Downton Abbey: Difference between revisions

Set in an Edwardian country house beginning in 1912, ''Downton Abbey'' (2010-2015) portrays the lives of the Crawley family and the servants who work for them. Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, has three daughters, but no sons. Since the title must be passed to a male heir only, Crawley's cousin James and James's son Patrick are the heirs presumptive. Then both James and Patrick die in the sinking of the Titanic. So what will become of the Earl's fortune? This [[Succession Crisis]] drives the plot of ''Downton Abbey''.

* [[Almost Kiss]]: Sybil and Branson, many times through seasonSeries 2, possibly in the last episode of seasonSeries 1, too. Anna and Bates, also.

* [[Altar the Speed]]: deconstructed, somewhat; {{spoiler|Daisy}} feels pressured into going through with the wedding due to {{spoiler|William's impending death,}}, and subsequently feels that the whole thing was a lie.

* [[Anguished Declaration of Love]]: ''Anna.'' Twice. {{spoiler|And Branson in the first episode of second season.}}.

* [[Arranged Marriage]] Patrick and Mary pre-seasonSeries 1.

* [[Benevolent Boss]]: Robert. Furthermore;, ''all'' the Crawleys are rather evenhanded with the staff to the point where even Lady Violet goes out of her way to pull strings for characters like William, the footman. Although she was likely trying to do a favour for Robert and Matthew rather than William and Moseley.

** Don't let Bates catch you being mean to William or Daisy. Bates also gets his buttons pressed when {{spoiler|his estranged wife Vera threatens to ruin the Earl's reputation, as well as the Earl's family and Anna, if he doesn't return to her.}}.

** Robert is the most even-tempered man imaginable until {{spoiler|his [[Daddy's Girl|youngest daughter]] gets herself involved in political riots.}}.

** Anna {{spoiler|flatly refuses to have "no proper place" in Mr. Bates' life when Vera's final scheme takes effect, and orders him to marry her despite his protests. He doesn't want to drag her into his troubles, but she swears that they "will face [this crisis] as man and wife" and finally lays down the law}}.

* [[British Brevity]]: There are 7 episodes in the first series, &and then 8 in the second (plus the Christmas special).

* [[But I Would Really Enjoy It]]: {{spoiler|Robert and Jane.}}.

** Although the first episode showed that Thomas certainly was able to have a love life, he's only had the faintest unrequited attractions since then. Justified in that it's set in an era where being openly gay was almost unthinkable - though even knowing that, some viewers are getting antsy, with ''Vanity Fair'' asking in their SeasonSeries 3 predictions "Can [Thomas] finally get a real boyfriend?"

** Daisy is the lowest-ranking servant and is not allowed to be seen by any of the family. Although things seem to be changing toward the end of seasonSeries 2; he's not really in this position at all anymore by the end of the Christmas special, what with asking the Dowager Countess, of all people, for advice with {{spoiler|her feelings about marrying William before he died}}.

* [[Can't Get Away with Nuthin']]: Mary {{spoiler|allows herself to be seduced by a charming visitor and in minutes [[Out with a Bang|is left with the problem of how to dispose of his body.]]}}.

** During a conversation with a blind soldier during seasonSeries two2, the writers all but outright have Thomas state that his evil is a mixture of [[Freudian Excuse]] and [[He Who Fights Monsters]]; in his case, him being a homosexual and a servant, which puts him in the position of having to work for assholes who treat him like shit rather than being in control over his own destiny.

** Anna, who looks to be at least in her mid-20s, is still not married because the female servants are not allowed boyfriends. {{spoiler|Until seasonSeries 2, when she becomes the new Mrs. Bates.}}.

* [[Conflict Ball]]: During the latter half of SeasonSeries 2, Lord Grantham is a jerk to Cora seemingly out of nowhere.

* [[Darker and Edgier]]: Series two, due to it being set largely during [[World War OneI]].

