As predicted, the cessation of the Crawley family escapades had me really down on Monday. I had declared the entire weekend "Downton Weekend," which consisted mainly of just that declaration since the male members of our household do not own white tie... or black tie, for that matter. After the proclamation, we engaged in Downton-speak on Sunday and were baffled when Anna and Bates did not appear to see to our every need.
Although let's face it, we would be downstairs in any aristocratic scenarios.
(Caution: SPOILER ALERT.)
I must confess a couple of spoilers had managed to get through so I knew about Edith's nuptials, as well as Isobel's. Rapprochement was expected, though, in both of those cases. What I found absolutely shocking was the convenient incapacitation and retirement of Carson. They dressed it up by giving him the title of elder statesman, but more information is needed if we are to avoid having an image of him sitting at the dining table in the cottage, waiting for Mrs. Hughes to arrive home and prepare dinner under prescriptive direction and various edicts. No, what we need is clarification of the logistics. We all saw Barrow's organic ascension, and we could easily envision a George/Barrow relationship similar to that of Mary/Carson. However, surely Carson would be an imperative to Mary's ongoing handling of the estate. I needed more warning to imagine the Abbey without Carson, and if there was foreshadowing prior to this last episode, I missed it. Any rate, I had to get the Carson mishandling off my chest first.
Otherwise, here is a quick run down of the remaining denouements, and I'll start downstairs first:
1) Mrs. Patmore/Mr. Mason: Her shining moment was during the previous episode when she weathered the "house of ill repute" storm. However, we have been waiting all season for a Mason-Patmore romance. Mr. Mason's straight-forward style is endearing, and we all saw this development coming. Good for Mrs. Patmore.
Fun fact: During the first episode of each new season, Skip turns to me and says, "Is it Patmore or Packmore?" And every year I clarify that it's Patmore. Every year. We have become that couple.
2) Mosely/Baxter: While I understand Mosely's pragmatism, didn't we all want to see him go skipping out of the basement to his new digs?
3) The Bateses: Although we love team Bates, I'm glad their storyline was somewhat diminished this season because they are a little overexposed. They are probably why the show is ending because what else could happen to them? Although we could have waited to see how long before unnamed Baby Bates is charged with a crime he didn't commit (or did he?), maybe it's best to wrap it up now.
4) Daisy: Total honesty time... I'm really tired of Daisy. While the development of her character has been interesting and true to the period, she is unsympathetic and unlikeable. Compare/contrast the character of Daisy to that of Barrow. He is horrible, yet elicits sympathy. While her personal growth is admirable, she is mouthy, pushy and ungrateful, and she remains a petulant child.
5) Barrow: As stated above, how can someone so evil compel us to care about his wellbeing? Aside from the glaringly obvious fact that Barrow should have been on track to assume Carson's duties as the normal course of things, even without Carson's spontaneous (too spontaneous, if you ask me) health issues in the finale, we all saw that Barrow would be Master George's trusted butler well into his retirement.
"Goodbye, Mistew Bawwow," from young Master George was an obvious solicitation for tears from viewers, but adorable nonetheless. Leave it to a precocious young boy to make saying goodbye to the evil Barrow an emotional event.
6) Team Carson: See above. Officially, the storyline should be lodged as a complaint. To watch the silliness of the staff changes - oppositional to what is needed - is tedious for viewers.
As for upstairs, here's how it shakes out:
7) Lord and Lady Grantham: Two of the funniest lines of the night are from Cora to Robert after Edith's late night phone call.
"Is she pregnant again?"
"Has she been arrested for treason?"
Funny, yet believable, given Edith's string of bad luck.
I loved their storyline. From the conflict about Cora's new career to their wide-eyed wonder at Brancaster Castle to Robert's continued, "Golly!" exclamations, they were believable in their relief about a long-awaited happy ending.
8) Mary/Henry: Although every other episode of the series focused almost singularly on the exploits of Mary Crawley Talbot, her role was somewhat tame in the finale. Some admirable moments include coordinating Edith and Bertie's reconciliation and being supportive of the Talbot/Branson used car business.
Her best line of the night, spoken to the Dowager Countess, was: "Don't be spiky, Granny."
9) Branson: Since his role in the finale was diminished, let's look at his ongoing evolution throughout season six, culminating into entrepreneurship in the finale. A dealership is the perfect solution for Branson, as is the allusion to a relationship with Edith's editor.
10) Isobel/Lord Merton: Good for Isobel and Violet for kidnapping Lord Merton into marriage.
11) Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess: She shines brilliantly even when her storyline is small, and she managed to get in a couple of final memorable lines.
12) Edith/Bertie: Part of me wanted to see Edith sell her London paper, emigrate to America (specifically, NYC) and become enormously successful in publishing. As Robert intimated earlier in the season, Edith has the potential to become one of the interesting figures of her day.
However, fans wanted a romantic happy ending for Edith, and Julian Fellowes delivered for the audience. Normally, the Edith, Bertie and Mrs. Pelham drama would have been dragged out for an entire season or two, but in the interest of time, Mrs. Pelham got past the whole illegitimate child/damaged goods unpleasantness in the course of a single day.
13) Rose/Atticus/Shrimpie: Leave it to Rose to facilitate Robert's realization that Cora is brilliant in her new position as President of the hospital board.
I just realized I left out Spratt (one of our favorites) and Denker. The ongoing squabbling was funny, and we were glad, although not surprised, that Spratt came out on top.
Let's have one last look at the fashionable cast of Downton Abbey:
I'm going to miss seeing the clothes from the 1920's!
Did you watch? Were you happy with the conclusion?
As for the rest of the weekend, we had another visit with Grammie. We were behind on our visits due to the trio's illnesses in January/February, and the trio have been eager to catch up. George, mom and I ran some errands Friday. After we picked up the girls, we went for ice cream and then had a good afternoon of play. We had more fun Saturday morning before taking mom home at lunch, and the trio had an afternoon date with Skip's parents. While they played with Gran and Poppa, Skip and I had an afternoon date, with lunch, followed by some shopping.
After church, we had lunch, and then everyone got on their bikes for a ride. We played with neighbors down the street, and then later rode home for some play time with our next door neighbor.
Overall... it was a fabulous weekend.
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