Downton Abbey Season Three

I'm late to the party when it comes to Downton Abbey, people know this by now.  However, that doesn't make me any less a fan, I think.  Maybe I don't spoil myself on upcoming plot threads, maybe I don't try to watch episodes immediately after they air on the BBC, and maybe I don't know the name of every actor or actress to make an appearance, but I still feel a strong connection to these characters.  I've watched them go through war, through heartache, and through personal demons that real people would have as opposed to standard soap opera characters (I'm yet to see an evil twin or anybody return from the dead, for example).

Having just completed the third season of the series, I feel it's only appropriate to give my impressions and discuss where I think the series could go from here.

Which is rather moot, since I think the new season has already mostly aired.  But still, it's my column and I'll type what I want.

First thing I want to do is discuss the characters who I felt really shone this season.  At the top of the list is Tom Branson, who went from a character I simply liked a little to a character who really came into his own this season.  The young, fiery revolutionary managed to grow and mature before our eyes, at first bringing consequences of his earlier life home to Downton, but soon after showing strength and determination in the face of problem after problem.  The way he started to meld into the family, managing to maintain his connection to the lower classes to his new responsibilities as an "upstairs" individual gave him a lot of depth, and watching him be pulled in both directions (especially by a new character in the final episode of the season) was great drama.

I also have to give a nod to Shirley MacLaine as Cora's mother, being one of the only characters I've seen able to stand up to Maggie Smith's Dowager Countess.  Watching the two actresses banter and peck at each other's sensibilities probably provided me with the most laughs out of the entire season.  Both stars were superb, but I'm spotlighting Ms. MacLaine simply because I've already established that Maggie Smith is always great, even if she was a bit more subdued in the last few episodes.

Also at the top of my list is (no big surprise) Mr. Bates, whose journey from prison back to Downton at first had me feeling impatient if only because I was pretty sure they wouldn't simply kill off such a great character, and I was rather tired of the whole "dead wife" subplot.  But watching his behavior as he managed to survive, relying on conniving and brute force when necessary reminded me that Bates actually was a soldier at one point, and watching a slight descent into his darker days gave a new level to the character.  This also had the added effect of making the happy, calm moments he had with Anna later seem even more special, as any indication of the "prison Bates" was simply gone.

For the record, Bates and Anna are still the cutest thing I've seen on television in years, and any scene the two are in just makes me smile.

I also want to highlight Lady Rose MacClare, played by Lily James.  She's not only the most energetic out of the cast, but is also the way that we're able to see how Downton compares to the advances of the rest of the country.  When watching Downton, it's easy to picture the rest of England taking place in a Renaissance time period, with buildings at most two stories tall and peasants still needing to get water from wells.  To suddenly see the characters get pulled into the actual "roaring twenties" was a stark realization that while Downton is fun to visit, you can't lose sight of what's happening in the rest of the world or you'll be left behind, a message the show kept trying to hammer home but never quite as well as when Lady Rose came to visit.

While the story line wasn't quite as focused (multiple characters had lengthy plot developments as opposed to simply "we're at war"), I did love the additional character building that occurred for many of the minor characters.  Seeing Thomas manage to behave like a human being and have the "big secret" about him finally get pushed into the light gave him some real sympathy, and it was nice to see he wasn't simply mean to everyone around him.  Even O'Brien managed to have a few moments where I found myself liking her, though I got a private thrill when I saw Bates manage to put O'Brien's plans in checkmate with the whispering of just a few words to her.

Certain plot threads did feel like they simply got dropped along the way, such as Daisy moving up in the world and the love triangle/square/rhombus/whatever going on with the young people in the "downstairs" area.  I will admit to silently hoping that one day Molesley manages to get some development, because watching him be the sad sack of the series is feeling just a bit old.

Now, obviously there are major events that occur that I'm not going to spoil in case you haven't seen them, but I am curious to see what happens after these developments.  Whether new characters will be able to replace the roles of older characters is something I'll have to see before I simply accept, and there are other characters that I hope manage to get some more story time.

For instance, out of all of the cast, Cora seems to get the least amount of time to let us learn anything new about her.  She gets one major moment where we get to see her go through a whole gamut of emotions, but besides tea and planning events I can't really remember seeing her do much else.  If she truly is Shirley MacClaine's daughter in the show, I'd expect her to be more willing to try to help bring Downton forward into the future, either with the introduction of a record player or trying to encourage new styles of music or dance among the younger people against her husband's wishes for everything to remain the same.

While I do love Maggie Smith completely, it'd also be nice to get a bit deeper into her motivations.  We see her seeming to act completely noble and completely selfish at the same time, attempting to drive away negative influences from Downton but doing her best to not have it be personal (and in fact setting up future opportunities for characters who move on).  We see her encouraging the youth she encounters to be strong and stand up for themselves, but she's quick to curtail them from doing anything that might bring shame to Downton.  I'm not sure if she's simply accepting that "the times" from when she was younger have moved on and is just silently trying to hold on to what she can, or if she's silently thrilled to see the advances that occur and is just afraid to embrace them.  

Oh, and series, please decide on what you're doing with Isobel Crowley.  It feels like she's now completely placed on the periphery of the rest of the cast, living in her own home alone and dealing with other secondary characters who had no (or limited) place at the big house.  With some of the major events that took place this season, I'd expect her to be much more important in the upcoming season and more likely to butt heads with some other major cast members.

Location-wise, it was extremely nice to see the series branch away from the high estates that the characters lived at.  While I do wholly admire the architecture of the buildings, it was great to see characters head to more urban centers and into the countryside, even to another country entirely.

Well, they went to Scotland, anyway.  It's not like they suddenly went to India or something.

I look forward to seeing the story line continue as the world around Downton presses in more and more, breaking traditions and expectations that were held for years.  Seeing "downstairs" staff communicate with "upstairs" residents sometimes like equals, watching the aristocracy needing to mingle in settings you wouldn't find them normally, and watching more and more technological advances seep in might be the most fascinating thing about the series.  There's another program I enjoyed called The Supersizers that showed what culinary advances were around in different decades, and I remember the one about the 1920s involving diet pills and laxatives for ladies as "skinny" became the big thing.  

I look forward to the upcoming season and seeing what new twists and developments can come out of this one big house, as well as seeing what new and interesting characters it can introduce.