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Downton Abbey recap: We feel rushed through the two-hour season finale, avoid the Spanish flu, and worry about jumping the shark
Best/worst “jumping-the-shark” moment: We feared this would happen—those who had already watched ahead had even warned us! Did Downton cross over from “graceful period piece” into “fourth-season-of-The-OC” territory last night? There are almost too many moments contending for top shark-jumping honors!
1. The Earl and the maid. Ugh, really Earl? Did the war really take away that many of your “responsibilities” that you had to turn to the maid for comfort? We look forward to more clichés in season three, including “The maid is having my secret heir baby!”
2. Bates in handcuffs. While we had to smirk while thinking about how pleased-as-punch O’Brien must have been to see Bates get carried off by the police, it’s just a little too much. We like the battles between upstairs and downstairs in Downton. There’s no need to extend that to a prison cell.
3. Sir Richard’s decent into pure evil. We know he’s bad news—what with his un-gentlemanly newspaper empire and the Lavinia-seduction scandal. But at least in the early days he seemed to actually like Mary. Now he just seems to want to hurt-slash-control her.
4. Lavinia’s sudden death. We’ve touched on this already, but sheesh. It’s just a little too convenient, isn’t it? Also, we hope Cora eventually realizes that it was her scheming that killed Lavinia—she shouldn’t have invited her back to Chateau Quarantine.
Next Sunday the much-talked-about Christmas special airs—thankfully—so some of our concerns may be all for naught. At the very least, will it hint that Matthew and Mary eventually do hook up? We can always forgive a shark jump if it comes with a promise to resolve unrequited love. Stay tuned for our recap next week! You can catch new episodes of Downton Abbey Sunday nights at 9 p.m on PBS
In the meantime, tell us what you thought of the episode and you could win a DVD prize pack of Season One and Season Two, courtesy of eOne Films. And be sure to come back because we’ll be selecting a new winner each week!
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6 Responses to “Downton Abbey recap: We feel rushed through the two-hour season finale, avoid the Spanish flu, and worry about jumping the shark”
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Downton Abbey – the fashion and costumes are incredible. Should be checked out.
They certainly pulled out all the stops for this episode. A bit over the top at times but definitely still entertaining. Though I never considered Downton Abbey to be a “graceful period piece”, more like a really posh soap opera.
I worry that the show is moving at too rapid a pace to keep going much longer. That said, I consider it to be a guilty pleasure which I look forward to watching every week.
And I think you meant descent, not decent, for number 3 above.
Prior to Sunday’s episode, Downton Abbey has always proceeded at a slow, regal pace… when suddenly this week, all hell breaks loose and we’re careening madly from calamity to redemption and back again!
That being said, I love watching the show and am highly amused by your comments. It’s like you’re inside my head!
what!? that was the season finale? say it ain’t so! it went from somberly weepy to the creepy mummy episode then suddenly got wrapped up in a very convenient whirl.
our hero, paralyzed with no heir? – well the doctor made a oops!
the angelic fiance getting in the way of passion? – off with her head!
need a lonely ego stroked? – well there is a maid for that!
I still love DA and am glad that none of the characters are perfect. some are bordering on crazy but hey…. Looking forward to this Christmas special “finale”. :)
what!? that was the season finale? say it ain’t so! it went from somberly weepy to the creepy mummy episode then suddenly got wrapped up in a very convenient whirl.
our hero, paralyzed with no heir? – well the doctor made a oops!
the angelic fiance getting in the way of passion? – off with her head!
need a lonely ego stroked? – well there is a maid for that!
I still love DA and am glad that none of the characters are perfect. some are bordering on crazy but hey…. Looking forward to this Christmas special “finale”. :)