Despite a lack of action away from the Front in the second series of Downton Abbey one of the many things that the drama has in its favour with Irish audiences is the strong Irish presence in the cast.
You have Mr and Mrs Bates who are played by Brendan Coyle, (Julian Fellowes wrote the part especially for him) and Maria Doyle Kennedy, Allen Leech who is becoming more prominent each week as Branson, O’Brien is played by Siobhan Finneran, whose father is from Roscommon, Zoe Boyle plays Lavinia Swire and even Lady Mary Crawley herself has Irish connections as Michelle Dockery has an Irish dad.
However I’m not sure what historians or political fanatics would have to say about the references to the 1916 Rising or about Branson’s views. Last night Branson commented that the rising was suppressed in weeks – try six days Allen!
On another note, just as we were rooting for Branson to sweep Lady Sybil off her feet, he goes and puts his foot in it. I thought the whole idea was for him to liberate her from the constraints of her aristocratic upbringing so that together they could break down social, political and cultural barriers, to continue in their dream careers and conquer the world.
Instead he just wants to take her away from everyone she loves and put her in another, less pretty, box. When he asks her to runaway with him, she says, “What about my work?” and he offers the cruel quip that serving tea to soldiers is not work. What IS he offering her then? Love at a huge cost, the reward being that she gets to serve him? Surely her women’s lib fighting spirit will not be tempted? Although judging by next week’s sneak peek, they look spookily close to sharing a kiss.
When Matthew and William walked into the Downton concert, I was shouting two things at the telly - That’s ridiculous and now that you’re here, kiss her!
Last week, we were hoping that his disappearance was going to up the dramatic pace but instead it just added the farcical factor. Plus it didn’t even lead to a smooch between him and a clearly relieved Mary. Not even her lovely ditty “If you were the only girl in the world and I was the only boy” seemed to get them into the mood – still it was kinda romantic watching them look all googly eyed at each other. Whilst Lady Mary must have been holding back, Dockery doesn’t need to because she’s a talented jazz singer in real life.
By the way how much leave did soldiers or officers get during WWI, Matthew seems to be home every other day. His poor mum thankfully hadn’t even heard he was missing before he was found.
I’m beginning to agree with Mrs Hughes about Lady Mary, when she’s not fretting over Matthew she’s not exactly engaging company. Despite the fact that her parents are relatively grounded, given their status, she is a complete snob, not only in the way she relates to Branson, threatening Sybil with telling Paw-Paw but even to Edith. I know there’s no love lost between them but they are sisters and it’s hard to believe their issues are nothing that can’t be resolved over a game of croquet or giving their debut as The Crawley Sisters.
Cora has never looked or acted as cool as she did this week – finally rolling up her sleeves, leaving O’Brien agog as she decided to pitch in with the soup kitchen. Thomas has O’Brien sussed as we know and he summed his buddy up when he said: “You’re a funny one, don’t act sweet and sour.” What is O’Brien’s gig?
Guess whose back, back in town, Mr Bates… yes he is. Poor Mr Moseley, he may have the spine of a jellyfish but he was at least giving us an interesting subplot. As we saw from next week’s promo, Mrs Bates is back on the scene as well and promising to follow through on her Turkish threats. Could this be what prompted Richard to question why he should marry Mary?
The Dowager’s reaction to the Bates update and news of his imminent return was priceless: “I can’t decide which part of that speech is most extraordinary.” Her reaction to Matthew being MIA was even better: “We’re used to Matthew now. God knows who the next heir is, probably some chimney sweep from Surrey!” The best thing that Fellowes ever did for this show was cast Maggie Smith.
Poor Ethel, if she is telling the whole truth, is in a right pickle and what about that Major who was caught with his pants down – is he going to answer for his part in the frolics? As a year has passed since last week’s episode you have to wonder why the Major, who seems as fit as a fiddle, is still lounging about Downton?
All TBA until the same time next week.
Taragh Loughrey-Grant
