So far I've seen the first four episodes of the series Downton Abbey. The show centers around the life of a noble family and the lives of their servants. It opens in 1912. right after Titanic sank. Downton Abbey is an estate which can only be inherited by male heirs and the Earl of Grantham has three daughters. His heir, who was engaged to his eldest daughter, died on Titanic. This reveals the center conflict of the show, how will they get accustomed to the new heir who isn't a part of their noble world. Or will he be the heir at all?
Hugh Bonneville takes the role of the merciful aristocrat Robert Crawley, his American wife is played by Elizabeth McGovern. They have three daughters, Mary, Edith and Sybil. They are joined by the heir presumptive, Matthew, and his mother Isobel Crawley. The entire family is watched over by the firm eye of the matriarch of the family - the Dowager Countess who is marvelously brought to life by the brilliant Maggie Smith.
The Crawley sisters are interesting, but I also feel a bit sorry for them. They lead such boring lives. They wake up, they get dressed, they eat, they talk, they frequent other people. I know this was the normal life for an aristocratic woman, but I think we might get to see a lot of changes for them. Especially since we know that World War One is approaching.
So far, Sybil is my favorite sister and it seems that we are starting to see a lot more of her. She's the only one of the sisters that seems to be doing something with her life. She's open minded and outspoken. It seems the Earls won't have an easy time with her.
Mary is an interesting character and i think her whole life could be summed up in a single sentence I'm not as rebellious as everyone thinks. I think she's a woman trapped in certain rules that she doesn't know how to get rid of, nor does she know if she wants to. I'm not sure how I think about her yet. At times, I admire her, and sometimes I think she's being mean and petty and unreasonable. Being open minded is great, but she doesn't seem to think about the consequences of anything she does. She's seduced by the Turkish diplomat who dies in her bed, discards Napier too easily. If she doesn't become a bit more careful, she might lose everything.
Cora's accent was a bit annoying at first. I thought that she should well decide whether she wanted to be American or British. But then I realized that considering the time she's been living in England, she probably would have acquired some foreign accent, but also never would have completely lost her old one.
The servants' story begins with the arrival of the new valet, Mr. Bates. He's a mysterious man with a limp and knows the Earl seeing as both of them had served in the war. The ambitious servant, Thomas, is hurt by this as he had hoped to become the Earl's next valet. The other servants are William, Daisy, Carson, Mrs. O'Brien, Anna, Gwen and Mrs. Hughes.
One thing I don't like so far is that the relationship between Thomas and William seems a bit forced. We haven't really seen the core of it, the only thing they have in common is Daisy. But Thomas isn't interested in her, he only wants her so that he could get to William. I don't want to accept that the only reason behind the conflict is that Thomas is a prick who doesn't like the fact that William is nice. I hope they explore this a bit further. Their relationship is basically the thing that runs everything with the servants. They seem to be divided in two polar opposites, the bad ones who enjoy plotting - around Thomas: and the nice ones, the martyrs - around William. I hope they change this and we get a bit more insight.
I'll make a guess here and say that Bates's story hides something deeper and that and the plot line with Kemal Pamuk will be the center of future conflicts.
These four episodes have all been interesting and I'm curious to see how will World War I change things in Downton Abbey.
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