Downton Abbey

I cried like a baby last night. Sybiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiil! Why???????? God, why???? Why did you take her???

Why couldn't you take Ethel, the one nobody cares about???!!!

Well, I finally saw all of Season 3. What to make of it?

I'd give it a solid "B+", down from the A and A+ of the previous two seasons. I think Season 3 got better as it went along, and the Christmas Special was my favorite episode....until the very end.

I think Downton may have officially jumped the shark with that last bit at the end. It was gratuitous and unnecessary. It is cruel to the viewers.

I think Branson's transformation was one of the most interesting parts of the season, as was Matthew's running of the estate and pushing Robert into the background. But all that has changed now.

Mr. Barrow's storyline was, probably, the worst handled of the series. To Julian Fellowes credit, he managed to make Barrow both mean and sympathetic, which wasn't an easy trick to pull off. I felt really bad for this character when he was out in the rain, apparently with no future and no job prospects. I think it would have been more realistic for him to have committed suicide, and maybe that's where his storyline should have ended. But it's quite clear that in writing Barrow's storyline, the writers haven't forgotten that they have an audience in 2012, not in 1922; so ultimately, Mr. Barrow gets the "It Gets Better" treatment, and is given a very convoluted way out of his storyline that I don't entirely believe would have happened in 1922. It's not far-fetched, but it doesn't seem entirely realistic either, and that is what I have liked about DA so far: that it felt authentic for the time it was set in. Yet Mr. Barrow's storyline resolution seems a bit too optimistic for its time. I'm also chuckling a bit at the revisionist history of the writers: suddenly all these characters knew about Mr. Barrow's sexuality??? We're meant to believe Mrs. Hughes, Robert, Mr.Carson, etc....all knew it but never spoke it out loud?

And can we please get rid of Mr. Bates? I didn't give a flying fig about this character throughout the entire season; I can't even explain why the guard and some of the other inmates were lying about him. That's subplot really went over my head.

No need to rush Season 4. I'd rather the BBC takes its time and gets it right before coming back with more episodes.

The BBC won't be taking any time at all over the next series of Downton Abbey.

Not because they've become complacent, more because they don't make it. ITV do.

A few weeks into Season 3 here in Australia... It's definitely better than Season 2 - almost as good as Season 1.