Downton Abbey review: Series 3 Episode 6

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“My dearest boy, there is no test on Earth greater than the one you have been put to. I do not speak much of the heart, since it is so unhelpful to do so, but I know well enough the pain when it is broken.”

I do love it so when they let Maggie Smith do actual acting.

While nothing as traumatic as last week happened, the death of Lady Sybil and the events surrounding it cast a dark shadow over this week’s proceedings. In particular, Cora found herself unable to forgive Robert for his actions – credit again must go to Elizabeth McGovern for her heartbreaking portrayal of a woman grieving for the loss of her daughter, with the added tragedy of not being able to take comfort and solace from her husband. Thankfully, Violet performed one of her random acts of compassion (remember when that farmer won the rose competition because of her guilty conscience? Ah, Downton series one, I do love you) and saved the day. With the help of Dr Plot Contrivance, I mean Clarkson, she managed to repair the relationship between Cora and Robert without even breaking a sweat. I’d have kind of liked them to allow the tension to simmer a little longer (cold Cora is maybe my favourite Cora of all) but I can understand why they resolved it now, and Elizabeth McGovern and Hugh Bonneville were so great in that final scene that I was happy to see them reunited.

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And then we come to Branson. Poor Tom, he waited five years for Sybil and then he barely had her for one. Allen Leech proved once again this week that he’s more than just eye candy (although he does that excellently) as he moved through Tom’s grief and attempts to plan a new life for Baby Sybil and himself. The whole Catholic/Anglican debate wasn’t exactly the most subtle (although them all ganging up on Travis was kind of amazing) but it was saved by Tom’s emotional reaction to Mary revealing that Sybil was happy for the baby to be christened a Catholic/ I’d be very surprised if he does leave Downton – when he was surveying the farm with Matthew, a huge klaxon practically blared – and I hope he doesn’t, as Tom places a unique and potentially great role in the Downton pantheon. Plus, you know, prettiness.

Sybil’s two sisters found themselves in a strange state following her death. Mary and Matthew vowed never to take their relationship for granted, nicely side-stepping the issue of Matthew’s ridiculous insensitivity regarding change that need to be made to the estate. The tension between Mary and Robert was nicely written, and beautifully played by both actors. I always, always like reserved, cutting Mary, but she she’s totally right while being reserved and cutting, Michelle Dockery is at her absolute best. And Edith being all together and organised was a nice call back to her role during the War. Her forays into the world of journalism should be interesting to watch, if only because it will allow Hugh Bonneville to do his best “outraged on behalf of society and all decent people” face.

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The Ethel storyline was actually a lot more interesting than I had expected it to be. Of course, a story is pretty much always going to be great if Mrs Patmore and Mrs Hughes are involved, and I found Ethel a lot more engaging than I have previously. I think having her be determined to cook a good dinner for the grand ladies, and Mrs Patmore then helping out on the sly, was a great way to go; it helped that included the line, “Anyone who has the use of their limbs can make a salmon mousse” which rivals “Do I look like a frolicker?” for the Mrs Patmore Line of the Episode Award. And then Carson and Robert’s righteous indignation, completely refusing to give Ethel and Isobel any credit, added a whole other layer to the “male dominance of females” argument. The fact that the ladies of the family and the servants’ hall were much more sympathetic to Ethel was a great touch, and I suspect I’ll be using the line “It seems a pity to miss such a good pudding” in everyday conversation from now on. But perhaps the best moment of the whole story was Mrs Hughes throwing Carson a “yeah, whatever” look over her shoulder as she left his room. Perfect.

Other than that, we had the continuation of last week’s love rectangle-that’s-secretly-a-pentangle (“You know the trouble with you lot? You’re all in love with the wrong people.”) This week: Thomas was an even bigger creep than before; Alfred tried to learn the foxtrot to impress Ivy (saucy!); Daisy mooned after Alfred some more; James played the piano and continued to be weirded out by Thomas; Ivy wore some rouge (whore!) Actually, one of the sweetest scenes of the episode was Daisy’s visit to her father-in-law; Mr Mason is one of my favourite minor Downton characters, and his relationship with Daisy has developed into something really quite touching. His comment about Daisy having 40 years left in service, by which time houses like Downton would be long gone, really struck me, and I’m intrigued to see what she decides.

