Downton S4 Liveblog; CS
Finally, it's time to get the CS out of the way and so end this liveblogging series. I'll try to be more sparing with the commentary so this post doesn't get too large, though that shouldn't be difficult if this episode is as uninteresting as I've heard - a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing I particularly care to bother myself over.
Didn't know about the timeskip, but I guess they had to get Edith being away over with at some point.
Edith's plotline is still being handled sensitively...the shock of it all.
Oh, now we're pairing Isobel with the new guy. I'm so...happy?
Stop with the gratuitous French, for God's sake - there's no difference between "serious" and "sérieuse" except that you can pat yourself on the back for taking into account grammatical gender.
I guess Thomas still being left at the house while Carson is in London must mean he's in charge. Hooray for him getting butler practice and not just standing around and plotting.
I feel like I've seen Madeleine's father on the show before (or maybe another?), but I can't place him.
Jimmy is delegating to the maids where to put down all the boxes and luggage and such. *snorts*
Thomas ranting to Ivy is the weirdest thing ever. The last time they talked was pre-kiss.
Martha has an excuse for not bringing the maid she had with her last time, how tidy.
Jimmy's face with the suitcase!
And thank you, Ethan, for reminding me of the bizarre quirk of language that Anglo-Americans pronounce "valet" correctly and don't anglicize it. Dieu sait ces mystères.
Mary has a train of stalkers following her everywhere, I swear. Napier really has to step up his game.
And again with the body servant name issue, with Carson reinforcing it himself this time. Make up your mind, show.
Ethan is so very perky. That seems like how Anglos in the US would train their servants, not like our severe and uncommunicative (black) servants down in New Orleans.
They admitted Bates has a fault! He hates shopping! *gasps*
"All those Latins screaming and shouting and hurling themselves into graves. I bet they feel much better afterwards." 1) Never expected to hear that ethnic slur - the counterpart to "Anglo," by the way - anywhere outside a New Orleanian context 2) Don't begrudge us for the stick rammed up your collective asses, Edith.
Yeah, the music where Thomas catches Branson and Bunting in the house is a variant of the sleep kiss music. Boo.
Thomas seems more pissed at the implication that Branson was bringing her upstairs to have sex - jealous on behalf of Sybil? Worried for Sybbie's future? I'm going to try my best to stick some logic back into this silly plotline.
Huh. Have we ever had an explanation for why Rosamund's never had children? She was married, obviously.
But Ethan can't say "hôtelier" correctly so I guess that evens the playing field.
Nice verbal sparring between Isobel and Violet.
It looks as though there's an Indian diplomat in the foyer where Rose is being presented. Such diversity. *unimpressed eyeroll*
How are we supposed to take Carson seriously when he keeps bulging out his eyes like that?
Hughes doesn't really seem like the sort to condone vigilantism, but apparently Bates is an exception like always.
I feel like I'm not getting half of the context in these court scenes since so much of it seems dependent on different sorts of Anglos seeing each other as wildly dissimilar when, as far as I can tell, they're all the same with different accents and a different opinion of royalty and (titled) nobility. Oh, the travails of a cultural outsider...
...Basically proving my point for having both sides making a fuss over a royal having a mistress. Who cares? It's as tiresome as when I meet these "discreet" men who want me but insist on being so very quiet about it.
Back to Jimmy not being able to lift anything, also back to blindlyloyal!Bates using his questionable talents in the holiest of ways so we should all praise him.
This plan of theirs is so convoluted I can't begin to follow it.
Blindlyloyal!Robert blames his whole family for the Prince of Wales being unable to keep it in his pants. How unexpected.
Harold praises English food, but all his examples have French names...hmm.
I do not doubt at all Harold's capacity to be a playboy. Older and balder men than he have fucked me on their yachts.
It's a strange situation when Mary is the moral high ground opposing Mrs. Hughes.
Violet knows her Manet...interesting.
Ivy spontaneously transformed into Ethel. At least I know she won't be knocked up before she leaves the show.
Here I was expecting that Robert was the one who said the line about Branson not staying single forever, but interesting to see that that's actually Thomas's line. An indirect but defiant statement against his own descent in Carson-dom? Go him.
Love all the faces at Carson's terrible ideas for an outing, though what a shame that Jimmy wasn't in the room, king of ridiculous faces that he is.
Bates even gets his own creepy music now, very "I'm thinking of killing you right now."
And Bates saves the day by being a thief who can think like a thief. Finally, some of that never-before-touched-upon backstory of S1 rears its head.
Which is naturally followed by everyone singing praises of Bates. Bleh, so much for caring that he's probably a murderer. Mary burning the ticket is just so symbolic of this show's screwed-up sense of morality where this man is concerned.
Madeleine's speech to Harold at the ball is so textbook buttering up of a sentimental sugar daddy and I don't buy a word of it, but it is I suppose interesting to see a (straight, all-Anglo) version of my "career" being played out regardless.
Ok, so Mary acknowledges that Napier is still in this. You'd barely know it - he doesn't stalk half as well as the other two.
So Blake's in a situation almost identical to Matthew's? No one's ever just middle-class on this show unless they're in media it seems. Oh, and Clarkson I guess.
Half this show is composed of old women snarking at each other about the same 2-3 subjects, ad nauseum.
And Mary enjoys being thought of as a prize to be won, but what more could they possibly do at this point when they've both stalked her non-stop? Sneak into her bedroom and engage in illicit and dubcon liaisons before dying of convenient heart attacks?
Edith still has her thing about trusting farmers. Let's hope this time ends better than the last. Though I'm not expecting this plotline to show up again any time soon, hesitant as they are to show even the legitimate children.
Ignoring Baxley to watch Thommy football.
Ivy's arc, largely insignificant and redundant with Alfred's though it is, feels closed at least.
And I still boo Banna and yawn at Chelsie.
So many plots left unresolved...ugh.
