As Montreal’s self-professed biggest Downton fan, Sunday night was a red letter one in our household. And as the preshow and Season 6, Episode 1 itself unfurled—with me curled next to hubby under a cozy blanket—I realized anew that it’s all about the women. The men on Downton may be occasionally dashing and decorative (even, sometimes, dead), but they’re ultimately a bit foolish about Downton Abbey’s underlying theme, which is the era’s need for reform, for change.
From corsets to hairdos, to the proper employment of well bred ladies, the move to the modern age Fellowes chronicles is about breaking the taboos that shackle the females to “suitable” domestic endeavour, and letting freedom reign.
Which is, interestingly, the thinking behind many current development programs: the best way to move a society forward is to empower its women.
One of my least favourite—to me, near inscrutable—plot lines is the jealousy/backbiting between Mary and Edith (I’m still not sure if Michelle Dockery is simply a poor actress or if it’s the emotional constipation of the British she’s stuck portraying that gets me down). If there was a struggle for resources (money or men), it might make some sense, but in a family that has everything, why is Edith so jealous of Mary, and why does Mary resent her? There’s nothing that explains it. It felt like a mystery, until I thought back to the older stories, of Cain slaying Abel, of Jacob stealing Esau’s birthright, the father Abraham’s blessing bestowed on the next generation’s leader. And, as I moseyed across this in my internet travels, the story of Rachel and Leah, though with these two, it’s about the love of a man (so they fail the Bechdel test).
So what does Fellowes telegraph of his plans for the season in this first episode?
Well, the first scenes give us a longish glimpse of Barrow, so it seems he will be a major figure this season, and Mary is off to the hunt, scandalously astride: tradition, once again, takes a beating. Robert tries not to harrumph.
Edith wants “a life,” and Anna and Bates get theirs back (though there are still a few crossed stars in the way). Mrs. Hughes involves Mrs. Patmore in an excruciating inquiry into Carson’s sexual intentions toward his intended…and Mrs. Patmore demonstrates (again) that she is a moral pillar, a loving and stalwart devotee of them both.
Denker and Spratt engage in a delightful cut and thrust, spurring the Dowager Countess to “rule by fear,” the fear being of the necessity of household downsizing (It’s 1925: "Who has an underbutler anymore?”).
Cora, her mother-in-law, and Isabel spar over the future of family influence, embodied in the local hospital, a family-controlled institution. (Elizabeth McGovern’s portrayal of Cora being another weak link, it must be said). And after Robert confronts and bests Mary’s erstwhile blackmailer, there’s a metaphorical changing of the guard as he acknowledges Mary is an apprentice no longer. Not only is she ready to assume control of the Abbey itself, but she’s “tough enough to run the whole kingdom.”
Perhaps the most emotionally genuine scene (at least, the most satisfying to me) was Daisy confronting the new owners over the looming loss of her father-in-law Mr. Mason’s tenancy as the Darnleys are forced by circumstances to sell nearby Malleton Hall. Of course, her outburst does everything but further Mr. Mason’s cause, but in a world where everyone else is emotionally constrained, it did my unBritish heart good to watch someone on screen finally let loose.
Yes, Downton is back. And though we can sense the creaks and groans of the plot’s contrivances (“Will the sisters ever find love, especially between each other?”), our anticipation is duly whetted.
Besides, Poldark is still in production.
