Discussing
Adoration and Descent at Downton Abbey

The Masterpiece Theatre sensation reveals that true adoration is not elevation or elegance, but a readiness to stoop for love.

Just a stylistic point - it should be Earl of Grantham and Countess of Grantham.

I just started watching Downton.  I've been struck by the parallels between the Crawleys and their servants in both the characters and the situations. Whether upstairs or down the desire for power, recognition, love, and purpose are similar.

I have appreciated the sense of loyalty of servants to masters, with occasional loyalty in return (Earl of Grantham/Mr. Bates, Carson/Mary in particular); I appreciate the sense of identity and duty in the various positions and stations of life, as in being a maid or butler is a calling, not merely a job; yet inherent in the social strata are the boundaries of class and propriety that one dare not cross, that defies community and brotherhood.  And only the Dowager Countess is free to openly speak her mind or her heart, on any and all subjects!

It is such a feast of period beauty, but I hope we see more of how social convention is challenged by the practical and modern world. That is of course something of the theme of the program, I pray they go for real, complex, and personal interactions rather than symbolic ones (i.e., Sybil as Feminist). They could easily remain a fairy tale images rather than real people.

This is definitely on my must-watch list.

Actually, Mary is complicated. IMO, probably the most of any character and my favorite to follow. Dockery is a great actor, but her character has such a board and deep range of emotions and, I believe, potential. I watch her in earnest.