And after six episodes and a Christmas special in jail, Bates is finally to be freed. I’ll be glad to see him back at the Abbey, if only because it’ll stop the random prison interludes that felt totally unconnected from anything. They were starting to get really tedious. I have to say, though, as annoying as Bates and Anna have become, Brendan Coyle and Joanna Froggatt have always done great work in their roles. Plus Anna getting all choked up at Lady Mary using the term “we” to describe their relief over Bates was a really beautiful moment of female friendship. What? I’m a sucker for a good “the aristos treating the servants like friends” moment. As Dorcas Lane of Lark Rise to Candleford would say, it’s my one weakness.

Downton Abbey review: Series 3 Episode 5

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“We’ve seen some troubles, you and I. Nothing worse than this.”

“Nothing could be worse.”

So, they finally did it. Downton Abbey finally killed off one of the Crawleys. And let me tell you, it was brutal.

But before we get to that, other stuff actually happened at Downton this week. Yes, I know it’s hard to remember, but it honestly did. Following on from his discussion with Violet last week, Matthew started to make tentative steps towards discussing the idea of making some changes to the way the Abbey is run. Unfortunately, following Robert shutting him down about it last week, Matthew’s on the back foot, and while he's obviously right, talking to Murray about it when Sybil’s body was still lying in the house (sob) was probably just about the stupidest thing he could have done, and see Mary shut him down so coldly for it was kind of amazing. Goodness, I’d forgotten how much I’d missed Fierce Mary. And Edith got offered a newspaper column, and Robert totally hurt her feelings by saying that they only wanted her name and not her opinions, which she reacted to by, like, saying something mean and running out of the room in a total emotional state like the teenage girl that she apparently is. Oh, Edith, I do love you.

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Down below stairs, some sort of weird love triangle/square/pentagon is developing. After years of being the lowest servant in the house, Daisy finally has someone to boss around in the form of kitchen maid Ivy. Of course, the fact that Alfred has taken a shine to the new girl has nothing to do with the fact that Daisy is treating her like a piece of dirt. No, nothing at all. And the new girl herself seems to have a little bit of a thing for other newbie Jimmy, who himself is finding Thomas is a little bit too interested in him. Oh Thomas, flirting over clocks; not exactly subtle, are you? In any case, it’s all starting to get very complicated down in the kitchen, and I hope it’s all resolved before Daisy’s personality transplant escalates to the point that she attacks Ivy with a burning pan of hollandaise sauce. Look, Daisy, just go visit Ethel over at Mrs Crawley’s house; she is apparently some sort of vixen man eater, so I’m sure she can give you a few tips.

And Anna finally found a piece of information that might prove Bates’s innocence; Vera was scrubbing pastry from her nails when Mrs Bartlett visited her, meaning she has just made the pie that would kill her. It’s a piece of detective work worthy of the great Hercule Poirot himself, but the only hitch is that it relies on Mrs Bartlett’s testimony and she kind of hates Bates (me too, Mrs B, me too) so they need to get it out of her before she realises its significance. I’m sure nothing about this plan will go wrong.

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But, really, what does any of that matter when sweet beautiful lovely Sybil is dead? Sure, it was signposted a mile off, almost from the first two minutes of the episode; as soon as Dr Clarkson said that she was a healthy young woman going through perfectly normal labour pains, a massive klaxon may as well have gone off saying “SHE’S GOING TO DIE! SHE IS YOUNG AND HEALTHY BUT IT IS NOT GOING TO BE OK!” And then she started complain of a sore head, which was a bad enough sign, and a fancy, clueless doctor from Harley street arrived, which was an even worse sign. But really, her fate was sealed the second she started urging people to talk about the future; couldn’t they all see that she was going to die? If she wanted assurances that Tom and the baby would be looked after, it meant that she wasn’t going to be around to do it herself, because that is the law of television. How could they not see that? Of course, the worst sign of all for her was the fact that she had a baby girl; when a woman is dies in childbirth when having a baby girl, the girl can be named after her mother and come to represent her in a way a boy never can, thus ramping up the drama. Poor Sybil, if only you hadn’t talked about the future and had a girl, you might still be with us.

