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Due to various circumstances, I wasn't able to get my Season 2 DVD until a couple of days ago, and I've been too busy with other stuff to write up last weekend's episode. So here's the thoughts on the first half of what PBS aired Sunday, which I will call ... Back to Normal.
- BYE SOLDIERS! Time to get back to our lives of leisure!
- Robert so very clearly does not want any more exposure to Carlisle than absolutely necessary. I don't like that they used this to set up the thing later with Jane, but I share Robert's annoyance with Cora's continued hostility to Bates. I regret it, though, when I see her face after Robert scolds her. She can sense something is happening or very near happening.
- Ugh, this thing with Robert and Jane. So random and icky. I appreciate that they may have wanted to use that relationship to express the sense of loss after the war. But it was especially soap-opera-like. In a show that is ALREADY quite soapy as it is (though not, I hasten to add, in a bad way).
- It's weird to see Iain Glen as this utter bastard now that I've been watching him as a very different character in Game of Thrones. I keep expecting to hear him call someone khaleesi. :P
- Ah, thank you Bates, for answering my question from last time. The new thing that all the men are wearing in London is a dinner jacket. Love that Robert doesn't dare wear it in front of Violet (and Bates knows not to put it out when he hears she's coming). Oh, fashion.
- "Wouldn't she have to get hold of the stuff?" Oh God. I knew as soon as we saw her putrid corpse last week that Vera had neither died by accident nor committed suicide. But with Robert's brief observation, Bates is clearly thinking the same thing.
- Seriously, Carlisle? Bribe the servants to spy on your fiancee? How gauche. And dickish. I know Iain Glen is a good actor, though, because I can nonetheless see that he has genuine affection for Mary, though it's muddied by the creepiness. NOTE: Richard is sleeping in the notorious Red Room, where Mr. Pamuk's body was found (but of course not where he died).
- Oh, look at Cora's face when Robert says he'd like to feel his life had meaning again.
- Love that Mary is entertaining the idea of a flapper 'do. Love even more how territorial Matthew suddenly gets at the mere suggestion. :P
- Theda Bara! I love it when they drop references to the culture of the period. Not that movies were culture at that time, especially among the upper class.
- Carson's devotion to Mary is so touching, especially his desire to help her settle in her first years of marriage. And gosh, they cut a huge chunk out of that scene with he and Hughes (the story about little Mary wanting to sell the silver).
- ANOTHER cut scene, with Sybil and Edith, where Sybil drops heavy hints about her eventual elopement.
- Oooooh, bitchy Mary makes a return. Poor Carson.
- I like how they did Matthew's "MEIN FUHRER, I CAN WALK!" moment and that it was born out of concern for Lavinia. I think he does love her, but just not the same way he loves Mary.
- LOL Carson seems to mortified at having everyone stay for dinner.
- Gah. Fining workers for extra days? So Carlisle is a jerk AND a slavedriver.
- GIBBS! So weird to hear him speaking un-piratey. I saw Kevin McNally in a play once, but I'd forgotten what he sounded like.
- Eeek! Hughes isn't quite as quick trying to prevent Ethel as Carson was preventing Branson's "assassination" attempt. LOL at Mrs. Patmore not wanting to talk about Ethel's bundle in front of Daisy.
- Daisy is so adorable wanting to make the cake. (That phrase sounds very different after rewatching "The Zeppo" recently.)
- I was panicking when Ethel charged in, but thank goodness Mr. Bryant was a COMPLETE ASSHOLE. "Afraid of his own grief," my eye; that's an apology learned by rote.
- "Aren't all of us stuck with the choices we make?" I'VE MISSED YOU, BITCHY!MARY!
- OH VIOLET! I adore her for talking to Matthew. LOL she wasn't even going to wait for permission to speak her mind. I also love that Matthew's response is nothing like "How dare you, I'm in love with Lavinia..." and instead goes straight for explaining why he can't throw Lavinia over. It's a matter of not having a choice.
- I cannot tell you how much I love the image of Edith, Mary, and Anna in hot pursuit of the eloping couple.
- It's ridiculous of Robert to get upset about Cora wanting to be useful when he was just talking earlier about wanting his life to have meaning again.
- So Thomas isn't a big a player as he thought, since he got played rather badly.
