Keep Calm and Make War

Downton Abbey

Season 2 episode 1

In 1916 the world was at war in more ways than one. There was the obvious war, you know with the bombs and guns but there were many smaller, quieter battles taking place that would ultimately shake up the way the world worked forever. Changes that were slowly but surely creeping closer to the unsuspecting occupants of Downton Abbey.  

There was the battle of the classes; with all men equal in death, did the class system even have a place any more. There was a war against the new ways and the old customs, new money and old estates and the acceptance of any change. There were wars of ideologies and there was the battle of the sexes with women rising out of their expected station. Introduce this to the constant bickering of the Crawley family and you have episode 1 of Downton Abbey season 2.

We open in the midst of a battle that is not in the movie ‘War Horse’ you can tell by the distinct lack of horses and the inclusion of one Matthew Crawley(Dan Stevens.) He’s still alive!!!! At the end of Season 1, the one thing that you could be sure of was that Lord-in-training Crawley (no matter what his Facebook relationship status with Mary may be) was heading to war. As with his rise in status at Downton, Matthew is higher up in the English army, leading a group on the Western Front. Amongst the bombs and shrapnel Matthew, his eyes even in the mist of German invasion the prettiest of blues, is looking forward to a few days free of fighting and is off to see a certain special lady. I wonder who that could be.

Psych. It’s not Mary (Michelle Dockery.) You mean he did not go back to her despite the fact she was continually weighing her options, the horror. Now Matthew’s sudden engagement may seem harsh, particularly as Mary clearly still has very strong feelings for Matthew, but he needed to move on to someone else, not only to get over Mary but to feel some happiness in the face of all this horror. On the flip side despite the weirdness of the ‘cousin’ thing (different times just think about something else). I am an advocate of Mary and Matthew; they have amazing chemistry and genuinely understand and bring out the best of each other. The simple conversation they have about the war during a patented Downton Abbey dinner scene highlights just that. She gets what he is going through and he understands that, but a reunion I feel needs to be earned. She needs to grow a bit more (every time that Mary shows emotion an angel gets its wings, true story) and he needs to experience the affections of anti-Mary, Miss Lavinia Swire (Zoe Boyle.) This love triangle is going to get interesting, at least if Lavinia steps out from playing the overwhelmed wallflower and becomes a viable threat.

In the lives of the other Crawley sisters, Sybill (Jessica Brown Findlay) is understandably heartbroken over losing so many friends in the War that she decides she wants to get a real job and help. With the help of Matthew’s mother Isobel (Penelope Wilton aka Harriet Jones, Prime Minister,) she signs up for a nursing course, very a big step for a girl who doesn’t even know how to make tea. Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) is too stepping up to the plate learning to drive as she realises that the young men won’t be around much longer.  These young women are moving with the times, as the men disappear the women’s role is expanding beyond last season’s ‘Let’s be a wife.’

Two people who are having trouble adjusting to the war are Mr Carson (Jim Carter) and Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville.) Mr Carson, a stickler for tradition and order refuses to make any changes despite the increased workload.  Such formal customs are becoming unimportant and out-dated in this new environment, showing the beginnings of changes in the class system.

- PREDICTION- Based on Mrs Hughes’s (Phyllis Logan) comments I have a feeling Carson’s ticker may be in trouble- OK I’M DONE GUESSING-

Lord Grantham/Mr Crawley/ Robert according to IMDb, is also feeling displaced in the world. Though unlike Carson it’s because he, himself is now unimportant and out-dated, reduced to a fancy title and a seat in a smoking room watching the war unfold. What’s that saying ‘War is old men talking and young men dying?’

 Other Downton Gossip:

 

-  Branson (Allen Leech) finally made his move. Yay or Nay?

-  Anna (Joanne Froggatt) and Bates (Brendan Coyle) are the sweetest but only got one moment of happiness before it all came crashing down and he had to leave again. Did anyone else start screaming at Mrs Bates, “You leave Bates alone, you leave him.” Just me, ok.

-  Ethel (Amy Nuttall) is annoying and ungrateful but shows how the world’s thinking has changed - I want the best and I’m not ashamed to admit it- sound familiar to anyone?

- Isobel may have annoyed me tonight but her calling out O’Brien (Siobhan Finneran) while she was lurking was fantastic

- Thomas (Rob James-Collier) and Matthew’s ‘we’re all soldiers here’ was my favourite scene. These are two men of completely different stations who are united by circumstances and their love of the same place. Then just as I’m starting to feel sorry for Thomas he goes and does something really, really stupid.

- Lady Violet Grantham (Maggie Smith) is the best, the end.

The world according to Lady Violet Grantham (as it should be): About Matthew and Mary’s separate journeys as they return to Downton: 

 “Oh that’s a relief, I hate Greek drama. When everything happens off stage”.