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Original poster

Downton .................predictable

174 replies

triplets · 26/12/2012 00:18

Won`t say too much for those yet to see....................grrr just knew what was going to happen, they could have thought of another way. Spoilt it.

OP posts:
VestaCurry · 26/12/2012 00:21

I love it but found it pedestrian and way too many ad breaks.

EcoLady · 26/12/2012 00:23

Can ONE of them be happy? Please? Just one of them?!

jessjessjess · 26/12/2012 00:30

DH and I are both wondering why they can never just have things be nice and happy.

HazeltheMcWitch · 26/12/2012 00:46

Oh god, they could not have made it any more obvious, even if they paraded about with a giant sign saying

"-- -- -- - -- -- --"

(dashes are random, btw)

HazeltheMcWitch · 26/12/2012 00:47

random dashes , but have still inadvertently managed to cross out some of my own not-actually-code.

polyhymnia · 26/12/2012 10:37

Lazy and painfully predictable solution by the writer to that actor's leaving the show. Think JF is getting too smug and/or overloaded and could do with a team of other writers ( as usually happens with well-written US shows) to challenge him / encourage mote originality.

Bossybritches22 · 26/12/2012 10:40

Actually in JF's defence there had to be a fair bit of hasty re-writing quite late in the day apparently as Dan Stevens only announced he was poncing off to the US leaving after they'd started filming the last series & the Christmas Special was written.

NOT a popular move I suspect! Xmas Grin

polyhymnia · 26/12/2012 11:17

Well, an interview with Stevens in today's Telegraph i've just seen online says he'd decided to leave before he started filming the third series, so that should have given a bit of time to think up other solutions - or at least a better-written script for Christmas!

fussychica · 26/12/2012 15:12

We recorded it so we could run on the adverts. Just watched it as DH warned me I'd find out the end if I went online today. I actually enjoyed it until the end - knew it was coming. Spoilt what should be a lovely festive offering. Not what I want to see baby born and father immediately diesSad. Think it could have been done far better. To be honest just replacing Dan Stevens with another actor would have been preferable to that.

AlphaBeta2012 · 26/12/2012 16:14

I enjoyed it till the end and then just found it very sad, but i am a bit of a die-hard downton fan! And being 20 weeks pregnant, extremely hormonal and emotional so even the shooting of the deer set me off in tears, let alone the birth of the baby and the ending!

poozlepants · 26/12/2012 16:14

I think that's it for me. It needs proper complex storylines. I sat through last nights and it was god awful. Bugger all happened and then the car crash. A boring car crash. I was hoping someone was going to bump him off in Scotland what with all those guns about.

SnowProbs · 26/12/2012 16:16

Since the first series, it has got very plodding and schmaltzy. Wont be watchng any more.

AlphaBeta2012 · 26/12/2012 16:18

must admit poozle, knowing he was going to die I was sure it would Lord Crawley shooting him accidently which would have done it!

Corygal · 26/12/2012 16:20

I was gutted - I hadn't thought he was leaving until the end of the next series.

And painfully predictable too - quite soured the show for me. They should have replaced him. The trouble is we're asked to swallow such incredible stuff anyway, you can imagine the directors & co flapping about straining out disbelief any more & laming out. But he should have been replaced, so many pretty blond actors out there.

SDTGisAChristmassyWolefGenius · 26/12/2012 16:21

It was all too blissful and happy after the baby arrived - something bad had to happen. Xmas Hmm

What really pisses me off is that I had just finished explaining who Mattthew was, why he was inheriting, and that Matthew had marries one of Lord Grantham's dds, which is why the baby was both Lord G's grandson and the heir. What a waste of my time! Xmas Grin

DuchessofMalfi · 26/12/2012 17:09

I fecking hate Downton, but DH loves it Xmas Grin. The first series was ok, but far too soapy now.

VestaCurry · 26/12/2012 17:19

Still not a patch on the original 'Upstairs, Downstairs'.

Northernlebkuchen · 26/12/2012 17:23

It was absurd. Really - how many families have TWO children losing a parent at less than 24 hours old? Hussy maid was very annoying and obvious too.

LineRunner · 26/12/2012 17:31

I found the maid most impertinent. Xmas Grin

BoffinMum · 26/12/2012 17:31

I was so disappointed. It was a real cheat of a plot. This was too unrealistic even for Downton. Better plot would have been babies accidently getting mixed up or something.

Tryharder · 26/12/2012 18:20

Hussy maid is Tanya (vampire) from Twilight series and so couldn't take her seriously. I didn't feel that the character added much to the show though.

I do love Downton though. It's literally the only thing I watch on telly apart from Call the Midwife.

Rosa · 26/12/2012 18:23

Couldn't he had popped off to America on a business venture or something ? As for an adult dying after every baby tis a bit lacking in imagination in the script writing.

sprout44 · 26/12/2012 18:27

I was shocked too as i never heard he was actually leaving, so sad as he is one of my fav's of the show. I still love it and cannot wait to see it again. Where i am from i know of a young man on the way in to the hospital to see his new bron daughter was killed in a car crash, so it remineded me so much of this storyline. The woman went on to marry again but that was not a good relationshipe despite having more children together.

waitingtobeamummy · 26/12/2012 18:35

I had no idea he was leaving and was very suprised and impressed by story (but I am rubbish at guessing what's happening in anything!)

motherofallmuddles · 26/12/2012 18:38

Dan Stevens is/was the best thing about Downton Abbey. I wasn't expecting the car crash until the scene when he was driving the car looking totally happy always a give away. Totally ruined Christmas.
Agree with others, Downton needs a bit of a spruce up preferably with ole Dan coming out of a shower talking about a dream he has just had.....

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