Downton Abbey – Season 5 premiere

Mom Under Cover returns to Downton.

*** SPOILER ALERT *** SPOILER ALERT ***

“Principles are like prayers; noble, of course, but awkward at a party.”  –The Dowager Countess of Grantham

 Season 5: Downton Abbey is on fire! (Literally)

DA looks to be returning to its roots.  Violet (Maggie Smith, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) continues to get some of the best lines. The personalities we love to hate seem to be coming back in spades.  Lady Mary donned an air of humility last season while mourning Matthew’s death and struggling to bring Downton into modernity along with brother-in-law Branson. However, this season she returns to her selfish ways stringing along both Lord Gillingham and Charles Blake.  Barrow continues to bully the servants downstairs and make trouble for downstairs-turned-upstairs chauffeur Branson by whispering to Robert that he found Branson upstairs with a girl from the village and implying there was more to the story than that.  We still don’t know whether Lady Edith’s beau is dead or alive in Germany—but their love child is toddling along and being raised by a pig farmer in the village who knows Edith’s secret.  The fire accidentally set by Edith was an odd sub-plot—but it secured conniving Barrow’s place downstairs after he saved Edith.  It also exposed (pun intended) James/Jimmy the footman’s illicit romp with former employer Lady Ansturther.  Look for Jimmy to get sacked next week.  Love is definitely in the air—Moesely is keen on Baxter; Lord Merton is interested in Isobel; and Carson and Mrs. Hughes have something going on. Change is also in the air; Labour is now in charge–giving the servants hope whilst signaling the end of an era to Lord Grantham and the Dowager Countess.

Other musings:  How did Bates lose his limp?   Why doesn’t Julian Fellowes use Elizabeth McGovern to her full potential?  She seems to be wallpaper lately–maybe her band (Sadie and the Hotheads) are touring more…will Cora get the Spanish flu?

Downton Abbey

This one gets Mom Under Cover’s seal of approval.

Downton Abbey — Grade A+

If you missed this PBS Masterpiece Theater mini-series last year, it isn’t too late–you can find the first season easily.  The second season wraps up Sunday (2-19) but is also available on DVD.  Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville, Paddington), Lady Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern, She’s Having a Baby), the Dowager Countess, i.e., Lord Grantham’s mother (Maggie Smith, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) along with the three Grantham daughters—each searching for a beau—and a bevy of maids and footmen make this Upstairs–Downstairs saga a delight!  McGovern plays a wealthy American whose fortune allows the Earl of Grantham to keep his vast estate and continue leading the life of the very privileged in Victorian England.  Though it is an arranged marriage, it is a tender and true one.  We meet the family before WWI when the priority is to marry off the eldest daughter (Lady Mary, played very well by Michelle Dockery, Non-Stop).  The second season takes place during the first world war—and Downton and society will never be quite the same.

If you enjoyed Merchant Ivory productions (Remains of the Day) and some of the recent PBS Masterpiece offerings, you will quickly become enthralled.  The third season is currently in production and rumor has it that Shirley Maclaine will play Lady Grantham’s mother and an interesting foil to Maggie Smith, who, as you would imagine is brilliant in her role as the matriarch.  As with similar well done period productions, the costumes are lovely, the set rings true (the “upstairs” portions are filmed at Highclere Castle and the “downstairs” scenes are in a studio) and the characters are accessible yet authentic.  A definite must see!