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This week on Downton Abbey proved to be the most dramatic yet, as Lady Cora worried about where she was going to sit; the Earl of Grantham reluctantly agreed to live out of the small library (he was on the verge of saying: “I want to play in the big library! It’s not fair!”), but categorically refused to sacrifice his dining room to the commoners; while Carson found another excuse to exercise his withering look as Lang proved to be rather inefficient with a cufflink.
It was, in truth, a bit of a slow week, that perhaps seemed even slower as it came after a chaotic couple of episodes. Perhaps the reason for this change of pace was that writer Julian Fellowes seemed to be in a good mood for once, with nothing particularly bad happening to anyone; even Lady Edith got to have a few moments of happiness without being rejected or humiliated a few seconds later.
The episode’s big story was that Downton was being transformed into a convalescent home, but this was, really, the backdrop to the troubled lives of Downton’s fledgling couples. Couple No. 1, of course, being Matthew and Lady Mary. Matthew was, once again, granted leave from the army in order to enjoy another of Downton’s dinner parties. (If there’s one thing Downton teaches you, it’s that you can never have too many dinner parties. Or too much Maggie Smith.) Again, the would-be lovebirds got on better than ever, with Mary’s evil streak, again, being all too repressed. But with Lavinia not being the “harlot” that we had all hoped she would be, it looks like we’re going to be waiting a little longer before anything interesting happens.
Couple No. 2, Anna and Bates, didn’t get much further either, only being granted a brief scene in which she offered to be his mistress, to which he, in a nutshell, said “no”. It was certainly disappointing that this was all we got to see of Bates after being absent last week, and it highlighted Downton’s fundamental problem that it tries to cram so many characters and stories in, that it doesn’t leave time for any of them to breathe.
But did couple No. 3 get on any better? (It’s a bit like Blind Date this, isn’t it? Next we’ll be talking to “our Graham”! And people say Saturday night TV has declined…) Couple No. 3 are, in case you hadn’t guessed, William and the delightful Daisy, who (sorry Miss O’Brien) is my favourite Downton character, with actress Sophie McShera brilliantly displaying the character’s innocence and ‘deep’ thought processes. This week, however, she didn’t get much chance to think things through, being coerced by Mrs Patmore into getting engaged to William. He, of course, was over the moon, convinced he’d found his Kate, but judging by how quickly storylines have been carried out in this series, we won’t have to wait long for his inevitable heartbreak.
So, really, nothing much happened this week, with the road to true love being far too uneventful for my liking, but at least we can expect a bit more excitement next week, as (duh, duh, duh!) Matthew goes missing, and Lady Sybil goes all righteous on us. Again.
Downton Abbey continues on Sunday.
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