* [[Dating What Daddy Hates]]: {{spoiler|Sybil and Branson.}}.

** It's also implied that {{spoiler|Branson}}'s family is not exactly thrilled with his choice of wife, either.

* [[Death by Despair]]: {{spoiler|Matthew}} believes that {{spoiler|Lavinia}} "died of a broken heart" after finding out that {{spoiler|he still loves Mary.}}.

* [[Denser and Wackier]]: Series 2. While the first series is a rather understated comedy of manners, the second is much more densely plotted and veers at several times into full blown soap opera. Plot lines involve {{spoiler|amnesia and mistaken identity, a suicide-murder frame-up, pregnancy of an unmarried woman, a miraculous medical recovery, and a rather superfluous affair}}. (Although, to be fair, the first of those didn't really happen; the guy claiming to be {{spoiler|Patrick}} is clearly faking, and no one believes him except Edith.) Somewhat justified in that the years it covers include World War I and the Spanish flu pandemic, which brought with them a great deal more death and suffering, and social upheaval, than the residents of Downton would have been used to before the war.

* [[Depraved Homosexual]]: Thomas' encounters with {{spoiler|Pamuk and Crowborough.}}.

* [[Disposable Fiance]]: Both Mary and Matthew have one in seriesSeries two2. {{spoiler|Lavinia is [[Too Good for This Sinful Earth|killed by Spanish flu]] whilst Richard Carlisle [[Derailing Love Interests|blackmails Mary into their engagement]] before she breaks it off with him in the Christmas Special.}}.

* [[Disposing of a Body]]: Not so much disposing as in getting entirely rid of it;, but disposing in the sense of secretly moving it to cover up a damning situation.

* [[Do Not Do This Cool Thing]]: Classism, sexism and racism are horrible things... but damn it must be awesome to be a male member of the British aristocracy! Awesome houses, no need to work, servants to order around for your every whim with no real need to treat them as human beings or build any kind of reciprocal relationship. And throwing them the slightest bone of decency makes you look like Mother Theresa.

* [[Don't Split Us Up]]: Ethel's reaction when Major Bryant's parents ask her to let them adopt her baby and walk out of his life. {{spoiler|She refuses.}}.

* [[Downer Ending]]: Why hello there, [[World War OneI]]. {{spoiler|The second season has another, with the Spanish Flu.}}.

* [[Drama Bomb Finale]]: [[Foregone Conclusion]] though it might be, it doesn't get much more dramatic than the outbreak of [[World War OneI]].

* [[Dropped a Bridge on Him]]: {{spoiler|Kemal Pamuk just... dies, for no apparent reason, after spending the night with Mary.}}.

* [[Endangered SouffleSoufflé]]

* [[Evil Duo]]: O'Brien and Thomas. They seemed in jeopardy of splitting up at the end of SeasonSeries 1, after {{spoiler|Thomas joined the army and O'Brien was atoning for causing Cora's miscarriage}}, but that didn't last long.

* [[Fallen Princess]]: Lady Mary {{spoiler|after being seduced by Kemal Pamuk and then having to cover up his death.}}.

** Thomas, when Bates suggests a search for the missing snuffbox {{spoiler|that Thomas had hidden in Bates' room.}}.

** Anna, when Bates tells her he {{spoiler|bought the rat poison he thinks Vera used to commit suicide}}.

* [[Happily Married]]: Robert and Cora. Well, seriesSeries one1, certainly. Series two2... Not so much.

* [[Held Gaze]]: Bates and Anna. Matthew and Mary. Matthew and Sybil, oddly. Sybil and Branson. {{spoiler|Robert and Jane.}}.

* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: Branson and Sybil are prevented from {{spoiler|eloping when Mary and Edith, who he taught to drive, chase after them in the car.}}.

* [[Holding Hands]]: {{spoiler|Sybil and Branson have a bit of a moment with this in Episode 7.}}.

