For a long, long time now, I have wondered what all the hype about Downton Abbey has been for. I had never watched the show until now, and after about four years of wondering, I watched the show within a three week period because it is so bingeable. Too bingeable, in fact.... From start to finish, I felt like the show put me in a trance of sorts that caused me to be slightly obsessed with finding out what was going to happen next. Did I say slightly obsessed? I meant severely obsessed. And I really did love the show when I was watching it; the characters were awesome and so well-developed, the story was rife with drama and intriguing moments... What's not to love in a show that has all this? What I'll talk about in this review here are some things I thought were great about the show and some things that made it unnecessarily addictive to the point where I didn't realize what I was doing until I'd reached the end of the show.
Things I liked--drawbacks included:
The Characters
I have absolutely no qualms with how the characters were done because they were developed very well and were incredibly complex. What's more is that the show was somehow able to focus on more than one character's complexities in just one episode. Granted, the episodes were pretty long, but I have seen entire movies that try to develop more than one character and end up failing... I'm almost certain you've run into the same problem too, as it is just way to common nowadays to have a show or movie that simply doesn't work because the characters are bland or seem distant. This was absolutely not the case with Downton, and I think that it was mainly the characters that made the show as wonderful as it was.
The Drawback: Though the characters were superb, and it was so interesting to observe their relationships with one another, I did not appreciate that some of the characters' relationships with one another would progress during one season and then regress in the next season with no explanation. In those cases, I felt like the characters were used for dramatic effect, to make the story just as interesting as it was before progress was made. Kiiinda not cool.
The Scenery and Sets
AWESOME! Need I say more? Probably not, but I will anyways. And why is that? Because the sets of Downton Abbey deserve their rightful praise. One could say that the show totally cheated because they simply used what was available to them in England, but I would argue that their use of things already present on the English landscape and in English noble homes trapped that picturesque English-ness that practically everyone wants to see. Along with that, the minute details of the sets in all the seasons seemed to be consistent with the period in which the show takes place.
No drawbacks here: the scenery was just so natural and organic for the purposes of the show that I can find no reason to complain. Perhaps there were some historical inconsistencies, but if there were, they were so minor that I did not notice them.
The Music
As with most productions made in the UK, the music in Downton Abbey was superb. Somehow, they just know how to do classical music right over there... Something specific that I appreciated about the music was that there were motifs for diverse characters and different types of events, which was pretty cool. The reason why it was so cool is because, just by listening to te music, you often know how to feel just before something dramatic happens. It's kind of like a foreshadowing tool of sorts. Or there are also other times when the music only tells you what's happening after a drastic change comes upon the characters, surprising you like a ghost in your closet. So, in all, the music was great and definitely did what it was supposed to do.
The Drawback: I have to admit that, though the tracks were great and their consistency throughout the series was admirable, the motifs in the music became repetitive at times. Especially after six seasons of hearing the same music time and time again, I was a bit mentally bored with the lack of new tracks in diverse seasons. With that, the show never changes the opening sequence at all (at least, to my knowledge). Although, despite the repetitive nature of some of the musical sequences, I actually still liked it. Yes, I was a tad bored at times, but in about season five when Tom is reflecting upon the love of his life and Sybil and Tom's theme plays, it just felt like pure magic. This is one instance when Downton used music to bring the viewers back to the past and it really worked.
*SPOILER IN PARAGRAPH BELOW!*
Additionally, perhaps they never changed the theme because it symbolized what the show was all about: running with the times, while essential staying the same people in the same lives as before. By this logic, the unchanging nature of the intro to the entire show for a whole six seasons stands as a mark of the solidarity of the Crawley family amidst their struggles. It could also mean that their memories of the past, though time still moves on, will never fade. I suppose this is also why you still hear Sybil and Tom's song even three seasons after Sybil's death. Pretty cool composing technique if you ask me; it did the job in a simple manner that allowed the viewers to truly become a part of the lives of those in the Crawley family. So, I guess even the "drawback" of the repeating sounds was not really a drawback at all.
The Story
Let's cut to the chase with this one. The story of Downton Abbey is stunning and, really, entrancing. While watching the show, I felt like I was trapped in a dream, and realized only after finishing all six seasons that I had become obsessed with following the lives of random people in a family I don't personally know. I felt like a snoop... But I really only felt like a snoop after the spell was broken, so-to-speak. It was an intriguing realization that I made after the show had made me feel like a part of the story for so long. I think good shows, books, and movies all have some degree of this in common--they are written and developed in a way that connects with the viewer/reader.
The Drawback: Okay, even though I felt spellbound by this series, I feel like this occurred, at least in part, because there was often too much drama for the sake of drama. This is a critique that my fiance offerred of the show before I finished the series, but I never believed what he said in this regard until all the drama was resolved. Then, I understood that, yes, the show was trying to keep people in with extreme event after extreme event. I think this is what bothered me most after finishing the show, as the intensity of dramatic occurrances was so great that I could not notice that it was drama for the sake of drama until well after. That said, it could also be noted that the dramatic moments were done so well that one does not recognize that they're in a trap until after the water has settled. This was an interesting experience for me as a viewer and, though I didn't necessarily dislike the show for this characteristic, I think it might be more of a cause for concern for other viewers.
My Rating:
I loved this show and I highly recommend it to anyone who is curiously considering watching the show for themselves. Downton Abbey is simply a beautiful work of art with a lot of nostalgia for the good 'ol days when ladies and gentlemen in their natural habitats abounded. I also love that, despite showing a love of the past, there is an enthusiasm--and sometimes even anxiety--for the future. This was a really cool aspect of the show that made it a genuine historical piece.
Because the show was so great, I would have to give it a 92%. True, the show has its faults, but the faults are redeemed by the arrangement of the story, the beautiful settings and costumes, the intrigue of the music, and honestly many other things. Give it a try and tell us at Pragmus what you think!
BY: Corey Cherrington
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