In the dark depths of winter 2022, I decided to watch the entire series of "Downton Abbey".
It took a great deal of time and dedication to revisit all six seasons, but I enjoyed every single moment of it.
I sat on the edge of my grey sofa in London and watched the drama of it all, far from the grandeur of the great house. On some occasions, I yelled at the TV.
I have a lot of thoughts on the highs and lows of the series, as someone who has watched it many times over, I just really love it. I decided to rank the most dramatic episodes from joyful to upsetting. I will take it away with that. Put your feet up and enjoy the most dramatic moments of the show.
If there is one thing that will upset the apple cart, it is unfairness. It is unfair in the name of tradition and that is just how things have always been done, thank you very much.
She learns that the judges award the best in bloom prize every year to Lady Violet Crawley because of her position in the village. The glaring injustice staring everyone in the face is the fact that Bill Molesley was more deserving of the trophy as his roses are the best in the village. Despite putting up a fight, Violet relents and does the right thing, ignoring the judge's decision to award her the prize, and she gives it to Bill.
One of the sweetest couples to come out of the series is Mr and Mrs Hughes. They are both allies in the show, backing each other up as they run the household.
Even though Mrs Hughes doesn't have to change her name at work, in the third episode of the sixth season, Mrs Hughes becomes Mr and Mrs Carson. Their wedding is a simple affair after Mrs Hughes refused to have the wedding breakfast at the house and instead opted for a low-key reception at the village school.
After moving to Boston, Tom and his daughter returned home and announced that they wouldn't be leaving. Thank goodness for that.
Is there a better love than that of Lady Sybil and Tom? I don't think so. It was a long time coming. It was almost too much for us lowly viewers to bear, because so many furtive, emotionally charged glances were exchanged in the run-up. In the 7th episode of the second season, Sybil and Branson finally locked lips in the garage and agreed to run away together. The relationship of a forbidden love? We have to love it.
A good scandal is something we love. Two hot people who disobey the rules for a night of passionate sex and throw caution to the wind. Kemal Pamuk, a Turkish diplomat who came to stay at Downton during Season 1, episode 3, got up to with Lady Mary Crawley. Mr Pemuk died suddenly in the arms of Lady Mary.
Lady Mary looks at the future as she tries to figure out what to do with a dead body. She goes to wake Anna Smith, her lady's maid, and then her mother, the Countess of Grantham, who is Elizabeth McGovern, before they drag Mr Pemuk's body down the hall to his bedroom. The chaotic scene is based on a true story, as revealed by the writer of the show. He died doing what he loved the most, shagging.
Anna and Bates have both been through a lot, so they deserve a lifetime of peace and bliss. If Anna is wrongly imprisoned for murdering Mr Green, then it is because Mr. Bates was wrongly convicted of murdering his wife. In the 8th episode of the second season, Anna and Bates secretly marry and spend their wedding night in one of the upstairs beds, thanks to Lady Mary.
It is just one thing after another with Lady Edith. Her beloved Michael Gregson died after Sir Anthony Strallan dropped her at the altar. When you thought she had given up on finding happiness, she met a man who adores her. In the finale of the sixth and final season, Lady Edith and Bertie Pelham reconcile after an unfortunate separation and tie the knot. Hurrah!
It took until the series finale, but Edith finally caught a break. Credit: ITV
Lady Mary finally gets a big dose of happiness with her one true love, Matthew Crawley, in the end, after a near brush with scandal, several marriage proposals, and more than her fair share of heartbreak.
"You must say it properly. I won't answer unless you kneel down and everything."
Matthew and Mary are standing in the snow when Matthew proposes. We have been on the edge of this so many times, Matthew, after Lady Mary said what we had been thinking. She made sure Matthew got down on one knee and proposed the old fashioned way.
She says you have to say it properly.
We thought you would never ask.
Tension reaches an all time high in the fifth episode of the sixth season. During a debate about who should control the local hospitals, Lord Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham began to feel unwell. He vomited blood all over the dining table when he stood up to leave the table. He is taken off to the hospital to survive.
When your ex moves on with a new partner, it is never good. When you haven't had a chance to get yourself a new heart. Lady Mary is prepared to accept Matthew's marriage proposal, but he doubts her motives and he leaves.
We moved on a bit historically by the first episode of the second season. Matthew returned from the front in September 1916 and told everyone that he was engaged to Miss Lavinia Swire. Mary would never admit that out loud. The course of true love was not always smooth.
Matthew is paralyzed from the waist down in the 5th episode of the second season. Matthew was told that he would never walk again and that he would not father any children, which made him rethink his plans to wed Lavinia. Mary is still madly in love with Matthew. Matthew had an injury that turned out to not be a severed spine, but a case of spinal shock, which allowed him to walk again.
Mary and Edith don't get along. Edith revealed Mary's scandalous secret involving Mr Pamuk in a letter to the Turkish ambassador. Mary gets her revenge in the end of Season 6, episode 8, when she reveals Edith's secret to Bertie. After his cousin's death, Bertie goes to Downton, where Mary reveals that she is Edith's illegitimate child. Edith was left devastated by the end of their relationship.
Lady Edith doesn't have an easy time of it. When she finally finds love with Michael Gregson, publisher of The Sketch, Sir Anthony Strallan leaves her at the altar, and he can't get a divorce. Gregson moved to Germany in order to get a divorce if he becomes a German citizen. Sadly, Gregson is never heard from again and we later learn that he was murdered by the Nazis.
While Michael is missing, Edith finds out she's pregnant and goes off to have the baby in secret without her family knowing, before placing the child with a local farmer and his family. Edith can visit her daughter at Mr and Mrs Drewe's home for a while. Mrs Drewe told her husband to stop any further contact between the child and Edith. Edith was forced to be separated from her daughter.
It is supposed to be the happiest day of your life, the day your first child is born, but clearly, that wasn't the case for Julian Fellowes. Mary gives birth to a baby in the Cottage Hospital. Matthew and his son meet her. He got in a car accident on the way home from meeting his baby and died. Is there anything sacred, Julian Fellowes? Is it okay for us to not enjoy any happy moments?
Season 3, episode 5 is the most traumatic episode of the series. One of the most beloved characters is pregnant with her first child. Robert decided that the doctor in the village wasn't good enough to deliver his first grandchild, so he enlisted a fancy doctor from London who disagreed with everything the doctor said. The fate of Sybil is sealed when he is ignored by Lord Grantham and Sir Philip Tapsell when he is shown the symptoms of pre-eclampsia.
After her daughter is born, it's too late to do anything and she develops eclampsia, which causes seizures. Her mother and husband are begging her to stay alive, as she dies suddenly surrounded by her family. The scene is upsetting.
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