** And again in 2x08,Series 2 Episode 8, {{spoiler|after Robert gives his consent to their marriage.}}.

* [[Hopeless Suitor]]: Poor Molesley. He's got no chance with Anna, considering how desperately she loves Mr. Bates.

** Cora {{spoiler|getting pregnant... and then ''losing the baby''. And then finding out that it was a ''boy''.}}.

** Bates and Anna's {{spoiler|engagement and subsequent happiness comes crashing down when Vera appears.}}.

* [[Hot Mom]]: Cora.

'''Lady Grantham:''' I must have said it wrong. }}

* [[Inadequate Inheritor]]: At least to begin with. Matthew is the heir, &and is a middle-class solicitor from Manchester.

* [[Inter Class Romance]]: {{spoiler|Branson and Sybil.}}.

* [[It's Not You, It's My Enemies]]: Mr. Bates to Anna. {{spoiler|She essentially tells him where he can shove it, and they get married anyway as she refuses to have no legal standing in his life, whatever happens.}}.

* [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy]]: Repeatedly, from ''all three directions'' in the Mary/Matthew/Lavinia triangle, though of course a jumped-up commoner like Richard Carlisle wouldn't have so much decency. {{spoiler|Lavinia even dies telling Matthew that now he can be with the woman he loves}}, and it's implied that in the last Ouija board scene {{spoiler|it's Lavinia guiding Matthew and Mary to be happy together}}.

** Anthony Strallan does this with Edith, claiming that not only is he [[May-December Romance|too old for her]] but {{spoiler|that he couldn't let someone so young and lovely spend their life as nursemaid.}}.

* [[Just Eat Gilligan]]: All things considered, the household would run a lot smoother if those in charge just got rid of Thomas and O'Brien. {{spoiler|And we see this in action in early SeasonSeries 2, when Thomas is fighting on the Western front... but it [[Status Quo Is God|doesn't last]].}}.

** O'Brien: she caused {{spoiler|Cora's miscarriage}}, informed Edith about {{spoiler|Kamal Pamuk}} creating a problem that reverberates throughout Mary's life, narced on Bates creating another avenue for the {{spoiler|Pamuk}} scandal to potentially ruin Mary's life, along with hurting Bates and Anna, caused various smaller problems and NOTHING has happened to her. NOTHING!

* [[Killed Off for Real]]: {{spoiler|William. Lavinia. Vera Bates.}}.

* [[Kindly Housekeeper]]: Mrs. Hughes.

** {{spoiler|Cora.}}.

** {{spoiler|Patrick Gordon}} just up and disappears into the night.

** Edith {{spoiler|spreads Mary's scandalous affair with Kemal Pamuk, causing Mary to lose favor with potential suitors and leaving her future and reputation in jeopardy. After learning of this, Mary screws up Edith's budding relationship with Sir Anthony.}}.

** Kemal {{spoiler|in making it impossible for Mary to refuse his sexual advances.}}.

** Vera uses {{spoiler|Lady Mary's secret to get Bates to return to her and takes him for all his [[Unexpected Inheritance|inheritance]]. She even goes so far as using her [[Divorce Requires Death|death]] to frame Bates.}}.

* [[Manly Tears]]: Bates. Robert, {{spoiler|after [[Tear Jerker|Cora's miscarriage]].}}.

** Also Thomas, surprisingly, {{spoiler|after the blinded Lieutenant Courtenay commits suicide.}}.

** That's what the audience hopes for Mary and {{spoiler|Matthew}}. {{spoiler|[[They Do]]}}.

** {{spoiler|Sybil and Branson}} do this.

* [[May-December Romance]]: Anna and Mr. Bates; Edith and Sir Anthony. In the latter case, Sir Anthony gives this as {{spoiler|his reasoning for why Edith shouldn't marry him}}.

