Downton Abbey

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I need an icon, don't I? Will go in search of one later.

Spoilers for eps 1&2 within, and I don't know about you but....



....so far I'm a teeny bit underwhelmed.

Don't get me wrong. I'm still enjoying it, in the same guilty 'I shouldn't be enjoying this romanticised, nostalgic, chocolate box-y claptrap' way that I enjoyed season 1. The Duke of Wotsit, Mr Bates and Anna are still ridiculously sainted, Maggie Smith and Penelope Wilton are just brill, and Ladies Mary, Edith and Sybil are all great fun (and Iain Glen as the possibly evil Lord Beaverbrookalike as Mary's new suitor is yummy, though I'm not getting much UST from the couple yet, but give it time, Iain Glen is a slow burn IMO). However, I don't remember season 1 being quite so trite and predictable.

I mean, is there a single person watching who didn't know that the minute Evil Thomas the gay (former) footman's stretcher bearing comrade said he thought every man had a bullet with his name on it that he would encounter his? Likewise, is there anyone who was surprised when Evil Mrs Bates turned up just after Mr Bates had proposed to Anna?

Oh, I dunno. Probably season 1 was this predictable and I've just forgotten. Am now wondering how long it will be before the Irish driver runs off to join the IRA rather than be subject to conscription. Not long at all, I would imagine.

Comments

[triniroslin15.livejournal.com]

I agree... I'm finding the writing poor so far. Also, I don´t find a main plot this season. It seems that the only things that matter are the couples... and I don´t like that.

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Maybe it'll pick up a bit. I hope so. So far, my main enjoyment has come from Dowager Countess Violet's deathless remarks. Can never have too many of those.

[triniroslin15.livejournal.com]

sure! Countess Violet is the most enjoyable thing of the show so far.

[ningloreth.livejournal.com]

I think the first series did take a couple of episodes to coalesce -- when Pamuk died, I think.

I thought the first episode of this series was very bitty, probably because they felt they needed to re-introduce the characters and show how their circumstances had changed. I actually thought that the second episode had much more shape, with the start of several plot threads that are likely to weave their way through the rest of the series.

... every man had a bullet with his name on it that he would encounter his ...

Yes. But, in a way, the fact that he did, and instantly, made it all the more shocking for me! I was in two minds, too, about the 'degrees of footman' at first -- William, anxious to get to war; Moseley, wheedling his way out; Thomas actually shooting himself in the foot hand. But then I thought, why not? It's like a soap opera, where they come up with a storyline and then allocate it to a suitable character!

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I think the first series did take a couple of episodes to coalesce -- when Pamuk died, I think

I think you're probably right. It all seems so long ago. I do take your point about the soap opera aspects of the show, but as of yet, I'm not as drawn in as I expected to be. Hopefully, as the series progresses.