TV REVIEW: Downton Abbey Series 3 Final Episode & Pictures SPOILERS (Huff Post)

Julian Fellowes had his work cut out in the final 90 minutes of this series, with eight sprawling story lines to tie up neatly with a gigantic Christmas-ready bow.

Instead, he threw the gauntlet down with a brand new character, in the form of great-niece Rose, an 18-year-old upstart who "hates London, but loves dancing". Hmmm.

The Dowager’s advice on how to treat the little smart Alec-lette was “keep smiling and never look as if you disapprove" - but that was before Rose announced she was off to the metropolis she claimed to despise, and then did a bunk to that den of iniquity, the Blue Dragon, or “the outer circle of Dante’s inferno” as Matthew Crawley would have it.

Matthew proved his manliness, looking after Rose on the dancefloor of the fabled Blue Dragon

And so, in the dying minutes of this third series, we were at last allowed a bit of nightclub feathers and flapper-dom, a sniff of the 1920s that the Crawley folk had done such a good job of hiding from until now. Strangely for someone with a war-wound who spends half his life in a dressing gown, Matthew knew instinctively how to acquit himself on the dancefloor, while he was coming over all manly and protective to boot.

If only Mary could have seen him in such cavalier stance, because the pair of them were giving the family cause for concern. Mary was just too “tired from London” and busy checking on train times to whip off the dressing gown, but it turned out there was nothing wrong with either of them. How they laughed, and kissed, and prepared to “start making babies”... ewww. Please, no. It’s like watching your parents.

READ MORE: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/11/04/tv-review-downton-abbey-series-3-final-episode_n_2073598.html