In face of war, ‘Abbey’ stays strong Preview
PBS gem widens focus this time
Downton Abbey PBS, Sunday, 9 ET/PT (times may vary)
★★★★ out of four
Lightning can strike twice. Last season’s most joyous surprise, Masterpiece’s sumptuously entertaining Downton Ab
bey, is back with all its virtues intact. We are again cosseted in the warm glow of incredible talent impeccably used, on display in its gemstudded cast, gorgeous sets and costumes, and often moving, always unobtrusively witty script. Good TV may be incredibly hard to make, but Downton proves it can be blissfully easy to take.
In the two years between the end of the first story and the beginning of the second, life at this sprawling English manor has changed, both for the lords and ladies who rule there and for the staff that serves them. World War I has brought the ever-present threat of death and injury to the men in the trenches, deprivation and concern to those at home — and the growing fear (and, in some corners, hope) that the world will never be the same.
In every way possible, that era-ending conflict distinguishes this Downton run from the last. The first focused tightly on domestic concerns — most importantly the inheritance-driven desire of Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) and his American-born wife, Cora (Elizabeth Mcgovern, who is even more sweetly lovely) to marry eldest daughter Mary (Michelle Dockery) to distant cousin Matthew (Dan Stevens). Marriage remains a preoccupation for Mary and her sisters, and for two pairs of their servants. But the war broadens the story’s reach and expands its view, and not just by turning the estate into a convalescent hospital, a change arranged by Matthew’s mother, Isobel (Penelope Wilton), over the strenuous objections of the dowager countess (Maggie Smith, whose every look and line-reading is a trans-atlantic treasure).
For viewers, that story shift requires some adjustments. This second Downton is more scattered and less focused than the original, and verges at times on being swamped by plot and circumstance. (Like many such stories, Downton’s depends on characters speaking when they should be silent and remaining silent when they should speak.) But the trade-off is the greater depth and edge the war brings, and the opportunity it allows for resetting the characters.
People don’t just repeat their same patterns in Downton; they change, they grow, and, in some cases, they diminish. What hasn’t changed is the cast’s ability to pull off everything writer Julian Fellowes throws at them — and Fellowes’ ability to make each of these characters seem like a full-fledged human being.
We may admire the elegance while being relieved we’re neither dressing for dinner nor trapped in a society where dressing someone else for dinner is our only option. We may wonder at the restraint, and the meaning it imbues on every glance and (heaven forbid) kiss. But there’s nothing in Downton you won’t recognize, and almost nothing you won’t enjoy. Let it light up your Sundays again.