DVD Series: Downton Abbey Season 2

Season Two of Downton Abbey picks up with the Great War in Europe. It is now 1916. Many of the men including Thomas Barrow (the footman), Matthew Crawley and some of the man servants at Downton have enlisted. Once in the trenches they see what real war is; it's certainly not the romantic fight that everyone at home imagines it to be. Thomas, never intending that he would end up in combat, finds a way out by deliberately injuring himself and getting sent back to Britain. He shows up a Downton, eventually to be placed in charge of the household.

The Earl of Grantham, Matthew Crawley and Lady Sybil

However not all men enlist. Initially, William Mason is not allowed by his father but by 1917 he too has gone off to war, although not before proposing to Daisy. The Earl of Grantham is considered too old to fight and instead is made an Honorary Colonel of the local regiment.He struggles with his role in a changing world; from Edwardian gentleman to the rich patron of a regiment.

Downton Abbey is soon made into a convalescent home for war veterans at the suggestion of Isobel Crawley. This causes great tension between Cora and Isobel resulting in the latter making the rather hasty decision leave for France where she hopes she will be of more use.

Lady Sybil, wishing to contribute to the war effort, undertakes nursing training at York and eventually returns to work at Downton Abbey. Sybil also is greatly attracted to the new chauffeur, Tom Branson, an Irishman with strong Boshevik ideals. It is partly these ideals which fuel Sybil's forbidden love.

Meanwhile John Bates attempts to buy off his wife Vera, as a means to obtaining a divorce. Instead, she shows up at Downton, threatening to blackmail him and the Crawleys unless he returns to her. Wishing to protect Mary, John leaves with her but eventually events play out in such a way that Vera is no longer a risk to John and Anna's hopes of marrying.

Lady Edith comes into her own, helping the injured men and easily determining the needs of the various patients at the Abbey. She gradually matures into a more caring, sympathetic person. This is especially seen when she befriends a man who shows up insisting he is a relation of the Crawleys.
 

Matthew and Lavinia

Although the Crawley family still has hopes that Mary and Matthew will settle their differences and make a match, this is soon put to rest when Matthew arrives home on leave, with the beautiful Lavinia Swire, to whom he is betrothed. Even a weak attempt by Rosamund, Cora's sister and Violet is ineffective in breaking the engagement. Instead Mary puts her hopes in the manipulative Sir Richard Carlisle who is a newspaper publisher, despite the obvious, that she still loves Matthew.

The second season of Dowton Abbey was not as visually rich as its predecessor and is characterized by weak and often silly storylines as well as missed opportunities to develop the characters more fully.

The Bates storyline is overwrought and borders on ridiculous. It is repetitive and predictable. Written specially for Brendan Coyle, the part of John Bates doesn't do this fine actor justice. Bates' waffling between bullying and resigned scrupulosity is almost schizophrenic.

Another silly storyline was the beginnings of an attraction between Robert Crawley and a new housemaid,  Jane Moorsum. The Earl can't decide will he or won't he, and his behaviour is completely at odds with his decisive and honourable character throughout the series to date. All this while Cora is deathly ill with the Spanish influenza? I was left feeling like this was filler for a series lacking fresh intrigue.

The episode dealing with the Spanish flu, in 1919, portrayed this serious illness in a somewhat unrealistic and gentrified way. The truth is that millions of Britons died from this illness which swept through households, taking the youngest and healthiest adults in the their prime. There was an attempt to show just how quickly people became ill when Mr. Carson, Cora and Lavinia all become sick within hours of each other. Predictably though, the Spanish flu became a device to remove an unwanted character.

Lady Mary Crawley, whom I felt was beautifully portrayed in Season 1 by Michelle Dockery, and who appeared to have much potential as a rebellious and modern-thinking, bohemian young woman, was reduced to a bland, defeated daughter determined to follow the rules of a dying order. Instead the role of bad girl was moved to Lady Sybil who tries to elope and who refuses to back down in her quest to marry the family chauffeur (really?) and shrug off her aristocratic status.

Ethel and her son meet the Bryants

One thing I did like was the storyline of Ethel Parks, the maid who gets herself into trouble by having a liaison with Major Bryant, a patient at the hospital and typically, a cad. We are shown Ethel as a single mother - a ruined woman or "drudge", as Bryant's father calls her, while the character of the man who made her so remains untarnished. This story line was very well done and evokes feelings of pity and anger at the inequity, the injustice and her lack of dignity in the eyes of society. Brave Edith stands up the Bryants who don't believe she's good enough to raise their grandson. "A mother's love got to account for something...".

