Last season of Downton Abbey inspired some disagreements, even among our own contributors—Catherine named the continued existence of Downton Abbey one of the worst things of 2013, while Andrew defended it even as it got sillier and sillier. For the new season of Downton, we thought it might be fun to have the two recap together, chatting about the best and worst of last night’s episode every Monday morning. Here’s the first installment!
Andrew: Good morning, Catherine! I’m so excited to be experiencing this season of Downton Abbey with you! Last season collapsed in a tangle of silly storylines—in your end-of-year review, you called it “a nightmarish cake that wouldn’t stop rising,” while I enjoyed it, with reservations, for what it was. But what do you think after the first installment of Season 4?
Catherine: Good morning, Andrew. I’m also glad to be here, discussing this with you. Despite all hopes to the contrary, Season 4 didn’t start out bad at all. I was sorry however to see Robert Crawley, aka Lord Grantham, still being a tiring ass. His character wasn’t so bad in the beginning, and I always have hopes he’ll return to the man we knew and loved in the first season.
Andrew: Yes, Lord Grantham really is the worst. The episode began, rather oddly, with the abrupt disappearance of O’Brien—another actor leaving, I guess?—and in her stead Lord Grantham has emerged as the show’s most hissable villain. He’s treating Mary alternately like a china doll and a dumb little girl, and every time he speaks I want to punch him in the face. Even though, like you, I prefer my Robert honorable and wise, I didn’t mind rooting against him last night. Based on Matthew’s secret will and the revelation that Mary’s half owner of Downton, we’re sure to see more father/daughter conflict in the weeks ahead. Team Mary all the way!
Catherine: O’Brien jumping ship was a surprise but I have every hope she’ll appear again. It’s O’Brien after all. Her fizzy bangs and wry need for revenge gave the show a lot of its…charm? energy? intriguing side plots? all of the above. Lord Grantham’s coddling of Mary really vexed me both because Mary never needs coddling, of course, but also from a historic standpoint. He was doing what people of that era did do. If you were depressed, you got the “rest cure.” Charlotte Perkins Gilman brought the horror of the rest cure to everyone’s attention with her short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” In her story, a depressed sufferer goes mad from being locked in a room and kept away from family, friends and activities in the belief it would cure her depression. So while I felt for Mary, the rest cure is what she would have likely gotten. Lord Grantham is made out as an unmitigated ass for wishing such a thing on her but it’s what loving families did and were medically supposed to do. And while I love that she’s learning her husband’s job of running the estate, I’m also not entirely sure a woman of that era would have been able to, especially a woman of her standing with her father still alive. I love Mary’s new role and while it suits her tremendously well (looking forward to drama with Mary and recalcitrant farmers), I’m not entirely convinced. How much honesty the upcoming season’s approach is to woman’s roles will decide it for me. And obviously, this is for entertainment and not historical accuracy but they’ve done a decent job showing us what women’s careers were like back then. I hope they continue with that aspect.
Andrew: Mary’s not the only one who needs a depression cure. After Matthew’s death, the whole show seems to have gotten darker. Did you notice that, too? The first hour was awfully light on Maggie Smith one-liners, heavy on grief and Dickensian workhouses. Even poor Molesley, usually a reliable source of comic relief, is gazing off into the stars and mourning his lack of direction in life.
Catherine: I didn’t notice that that at the time but it’s true. Grief sucks and there’s a whole lot grief in that house at present. Mary’s stand off with Edith on the stairs was particularly poignant. Woe to whoever is not grieving!
I thought Nanny West’s introduction and then nearly immediate firing afterwards was odd. We already know that class discrimination is bad. Why was she needed? Or even there?
Andrew: I found that plotline a little odd as well. At first, I thought she was being a pill to Thomas because she’d heard he was gay from the other servants—but no, turns out she’s just an all-around horrible person with some serious issues around class distinctions. The way her voice changed when she was talking to little Sybil was chilling.
Speaking of Thomas, though: I’m losing interest in him as a villain. Only last season he was barely saved from having his life ruined by the discovery of his sexual orientation—now he’s back to making shenanigans? For no reason at all? Seems thin. We need some downstairs villains, but I wish Julian Fellowes would give Thomas (and his new partner in crime, Braithwaite) an actual REASON for causing trouble.
Catherine: I also thought Nanny was there to argue with Thomas. With O’Brien gone and Bates mellow and in marital bliss, someone’s gotta play cloak and dagger with him. Which brings us to his new playmate, Edna Braithwaite. I have no memory of who this is woman is. I remember the maid that got pregnant, the maid with a typewriter and the maid who had an emotional affair with Lord Grantham, but I can’t remember Edna. I’m squinting over her even now. Even after I read her wiki, I can only dimly remember her. Not a good sign. Looks like she was lost in the depths of the ever rising cake, only to strangely rise to the top now.
Andrew: I had the same reaction! At first I mistook her for Jane, the maid who kissed Lord Grantham in Season 2, but it turns out she’s the Season 3 maid who went after Branson. So far, Braithwaite’s a nonentity, a poor replacement for O’Brien, if that’s what they intend for her.
There are other plotlines I could do without, too: the belowstairs love rectangle, for one. I love Daisy, but I can barely muster any interest for Jimmy, Alfred, or Ivy. There’s also Edith’s love story. Julian Fellowes has done his best to make Edith miserable, so I’m glad that she finally has the chance to look glamorous and say lines like “Kiss me. NOW.” But I’m bored by her beau, and suspicious that this is all a long con to screw over Edith in the long run by sending her to live in Germany in the 1920s and 30s. What about you? Worst storylines?
Catherine: Edith moving to Germany could turn out to be one of the more interesting plotlines—or one of the worst! It’s so hard to tell. Lord Grantham’s continued disagreeableness and resistance to all change continues to be a pathetic plotline. You’d think an older man resisting all the fast paced change around him would be a decent plotline, but it keeps failing. He continues to be a shallow character rather than a troubled one, struggling with new choices and growing. Edna’s also a pretty poor showing after O’Brien, as you pointed out. Same with Nanny West. What was that for? A nasty abusive lady would have worked well with this crew.
But there were some great moments, too. The best is definitely the beautiful scene between Mary and her Grandmother, where the Dowager urges Mary to chose life during grief, instead of death. Mary really had the best plotlines in this episode. She also had another moving scene weeping on Carson’s shoulder, letting out her grief. And of course, my last favorite part is Edith’s stunning new gowns. That girl has deserved so much better, man-wise, hair-wise and clothes-wise and it’s all coming together simultaneously for her. I don’t think her love interest is exciting but he’s decent and he wants to marry her. That’s good enough for now. What about you? What worked? What didn’t?
Andrew: For me, the episode really excelled in its smaller moments: Rose’s sweet little scene in a maid’s uniform with that cute townie from the dance hall, Carson forgiving his old showbiz buddy for stealing the girl of his dreams, and yes, even Bates employing all kinds of sneakiness (lies! forgery!) to help Molesley get out of debt and preserve his pride at the same time. It reminded me of how well Season 1 handled low-stakes plotlines: Bates and his limp corrector, Mrs. Hughes turning down a marriage proposal, Gwen trying to be a secretary. This show is a soap opera, to be sure, but at its best I think it’s a sweet soap, most interested in the everyday dramas that preoccupy us, and in the small acts of kindness that make our day-to-day lives bearable. Here’s hoping that the rest of the season doesn’t lose its focus and get silly like Seasons 2 and 3 did. (Though you know I’ll be along for the ride even if it does!)
Catherine: And I’ll be on the ride as well. See you next week!