Of course, the real culprits here, as they always are, are Silly Men. Everything about Robert and Sir Philip made me angry in this episode, from Robert looking all delicate and swoony at the use of the word “womb” to Philip having the audacity to suggest that Sybil might just have thick ankles. It was a brilliant depiction of the sway that gender and influence still had in the 1920s; even though Robert wanted to know nothing of the details of childbirth, it was still him who got to make the call about Sybil’s future, and the fact that Dr Clarkson knew Sybil and the family well counted for nothing when faced with a fancy doctor who undercut him at every moment. It was frustrating to watch as you knew exactly what was going to happen, yet it was utterly compelling for the same reason.

  

And full credit must go to all the cast for pulling this off magnificently. It’s easy to forget that Downton Abbey can be so much more than pretty dresses and withering putdowns; when they decide to do drama, they do it better than anyone. Michelle Dockery was particularly brilliant in Sybil’s death scene, as was Laura Carmichael as they gathered to say goodbye to the only person who ever thought well of both of them. Hugh Bonneville played the bumbling, impotent patriarch figure to perfection, and Jessica Brown Findlay deserves major credit for playing Sybil’s final moments with such gusto.

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But the real revelations were Elizabeth McGovern and Allen Leech; too often is Cora a simpering fool, but here she showed grit and determination as she said fought for Sybil but was ignored, then found herself in the heartbreaking position of having to say goodbye to her baby, and then coldly told her husband in front of everyone that it was his fault. And, much and all as I absolutely adore him, Allen Leech often hasn’t had much to do beyond standing around, pining after Sybil with his puppy dog eyes, or delivering revolutionary-style speeches to an uncaring audience. But he played Tom’s utter despair at Sybil’s death to perfection, which wasn’t easy when surrounded by some seriously fine acting. The best of that seriously fine acting, though, came from exactly the place you would expect it to: Maggie Smith. Despite all the brilliant work done by her colleagues, she managed to match them all and more in a simple walk across the hall. Sure, she’s a master at sitting down and saying something witty, but in that moment she silently managed to remind us that Violet is an old woman, and one who now has to face the awful task of burying her youngest granddaughter.

The death of Sybil should help to shake things up and get them moving at Downton Abbey. But for now, I’m just going to quote Mrs Hughes, who summed up my feelings about this episode best:

“The sweetest spirit under this roof is gone, and I’m weeping myself.”

Downton Abbey review: Series 3 Episode 4

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“Is it not enough that we’re sheltering a dangerous revolutionary, Mrs Hughes? Could you not have spared me that?”

And what could be so awful that Mr Carson would put it on a par with Tom having to flee from Ireland? Was it the fact that one of their former maids is now working as a prostitute to support herself and the child she conceived while working for them? Could he have found out that his lordship’s valet once had an affair with the distinguished Duke of Crowborough? Or even realising that people on the Internet totally want him to get off with Mrs Hughes? No, it wasn’t any of these things that provoked such ire in Mr Carson. It was, in fact, Mrs Hughes’s new electric toaster. And that is why Carson is the best.

