Downton Abbey (British version)

An ovarian cyst? That's pretty common.

I thought it was funny that she wouldn't say. She can make babies with him but can't tell him what, exactly, was wrong with her lady parts.

It reminded me of how they got around Matthew saying he wouldnt get married because he couldn't get his freak on.

Season 4 is confirmed.
Now can Edith PLEASE find someone age-and-emotionally appropriate who loves her too? Sheesh.

mokey75 wrote:Season 4 is confirmed.
Now can Edith PLEASE find someone age-and-emotionally appropriate who loves her too? Sheesh.

Yeah, that's not going to happen. Edith will get shafted, O'Brien will be an evil cow and the Drama Llama twins will be doing their thing. Oh, and Robert will be an ass.

Needless to say, the Dowager Countess will pwn them all.

Isn't Matthew leaving the show, though?

JULIAN FELLOWES RUINED CHRISTMAS.

I was so angry. So angry. I just...ANGER.

Though apparently, Dan Stevens didn't give him much choice. I would have hoped Fellowes could come up with something better than this, but I doubt I would have been all that thrilled with anything he conjured up to get rid of Matthew. What a bummer. Given the thrust of the series and the idea they could eventually make it about Mary and Matthew as masters of Downton, it makes so little sense to have Matthew gone. Ugh. I almost wish they had just recast Matthew instead of killing him off.

I don't know if a recast would have worked for me in this case. I kind of wish they had just had Matthew go to America for business opportunities or something, and then have Mary mention visiting him, or him just having left because every episode is like months apart anyway. That is not much better of an idea but at least Matthew would be alive.

Julian Fellowes you ARE an utter bastard.

Happy birthday, Jesus. Sorry Julian Fellowes ruined your party.

After reading that article, it just seems like an extra Eff You to Dan Stevens. "Oh, you want to leave this to try other things? Well, I'm going to KILL YOU OFF, so you can't even come back if you change your mind. HA!" And it just seems extra cruel after killing off Sybil. I know this is basically a soap opera, but as others have said, it would have worked just as well to have Matthew off in America (or wherever).

Gah! Julian Fellowes, YOU ARE WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!

People on ONTD are going HARD on Dan Stevens too, acting like hes a prima donna for wanting to strike while the iron is hot. My love however is not fairweather, and I hope Dan Stevens remembers that...

And yes, I think Jessica Brown Findlay asked to leave because she landed the lead in A Winters Tale. He didn't really have to kill her either. Sybil and Tom could have just been in Ireland and made occasional visits.

selfish bastard. "you will stay or I will MURDER YOU."

I fear he will go after Carson next.

It's IMO clumsy and bad writing. And rather unnecessary, having Matthew somewhere off-screen half the time wouldn't be any worse than the mess Fellowes has created now. I know that it always happens when an actor leaves a popular series, but I don't get the jibes about "ungrateful" Stevens. I'm not exactly wowed by his work on the show either and based on that somewhat skeptical about his chances of becoming a big star outside of the niche he's made for himself already (I might be totally off-base about that, of course), but he's certainly not obligated to stay on forever and ever.

I rather enjoy his work but I don't even think he is actively trying to be a star, the vibe I got from that interview he gave was that he just didn't feel all that into DA anymore and wanted to try other stuff (I gathered he was NOT a fan of the Matthew Gets His Groove Back storyline).

Genevieve wrote:selfish bastard. "you will stay or I will MURDER YOU."

LOL

I understand Dan Stevens has to do what he feel he must for his career, and while the people on ONTD are probably more invested than most, I still think he might get a bit of blowback from this. People don't like actors screwing up their ships, and plus, I think he kind of put his foot in it kind of talking down about Downton. (I don't know if he was misquoted or really kind of dissed it... I'm not even saying he was wrong given I wasn't a huge fan of S2, but people don't take kindly to being told they are watching stupid stuff!)

I rather enjoy his work but I don't even think he is actively trying to be a star, the vibe I got from that interview he gave was that he just didn't feel all that into DA anymore and wanted to try other stuff (I gathered he was NOT a fan of the Matthew Gets His Groove Back storyline).

Heh, JF has certainly thrown all sorts of ridiculous stuff at all of them, hasn't he? So I guess the fairer assessment of his performance would be to say that IMO some of the others in the cast are able to transcend the nonsense they're given better than he does, but even then they often have flashier, more colourful nonsense to work with...I enjoyed him a lot more in Sense and Sensibility, so perhaps it's just the Downton character specifically that doesn't really work for me. And not wanting to continue doing a series and looking for different things is understandable.

I think my favorite wtf storyline might be that time Edith is so sad and pathetic she tries to get the family to believe that random soldier is in fact the cousin who went down on the Titanic. Or the time she has an affair with a gap toothed farmer.

Edith's life sucks, man.

All of Edith's suitors look exactly the same to me for some reason. I can't keep track of which emotionally unavailable old man they have her hooked up with this week.

Rewatching the beginning of S3 again makes me sad all over about how it turned out. That Xmas special really bummed me out. Somehow, Matthew's stubbornness re: the inheritance and Bates being forever stuck in prison don't seem that terrible plot developments now. lol I'm even looking forward to Edith being jilted at the altar, one of the less terrible things to happen to the Crawley sisters this series.

spidey_88 wrote:All of Edith's suitors look exactly the same to me for some reason. I can't keep track of which emotionally unavailable old man they have her hooked up with this week.

Here's how you tell them apart: 1) Melty face 2) Bad arm 3) Michael Palin.

OH MY GOD thank you. I knew the editor looked like someone. And that I only liked him because of that.

Maybe its a brilliant new narrative short-hand. Cast a guy who looks like Michael Palin, and he will be immediately read as nice no matter how thinly he is developed.

Decca wrote:OH MY GOD thank you. I knew the editor looked like someone. And that I only liked him because of that.

Maybe its a brilliant new narrative short-hand. Cast a guy who looks like Michael Palin, and he will be immediately read as nice no matter how thinly he is developed.

And yet, Julian Fellowes somehow missed the opportunity to add fish-slapping to Downton. I can think of a few characters that deserved it.