Downton Abbey - Series 3 - Season Premiere - Recap and Review

Downton Abbey is back, and though it's been nominated for more Emmys than any one show should be able to fit on its mantle in a single year, the premiere of series three retains many of the structural issues of series two, despite being a wholly satisfying episode of television, when taken in a vacuum. Now, don't get me wrong. Despite its soap opera sensibilities (or perhaps because of them), Downton Abbey remains compelling television, with all the opulence and grandeur of a well-made, prestige series. Yet the narrative inertia of the television format means that we can never simply have our happy ending, as it seemed we would have in last year's Christmas special, with Matthew Crawley finally proposing to Mary amidst a shower of snow, stars, and angels singing from on high. When you're as big a hit as Downton Abbey, you have to keep going. Not terribly unlike the Crawleys who, through a series of contrivances that will either make series three incredibly thrilling or achingly dull, are facing hardships for which the only solution is to keep moving forward.

It's the Spring of 1920, and Matthew (Dan Stevens) and Mary (Michelle Dockery) are set to be married. It's a high society English wedding of the very first rank, and Downton is appropriately abuzz with excitement. Except for Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville), Earl of Grantham, who discovers he's lost the lion's share of his wife's fortune in a Canadian railway investment. This injury to the family finances means there's a real risk of Robert losing Downton Abbey. Of course, no sooner do we learn of Robert's downturn than Matthew discovers that the late Reggie Swire, the father of Matthew's even later fiance, Lavinia, revised his will to name three possible heirs before his death, of which Matthew is the third. The first heir has already died, while the second heir cannot be accounted for, having disappeared in India some time ago. With the second heir presumed dead, Matthew stands to inherit an exorbitant amount of money.

Again.

Truly, no man has the unadulterated luck of Matthew Crawley, who is positively Kardashian in his ability to come into vast sums of money by doing absolutely nothing.

With the complication of Robert's sudden destitution comes the obstacle of Matthew's white knighting. If he'd simply take the money, Matthew would save Downton, and the Crawley family, from ruin. But he simply cannot bring himself to accept the Swire family money, still believing himself to be responsible for Lavinia's death-by-heartbreak (because it totally wasn't the Spanish flu or anything like that at all). I can certainly understand Matthew's motivations, but if ever it was possible for an action to be in character while also being completely contrived, this development would take the cake. I can understand, in narrative terms, why it was done, but it felt less like an organic offshoot of the story, and more of a writerly intrusion, an extra spot of bother to keep us on our toes. Which is why it's such a great relief that the schism in Matthew and Mary's relationship is resolved by episode's end, if not necessarily the money issue. Mary is furious, believing that Matthew will always put his own honor before the good of the family. With the wedding threatened, it's Branson (Allen Leech) to the rescue. Having been named Best Man by Matthew, in one of the episode's more random developments, Sybil's Irish husband has a heart-to-heart with the groom, reminding him that he'll "never be happy with another person as long as Lady Mary walks the Earth." This gives Matthew the impetus to rush over to Mary's room to confess his feelings. Separated by her door to avoid seeing the bride before the wedding, Matthew and Mary come to a happy, if tentative, resolution, sharing a kiss while keeping their eyes closed shut, in a genuinely sweet little moment.

Credit: ITV

I might give the Matthew/Mary plot a hard time, but the romance really is a strength for the series, owing to the natural, effortless chemistry between Stevens and Dockery. It's among the top reasons to tune in, from week to week, as their relationship remains as compelling as their courtship. That said, there's still plenty to recommend here independent of Matthew and Mary's entanglements: a mysterious benefactor has wired money to Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay) to allow her to come home for Mary's wedding, despite the open hostility between Branson and the bourgeoisie. Branson, for his part, is as insufferable as ever, lending every spare word to complain about the hollowness of high-society English customs, and arguing with the other guests about the oppression of the Irish. When Sybil dares to broach the subject of Branson maybe dialing it back a little on the Ireland talk, he takes offense, asking her not to disappoint him so.

