#(spoiler. he was not nice to mr molesley)

[thisbluespirit]

well. also in things i did not expect, posting this and mentioning Max Brown in the tags was for those two to coincide in such an, uh, up close and personal way. :-o

Me, watching The Tudors for the first time (eventually; I sort of stopped partway through s1 but I came back). Me, also a person who has watched all of Downton Abbey (sorry).

Me (in things I did not expect): omg Mr Molesley is leading the whole of Yorkshire in rebellion!

[olehistorian]

Ok. So here’s my Downton Abbey: A New Era review: not really spoiler-y, but might be if you’ve not seen it yet.

I just saw the film this afternoon. The theatre was full, approximately 100 women and about two men. Many came in groups and sat together.

I plan on going back next week because I’m sure I missed some things and I just want to go again.

In my humble opinion A New Era was much, much better than the first movie. Honestly, I can now pretend that the first movie was some bizarre Julian Fellowes dream - a la Bobby Ewing in the shower. All the out of character things never happened. Molesley never made an idiot out of himself in front of the King and Queen and the downstairs crew weren’t running around scheming and playing the tricksters.

A New Era is the movie that should have been made in 2018. I think it hit the right tone between comedy and drama. I would have loved more of a true downstairs plot line, but there were a few nuggets of fan fiction-y stuff to keep me happy.

🗝🍷Chelsie - Seeing Charlie and Elsie at home, reading in bed was worth the price of admission alone, even though it was a short scene. I liked that Elsie was less snippy with Charlie in this movie as opposed to the first film. She was once again the nippy-sweetie as opposed to just being nippy. She was genuinely empathetic to Charlie at the end of the movie when they’ve learned not so shocking news. That’s the Elsie Hughes I’ve come to know and love; don’t know where she was in the first film, but I’m glad she’s back. Same with Charlie. We got to see his different sides, not just grumpy bear. The scene with Mary was touching; I love when Charlie shows his father figure, tender side. Chelsie have obviously settled into a happy marriage and all appears right in their world. Also, in the role reversal scene, Elsie was every inch the upstairs countess. I’d have loved to hear Charlie and Elsie’s conversation about her costume. I have a feeling he was impressed.

Mrs. Patmore - at one point, Mrs. P. looked like she’d just rolled up from her house of ill repute. 🤭😉 But, I’m here for it. The scene with her plotting at the dinner table was funny, and sweet. Mrs. P deserves a happy ending. You go, girl!

Daisy - was much less annoying than normal. Obviously, marriage agrees with her. I enjoyed seeing her and Andy settling into young married life.

Baxley- the movie theatre erupted into applause. Nothing more needs to be said.

Anna and Bates - they are happy. Finally.

Thomas - hopefully, he will finally be happy.

Denker - wtf happened to her hair?

I’m less interested in the upstairs folks, but that doesn’t mean I’m uninterested.

Mary - where is the Blessed Lady Mary? Hello? 😂 Seriously, I like Mary when she’s nice, but I like her bitchy side too. We got one snide remark at Edith’s expense. Maybe Mary has matured which is good because it is clear that she’s the new Dowager. Her life has already paralleled that of her grandmother even down to the type of marriage they have/had with semi-absentee husbands. Still, Mary’s quip game needs some work to live up to her grandmother’s standards.

Edith - is using her brain again. Thank goodness for that.

Cora and Robert - are blissfully happy, but why is Robert so tan?

Tom and Lucy - will be living at Felsham Hall. I wonder what Lady Jane thinks about that?🤔

The Dowager - Dame Maggie Smith - 👏🏻👏🏻. I was warned about the last 30 mins of the film, and that analysis was correct. Two hankies were definitely needed. A group of 20 year olds sitting down from me were sniffling too as were some other ladies at the opposite end.

I will say that seeing a few of the actors was a bit jarring as they have, quite naturally, aged (haven’t we all?). It reminded me that Downton can’t go on forever with all the same actors. Of course, I’d love a tv spin off with the Carson’s running their B&B with Mrs. P and Mr. Mason popping by, perhaps little Johnny Bates comes by after school for cookies. Ah, fan fiction!

It seems like Julian Fellowes has tied up all the loose ends neatly. Carson is back in charge, Cora will live, and Mary is facing up to her destiny as Downton matriarch.

If this is Downton’s farewell, I’m well-satisfied.

[angel-princess-anna]

Anna x Bates in A New Era

Sorry for the wait, but here is a summary of Anna and Bates in Downton Abbey: A New Era! I’ve been extremely busy this past week and I had to make sure that I had as much of this as accurate as possible, as I still haven’t seen this for myself. Thank you to everyone who messaged me, and special thanks to my bestie @lovelikewildness!