Despite it weak points, I eagerly await Season 3 of Downton Abbey, but I sincerely hope the writers and producers rediscover the magic that made the first season's episodes so appealing.

DVD Series: Downton Abbey

Downton Abbey tells the story of the Crawley family of North Yorkshire at the turn of the 20th century. The Edwardian mansion is the home and life's work of Robert, Earl of Grantham, his lovely demure wife, Cora, the Countess of Grantham, and their three daughters, Mary, Edith, and Sybil.

The series opens with the family dealing with the consequences of the sinking of the Titanic in April, 1912. Two male cousins, next in line to inherit the Downton estate have drowned, meaning the estate will now be passed onto the third cousin of the Earl, Matthew Crawley, a lawyer in London. This throws the entire family into a state of shock and consternation because they expected Downton Abbey to go to a more upper class relative. Complicating the matter is the fact that Cora, who is American, brought a large amount of money to the Crawley estate when she married Robert. This entail cannot be separated from the estate, which means that she too will lose all her money upon the Earl's death, unless this entail can be somehow separated from the inheritance. Since according to British law, neither Cora nor her daughters can inherit the estate, it means they face the possibility of financial hardship and it also means the daughters must marry well in order to maintain their status in British society. It's hard to believe such laws still existed in the early 20th century, but they did.

The Earl, accepting this situation and believing he has no recourse under the law,  writes to inform Matthew of his new situation in life, - that he will one day be heir to the lavish Downton Abbey.  Matthew and his mother, Isobel Crawley, move to Yorkshire where they are installed in a small house near Downton. Matthew vows such an inheritance and a move up in British society will not change him. At first the upper class Crawleys, especially Violet, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, try their best to dislike Matthew. But it is soon apparent that he is a good, intelligent man, who is willing to look into the matter of Cora's entail in the hope that some money can be rescued for the wife and daughters should they one day need it. In the meantime, Robert, Cora and Violet entertain the hope that Mary will marry Matthew and spare them all the possibility of losing Downton Abbey.

Into this setting, we follow the family through the next two years, until the beginning of World War I. Irreverent and disinterested Lady Mary behaves scandalously and despite efforts to conceal her misdemeanor,  rumours circulate throughout London about her ruined reputation. Middle daughter, Lady Edith, often passed over by men infatuated with her older sister, strikes back at Lady Mary with unexpected and heartrending consequences. And Lady Sybil gets mixed up in women's rights and politics while trying to help a lady's maid better herself.

Even more interesting than the Crawley family's feuds and foibles, is the shenanigans of the servants. Overseen by the butler, Mr. Carson, a stalwart and just man, the serving staff plot against one another, eavesdrop on the family, and try to cope with their own unique problems. There is the footman, Thomas, who is a most disagreeable character, and his partner in crime, the lady's maid Sarah O'Brien, both of whom are always plotting against Mr. Bates. The enigmatic Bates, a friend of the Earl, has a checkered past but now tries to be honest and live a clean life.

The entire first season's episodes are rife with characters in conflict, making the storyline interesting and mostly unpredictable. Downton Abbey is superbly cast, and fans of BBC period productions will no doubt recognize some familiar faces including Brendan Coyle (North and South, Larkrise to Candleford) who plays John Bates, Jim Carson (The Way We Live Now) as Mr. Carson, and of course, the incomparable Dame Maggie Smith who is brilliant as the Dowager Countess Grantham. Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern are wonderfully complimentary as the Earl and Countess of Grantham.


Downton Abbey does a wonderful job of capturing the expectation of change that everyone seems to have. Women are expecting things will change for them - that they will get the vote, be allowed to work, and possibly even inherit property. Men seem to sense that things will change politically and of course there's the beginning of World War I. Downton sees the installation of electricity AND the telephone. Change is definitely in the air by the end of season one.

The series is worth watching just on the basis of the costuming alone. With four rich women to clothe, the possibilities are endless and their dresses are absolutely beautiful - detailed brocades, flowing silks and rich velvets. Sybil's amazing harem pants, were a stunning coup de grace that should have been incorporated into more than just one scene! The series won an Emmy for Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries 2011.

Downton Abbey, created by Julian Fellowes, is a collaborative effort between Carnival Films of the UK and WGBH Boston (PBS) in the US.
The series is filmed at Highclere Castle in Hampshire, although the servants quarters are shot on a set in London.

Below is the trailer for the first season:




I will be partaking of Season 2 shortly and I just can't wait.