Downton Abbey Season 2: Episode One

Downton Abbey Season 2

Well, after waiting patiently since this time last year, it is finally here! I hope you were able to catch the season opener of Downton Abbey. I made sure I was plastered to the TV screen at 9 o'clock. We are two years later and the Great War has been taking its toll on the whole of Europe, Downton Abbey included. Matthew and Thomas are at the front and Lord Grantham and William are champing at the bit to get to the action. The Dowager Countess is manipulating things behind the scenes as usual, and everyone else is trying to do their part and to keep up with the changing times.

Lady Sybil learning to cook in Downton Abbey Season 2

Lady Sybil has been trained as a nurse in York, and has come back to work in the Downton Hospital, helping tend to wounded soldiers sent back from the front. She has even learned basic cookery skills which makes her mother proud.

The Earl of Grantham and his heir presumptive- Downton Abbey Season 2

Matthew is now Captain Crawley (my, sounds like Vanity Fair now doesn't it?) and the Earl has been given an honorary title and kept at home to "help boost morale". Ouch!

Lady Mary heartbroken- Downton Abbey Season 2

Lady Mary has seen Matthew and his new fiancee Lavinia Swire, which has made her realize her true feelings for Matthew. Poor Lady Mary. Longing glances abound.

Lavinia Swire Downton Abbey Season 2

Matthew Crawley's fiancee Lavinia Swire is one of the more interesting of the new characters this season. What is her hidden secret?

Sir Richard Carlisle and Lady Mary- Downton Abbey Season 2

Sir Richard Carlisle is Lady Mary's new beau this season. Will he be her saviour or will he be just another in the long line of Mary's ex-suitors? Points to anyone who recognized Iain Glen as Mr. Preston from Wives and Daughters. He still makes my skin crawl!

Maggie Smith as Violet, Dowager Duchess in Downton Abbey Season 2

While we have other new characters such as the new Valet Lang, the cheeky new housemaid Ethel and Bates's evil wife Vera, the best lines still come from Dame Maggie Smith as the delightfully haughty Dowager Duchess Violet.

Violet: Oh that's a relief. I hate Greek drama. When everything happens off stage.

Violet: Ridiculous! You're not Toad of Toad Hall.

Violet: Amputation in the dining room? Resuscitation in the pantry? I forbid it!

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So, here's to another great season of Downton Abbey. Thank goodness for ITV and PBS Masterpiece Theater for giving us something to look forward to during the long winter months ahead.  I am so glad now that I didn't watch this online in the fall. It was worth the wait!

P.S. My husband, who I affectionately refer to as The Squire, watched this with me all last year and at the very end of the first episode of season 2 said:

 "What is this, a soap opera?"

To which I replied: "Um....yes!?!?" He is usually pretty perceptive, but I think the costumes threw him off. Yes, honey, this is truly a soap opera in costume, and I'm enjoying every moment.

Downton Abbey- Silly old photos of the actors

Downton Abbey Season II

Well, word is that the new series of Downton Abbey is brilliant. Hmmmmmm....I wouldn't know as I am being good and waiting until the darkest days of January for this wonderful show to reappear on PBS.

So in the meantime, I am amusing myself by posting silly old photos of the stars. Here is the one which started me off:

Mr. Bates?

OK, Brendan Coyle (Mr. Bates) with floppy Hugh Grant hair from the 1990s. I don't know whether to laugh or whether to ...mmmmm....not bad actually ....kinda sexy...and the guy in the back looks mighty jealous of that hair!

Then I tried to find an old photo of Julian Fellowes, illustrious writer of Downton Abbey. I Googled "old photos of Julian Fellowes" and even "Julian Fellowes with hair" and all the photos looked like they were taken last week. Apparently this guy has always been bald, chubby and middle aged. So I settled on this one:

Julian Fellowes as Monarch of the Glen

Not sure if it is the hat (tam?) or if it is the pompous look on his face, but it gave me a little giggle! After all,  this is the man who used the word grandiloquent in his Emmy speech!

Then I ran into the same problem with Hugh Bonneville (aka the Earl of Grantham). Even way back to Notting Hill in 1999 where he played the adorable Bernie he looked basically the same as he does now. So I had to settle on this photo:

Hugh Bonneville as Mr. Rushworth in Mansfield Park

OK, whoever thought up the bouffant hairdo to make Hugh Bonneville look totally ridiculous as the air-headed Mr. Rushworth was brilliant. I would have run off with Henry Crawford too if I were Maria!

Jim Carter? Really?

And I wouldn't have recognized the baritone voiced Jim Carter (Mr. Carson) from this photo in a million years! The mustachio is magnifique!

Now, "Where are the ladies?" I hear you crying. Well here is the baby faced Elizabeth McGovern (Cora, the Countess of Grantham), who apparently has always had a penchant for period drama:

Elizabeth McGovern in Ragtime

As you see, I had to choose a cropped version of this photo from Ragtime. There are many photos online with full frontal nudity (Elizabeth!) but I'll try to keep it PG13 here at the Jane Austen Film Club.

Maggie Smith in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Now as Maggie Smith (Violet, the Dowager Countess) has been gorgeous throughout her entire career (including now) I had to settle for one with sixties hair that reminded me of my mother when she was young. Yes, this was the Jennifer Aniston hairdo of the day back then. Everyone had one!

Penelope Wilton

Penelope Wilton (Isobel Crawley) is another lady who looks good in almost any photo. So here is her false eyelash look from the 1960s I think. What a glamour shot!

And as for all the younger ones, well...they just look normal in all of their photos because they haven't aged yet and the styles haven't changed enough for a giggle. But just you wait...