Hey, I get the idea behind the character of Branson as a man who sits on the fence between the upper crust that lives upstairs and the working class that runs Downton Abbey from the hearth below, yet belonging to neither class outright. However, he's so abrasive in nearly every scene that it's hard to muster any sympathy for the man. That Robert has shown this much patience is a marvel beyond all comprehension. I don't know how anyone puts up with him. It would appear that any topic that does not concern Ireland's immediate freedom seems to be a source of open contempt to him. That said, it's almost worth it to see him humbled so dramatically when it's revealed that the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith) was responsible for wiring the money, reminding Branson that he's part of the family now, and "Crawleys stick together." I really hope Branson starts to develop a personality soon, independent of his Irish Republican rhetoric, since he's been such a pill for so long now, heartfelt speeches to Matthew notwithstanding. There's the germ of an interesting character there, but it's buried beneath all the self-important brooding. Maybe the narrative of history will take care of developing him soon enough. Or offing him entirely. At this point, I'm not entirely certain which I'd prefer.

Credit: ITV

In other developments, Lady Cora's (Elizabeth McGovern) mother, Martha Levinson (Shirley MacLaine), arrives from America for the wedding. Not unlike Branson, she doesn't bother disguising her contempt for English customs, believing the wedding, as planned, to be a dull affair, to say nothing of her droll horror at how steadfastly the English cling to traditions such as the groom being prohibited from seeing the bride before the wedding. Martha is a mirror of the Dowager Countess in her biting, ornery personality, and their back-and-forth does not disappoint. If she contributes nothing else, Martha Levinson's addition is worth it for the sounding board she provides for the Dowager Countess's witty rejoinders: "When I'm with her, I'm reminded of the virtues of the English." That's just plain wonderful.

However, for each burn doled out by the Dowager Countess, there's a plot thread that doesn't seem to entirely belong, which brings us back to the structural issues of Downton Abbey. I imagine it will flow much better when it airs stateside, as PBS tends to edit out scenes here and there, if not entire subplots, in the service of maintaining a more streamlined narrative, and I can't say that approach wouldn't work in this instance. There's just far too much going on, as if it's absolutely imperative that we visit with every character for [x] amount of time each week, whether or not there's enough material to sustain an episode-long arc, or if there's been any substantial change in their situation at all. Daisy is still upset because she feels marginalized by Mrs. Patmore, Bates is still dryly stoic about having been convicted of murder, while also refusing to just take "yes" for an answer, where Anna's unconditional love is concerned. Meanwhile, O'Brien suggests her nephew for the open footman position, which leads to Thomas becoming bitter when it seems that the nephew, Alfred Nugent, might advance to the role of valet without having paid his dues. It's all well and good to stop in for a beat, but we keep coming back to Daisy, we keep coming back to Thomas and O'Brien's rift, and always, we keep coming back to Anna and Bates. I'd have liked a more straightforward story, since really, only one scene from each plot thread was necessary to set the table (except maybe in the Thomas/O'Brien storyline, as the introduction of Nugent provides the first obstacle in their curious friendship), but it seems as if it's a contractual obligation to give a certain amount of screentime to each character, whether it's warranted or not.

I could easily see a scenario in which any one of these plotlines were excised completely, with no harm done to the final cut. But individual episodes are rarely self-contained, and so we must go about the business of establishing where we're going, this season. I can only hope it's not predictable (vague predictions: Swire's heir dramatically reappears at the midpoint of the season, Edith still doesn't get married, Bates continues to have the patience of a saint). That said, I could continue to pick nits over the individual cogs in the machine, but the fact of the matter is that Downton Abbey has always been a show that's greater than the sum of its parts. It's a world I simply enjoy spending time in, and I imagine it's the same way for many other viewers. By that criteria, the premiere is a staggering success, even if it doesn't move the story forward very far.

Credit: ITV