Reminder, I have yet to see this movie myself, but I do believe that this is a fairly accurate summary. I’ve tried to leave opinion out of this to make it objective.

SPOILERS | SPOILERS | SPOILERS | SPOILERS | SPOILERS

tl;dr: Anna and Bates don’t have a personal plot in the movie and lack screen time. :/ There's really only two scenes where they are by themselves.

The wedding montage is at the beginning of the movie. The reception's the only we scene with Anna and Bates with Johnny [using the spelling from the companion book, it’s been swapped back to a -y from the -ie of the DA 2019 script], although it does seem like there might be a few angles that aren’t not in the trailer. There's no dialogue with them there, and the photo taking part seems to be the last part of them there.

Then they have scenes in the servants hall with Daisy and Andy about the actors coming. Anna and Daisy are excited. Bates says something like "you'll make me and Andy jealous". Then A/B go out of the servants hall, talking about Bates going to France. He says "you'll be left alone with Guy Dexter" and she says "chance would be a fine thing.” But they're smiling about it, it's the clip of them in the hallway. However, it seems like Anna doesn't actually really moon over him that much though, that's more Daisy. Later the servants are back in the servants hall, and A/B are in the rocking chairs, Anna excited about the actress and her being from the same background, Bates says be careful not to get her hopes up.

The other scene they have with just them is outside when he's getting ready to go off to France. Bates says "you'll enjoy yourself here" (talking about the filming), then he says "make sure Johnny keeps his nose clean" and Anna says "I will do, sir" (My bestie points out it's definitely "sir" and not "Mr Bates"), and it's playful.

So Bates goes to France, and there really isn't a sightseeing thing going, just him and Baxter exiting a building at one point (the clip from Behind the Lens). And then there is the scene with Carson and him talking to Baxter about her and Molesley.

Meanwhile, Anna has been assigned to see after the actress. But it's Daisy Daisy who is the more obvious fangirl, and also the one who tells the actress to snap out of it (Anna actually thinks maybe Daisy is being a little too impertinent). Anna doesn't really have a lot of scenes with Mary. There's a little bit around the filming, then one in Mary's bedroom. Anna asks if Mary is missing Henry. Then Mary asks about the filming, and Anna says that guys are nice, but the actress is disappointing. She says she thought that she might be friends with her, as they have similar backgrounds. We don't see A/B together again until the servants are told about being extras in the film (that's when they're with the others at the bottom of the stairs), and Anna's really excited. Then them being in the dining room, sitting next to each other (Anna is at one head of the table, then John to her left) but they don't say anything to each other, just smile. They also smile at each other during the Baxley proposal, and she touches him on the arm.

We see them standing next to each other in the line of servants outside the Abbey, then they walk together following the hearse in procession for Violet's funeral.

At the very end when Tom and Lucy come with their baby, and the servants come down to see them in the front hall. A/B enter together, and Anna is very smiley to see the baby.

(My bestie does point out that other downstairs couples got cottage scenes and whatnot so... yeah :/ Fellowes pretty much gave us zip. Okay, this part here isn’t objective whoops).

[archivistofnerddom]

So I just saw Downton Abbey: A New Era. I’ve got some thoughts and had some emotions. Be warned, I’ll have some vague spoilers in here.

Baxter and Molesley made me so happy in this one. FUCKING FINALLY!!!!

Sidebar, Mr. Molesley is finally getting all the love and respect he deserves. It’s about damn time!

Edith and Mary getting to be proper sisters to one another is long overdue. I love that they can snark at one another, but those comments don’t come from a mean place. They come from a light-hearted familial place. It’s just two sisters being sisters and doing the “I love you, but I’m also the only one who is allowed talk shit about you; anyone else who tries will be summarily punched out” thing. They’re hug towards the end where they just leaned into one another should get so much recognition. Edith and Mary have come a long way in their relationship and they’re both better for it.

I cried. If you’ve seen the movie, you know why.

My headcanon that Tom Branson is Violet Crawley’s favorite grandchild still stands. Him calling her by her given name (especially after all this time) warned my heart.

The Crawley next generation has gotten so big! I can hardly believe it.

The entirety of the French plot line was one of costume porn, landscape porn, and drama. I enjoyed it.

Seeing both Mary and Edith taking on different interests and jobs is nice. Mary as a voice actress — that’s a turn I appreciate. Also, Edith getting back into her magazine and writing is a good thing. I love a boss bitch and they both served that in this film.

