened.

How many more episodes are there anyway now?

LadyHarrietdeSpook · 15/10/2012 09:52

Oh there was one darkly comic moment though, with Mary and Edith.

Edith: (Something like) "Do you think we can get on now Mary?"

Mary: "No, I doubt it."

LadyHarrietdeSpook · 15/10/2012 09:53

And Mary: "The only person in the world who thought we were both nice people is now dead."

Truer words never spoken.

TooImmatureGhostiesAndGhoulies · 15/10/2012 09:53

I had a nightmare about one of my pg friends dying in childbirth - thanks, JF!

Chubfuddler · 15/10/2012 09:57

Disagree about a warning. After the watershed and all that.

Fiderer · 15/10/2012 10:04

God that was shockingly sad. Lord G "I'm the master of this house" Angry Why didn't Cora insist on the hospital, she said "I'd have sent her an hour ago."

Loads of really well acted stuff. Esp Thomas crying. On a trivial note, how much better he looks without his hair greased back.

How on earth did Sir Dr Snooty deliver a baby without getting a speck of blood on his snowy-white dinner shirt? Or did the nurse do it all while he sat chanting reassurances while mentally deciding to spend his fat fee?

What has happened to Daisy? She's sharper than Mrs Patmore used to be to her. Just cos she wants Tall Albert, doesn't mean she has to be so mean to Ivy. Doesn't suit her.

MaryZed · 15/10/2012 10:05

I think Mary has some very good lines. In my opinion, she is a very likely character (not the bullshit about her sleeping with strange men in series 1 is over).

In those days they would more than likely have been superior, and a tad curt and snooty - they were brought up that way. Treating servants as equals (and even marrying them) is much more unlikely.

And I agree there shouldn't be a warning - dd watched it with me and we had a discussion about pre-eclampsia afterwards, and also a discussion about death in childbirth then and now. If kids are old enough to watch period dramas they should be old enough to watch period illnesses and death - because death in war, by flu, and in childbirth are realistic for the time.

blisterpack · 15/10/2012 10:10

I thought in these matters women ruled the roost so to speak. I was very surprised at them looking at Lord 6 for guidance on childbirth matters Hmm. I thought men just sat in their libraries and pretended not to hear anything.

I too agree that no warnings should have been necessary. This wasn't some depraved act that we needed to have shielded our children from but a sad reality for women at the time.

Northernlurkerisbehindyouboo · 15/10/2012 10:30

Dd watched Call the Midwife too. She was ok about both but I do think the drama of last night's episode was out of kilter with the usual pretty sedate Downton pace.

squoosh · 15/10/2012 10:32

That's why I liked it. That kind of death isn't sedate, to portray it as such would have been cowardly.

Vagaceratops · 15/10/2012 10:34

But then people have been moaning that it has become too sedate.

LittleWhiteWolf · 15/10/2012 10:46

Am glad that I've returned to this thread this morning to find that other people struggled with their sleep last night. I thought I was being a bit pathetic, but I really found it hard to go to sleep and then to go back to sleep after DS woke at 3 for a feed. I'm not sure I'll be able to watch the episode again, certainly not for a while, but it was actually bloody brilliant, if horrible. Made me really, really think about how far we've come with modern medicine and that pregnancy and childbirth are still sometimes very dangerous.

SerendipityAlways · 15/10/2012 10:48

Myself and DD (12 yrs old) are due to watch this tonight - is it OK for a 12 yr old, do you think? Sounds a bit graphic!

squoosh · 15/10/2012 10:49

Depends on the 12 year old. It is an upsetting scene definitely, you may want to warn her beforehand.

squoosh · 15/10/2012 10:50

It's not gorey at all but seeing her desperately struggle to breathe was quite upsetting.

Fiderer · 15/10/2012 10:51

The death was more realistic than Lavinia's. She lay all wansome in her ivory-coloured bedding and elegantly simple shift. Perspired a little, inhaled and closed her eyes.

Compared to that, Sybil's death was grim, the fitting, Tom and Cora pleading with her, not breathing and that awful final pose.

Vagaceratops · 15/10/2012 10:51

I honestly thought Clarkson would come and save the day when he came round to feel her pulse. There was almost a slow motion bit to it.

Vagaceratops · 15/10/2012 10:52

I think Tom's crying upset me more than anything.

squoosh · 15/10/2012 10:54

Yes Tom and Cora pleading with her was quite sniffle worthy.

Bloody Cousin Matthew in the background grimacing was the only sour note.

springyhope · 15/10/2012 11:01

It was them all wearing black afterwards that got to me too. Even though it was acceptable form in those days, just them all looking wan and small. Those black armbands too - if anyone has been bereaved you do have that 'stop all the clocks' feeling about things. I wished I could wear a black armband to separate me out from the rest of the world kind of thing: not available, don't expect much.