‘Downton Abbey’ provides satisfying sendoff to season 2
The Associated Press February 20, 2012 9:38AM
In this image released by PBS, Dan Stevens as Matthew Crawley, left, and Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary are shown in a scene from the second season on "Downton Abbey." (AP Photo/PBS, Carnival Film & Television Limited 2011 for MASTERPIECE)
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Updated: February 20, 2012 9:38AM
If Downton Abbey (four stars out of four, PBS) must leave us, at least it’s departing in grand style.
Granted, fans would prefer that this thoroughly enchanting period soap not depart at all. We’ve grown accustomed to finding a weekly safe harbor where civility is still a goal, formality is not a crime, and even the worst behavior is cloaked in good manners and gorgeous clothes.
Yet while nostalgia is clearly a draw here, one of the joys of this excellently written, impeccably performed miniseries is that it never allows the sets and costumes to obscure the burdens and inequalities behind the aristocratic trappings. This is a world where inherited social position is all-important, so much so that a woman would be willing to marry a man she can barely tolerate to maintain it -- the fate facing Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) as Sunday’s two-hour season finale began.
Mary’s seemingly unavoidable marriage to Sir Richard (Iain Glen) -- and cursed romance with Matthew (Dan Stevens) -- is just one of the plot threads hanging from last week’s episode (which in Britain served as the season finale but here, obviously and thankfully, does not). Viewers also await the fate of Mr. Bates (Brendan Coyle), while the staff waits to see how his departure, temporary or not, will affect them.
There are new complications, as well, including a potential new husband (Nigel Havers) for Lady Rosamund (Samantha Bond). First, however, he must get past her mother, Violet, played to the amusingly crotchety hilt by the wondrous Maggie Smith.
The finale, by the way, was a particularly good episode for Smith -- not that there have been any bad ones. As you’d hope, she has her share of witty ripostes, all of which she makes sound wittier than they might in less-talented hands. But the outing also allows her to show different sides of Violet, sympathetic at times, world-weary at others.
As for those who demand resolution from a season finale, they’ll find Downton’s provides more than most -- but not all. This is a continuing family drama, and the key to continuing is to avoid closing all your stories at once.
Still, it’s hard to imagine many fans not being satisfied with this conclusion to what has been an incredibly satisfying run. It hasn’t been perfect: Some episodes felt a bit overcrowded and rushed; some stories seemed to come out of and go nowhere. (Though to be fair, one of the season’s less-agreeable plots -- Robert’s dalliance with a maid -- does pay off Sunday by explaining an unexpected attitude.) But it did so many things so incredibly well that it was easy to forgive the bumps and revel in the exquisite pleasures of great storytelling and equally great acting.
Never mind nostalgia. That’s a draw in any era.
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