** HEY, WOULD ANYONE LIKE A RIDE ON THIS HAYCART?

* [[Mr. Fanservice]]: Kemal Pamuk. In-universe, too. Turned out to be {{spoiler|a short-lived and creepy [[jerkassJerkass]].}}.

* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: O'Brien first only seems to show moderate guilt when she {{spoiler|''knows that she is the direct cause of her mistress's friggin miscarriage''}}, but the look of this trope is truly visible on her face when she learns that {{spoiler|Cora had never intended to get rid of her and she's now caused them exquisite pain for ''no reason whatsoever''.}}.

* [[My Own Private I Do]]: {{spoiler|Sybil and Branson try to}} elope to [[wikipedia:Gretna Green|Gretna Green]], but {{spoiler|Mary and Edith chase them down and talk her out of it.}}.

* [[Opera Gloves]]: The various actresses wear these throughout the series in scenes where they're dressed in formal outfits, starting from episodeEpisode 1 where Cora is seen putting on a pair of long black gloves while dressing for dinner. (Very much [[Truth in Television]], as properly dressed men and women of the middle and upper classes were expected to wear gloves as accessories to almost everything except bathing suits and sleepwear during [[The Edwardian Era]].)

* [[Orbital Kiss]]: {{spoiler|Mary and Matthew.}}.

* [[Out with a Bang]]: {{spoiler|Pamuk.}}.

* [[Pair the Spares]]: Edith and Sir Anthony were leaning to this direction, {{spoiler|up until Mary spoils it at the garden party. However, he reappears in the Christmas Special so this story may not be over yet}}...}}

'''Robert:''' What a ghastly prospect. }}

** See episodeSeries 2 Episode 2.02 for a stellar example; Thomas briefly returns to Downton Abbey after what is implied to be several years at the front, gets in a few choice insults, and leaves to work in the village army hospital without appearing to have changed at all; however, while there, he becomes emotionally attached to a young lieutenant with gas blindness, reading his letters, encouraging him to keep fighting, and very nearly [[Coming Out Story|coming out]] to him after speaking about his own difficult past. When the soldier is due to be transferred against his will to another medical facility, Thomas goes to bat for him against the head of the hospital, and after the man's {{spoiler|suicide}}, is seen sobbing uncontrollably in a store cupboard.

* [[Rebellious Princess]]: Though she's not ''quite'' royalty, Lady Sybil is a rebel who is interested in politics, supports women having the vote, wears bloomers, consorts with servants, and {{spoiler|in seriesSeries 2 goes so far as to--''shudder''--actually get a ''job'' as a nurse.}}.

** Not to mention {{spoiler|marrying the ''Irish chauffeur'', which [[Dating What Daddy Hates|her father still hasn't forgiven her for]], even when she's legitimately giving him his first grandchild.}}.

* [[Reset Button]]: {{spoiler|Matthew's *ahem ahem* is making progress.}}.

* [[Riches to Rags]]: {{spoiler|Sybil}} is this by marrying {{spoiler|Branson}}, although it's an usual variation in that it's her choice and she welcomes her new lifestyle.

** Branson {{spoiler|turns down Robert's offer of a bribe to abandon Sybil.}}.

** Ethel, {{spoiler|who refuses to give her baby to Major Bryant's wealthy parents as she believes it's better for him to grow up with a poor but loving mother.}}.

* [[Self-Made Man]]: Matthew and Richard Carlisle. [[Lampshade|Lampshaded]] by Carlisle himself when he explains to Mary that he sees no shame in not being from "old money.".

* [[Shell-Shocked Veteran]]: Lang.

* [[Shipper on Deck]]: Carson, Cora, Robert, The Dowager Countess, Rosamund, possibly Branson, even Isobel and Anna, {{spoiler|EVEN LAVINIA AT THE END OF HER LIFE}}... at this point, is there [[Everyone Can See It|anyone who doesn't ship Mary/Matthew]]?

* [[Shot At Dawn]]: The fate of {{spoiler|Mrs. Patmore's nephew, for cowardice.}}.