Even though he didn’t actually have much of a plot beyond “looking for a new footman and picking the pretty one”, Carson was the star of this episode. Not only did he successfully manage to successfully deliver lots of exposition in the first ten minutes without seeming too much like that was what he was doing (“Once again I’m afraid there’s nothing for you” “Am I to answer to you both?”), he also gave Violet a run for her money in brilliant reactions. I loved him not-so-subtly manipulating Matthew into agreeing about improving staff levels (“I see. I would like to return to my duties as a butler, sir, but if you prefer that I continue to do the work of a second footman...”) but even better was his reaction to the new footman Jimmy. Not only was he distinctly unimpressed by James’s undoubted beauty, he was also distinctly unimpressed by the young man’s cavalier attitude towards, well, everything. Look, Jimmy, if you’re going to say something like “you know what women can be like”, Carson is always going to reply with a withering comment such as “Not as well, I suspect, as you”. But the best Carson moment of the episode, perhaps of my life, was him praising young Alfred by saying “He’s very willing, even if he is Miss O’Brien’s nephew” in a tone that made you realise that he could think of no greater insult. Jim Carter and Julian Fellowes, I salute you.

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But things other than Carson being amazing happened this week. Following Matthew’s rather hopeful description of him as a “tame revolutionary” just before Edith’s not-wedding, Tom turned up at Downton in the middle of a storm, having had to flee Ireland and leave Sybil to make her own way to England. Oh, Branson, you silly boy. I am totally unashamed of my love for him and Sybil as a couple, but I have to say that he did annoy be an awful lot this week. I understand that he’s political and all that stuff, but refusing to even consider staying in England did my head in, as did the fact that everyone seemed concerned for Sybil’s safety but the first Crawley grandchild barely got a mention. Still, Sybil’s background and Tom’s revolutionary beliefs were never going to make for an easy marriage, so at least they’re not glossing over that. And having them back at Downton on (hopefully) a more regular basis should be good, because, well let's face it, you've seen Allen Leech, right?

And it seems the revolutionary spirit was in the air at Downton Abbey this week, and poor jilted Edith caught the bug. That’s right, after a deeply caring heart-to-heart with her granny (“you’re a woman with a brain and reasonable ability. Stop whining and find something to do” is joining “have you done something jolly with your hair?” on my bedroom mirror), she decided to do something truly scandalous. She wrote a letter, but don’t worry, it wasn’t to any kind of embassy. No, it was to The Times. Despite Robert’s assertions that it would never be published, he woke up the next day to the headline, “Earl’s daughter speaks out for women’s rights”. Carson’s reaction to that was as beautiful as you ever hope.

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Amongst the servants, thanks to an absence of letters from the prison, we learnt that even Anna thinks Bates is a bit of martyr. Well, ok, she put it as him being “gallant” and trying to force her to make a life for herself without him, but we all know what she was really thinking. Still, I have to say the sight of the two of them delightedly reading a pile of letters from each other was almost enough to make me care about to the two of them. That’s right, I nearly actually cared about them. Nearly.

That new footman caused quite a stir, with even Violet noting that he looked like “a footman in a musical revue”. But Daisy only had eyes for Alfred (can you imagine Daisy being part of O’Brien’s family?) and it seemed like Alfred might have eyes for her too. But then the new kitchen maid that Daisy has been begging for arrived, and Alfred seemed to take an instant shine to her, crushing poor Daisy’s hopes. Oh, Daisy, I do feel for you. Go to Mrs Hughes’s office and get her to make you some toast. Should help you feel a bit better.

Downton Abbey review: Series 3 Episode 3

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“No, I’m a useful spinster, good at helping out, that is my role. And spinsters get up for breakfast.”

I think I might like Spinster Edith, if she really commits to her role. And by ‘commits to her role’, I of course mean ‘turns into a bitter raving drunk’.

Poor Lady Edith, nothing ever goes right for her, does it? Sure, sometimes she brings it on herself, like that time she wrote to the Turkish embassy and told them that Mr Pamuk (RIP) died in Mary’s bed, thus starting a scandal that nearly resulted in the total destruction of her sister’s reputation and marriage prospects, thus making Mary kind of hate her for a while. But she actually developed into quite an interesting character last series, being the one who gave the most attention to all the soldiers living in the house. Thinking back to the start of this episode, where she was so happy to finally be the centre of attention and about to start a life away from Downton, is heartbreaking when you know what’s coming. But of course she was never going to actually marry Sir Anthony; it didn’t make sense in terms of the plot – having her living nearby, as the wife of a well-to-do older man with only one arm, doesn’t leave much potential in the way of drama. Having her be jilted at the altar by said older man? Sure, it doesn’t really make any sense (seriously, they described Sir Anthony as “any port in a storm” for Edith pre-war; her prospects are hardly any better now) but it does leave lots of room for drama. Laura Carmichael was pretty great the whole way through this episode, so hopefully being a bitter spinster will give her a chance to develop further. Until, of course, they marry her off to some handsome young thing with a passion for cars and... whatever else it is Edith likes.

