Rod Dreher

Life In Prison For Unwanted Barbering?

Cousin Violet, Ah Luv Yew

By Rod Dreher • February 5, 2013, 4:15 PM

So, I held out for two years, but my wife finally got me hooked on Downton Abbey, and basically, if the Dowager Countess and Mr. Carson ran everything, what a wonderful world it would be. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. Anyway, I’m just about caught up with Season Three — watched the Season Three premiere last night, and now have just a few episodes to go; don’t give me any spoilers in the comments thread! This is just to let you Downton watchers a heads-up that for the rest of the season, I’ll be hosting an open discussion thread here after the Sunday night PBS broadcast.

Posted in Culture. Tagged Dowager Countess, Downton Abbey, Maggie Smith.

30 Responses to Cousin Violet, Ah Luv Yew

thomas tucker says:

February 5, 2013 at 4:51 pm

Excellent.
Free John Bates!
Scott Nunn says:

February 5, 2013 at 4:52 pm

It had me from day one, the first time they ironed a newspaper for Lord Grantham. Not to mention that I’m an over the top Anglophile and feel about Evensong at Westminster Abbey probably about the way you feel about dinner on Paris.
but… I think a big part of the appeal of this show is a longing for the deliberate ordered lives they lead and also for the pride they take in their stations in life. and the dowager lady’s zingers don’t hurt, either. cheers
surly says:

February 5, 2013 at 4:57 pm

I held out too, and finally got hooked over the holidays. I’m all caught up and cannot WAIT for the discussion! I am looking forward to dissecting why this show, which is essentially a soap opera, is so compelling, and I think your readers will be a fantastic discussion group.
KSW says:

February 5, 2013 at 5:08 pm

I still love this show after three series (seasons), but had to change the title to Downer Abbey in the current season for obvious reasons.
KateLE says:

February 5, 2013 at 5:18 pm

I love the series too, and particularly enjoy the Dowager Countess’ zingers. That said, the kind of world that the Dowager Countess and Mr. Carson ran was very pleasant for a few and miserably wretched for the majority, so… no, not really a wonderful world. I’ll point you once more to the BBC documentary The Manor House for a more realistic (though significantly less fun) look at what life was like ‘in service’. Don’t you remember the scene where the Countess thought a villager should be denied the latest treatment at the hospital that might save his life because “they will all come to expect it”?
David J. White says:

February 5, 2013 at 5:41 pm

One of the things that Downton Abbey shows, I think — as did the original Upstairs, Downstairs is that in many ways the downstairs folks are every bit as snobby, if not more so, than the upstairs folks, in terms of asserting the pecking order and making sure that everyone knows — and stays in — his or her place. I think this is something that Americans have trouble understanding: that a class system can be just as comfortable and reassuring for the people on the bottom as for those on the top, by giving them an acknowledged place.

In a sense, the class system cracked not because the downstairs folks didn’t want to be servants any more, but because after WWI the ruling class didn’t want to be a ruling class anymore. Not only with Sybil wanting to be a suffragette, but remember that Matthew was ready to kick Moseley to the curb because he felt uncomfortable having someone else pick out his cufflinks. And Sybil and Matthew represent the future.

As I read recently in another context, a bit difference between the old aristocracy and the new meritocracy/credentialocracy is that the old aristocracy had a sense not only of its privileges, but the fact that privilege was accompanied by obligation. Note how Lord Grantham tried to get the Army to take him back. If he had had a son, surely the son would have been in uniform. The same can’t be said for our own ruling class. How many members of Congress have children in the military? But after WWI, the ruling class started to get tired of the obligations they felt their position impressed upon them.
Beyng says:

February 5, 2013 at 5:44 pm

Here’s a spoiler:

I originally watched Season 1 of Downton Abbey thinking it a middling but entertaining and sometimes evocative, illuminating portrait of a dying aristocratic order. The aesthetic was also appealing. I enjoyed it for what it was: a sincere, if flawed, drama.

Even if one accepts the show on its own nostalgic terms (yay for the rise of the bourgeoisie, but also yay for the noblesse oblige of the landed elites!), the show has since become so absurd, so cloying, so stilted that I look forward to Sunday evenings primarily on account of the unintentional comedic value of the series. The causes of such amusement seem to be rooted in the sudden departure of important actors for “bigger things,” excessive melodrama, increasingly poor script-writing, and a loss of orientation regarding where, exactly, the plot is supposed to be going. (Season 1 presented a much clearer picture in this respect.)

At this point, I frankly fail to see how anyone can watch this show without a substantial helping of irony.
Beyng says:

February 5, 2013 at 5:44 pm

I should have added: FLAME AWAY!
Susan D. says:

February 5, 2013 at 5:49 pm

Sigh. My sister finally finagled me into watching the first episode this season. Now I’m hooked. I’ll probably start watching the previous seasons on Amazon Prime. Damn.
Church Lady says:

February 5, 2013 at 6:02 pm

Still haven’t seen it. But I did finally get caught up on The Walking Dead, which was worth it in a different sort of way.
surly says:

February 5, 2013 at 6:17 pm

I don’t know that they got tired exactly David–they just ran out of money. Downton has been very forthright about the economics of running a big house. It’s like the old joke about wineries–do you know how to make small fortune with a winery? Start off with a big fortune!

