Downton Abbey was back on form in a heartbreaking fifth episode
TV review: Downton Abbey's latest episode wasn't good news for William or Matthew, but at least the ITV period drama is clawing back its dignity.
Downton Abbey's fifth episode finished with heartbreaking scenes (Picture: ITV)Downton Abbey's fifth episode finally saw a move away from that second-series habit of stuffing dialogue with irritating set-up lines to bring its audience up to speed - clearly Julian Fellowes has run out of patience with viewers who haven't been concentrating and the series is all the better for it.
Something else was different - and better - this week, too: the optimism we've seen in previous episodes as the Downton clan buzzed with rumours of a classless post-war future and universal suffrage had subsided.
In place of the Great War keep-calm-and-carry-on cheeriness was the dark cloud of William and Matthew's injuries, which hung over the Granthams, who were desperate to bring them back to Downton.
Suddenly Lady Sybil's nurse get-up wasn't so quite so borderline sexy anymore; her sunny self-belief not quite so unshakeable as she tended to Matthew's wounds.
And as her parents and sisters rallied round the injured lads, the servants suffered too, with Bates and Anna turning to the Church to find solace from the struggles.
But even in such desperate times, there was more humour to be found in typical Downton style, with Maggie Smith's Dowager Countess purring the line 'I won't beat about the bush here - who might we know on the board of Leeds General Infirmary?' down the phone to a friend.
A heartbreaking final few minutes rounded off an above-average episode that may well signal a return to Downton's former glory.
Something else was different - and better - this week, too: the optimism we've seen in previous episodes as the Downton clan buzzed with rumours of a classless post-war future and universal suffrage had subsided.
In place of the Great War keep-calm-and-carry-on cheeriness was the dark cloud of William and Matthew's injuries, which hung over the Granthams, who were desperate to bring them back to Downton.
Suddenly Lady Sybil's nurse get-up wasn't so quite so borderline sexy anymore; her sunny self-belief not quite so unshakeable as she tended to Matthew's wounds.
And as her parents and sisters rallied round the injured lads, the servants suffered too, with Bates and Anna turning to the Church to find solace from the struggles.
But even in such desperate times, there was more humour to be found in typical Downton style, with Maggie Smith's Dowager Countess purring the line 'I won't beat about the bush here - who might we know on the board of Leeds General Infirmary?' down the phone to a friend.
A heartbreaking final few minutes rounded off an above-average episode that may well signal a return to Downton's former glory.
Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/tv/reviews/878707-downton-abbey-was-back-on-form-in-a-heartbreaking-fifth-episode#ixzz1b3rWSf3j
No comments:
Post a Comment