Last night Downton Abbey returned to PBS for a two hour season premiere.
Damn, I love that show. It can be incredibly cheesy at times, it’s not high drama, it wears its soap opera-ness on its sleeve; how to explain Matthew inheriting an insane fortune at the exact moment that Robert is ruined by bankruptcy? Still, it’s fun and it’s addictive and I gobble it up like nothing else.
It’s the characters. I love the characters.
I adore Matthew, even if he’s mind-bogglingly stupid at times. Of course he can’t accept that inheritance, because it would mean violating his own personal code of honor and he feels he must atone for breaking poor Livinia Swire’s heart. At the same time, he’s unabashedly romantic, and I totally understand when he says that he’ll never be happy with anyone else so long as Mary walks the Earth because my heart tells me that there’s one person on this Earth for me. Of course, we know that Matthew will take the inheritance, that he’ll find a way to square the money with his morality, and it will probably take the Dowager Countess smacking him upside the head for it to happen.
Edith! I so root for Edith’s happiness, even though I know she’s borderline pathetic and any happiness she has will be fleeting and/or tragic. I cheer that she’s found love and has become secretly engaged to Sir Anthony, but I know it won’t last. It never lasts for Edith. Maybe she should take the advice Robert gave Mary last year — go to America, find a cowboy, and bring him back to Downton to shake things up. No, what am I saying? That’s not Edith.
As for Bates, I feel like he’s hiding something from Anna. It’s just a hunch.
Anyway, Downton is back. And it’s wonderful. 🙂