And in other totally shocking, not at all predictable news, Matthew has agreed to use Reggie Swire’s money to save Downton Abbey and will run the estate along with Robert! I did not see that coming at all! I really honestly thought they were going to move to that other house and they would get rid of most of the servants and Violet would run a shop and the programme would be renamed Downton Place. Luckily, I love Downton Abbey and its ridiculous plot contrivances more than is probably healthy, so the blatant “this part of the plot has run its course, we need to get out of it” feel of Reggie’s actually letter really tickled me. It helped that Matthew joked about Mary having written it, so at least they sort of acknowledged just how ludicrously convenient the whole thing was. Seriously, the letter was so suspiciously close to what Matthew had wanted to hear that I actually just laughed out loud. Still, the fact that it was sweet Daisy, the lowest of the servants in the Abbey, who was ultimately its saviour was a sweet touch. I’ll let you away with it this time, Fellowes. This time.

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Down below decks, the war between Thomas and O’Brien is escalating nicely; this time it was Molesley who got caught up in their schemes, as Thomas used him to spread a rumour amongst the Crawleys that O’Brien was planning to leave. Poor Molesley, finally gets up to the Big House, and nearly finds himself on the wrong side of the indomitable O’Brien; as Daisy so eloquently put it (must be that dictionary she swallowed) “I wouldn’t be in her bad books for a gold clock.” O’Brien vowing revenge on Thomas is a promise of drama that I honestly can’t quite wait to see; I’m almost giddy with anticipation. Watch out for any stray bars of soap, Mr Barrow, she can be quite lethal with them.

Away from Downton, two former servants popped up for their now weekly random little vignettes: in prison, one of Bates’ fellow prisoners is trying to get him in trouble by placing contraband in his cell (seriously, mate, don’t bother, Thomas and O’Brien already tried that one and it didn’t work), while Anna’s discussion with Vera’s neighbour doesn’t help his case in the slightest; while Ethel once again started to ask Isobel for help, then backed away at the last minute. Thrilling stuff all round.

But one little bright spot below stairs (well, eventually) was Mrs Hughes and her potential cancer diagnosis. Teaming her up with Mrs Patmore and Carson for this was a masterstroke; Jim Carter’s performance as Carson tries to show without letting on how much he knows is just a thing of beauty, and Lesley Nichol is starting to steal most scenes she is in as Mrs Patmore. But one of the lines of the night was Mrs Hughes’ sceptical “Oh will you now?” response to Carson’s plans to help her if she got tired; Phyllis Logan’s portrayal of a proud, strong woman suddenly feeling vulnerable and scared but trying to hide it was really quite wonderful to watch. And the scene in which Cora told her that, if she really was ill, she didn’t need to worry about where she would stay or who would look after her, because the answer was Downton Abbey and they would, was actually quite lovely. As Mrs Hughes herself said, “But this time, I freely admit it. I was quite touched.” In fact, I was practically singing along in glee with Carson at the end of the episode.

Doctor Who review: The Angels Take Manhattan

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“That gravestone, Rory’s, there’s room for one more name, isn’t there?”

And thus the Ponds left the TARDIS and the Doctor forever, not by choice but at the hands of a Weeping Angel. In some ways this was similar to the departures of Rose and Donna, which were presented as just as heart-breaking and final (*cough* until they weren’t *cough, cough*). Unlike the Tenth Doctor’s companions, however, this exit was much more low-key; Rory didn’t even get to say goodbye, and most of Amy's farewell was delivered via a book afterword. And yet, the final moments of the episode were almost perfect.

