It's MISTER Bates. Not master ...
With all due respect to Tim Tebow, I still think we made the right choice. I don’t care much about the Broncos or the Steelers so it wasn’t like I had a lot riding on the outcome. On the other hand, I do appreciate every one characters on Downton Abbey, and it was good to see their stories continue.
But because I love to criticize, a few quibbles (obligatory spoiler alert):
(a) How realistic is it that Matthew gets to come home from The Great War on the weekends? To me, this seriously trivializes the sense of cataclysm engulfing English society. Even the scheming Thomas gets a trip back when he arranges to take a bullet in the hand. Really? If it were that easy, I’d expect that by 1916 about 94 percent of those in the trenches would have done the same thing.
(2) I admire the steely integrity of Mr. Bates, but this business of falling on his sword to avoid scandal every couple of episodes is beginning to annoy me. I have a bit of a crush on Anna myself. And my advice to her at this point: Wake up and smell the coffee.
(3) Finally, is driving a tractor such an arcane skill that the tenant farmer and his hardy wife could not have mastered it in about 15 minutes? They already had access to the tractor. Did they really need the services of Lady Edith, who has only just learned to drive a car? I’ve driven a few tractors, so my gut feeling is no. The Lady Edith story line felt forced.
I think I'd look good in that.
And I’ll have to agree with my mother-in-law that the clothing is almost as good as the characters. It feels sort of effeminate to say this. But I’d tune in for the lovely ladies and their gowns even if they were reciting scripts from Golden Girls. Comes to that, the men’s fashions are pretty awesome too. Got to get me one of those red dress uniforms.
I hear a third season has already been commissioned. Let’s just say that I expect to remain a fan. I liked Dallas too, so I’m not setting the bar real high here. Things would have to devolve pretty far to be worse than that.
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You’re right. Willing suspension of disbelief becomes a bit strained in the instances you mention. Another was how quickly the local doctor was persuaded to change his mind about Thomas when the lord of the manor exerted a little influence. But who cares, as long as the show goes on? Loving it!
And your mother-in-law says you’d look really good in one of those red dress uniforms, Dave.
Yes. Maybe I’d feel like socializing more too.
And let’s not forget that Thomas revealed himself as a thief in Season One. Who’s going to want a guy like that around? Still, he’s a great character.
As a fan, I’m wondering which man in the “dowstairs” section is going to step up? Carson is so rigid in class structure he may break or collapse; Mister Bates is my dark horse; Lang, so far is an unknown; Mosely has proved a minor ‘snake in the grass’ for his designs on Anna, but he’s just lonely; I hope they don’t reform Thomas, and he dies or gets an injurious comeuppance, moreso than just his hand; William gets to tame Daisy, in the end I think…
I’m going with Branson, the driver, because he’s young, ambitious, a bit rough with class and a eye to the real world to come, and of course we’re both besotted with Lady Sybil, when she does that endearing dip of her chin!
Lang is intriguing, but for now it almost seems as if they’re recycling the character of Mr. Bates: wounded, taciturn and honor-driven.
One thing of which we can be certain: Somebody’s going to die this season. You can’t do a show centered in The Great War without that. My guess is William, since he seems nicely disposable and a bit too eager to get into the fight. His death would really bring the war home to the downstairs folks, and might prove a transforming moment for the frivolous Daisy.
Hi Dave – I found your website because I googled, “Edith on a tractor,” because that felt so forced and ridiculous to me too. Not only that the farmer or his wife couldn’t figure it out, but that Edith would do it at all never mind get all cozy with the farmer. Just wouldn’t happen. Actually, it’s not accurate that any of the Crawley characters would speak with the servants the way they do and the servants wouldn’t give advice or profess their love (like the driver). They might pay for Mrs. Pattimore’s surgery, or inquire about the butler, “is he feeling better?” but it would still be a formal arrangement. No bedside visits or conversations that weren’t formal.
It is true that aristocratic women became nurses and some country houses became hostpitals like the Queen Mother’s childhood castle in Scotland. Most famously, Princess Patricia of Connaught, grandaughter of Queen Victoria was a nurse, but driving a tractor? Even when the current Queen became a truck driver at the end of WW2, I doubt she was pals with the other girls.
I still like the show, and love the costumes too (although perhaps last season was better), but like you I don’t like overt historic inaccuracies.
Glad I’m not alone on the tractor thing. But it looks like that’s been nipped in the bud, so I’m ready to move one if they are. 🙂