Downton Abbey’s Dubious Departures (THE MODERATE VOICE)

eason 3 is gone and so are two of the most appealing characters, reflecting not the choice of series creators but career moves by young actors, latest in a long list of modestly talented young people who keep overestimating their contributions to a TV triumph.

Julian Fellowes, mastermind of “Downtown,” makes it clear that killing off Lady Sybil and Matthew Crawley was not his idea, that “the actor wanted to leave rather than anyone’s dying just for the sake of the plot…They would both be in the series till the end of it, if it were up to us.”

There is something primal here about young people rejecting nurturing homes to strike out before they are ready, causing pain to those who love them. If precedent is any guide, Jessica Brown-Findlay and Dan Stevens will survive in show biz, but “Downton” will be their high point.

Stevens’ Broadway debut in “The Heiress” is labeled “shiny, well spoken and lacking in discernible undercurrents” by the Times, while Brown-Findlay bears her breasts in a movie “Albatross,” notable for “the clang of cliché.”

Read more at http://themoderatevoice.com/177067/dowton-abbeys-dubious-departures/#91Mp6uTz63B0WiaU.99 

'Downton Abbey' breaks our hearts and shows our world being born (LA TIMES)

By David Horsey
February 19, 2013, 12:01 a.m.

Another season of "Downton Abbey" has swiftly gone by, and those of us who are fans deserve a break.

The tragic death of one character -- Lady Sybil -- was hard enough to take, but when the final episode concluded with the upright Matthew Crawley dying in a car wreck reminiscent of the opening scene in "Lawrence of Arabia," it was simply too much manipulation of our tender heartstrings. We need some time to grieve while the writers concoct new twists in a storyline that had tied up most of the loose ends at the close of Season 3.

I confess I'll not miss Matthew all that much. After he got through the curious torture of deciding whether to accept a fortune from the will of his dead fiancee’s father (was there ever any doubt that he’d take the money and save Downton?), he became a rather bland presence in the crowded cast.

I loved his vintage sports cars but was put off by his weak English chin (too much like my own, I suppose). His prickly, complicated wife, Mary, is the character viewers of the show hate or love (I think she’s terrific), and she was getting a bit too domesticated by being married to him. Now, she’ll be free to let her sharp edges poke through in a new plotline for the next season.

READ MORE: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-downtown-abbey-20130219,0,6714589.story

'Downton Abbey' Season 3 Recap: Unbearable Tragedy Strikes Posted by Adriana Velez on January 27, 2013 at 10:36 PM (THE STIR)

To quote the Dowager Countess, "Nothing is as bad as this." It was her most memorable line of the episode. But this line was uttered out of agony, and I'd take a million of her barbs over that. Did you ever think you would see Violet crumple in tears? That was one of the most heartbreaking moments in this episode.

If you haven't seen this one yet, stop right here. MAJOR SPOILER ALERT. Oh my God, this episode was almost too much. So horribly tragic -- and so infuriating.

***WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD***

You saw this coming with Sybil, right? From the moment Sir Philip arrives on the scene, with his title and all that toff brotherhood between him and Grantham. Sybil was pretty much sacrificed on the altar of England's dysfunctional class system. Sir Philip breezes in, and Grantham immediately prefers him over the family physician, Dr. Clarkson. Oh sure, Clarckson's been wrong before -- but he knows his patients, and his vision isn't clouded with smug arrogance.

Grantham and Sir Philip are infuriating. But the misery over Sybil's  death by eclampsia shortly after the birth of her daughter runs even deeper for the family. And what a horrible death it was -- from the scary labor down to the convulsions at the end. The kindest, most loving person in the Crawley family had an unjustly wretched end.

READ MORE; http://thestir.cafemom.com/entertainment/150209/downton_abbey_season_3_recap