Anyone Watching Downton Abbey?

[demon_rum]

I've never understood soap operas. I hated shows like Melrose Place. The last time I watched a TV show with dedication bordering on fervor was mumble X-Files mumble. And then there's Downton Abbey.

By the time we finally get it pirated from The Internet a full day after it shows in England (thanks, Internet! ITV can suck it for delaying the US

Comments

[coeurdesoleil]

I am! I am watching it rather religiously in fact. I usually have to wait for a download too, but a couple of weeks ago, my flatmate - who is even more invested in it than I am - found a livestream online so now we are actually watching it as it airs yay!

Omg I hated Mary so much during the first season and I didn't ship Matthew/Mary at all, but now I am OTP-ing them so hard and I actually like Mary. She was horrible to Carson, but she was hurt and I think she feels very lonely, and she's been so much more likeable this season that I guess I'll let this one slide.

I am torn about Sybil because I do like her and Branson together but he is also kinda a douche.

Hmm I need a Downton icon...

[demon_rum]

sadly, there is no legal way to get it here until January (oftentimes, we can't even watch videos on the BBC websites, which was a real bummer during the first year of Torchwood). That's so stupid: we would happily pay for it,like we did with Dr Who.

I actually like Mary MUCH more than last year, but Mr. Carson is so sweet and upright, and was willing to sacrifice so much for her! And she just took out her own unhappiness on him, which she does with alarming frequency. (see: her treatment of Ethel.)

I totally shipped Matthew/Mary last season, but for some reason Lavinia has really won me over. IDK why... and Branson! I was with him 100% until he said that killing the Tsar's family was "sad but necessary". Sorry, Branson, but I'm out.

It's odd: Thomas makes me most sad... he's a turd, but i just can't imagine being gay 100 years ago. He needs an outlet.

[coeurdesoleil]

I feel you. Usually it is impossible for me to get anything the legal way without waiting for months (although recently I discovered Tunnel Bear which actually tricks BBC into letting me watch shows on their iPlayer), but for some reason this live stream actually works for us.

Idk I still feel like I don't really know who Lavinia is. She's just... there, and I have no idea what she likes, what her interests are, etc. I wish they would give her more depth.
Ugh yeah. I was out as soon as he started emotionally manipulating Sybil but dammit Allen Leech is so charming that I keep getting dragged back in.

Oh Thomas, Thomas, Thomas. I intensely disliked him during the entire first season, but now.. he's a much more fleshed out character this season and it makes it so much easier to feel for him, even when he is a twat. I would like to see his and O'Brien's relationship explored more though, and I am also curious as to why O'Brien is so bitter and mean-spirited all the time.

[demon_rum]

it's a bit ridiculous how things are parcelled out, isnt it? I would have happily paid $15 or so see a digital performance of David Tennant as Hamlet ... why don't people think of those things? Also, have they not noticed that maybe people in other parts of Europe would also like to watch TV? Italian TV is a particularly bad example. It's like 4 garbage state channels, an everything else is expensive premium, and a lot of it it blocked. WHY

no one in Britain knows about entailment, either

[bunn]

??? Oh go on. Surely we do? Isn't the concept essential to genteel 30's detective novels?

(I'm sure there are British people who have NEVER read or watched genteel 30's detective stories, even with their Mums. But I am choosing to believe that these barbarians are in the minority. *sticks fingers in ears, hums loudly* )

Re: no one in Britain knows about entailment, either

[demon_rum]

didn't everyone grow up reading Enid Blyton, and thinking that every british child ever went away to schools and came backs for The Hols, when they could ride their favorite Welsh Pony about the estate?

and put fake ink blots on the writing pad of the horrid French mistress?

also, I was fascinated by the concept of knitted jumpers as a kid. Why would you know a *dress*?

how do you define genteel detective stories? Are we talking Dorothy Sayers?

Re: no one in Britain knows about entailment, either

[bunn]

I am now imagining the childhood of the small Rum entirely clad in tight black jumpsuits. Are you sure you are not really the child of ninjas ?

Sayers, yes, but Agatha Christie too. I'm sure Christie is constantly going on about entailed estates. Michael Innes. Etc. Basically, any crime fiction where scones are featured. Or doilies. Or butlers. Ie, most of it. :-D

Re: no one in Britain knows about entailment, either

[demon_rum]

gmail ate my comment, apparently...

I was a ninja, but a very clumsy one. It's hard to be sneaky when you trip over the furniture, etc.

case in point: last night, I was waving my arms about in anger (something about politics, no doubt) and managed to knock over an entire pint of freshly made tea, straight onto the bed my DH the Captain had laundered and remade approx 6 minutes earlier. *blush*

Oh Agatha Christie, she terrified me so. I have fond recollections of reading Sleeping Murder in the middle of my mother's queen size bed (max distance from the walls, so I could see if anything was coming after me), all the lights on and music playing for some reason. SO SCARED.

[misspamela]

LOVE Downton, but haven't seen last week's due to busy. Will come back and comment with my feeeeeeeelings.

(Basically summed up as: The Dowager Countess is flawless.)

[demon_rum]

summary of this week: eeeeeeeeeee!

also: Nooooooooo!

And the Doager Countess is The Best (so long as she's on your side.)

[ladytiferet]

I've mentioned it to you, I think, that I kept hate-shipping Jemima's character with Wickham until they made him kind of a good guy (he was still entertaining though) ;)

[demon_rum]

ha! I KNEW someone had recommended it to me: and wasn't Wickham just awesome in it? I really didn't like Darcy much. Also, why did all the Bennett girls look the same age, i.e. 13? I could not figure that out.

anyway, way more fun than it should have been. DARCY IN THE LAKE? hahaha!

[ladytiferet]

He was fantastic! Definitely the most interesting and the most intelligent guy there ;)
I wasn't a big fan of Darcy, though he was pretty handsome and nicely built and looked good in the water :D

[demon_rum]

I actually thought that miss Price's boyfriend was more appealing, when he sold off his motorcycle to get them a vacation. Better than moody grumpy-pants. Elizabeth was smart to bugger off to modern times.

I LOVED how Wickham was so unlike himself in Austen. Much better than the 1996 version, for sure, and so competent! Why did Amanda or Amelia or whatever not choose him? The number of times he hauled her ass out of the fire...

[demon_rum]

TRY IT. TRY IT. YOU WILL PROBABLY HAVE LOTS OF FUN.

if nothing else, the outfits are gooooorgeous! I could just stare all day every day at their hats.

if I had encountered graphic slash fic at age 11,I think i would have died of horror. Actually (shame on me), I was pretty freaked out about gay people in general, mostly because I didn't think I knew any. Then my boyfriend came out to me (YAY?) and I was like "oh, I have been lied to my whole life." THE END.