Lord Grantham needed two big capital infusions to save Downton–the first from his wife, and the second from his son-in-law. Not exactly a sustainable business model. And he resented it when Matthew pushed him to use the manor resources more efficiently.

I see Downton as an allegory for empire, and to a lesser extent, a cautionary tale for those who spend beyond their means to keep up appearances.
Liam says:

February 5, 2013 at 7:18 pm

It would have been more interesting to have Eileen Atkins or several other worthies than Dame Maggie in this role, though.

For me, anything with Elizabeth McGovern is usually very worth watching. Glad they finally made a bit more use of her in this episode.

Having cut my teeth on Upstairs Downstairs during its original American airing four decades ago, I have to say D.A. is trashier (though not as slummingly lurid as The Grand was, though The Grand had a great cast….) and wastes a lot of subplots badly. U.D. had the advantage of a clearer demarcation of Upstairs and Downstairs, with only one main character in the No Man’s Land between them (the fabulous character of Hazel). The great conflicts of aristo values, middle-class values, working class values, and servant class values (though this week’s D.A. episode tees those up precisely for a change, plus several other key demographic divisions). And U.D. benefitted immensely from a longer exposition of pre-WW1 culture, the fuller effects of the War, and the immediate aftermath; D.A. is been extraordinarily wasteful of those years, and has gotten too far head chronologically (3 seasons covering 8 years) for those three daughters….
Patrick Shea says:

February 5, 2013 at 7:19 pm

One of these days I’ll have to give Downton another go, but I quit watching after the first season. The writing and much of the acting was just too dodgy for me. It doesn’t ring true the same way that the original Upstairs Downstairs series or the Merchant Ivory films do. Plus, the Downton dialogue is too full of anachronisms and modern figures of speech. That ruins the illusion for me. Gosford Park had many of the same cringe-worthy flaws. Why don’t they just convince Maggie Smith to do a one-woman-show and dispense with the rest?
Andrea says:

February 5, 2013 at 7:56 pm

PBS cuts parts of the episodes so I usually buy the DVD and watch the uncut UK version. I saw all of season three over the course of the last three days.

At this point my favorites in the series are Matthew’s do-gooder mother, Isobel; Sybil’s husband Branson, the Irish revolutionary chauffeur, and Lady Edith, the middle sister. I like rebels. But the love story of Bates and Anna is touching.

My people were the maids and the farmers and other below stairs folk, not aristocrats.
SDS says:

February 5, 2013 at 8:02 pm

Good G*D!
For a second I thought you were watching Phyllis Schlafly!!
BradleyP says:

February 5, 2013 at 9:05 pm

Somehow, this excellent, campy show is even better with a good glass of Scotch in hand. Try it and you’ll see!

It sure was a shock last week when Lord Grantham got caught by the upstairs maid in his leather studded dog collar and corset! (Doh, sorry about the spoiler.)
DeeAnn says:

February 5, 2013 at 9:18 pm

Yeah!! Can’t wait!

I admire how there is obligation not only for military service, as mentioned above, but also for taking care of loyal servants. And this isn’t a spoiler because it’s not a major plot, but just in case, you haven’t seen this one yet Rod……The scene with Lady Grantham and a servant who was worried about some medical issues, was very touching. It wasn’t about the bottom line, but about taking care of the people who work for you.
KateLE says:

February 5, 2013 at 10:23 pm

DeeAnn – this was a work of fiction. Real life was not like that for servants.
Siarlys Jenkins says:

February 5, 2013 at 10:37 pm

that a class system can be just as comfortable and reassuring for the people on the bottom as for those on the top

I see no evidence that the “pecking order” in the servants quarters is in any way “comfortable and reassuring.” By all evidence, and even in the muted drama of Downton Abbey (or the more obvious Upstairs Downstairs) it is brutal, capricious, degrading, leaves most of the servants doubly exploited, ruthless, and anything but “reassuring.”
Judith says:

February 5, 2013 at 10:45 pm

I agree with Patrick Shea about the intrusion of modern figures of speech. But most costume dramas, which put a lot of research into the clothing and decor, don’t seem to put as much effort into the history of colloquial expressions. The “eyesore” last week was when Mathew said what a “learning curve” he had been on since coming to Downton…
The Nebraskan in Exile says:

February 5, 2013 at 10:50 pm

I’m with Beyng. The first season was relatively good quality, and I enjoyed it. The second season was horribly soapy. Now my wife and I have essentially quit watching (we may still decide to suffer through the rest) after two episodes of the third season, after it became apparent that the writers are going to take the most obvious way out every time.

Actually, I have a pet theory that Downton is the life history of a set of minor characters from an Austen novel, but that particular ridiculous argument may end up being published elsewhere, so I won’t recount it here.
M_Young says:

February 6, 2013 at 1:09 am

It’s lost some steam, for sure. But like they say about rock bands — you have 20 years to write first album, 20 months to write your second.

