2015 is here--I'm not ready! nor am I ready to take on ALL that I repeatedly said I would do starting this week! I admit to declaring over and over throughout the month of December that "I will deal with it...After the Holidays". ...and so tomorrow is indeed "after the holidays" and deal with it all I must! No more putting it all off, no more stretch of "play time"... back to work, back to lists, back to schedules...but tonight I have one last holiday gift to unwrap. Thank you PBS for tonight when I have a date at Downton! I can start the New Year not at my desk all piled high with TO DOs, but at Downton Abbey! I may not be ready to take on what 2015 might have in store for me, but I am SO ready to dive head first into what 1924 will serve up on a silver tray for the Crawley family.
Season 5 ,already seen in the UK, airs tonight and this season seems to hint at lots of secrets. At the core of Downton Abbey of course from day one has been Change. Can Lord Grantham and clan continue to stand still while the world around them moves away, far away, from the lives they have always led? To begin Season 5...a new government, and a socially democratic one at that! Lord Grantham, and no doubt Mr. Carson, are clinging to the wallpaper as the walls of Downton are beginning to slide. Their world is vanishing, and quickly, with no time for them to adjust, and so hold on with all their might they will. All they can really do is find an overstuffed sofa and watch as the rapid blur of the lines between Upstairs and Downstairs takes over. Women have their own opinions and worse yet speak their own minds, Servants look beyond their "place" and want more for their lives, social and sexual mores are set free and what could be next...no dressing for dinner?? How about the wireless...where even the King speaks!
Lady Mary is clearly at the center of Season 5. Once her fate was tied to finding the right husband-her Grandmama even went as far as considering sending to her to America, heaven fore fend...but now she has not only a stake but a role in the running of her family estate and seems to have suitors around every corner. She really doesn't need to choose one... but will she???--at least for more than a dance or a dinner companion??
Last season Lady Edith gave birth out of wedlock -and in Switzerland no less- and now her daughter resides up the road with a local farmer. That secret is bound to bubble over...and will her Mr. Gregson, who disappeared into pre-war Germany, resurface? Will Edith ever find happiness??
There will, and should be, lots of romance and more romance...and not just for Lady Mary. Isobel has a Gentleman Caller, Rose is bound to turn a head or two, there is Mosely and Miss Baxter with her secrets-could Mr. Mosely become a "catch"?, a secret someone from The Dowager Countess' past-a Russian! appears on the doorstep, and even Lady Cora my have her head turned by Richard E Grant.
The burning question left over from last season...Did Bates kill Anna's attacker Mr.Green?? Will he be caught and sent back to prison? Why can't this lovely couple just settle down and have a few peaceful moments??? I think one of the ones to keep an eye on is Daisy--she once was a simple kitchen maid but now is a cook that even Mrs Patmore approves of and I think she will be the one to leave service and challenge the role set out for her! Go Daisy! Hemlines are rising as are women's roles and independence...they are finding their way in the word and making decisions that Lord Grantham and his Mother would never approve of... but tails at dinner will disappear and jazz and women who drink, smoke, and talk politics will take their place. Tom Bransons new "friend" Sarah is just such a woman-one who has a mind and uses it...her opinion of the Crawleys and their "kind" won't go unsaid and the best guess is no one at Downton will be happy with her... especially Lord Grantham.
We can expect Rose to drag shopping bags filled with the new styles, music and morals right into the drawing room...and of course a love affair for Miss Rose must be in store as she sets off to play Cinderella this spring. Tradition is on the chopping block and the house will be divided not only between up and down but left and right ---the times they are a changing and that can only mean more than a few choice bon mots from the delicious Dowager and a great deal of fun at Downton!
Posts
