Downton Abbey | Created and Co-written by Julian Fellowes
Whatever happened to that fairy tale world of English lords and ladies, of rolling green estates studded with massive castles, filled to the brim with starched servants and aristocratic fellows who spend afternoons hunting on horseback or reading leather-bound books in their massive home libraries, then dress for impossibly formal dinners followed by cigars for the gents and titillating chit chat for their ladies?
Downton Abbey presumes to answer that question, after competently familiarizing viewers with the ins and outs of the post-Edwardian lifestyle, featuring many historical events of the years from 1912 to 1926: the sinking of the Titanic, World War 1, the Spanish flu epidemic, and so on. Woven between the threads of these historical accuracies are an intoxicating series of interpersonal dramas, featuring an ensemble cast of upstairs and downstairs characters who stir up a shocking number of scandals.
With delightfully nit-picky historical advisors on staff, period costumes galore, and the full might of the BBC at its disposal, Downton Abbey has won extensive critical acclaim, an avalanche of awards, and the hearts of its massive worldwide audience.
* * * * *
Yes, I am over a decade late to the Downton Abbey party. Since the show began her run in 2010, I've been hesitant to watch, fearing the program was, in plain terms, a soap opera with fancy hats. Well, I wasn't wrong. Each episode features a flurry of multi-generational mishaps, feuding siblings, a constant churning of break-ups and make-ups. Think Game of Thrones, Succession, Modern Family - shoot, this genre has been tantalizing viewers since Dallas and Falcon Crest in the 1980s It's a familiar roller coaster I found myself climbing on.
"Sympathy butters no parsnips." -Mrs. Patmore
But oh, what a ride this old girl gives us. The finely tuned accents of the aristocrats and the baudy twangs of the house staff have been rolling joyously if a bit clumsily off my tongue in daily speech, the sensibly sensuous low heels on women's shoes of the era leave me drooling, and the indecent permutations of the family tree lead to an interminable series of "Wait, pause for a minute" moments in which I require my husband to help me puzzle out the plot. As everyone who loves this show told me I would, I fell deep into the Downton world and did not care to ever climb out.
"No one ever learned anything from a governess except for French and how to curtsy." -Lady Sybil
The cast is brilliant, the characters complex. The real-life estate that poses as Downton is breathtaking, inside and out. The plot is a tangled web of surprising twists and turns. Yes, Downton Abbey is a magnificently grand, historically accurate spectacle of a soap opera and most definitely worth the ride.
* * * * *
What I'm watching lately.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please comment...I'd love to hear from you!