It is summertime and I am suffering from Downton Abbey withdrawal. We wait and wait with baited breathe each year for a handful of episodes. The British period drama is a Sunday must watch for me and currently, the show is on hiatus. I am still kinda bitter about them killing off Matthew Crawley. In some ways, the show seemed to have lost focus in this last season. Lady Mary has not been interesting since he left. The new story lines they were trying to develop felt flat and rushed.
Shortcomings aside, I missed the Dowager Countess, Branson, and Lady Edith the most. Who doesn’t like an old lady who says exactly how she feels? And no one is better with the posh putdowns than the Dowager Countess. Branson is the lost soul who just doesn’t fit into their titled world. He stays for his daughter, but you hope there is something more for him. Branson is the character I would want them to spend more time developing into a successful businessman in his own right. While Lady Edith is the worst case of “middle child” syndrome I have seen in a long time. The least attractive sister whom gets left at the altar and settles for a life of adultery. She is every bad cliche of a woman looking for love.
Good, bad, or indifferent, I am a child of PBS and have always enjoyed period movies and television series. I love the costumes, the estates, and the formality of how people interacted during that time. I have already decided if I ever go to England, I will visit Highclere Castle.
What I find most interesting about the lordly lifestyle is the focus on title, money, and lands while looking down on those who worked to get it verses inheriting it. Money constantly going out and the only way to save the estate for many of these great landowners was through marriage and a hefty dowry. The Earl and Countess Grantham union is a product of an estate needing to be saved with American money as many other estates during this time were. Alas, I will keep watching, and looking forward to the new season when it comes to America again.
Enjoy by Michele 
I am impatiently waiting for Downton Abbey’s return as well and I just started watching the first season of the Game of Thrones. The first episode was a little gory for my taste but it got better towards the end. I love anything with great costumes and both fit that bill. I don’t see your faith listed among your pages. I hope it isn’t forgotten. Thank you very much for following my blog.
I, too, am bummed that Matthew was killed off. And that was over a year ago! :) Love me some Dan Stevens. Saw him in a play here in NYC. Awesome!!