- LMAO at Matthew nearly panicking at the thought of Isobel giving away Mary's good luck charm. Lavinia noticed that too. :P
- BYE SOLDIERS! Time to get back to our lives of leisure!
- Robert so very clearly does not want any more exposure to Carlisle than absolutely necessary. I don't like that they used this to set up the thing later with Jane, but I share Robert's annoyance with Cora's continued hostility to Bates. I regret it, though, when I see her face after Robert scolds her. She can sense something is happening or very near happening.
- Ugh, this thing with Robert and Jane. So random and icky. I appreciate that they may have wanted to use that relationship to express the sense of loss after the war. But it was especially soap-opera-like. In a show that is ALREADY quite soapy as it is (though not, I hasten to add, in a bad way).
- It's weird to see Iain Glen as this utter bastard now that I've been watching him as a very different character in Game of Thrones. I keep expecting to hear him call someone khaleesi. :P
- Ah, thank you Bates, for answering my question from last time. The new thing that all the men are wearing in London is a dinner jacket. Love that Robert doesn't dare wear it in front of Violet (and Bates knows not to put it out when he hears she's coming). Oh, fashion.
- "Wouldn't she have to get hold of the stuff?" Oh God. I knew as soon as we saw her putrid corpse last week that Vera had neither died by accident nor committed suicide. But with Robert's brief observation, Bates is clearly thinking the same thing.
- Seriously, Carlisle? Bribe the servants to spy on your fiancee? How gauche. And dickish. I know Iain Glen is a good actor, though, because I can nonetheless see that he has genuine affection for Mary, though it's muddied by the creepiness. NOTE: Richard is sleeping in the notorious Red Room, where Mr. Pamuk's body was found (but of course not where he died).
- Oh, look at Cora's face when Robert says he'd like to feel his life had meaning again.
- Love that Mary is entertaining the idea of a flapper 'do. Love even more how territorial Matthew suddenly gets at the mere suggestion. :P
- Theda Bara! I love it when they drop references to the culture of the period. Not that movies were culture at that time, especially among the upper class.
- Carson's devotion to Mary is so touching, especially his desire to help her settle in her first years of marriage. And gosh, they cut a huge chunk out of that scene with he and Hughes (the story about little Mary wanting to sell the silver).
- ANOTHER cut scene, with Sybil and Edith, where Sybil drops heavy hints about her eventual elopement.
- Oooooh, bitchy Mary makes a return. Poor Carson.
- I like how they did Matthew's "MEIN FUHRER, I CAN WALK!" moment and that it was born out of concern for Lavinia. I think he does love her, but just not the same way he loves Mary.
- LOL Carson seems to mortified at having everyone stay for dinner.
- Gah. Fining workers for extra days? So Carlisle is a jerk AND a slavedriver.
- GIBBS! So weird to hear him speaking un-piratey. I saw Kevin McNally in a play once, but I'd forgotten what he sounded like.
- Eeek! Hughes isn't quite as quick trying to prevent Ethel as Carson was preventing Branson's "assassination" attempt. LOL at Mrs. Patmore not wanting to talk about Ethel's bundle in front of Daisy.
- Daisy is so adorable wanting to make the cake. (That phrase sounds very different after rewatching "The Zeppo" recently.)
- I was panicking when Ethel charged in, but thank goodness Mr. Bryant was a COMPLETE ASSHOLE. "Afraid of his own grief," my eye; that's an apology learned by rote.
- "Aren't all of us stuck with the choices we make?" I'VE MISSED YOU, BITCHY!MARY!
- OH VIOLET! I adore her for talking to Matthew. LOL she wasn't even going to wait for permission to speak her mind. I also love that Matthew's response is nothing like "How dare you, I'm in love with Lavinia..." and instead goes straight for explaining why he can't throw Lavinia over. It's a matter of not having a choice.
- I cannot tell you how much I love the image of Edith, Mary, and Anna in hot pursuit of the eloping couple.
- It's ridiculous of Robert to get upset about Cora wanting to be useful when he was just talking earlier about wanting his life to have meaning again.
- So Thomas isn't a big a player as he thought, since he got played rather badly.
- LMAO at Matthew nearly panicking at the thought of Isobel giving away Mary's good luck charm. Lavinia noticed that too. :P