Sunday night used to be the night when I mourned the end of the weekend, trying to mentally prepare for my Monday morning class while finishing up last-minute homework. That was until I discovered Downton Abbey. Or rather, until I finally got around to watching this show that so many of my friends had been raving about. Once I started watching, the history nerd in me came out full force and I could not wait to watch the trials and tribulations of the Crawley family with other Downton fans on Sundays. I was hooked.
In the past year, this British miniseries, which airs on PBS’s Masterpiece Classic, has amassed a huge audience, garnered international fame and attention and has won six Emmys and the Golden Globe for Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television. The finale of season two aired last week, and there is already buzz about the upcoming season, which does not air until next year. It seems the British Invasion is back.
At its heart, Downton Abbey is a well-written, visually stunning, high-minded soap opera. It centers on the aristocratic Crawley family, headed by Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, and his American wife, Cora. They have three daughters — Mary, Edith and Sybil — and live in Downton Abbey, an enormous English manor house and estate. The show is in the style of Upstairs/Downstairs, focusing both on the aristocratic family and their servants, headed by Mr. Carson, the butler, and Mrs. Hughes, the housekeeper. The first season opens with the sinking of the Titanic and the death of the heir to the estate. As English law held that estates could not pass to daughters, Downton Abbey had to go to the next closest male in the family. Enter Matthew, a distant cousin who knows nothing about running an estate or the social norms of the nobility. The saga begins, with plenty of romance, drama, humor and action to keep viewers entertained.
Before I began watching Downton Abbey, I thought to myself, why is this show so popular? I am inclined to watch PBS and can attest that Masterpiece Classic usually shows high quality, entertaining productions. However, it quickly became clear that Downton Abbey was reaching an audience much wider than regular Masterpiece viewers. I am sure this is partly due to marketing and exposure on awards shows and in the press, but the fact is that the show is also highly entertaining, very interesting and incredibly addictive.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Downton Abbey is that it is set in a world completely foreign to modern Americans. None of the family members has a job; their lives center on running their estate. Matthew is a lawyer, and to them the notion of having a workingman inherit their estate is absurd. The daughters always get dressed to the nines to go to dinner with their parents, who are also sporting their finery.
The main purpose of the daughters’ lives is to get married to respectable and wealthy men. Perhaps the most shocking part is the family’s complete dependence on their servants, who do everything for them. In one episode, we learn that the daughter Sybil wants to become a nurse, and a family member remarks that this is a ridiculous idea, as she has never even dressed herself in her life.
Not that the Crawleys are lazy. The daughters, in particular, have plenty of spunk and ambition, and are aware of their lifestyle and how it is being affected by the changing world. On the other hand, the servants basically devote their lives to this one family. Their purpose is to make sure that everything runs smoothly and the family does not have to lift a finger. The onset of World War I does change some of their attitudes, which makes for an interesting tension.
This historical aspect of Downton Abbey is equally engaging. The first two seasons span from 1912 to 1919, during which Europe changed drastically. World War I affects Downton very much, as family members and servants go to fight, and the house is then turned into a convalescent home. This completely alters the family’s lifestyle. Suddenly their lives have a purpose besides keeping up appearances. The war also effectively breaks down many social barriers. Those in the “lower class” start to question their position and subservience to the aristocracy. This shakes things up considerably, as the family must come to grips with the fact that their old way of life and their position in the world is slipping.
While the historical background is interesting, the allure of the show also rests mainly on its characters. Among the family and their servants, who get an equal amount of attention on the show, there are plenty of compelling characters. The interactions between the characters drive the show, as we watch them strive to have fulfilling lives while operating within the social norms of the time. As it is a drama with melodramatic tendencies, there is plenty of intrigue, tortured love, betrayal, sibling rivalry and tension.
But there is also humor. Maggie Smith as Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham (Robert’s mother), is arguably the best character on the show. She is the quintessential snotty aristocrat, but surprisingly insightful, caring and hilarious. In a dry manner she constantly delivers meaningful yet biting one-liners that are both incredibly funny and thought-provoking. She is reason enough to watch the show.
Of course, Downton Abbey is not without imperfections. Reminiscent of a soap opera, a couple of episodes in the second season were a bit unbelievable, as one character made a miraculous medical recovery which was convenient to the plot, while another was very conveniently killed off by the Spanish flu. The pacing of the show is also strange. It feels as if each episode should take place within a few weeks of one another, but in reality they are months apart. The show has spanned about eight years so far, and not one character has aged. Sybil, supposedly twenty-one at the end of season two, looks exactly the same as she did in the beginning, when she should have been about fourteen (although she looked twenty-one then). Likewise, all the other characters are physically exactly the same, which can be a bit confusing, besides being entirely unrealistic.
However, perfect reality is not the main aim of the show, and honestly, I’m glad that no one has aged. The fact is, while I may not be able to relate to the Crawley’s lifestyles or agree with the social system in which they live, Downton Abbey is a world of visual beauty which I absolutely love. The Crawley family lives in a protected bubble of grandeur. I love seeing the gorgeous gowns the women wear to dinner, wishing that I had the occasion to wear them, and how their hair is done perfectly as they stroll around their immaculately manicured grounds. It may be ridiculous, but it is complete eye-candy for us history nerds, which is exactly what I want on a Sunday night.
