Downton Abbey Movie

[Stephanie Stark-West]

Have you seen it, what did you think, please use this thread for any and all discussions!

Please remember to keep spoilers in the spoiler tabs.

Spoiler: Bittersweet

Honestly I loved the movie, it was great to see all the old family together again and to see how they were going with their lives. I liked that they weren't all happy and living their best lives as well, as we saw with Edith, being stuck as a Lady now and not able to keep the job she had loved. I hope the addition of a new little one helps ease that a bit for her. The assassination of the King was great, especially as it was foiled by Branson who probably never thought he would be the person to save the King's life. The banter between Violet and Isobel was on point as ever and I loved Imelda Staunton as Maud. It was nice to see Branson have a chance with finally getting some happiness after all this time with Miss Lucy, and I almost shed a tear for Thomas and Richard! The underground secret gay culture was great to see too, even if I did boo at the screen when the Police came and broke it up. I loved this movie so much and really want to see more!

I was sad to hear that Maggie Smith probably won't appear in any more of the show or movies, but I guess I am not surprised by this as she is trying to cut down on her commitments and she played Violet to absolute perfection over the years. I'll be sad to lose her!

 

[Sara Moon]

Spoiler: Mixed Bag

I had a good enough time, but will honestly say I was disappointed. I enjoyed moments, I liked Edith's plot, and Thomas', but Mary's sudden questioning of Downton's purpose is directly out of line with the six seasons of character work we'd seen with her and honestly, watching Tom as an Irish person was awful.

I always felt Downton handled the "Ireland question" really well, but they literally just removed every aspect of Tom's patriotism?? Like, obviously I was glad he didn't engage in a plot against the royals, but he should not have been at the visit, it was such a belittling of his whole identity, and the historic significance of that time. I would've respected that plot so much more if Tom had removed himself from the house during the visit. It was just a bit sickening to see a character that was so principled abandon that. He says you can love people and not agree with them, but you also don't just abandon your beliefs like that, it felt forced and not thought-through.

I did really enjoy Maud's storyline, and as usual Maggie Smith was amazing, but some of the dialogue felt very wooden, especially in THAT scene with Mary. It just felt slapdash to me, like it was thrown together for a fan reaction without much thought put into it, they seemed to choose what they felt were hot-button topics and throw them back in, but didn't explore anything in depth. I would've preferred if they'd focused on one central plot point, rather than having all these mini-plots withing one central location and using the royal visit as something all these other plots moved around.

 

[Nicolas King]

o0o0o0 I finally saw this just before Christmas - and it was cute enjoyable little movie with familiar characters but felt substantially different than the show had - like it wasn't Downton Abbey at all, but something new and lesser. I guess it just felt like fan service to me in a way? Which is fine - I'm sure fans are happier with something rather than nothing - but I think that I'm the kind of fan who enjoyed it for what it was and was also fine that it had ended.