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Downton Abbey 2/5 (spoilers)
So, who stayed up after the Superbowl to watch Downton Abbey!? 
I love this show. It's like crack -- I think about it all week and count down the time until my next "fix"!
Sadly, I'm getting bored with the Anna and Mr. Bates storyline. At first I loved them together, but now I feel like they're just never going to be happy and the writers are just toying with us -- I'm tired of watching obstacle after ridiculous obstacle being thrown at them.. Now I just know Mr. Bates is going to be accused of murdering Mrs. Bates. I'm not sure if I think he did it -- I really hope he's not that dumb, since everyone at Downton knew where he was going.
I love, love, love Mary and Matthew together. I have to admit -- I was totally tricked by last week's previews. I thought this week would show them declaring their love for each other! I love how Mary's dad knows she's in love with him. I love how noble and self-sacrificing Matthew is (although, I want him to cut it out and tell Mary he loves her!).
As much as I hated seeing Lavinia walking in the room, I do think it's better that she's back. She gave up way too easily last week -- if Matthew's ever going to really be with Mary, he'll have to have a real break up with Lavinia, not just send her away when he's barely conscious.
I keep telling myself that the writers (well, writer -- isn't it just Julian Fellows?)wouldn't be setting up Richard as such a bastard if they were really going to really allow the main female character to marry him. When he cornered Mary and threatened her, I was practically shouting at Mary to just dump him right there and ride out the social consequences in the arms of the man she really loves :-)
I love that they already showed the beginnings of Matthew's miraculous cure (when he told Bates he thought he felt something). I knew they wouldn't leave the heir impotent and crippled! Crippled maybe, but not both.
I hate the chauffeur (forget his name). I'm glad the preview showed them telling the family -- hopefully now someone can convince Sybil that he's a jerk.
Oh, and poor Edith. So ready to believe anything :-( I'm so glad the rest of the family recognized that guy as a fraud right away.
So, what did other people think??
Apparently the doll needed a time out...
Re: Downton Abbey 2/5 (spoilers)
MH and I watched this episode a few weeks ago. I agree with the Mr. Bates/Anna storyline being a little dragged out -- I SO want them to just be happy!
What stuck out to me the most in that episode was the fraudulent "heir" miraculously appearing at DA. I thought that was pretty random, and not a great storyline. I'm glad they seem to have gotten rid of him quickly, however.
I thought the Patrick/fake Patrick plot was very awkward. I liked the concept, especially because Edith really did love him, but it was just so weird for some reason.
I want Mary and Matthew together so badly. Sybil and the chauffeur? He was jerky before about pressuring Sybil to leave with him and come clean to her family... but I guess I wasn't getting that he was jerk to his core. It has to make you feel terrible that you aren't good enough for someone's family, right? At first I thought he was controlling but then he said something about her family eventually accepting them as a couple and he would welcome them. He questions her but I think of it more along the lines of making her confront these class and politic issues. Am I forgetting other things he said that makes him a jerk? (I mean, other than wanting to dump the pig guts on the General. lol)
ETA: What's with Mrs. O'Brien's faces? Like she knew something regarding the death of Mrs. Bates? And then the preview of her telling Cora something. Are they alluding to something?
I hate how many obstacles poor Bates has to go through. Even If he wasn't in love. He's had so much to through to be at peace.
I agree about Branson the Chauffeur ( I think that's his name) and Sybil. Something about him gets on my nerves. He's too aggressive I guess IDK. It comes across like he had to talk her into having feelings for him. She didn't seem to have feelings for him, and he kind of pressured or guilt her into it.
It was sort of a nice twist that Patrick show up. That would be a difficult thing to prove. Did anyone catch with the Earl notice how Patrick wiped his face? It was as if he remembered the Patrick he knew had that same habit. Maybe he'll be back next season. They need to settle it someway so it's not just some blurb that just came up.
If she's confessing something on Cora's deathbed, about something she's done that she feels guilty about, it will probably be making her slip and fall and lose the baby.
O'Brien was a bit unusual this week. I feel like the writers are trying to start to make her more likable or sympathetic. I think her butting into the conversation this week about Bates and Amanda are starting to be about her being upset with Mrs. Bates, and feeling that she was manipulated a bit in that whole plot line and angry with her. It wouldn't surprise me if they try to make her more human and likable, because I expect there will be a very interesting back story as to what has made her so miserable all this time.
This.
The fake Patrick thing was weird.
I love love loved the shot at the end with Carson and Lord Grantham standing in the door way. So sweet.