Unsinkable Costume Drama
Okay, so I stayed up til 1 AM on Thursday watching Downton Abbey, the entire 7 episode run so far, back to back.
Since this is a historical drama where Series 1 spans 1912 to 1914, it begins with a cable about the sinking of the Titanic and ends with the dawn of World War I.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, is a steady, kindly sweetheart who is loyal to his estate even above his own family. His genteel wife, Cora, played by the luminous Elizabeth McGovern, is a wealthy American heiress who has given him three daughters: the youngest, Sybil, is darling, beautiful and earnest; poor middle sister Edith, with her little Michael Cera face, is the “Jan” of the family, and only as vicious as the imperious and astonishingly self-involved eldest daughter Mary has made her.
A lot of the “family” drama, is actually below stairs with a large cast of servants, mainly following Carson the Butler, Mrs. Hughes the Housekeeper, and O’Brien, Lady Grantham’s maid, but focusing on Bates, Lord Grantham’s valet and Anna the housemaid. They have a tender and complicated relationship, but all the interactions of the entire cast are nuanced and fine. Every character is gradually revealed as a whole person. I even warmed to Mary somehow, despite the actress’s stiff little doll face, and my initial dislike of her horrid attitude. They do a brilliant job of adding humanity a grain at a time throughout the series.
The action hinges on the family losing the estate in entail to a third cousin they’ve never met. Matthew Crawley, a very good boy indeed, and his feisty mother Isobel come to Downton so that Lord Crawley can show Matthew the ropes of managing the estate. Cultures clash and class issues arise, and at the forefront of said clash are Isobel and Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, and Lord Crawley’s mother. As played by Maggie Smith, Violet is the cherry on top of a magnificent sundae of pitch-perfect dialogue, fascinating historical drama and intriguing plot.
All told, Downton Abbey is a surprisingly unstuffy costume drama – and the costumes are a huge part of the draw. Unfortunately, it seems that production of the second series has been set back, as the costumes burned in a warehouse fire. Still, I’m sure no amount of adversity will keep us from a new year of fantastic character development and new surprises.
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This show is great. Seriously. I’ve never been terribly drawn into period stuff, but I found Downton Abbey super compelling. The setting — 1910s — means that the uber-structured world of lords and ladies is just starting to give way to the modern age, so the contrast between the privileged class and the help has a really different tone to it than something that’s set in the regency period of something.
Watch it! (Also, I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but when they hear that Archduke Ferdinand has been assassinated, THIS DOES NOT BODE WELL)
You have totally spoiled history!