Unfortunately, the episode that preceded them was not perfect. The Weeping Angels really have lost considerable impact since their first appearance; in ‘Blink’, it was the sheer simplicity of them, the idea that they allowed you to live to death, along with sparse use, that made them work so brilliantly. Buy by this appearance, the whole thing felt a little played out, and the more twists you give to their modus operandi, the less well it all hangs together. The image of the Statue of Liberty bearing down on Rory, for example, was undoubtedly striking, but it also didn’t really make any sense – how did it get that far through lower Manhattan without anyone seeing it? I mean, really?

I guess the parts of ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’ that didn’t work mostly stemmed from them trying to do too much all at once: the noir-ish detective and the paranoid rich man out of his depth were both introduced and then never really developed properly. Bringing River in for Rory and Amy’s final story made sense, but there weren’t any real emotional scenes between the Professor and her parents; instead, the significant emotional beats between Amy and River dealt more with their respective relationships with the Doctor than their own mother/daughter relationship. Still, River describing the Doctor as “an ageless god who insists on the face of a twelve year-old” was magnificent.

But, even though it sounds otherwise, I did really enjoy a lot about ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’. The whole book conceit was brilliant, especially Amy working out that they can use the chapter titles to help them find Rory, and the ominous “AMELIA’S LAST FAREWELL’. Plus the whole of the first scene after the credits, with the Doctor and Rory trying not to mention the lines around Amy’s eyes and the Doctor reading out loud and being embarrassed by the Pond was really sweet, and it was great to have a quiet moment to allow the chemistry between Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill to shine through one last time. When it was kept simple, and focused on the dynamics between the main three, 'The Angels Take Manhattan' worked best.

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And the climax of the episode, of the Ponds’ story, truly was superb. From the moment Old Rory died, the sense of doom that had been spreading throughout the episode grew beautifully.  I’m a bit of an old romantic at heart, so maybe it annoyed some people, but I never, ever got tired of seeing Amy and Rory show again and again how much they loved each other; the fact that over and over Amy showed that, as much as she loved the Doctor and her life in the TARDIS, Rory was always and forever her first choice: “I won’t let them take him. That’s what we’ve got.” The scene on the rooftop, as Rory begged Amy to push him and create a paradox that would stop Winter Quay from ever existing, was pitched just perfectly by Steven Moffat, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill.

Of course, the hope that everything was going to be OK was never to be. The emotion of the scene in the graveyard was just perfect; I have to respect Moffat for being brave enough to make Rory’s final moment so sudden, without any big soppy farewell (*cough* The Doctor burning up a sun to say goodbye to Rose *cough, cough*). Sure, the whole “You are creating a fixed time, I will never be able to see you again” thing from the Doctor was more than a little underbaked, but it’s understandable. The Ponds needed a final farewell; last week showed that they’d continue to travel with the Doctor for the rest of their lives if they could, which wouldn’t make for a very dramatic show. In fact, the moment the Weeping Angels were announced as the aliens for this episode, the fact that Amy and Rory would be sent back in time and live out their days there together seemed pretty likely. But who cares? It gave us Karen Gillan looking into Matt Smith’s beautiful face and saying, “Raggedy man, goodbye” and then blinking and following her Rory forever, so I'll forgive any small logical inconsistencies there might have been.

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The final letter was such a Moffat touch (I used to be able to recite Reinette’s letter from ‘The Girl in the Fireplace’ from memory, because I really was that cool), but it was used beautifully. The starkness of not letting us see the Ponds again, just like the Doctor, worked a treat, as did the words she finished with:

“Tell her that, if she’s patient, the days are coming that she’ll never forget. Tell her she’ll go to sea and fight pirates. She’ll fall in love with a man who’ll wait 2,000 years to keep her safe. Tell her she’ll give hope to the greatest painter who ever lived and save a whale in outer space. Tell her this is the story of Amelia Pond, and this is how it ends.”

“The days are coming that she’ll never forget”? I couldn't have put it better myself.