On another side note, if we do get more Downton Abbey after this, I’d love to see Edith at her magazine dealing with the effects of the Great Depression. (It is Marigold’s legacy after all.) Also, it’d be a great way to get Spratt back as a one scene wonder. (I, for one, want to know how his Agony Aunt column is going.)

All of the established couples are adorable as expected.

The combination of Anna, Daisy, and Cora with the lead actress at the Abbey is nice. Women supporting women, I dig it.

Daisy the matchmaker is not something I expected, but I can get behind it. It feels like she’s starting to take on that role for the next generation. That’s not a bad thing.

[infinity2020corner]

Watched DA2 yesterday evening. I'll drop some general thoughts now, then I'll post more Thomas-specific thoughts later on.

Warning for spoilers

I found the villa story rather boring compared to the entertainment offered by the fim crew at Downton. There were a lot of implications happening in France (Robert and Cora have some unfounded scares), but as a matter of fact there was nothing to resolve. However, the plot did culminate in an emotional farewell to Violet Crawley at the end of the movie.

Tom and Lucy were nice together (though she sounded much more 'upper class' than in DA1, well they both did in a way), and I liked the info about Edith being involved in the magazine again (good to see her and Bertie as in love as ever). I wasn't much invested in Mary's side plot with Jack Barber, but I admit I cracked up a bit when he asked if he could kiss her, and she was like, NOPE.

I was really happy about Phyllis and Molesley finally getting together! The proposal scene was as lovely as I had been told it was, even with that random microphone broadcasting the whole thing (and let me say, I was extremely annoyed that they showed everybody reacting to the news except Thomas, who has the closest friendship with Phyllis).

I've always been sort of neutral towards Daisy and Andy's relationship, but their interactions in DA2 did look cute (much better than the questionable boiler incident in DA1).

I wonder why they felt the need to somewhat change Mr Mason's personality; also, in regards to the interactions with Mrs Patmore, I do prefer the way they were written in the series.

Nothing new that I can remember about Anna and Bates, or Mrs Hughes and Mr Carson, all looked serene on those fronts.

Guy Dexter was as handsome and charming as I had heard, Myrna was interesting despite her rude facade (Daisy and Albert with their massive crushes on her were kinda adorable).

Overall, considering the movie inexplicably and unnecessarily erased all the things I would have loved to see the most, namely about Thomas, there were still some enjoyable parts to be found. 

[itshornokplease]

Downton Abbey movie

SPOILERS AHEAD.

- It was quintessential Downton. Cute and warm and fuzzy and super eye-rolly at the appropriate moment (the nods to the upper class type things).

- I’m so happy Edith is happy but man, I wish more had been done with that “I was so happy doing my magazine editor job and being a marchioness is really boring and I need to do more!” speech to Bertie, but maybe it will all be worked out in fic-land.

- Thomas has had quite the character arc throughout the series, and it was nice to see him just be a person and have some fun and have some friends and get his romantic interest without it being sad or over the top or anything. Just normal.

- Maggie Smith is THE BEST. End of. 

- I like Matthew Goode but honestly there was absolutely no point for him to be in this movie. The rush at which he ran up the stairs, I thought he was going to say “HEY I GOT THIS GREAT OFFER TO DO SOMETHING IN CHICAGO, LET’S GO” but he just missed his wife, which is...more reasonable of an explanation lol. Literally had three scenes that we could’ve done without tbh. 

- It was so nice to see Edith and Mary get along, properly. For them. They were cordial, which is probably the best way for them. 

- I’m not really sure I understood the whole deal with Princess Mary. It was honestly kind of sad tbh. I guess the “upside” was that she avoided divorce based on Tom’s conversation with her and the royal family avoided that happening? I guess? I dunno, it was kind of sad really. 

- First time since season 1 that I found Allen Leech truly attractive. They did a good job with his character.

- The whole thing with the assassination attempt was so eye roll-y. I get what they were trying to do but I just found it so meh. 

- What am I forgetting? It was just a big ball of warm fuzzies and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it. OH WAIT I FORGOT. What happened to Carson’s palsy???? Conveniently forgotten, that’s what!

- Molesley “talking out of turn” at the dinner service was so perfect, I loved it. I thought it was a nice comedic parallel to Elsie speaking out of turn in Gosford Park.

- that scene with Violet and Mary was quite sweet and I managed to not get all weepy, amazingly.

- Edith’s clothes are soooooo much nicer looking than Mary’s, tbh.

- I really wanted Daisy to dump Andy and run off with the plumber. Seriously. I found that couple so dull. Also, wasn’t Daisy moving to Mr. Mason’s farm at the end of last season?? Was she going to keep working at Downton? Maybe she just goes there for the night?  

- OK I’m done for real.