Compared to just about anything else on American television, even the third season is a stand out. And you all know what I’m talking about.

What is remarkable is that there has been a wonderful, self-imposed, willed ignorance on this side of the Atlantic, and the restraint on the other side of the Atlantic (they have already seen the entire 3rd season.)

So we can reverse Wittgenstein. Wovon mann viel sprechen kann, muss mann schweigen.
Heather says:

February 6, 2013 at 2:42 am

Beyng wrote: the show has since become so absurd, so cloying, so stilted that I look forward to Sunday evenings primarily on account of the unintentional comedic value of the series.
=========
I think that is largely a result of how the TV series industry model works though .

Even if you plan your attention grabbing story for one year, to “make a hit,” and also trying to get the second year approved, you really don’t know if there will be a second. It’s much easier to write one year than five, while having to sustain the interest, the rhythm, the drama, the suspense, the over-arching climaxes, etc. And usually that first year was really very thought out. The rest becomes like sausage making.

For most of the series I enormously like at first, I already prepare myself that it will only be good for a year, at the very, very max, two. Then it usually goes downhill every time.
Niall says:

February 6, 2013 at 4:30 am

I knew you’d like it if you gave it a try! I was hooked from the start as well – but that was to be expected, I suppose.

One of the best bits about the English countryside is that you’re forever coming across stately homes (Highclere Castle, which plays Downton Abbey, is about an hour’s drive from me and there are probably half a dozen within a day’s walk). They might not all be as impressive as Highclere, but there’s something to be said for almost all of them, and they embody something profoundly English and enduring.

One thing that deeply saddens the Hobbity part of my soul is when you come across a country house that was obviously once set in a magnificent rural estate in splendid isolation, but has now been enveloped on all sides by sprawling suburbs, or has been subdivided into offices, or taken over by some seedy Russian oil billionaire who puts barbed wire fences and notices warning about guard dogs along the rights of way across the estate. Maybe that’s terribly reactionary and anti-democratic of me, and no doubt it’s all progress of a sort, but it’s still sad, just as it’s sad that over one thousand stately homes were demolished in Britain during the 20th century.
Nickp says:

February 6, 2013 at 7:58 am

basically, if the Dowager Countess and Mr. Carson ran everything, what a wonderful world it would be.

Mr. Carson is just a little too rigid. Substitute Mrs. Hughes for Mr. Carson, and you might be on to something.

In Season 3, I think William’s father is becoming a rather interesting character from a crunchy-con point of view: prosperous farmer, cognizant of the value of land and community, but forward thinking and lacking any illusions about the foibles of the aristocracy. Or maybe I’m reading too much into a few short scenes…
Roger Hallman says:

February 6, 2013 at 9:03 am

We bought an HD antenna specifically so we could watch Downton, but had too much garbled signal. (I miss the days of analog.). So I found a website from the UK from which we could stream the whole thing. I won’t spoil it for you, but I will say that the Dowager Countess is my favorite character. She gets the best lines.
Mike says:

February 6, 2013 at 10:52 am

You should watch “Secrets of the Manor House,” which is available on You Tube. It will give a bit of a reality check to the presentation you get from “Downton Abbey,” which I love. Having the Dowager Countess and the stuffy, rigid butler Carson running the world would not be my ideal by any stretch.
Juan C. Marrero says:

February 6, 2013 at 11:55 am

It’s no great work of art.

The Dowager Countess is just a one-line put down machine. The premise is, I suppose, that she is crusty but has a heart of gold. Why couldn’t she just be crusty? (Thelma Ritter made a career of this same schtick sans the British accent).

The Bates subplot is awful. I hope they have the sense–for drama’s sake–to hang and be done with him.

Shirley Mc–at least in the first two episodes of season three–seems to be doing some kind of imitation of Mae West, rolling her eyes and being loveably vulgar. I guess that is what the writer think is a rich American.

Lady Mary is the true unconflicted heart of the show, spoiled and pleased about it.

No great work of art, but plenty of fun.
Juan C. Marrero says:

February 6, 2013 at 11:58 am

It’s no great work of art.

The Dowager Countess is just a one-line put down machine. The premise is, I suppose, that she is crusty but has a heart of gold. Why couldn’t she just be crusty? (Thelma Ritter made a career of this same schtick sans the British accent).

The Bates subplot is awful. I hope they have the sense–for drama’s sake–to hang and be done with him.

Shirley Mc–at least in the first two episodes of season three–seems to be doing some kind of imitation of Mae West, rolling her eyes and being loveably vulgar. I guess that is what the writer thinks is a rich American.

Lady Mary is the true unconflicted heart of the show, spoiled and pleased about it.

No great work of art, but plenty of fun.
Hope says:

February 6, 2013 at 12:55 pm

I came to Downton late, too, and ended up buying the DVDs to watch Seasons 1 & 2 from the beginning. Now, it’s one of the things that is making the long, dark winter liveable. We’ve had snow every day for over a week. Sunday nights are something to anticipate with hot tea and a down throw. Yum.

As for the comments that no show continues its quality level after the first season, I give you “Six Feet Under.” Priceless right to the end.