** Matthew remarks that "[https://web.archive.org/web/20131227022455/http://www.boop.org/jan/justso/cat.htm I am the cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to me]" -- a reference to one of [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s ''[[Just So Stories]]''.

** In the Christmas Special Mary {{spoiler|compares herself and Matthew to [[Tess of the D'Urbervilles|Tess Durbeyfield and Angel Clare]].}}.

** {{spoiler|Oh, your [[Oops, I Forgot I Was Married|estranged wife]] suddenly appears to ruin any sliver of happiness you might have had. Have some tea.}}.

** Sorry, you'll never {{spoiler|walk again.}}. Tea?

* [[Star-Crossed Lovers]]: {{spoiler|The chauffeur Tom Branson and Lady Sybil.}}.

* [[Suicide, Not Murder]]: This seems to be {{spoiler|Vera's plan, unless Bates really did snap once and for all.}}.

* [[Tantrum Throwing]]: Thomas executes a furious [[Trash the Set]] when he discovers his {{spoiler|black market goods are all but worthless.}}.

** The second season does give one moment, when Edith {{spoiler|tells Mary about Matthew being MIA, not out of a desire to hurt her, but because she genuinely believes Mary ought to know.}}. It's not much, but it is something after how much they're been at each other's throats.

* [[Throwing Off the Disability]]: {{spoiler|Matthew goes from experiencing confusing tingling feelings to becoming fully erect (what are you sniggering at?) in the course of one episode, barring the occasional [[Hand Wave]] that he'll need to "take things slowly".}}.

* [[Too Good for This Sinful Earth]]: {{spoiler|Lavinia.}}.

** In seasonSeries 2 {{spoiler|between Mary and Matthew. No, she didn't run after the train, but you know she wanted to.}}.

** Not much later, Mary {{spoiler|has a more sedate and business-like one with Sir Richard.}}.

* [[Uptown Girl|Upstairs Girl]]: {{spoiler|Sybil and Branson are married and expecting a child by the Christmas Special.}}.

* [[Wham! Episode]]: The penultimate episode of seriesSeries 2 - where to ''start''? {{spoiler|Richard tries to pay Anna to spy on Mary, Carson finds out and refuses to work for him; Matthew [[Throwing Off the Disability|gets almost total use of his legs back]] over the course of about ten minutes, and Violet wastes no time in trying to set him back up with Mary; Ethel bursts in on dinner to present her lovechild to its grandparents; Bates reveals he bought the rat poison his wife killed herself with; Thomas invests all his money in a black market business and gets screwed over; Sybil elopes with Branson and her sisters chase her down and bring her back to the house}}. ''[Deep breath]''. ''Think'' that about covers it.

{{quote|'''Robert''': I am sorry to announce that we are [[World War OneI|at war with Germany.]]}}

* [[What Were You Thinking?]]: Mary when {{spoiler|she gives in to Kemal Pamuk's seduction}}.

** Sybil when {{spoiler|she goes to a dangerous political meeting where she gets injured.}}.

** Ethel when she {{spoiler|gets involved with Major Bryant.}}. Anna even tried to warn her.

* [[Will They or Won't They?]]: Mr. Bates and Anna, Matthew and Mary, Branson and Sybil, {{spoiler|Robert and Jane}}.

** Answers so far, in order: {{spoiler|[[They Do]]... if Bates ever gets out}}, {{spoiler|[[They Do]]}}, {{spoiler|[[They Do]]}}, and {{spoiler|They Don't}}.

* [[World War OneI]]: The backdrop of seriesSeries 2.

* [[Zany Scheme]]: All of Thomas' schemes to become Lord Grantham's valet, but plotting {{spoiler|to steal and then return his beloved Labrador, Isis, takes the cake.}}.

[[Category:World War OneI]]

[[Category:Downton Abbey{{PAGENAME}}]]