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| Branson didn't have much to do, but I like Branson, so he gets the picture. |
I felt like this past summer was “The Summer of
Backlash.” First, there was the backlash
against Man of Steel for its
depiction of wonton city-level violence.
It’s not that the destruction of a good chunk of Metropolis was too gory
or unsettling, it’s just that after Transformers,
The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises,
Iron Man 3, Star Trek Into Darkness and a host of other global destruction
features from the past few years, people were just tired of seeing buildings fall and
city blocks leveled. Destroying a city
just doesn’t carry the weight it used to especially when, ten minutes later,
the hero and his posse are trading quips like nothing ever happened. Say what you will about the third season of Homeland (and it was pretty terrible),
but they never once let you forget about the people who had died in the
CIA bombing. Meanwhile, the deaths of
thousands of people in The Avengers, Star
Trek, and Man of Steel were
typically forgotten before the credits rolled.
The second backlash of the summer came against a pair of
middling-to-bad television shows that tried to tread the white male antihero
ground that so many better shows had trod before: Ray Donovan and Low Winter
Sun. The shows weren’t terrible;
it’s just that they offered viewers nothing new. Rather, they recycled the same ideas and
stories that we’ve seen for the last 15 years.
I didn’t join in those first two backlashes*, so I guess
it’s time for my own. I’m done with
violence towards women. Just done. It’s no longer shocking or affecting. I’ve seen so many female characters stalked,
attacked, raped, and killed that it just has no effect on me, even when it’s a
character I like. I don’t know why Julian
Fellowes decided to have Lord Gillingham’s butler rape Anna, but it added
nothing to the show. It was a moment
designed only to shock. Granted, Downton Abbey is a soap opera filled
with shocking moments but I’m no longer shocked by violent acts committed
against women. It’s
now just another cliché that occurs far too often on television.
* I actually enjoyed Man
of Steel, mostly for the fact that they
finally made Superman more human and thus more interesting. And while I didn’t particularly enjoy Ray
Donovan or Low Winter Sun, I mostly just ignored them.
Really, the rape scene was the cherry on top of an episode I didn’t enjoy. Fellowes
is just far more interested in the protocol of the estates than I am. I imagine him sitting at his computer
saying, “Yes, and then Thomas will have to take Jimmy’s place and serve at the
dinner. Can you imagine? An under-butler having to act as a footman
for an evening? How delightfully absurd.” I mean, there’s an entirely storyline
dedicated to whether the opera singer should eat with the family, with Robert
insisting she would have nothing in common with them only to come around once
again to discover that there’s nothing all that special about the gentry. Perhaps it’s one of those things where I’m
just not in on the joke, but however it’s supposed to play out, I just don’t
enjoy it.
What I did enjoy was the continuing question of Mary and her
place in this new world. At this point
in her life, having given birth to a son, Mary is essentially the Dowager
Countess with 75 years of doddering left.
She could resign herself to a lifetime of leisure and let her father run
Downton on his own. Instead, she is
thrusting herself into the conversation and taking ownership of her future and
the future of the estate. Introduced
this week is Lord Gillingham, a childhood friend of Mary’s and I really hope he’s
being brought in to further her development as an individual and not just as yet
another romantic interest.
Downton Abbey is a
series that is splitting me. What
material there is that I like, I really like.
But the things I don’t like, I really hate. There’s just no in-between when it comes to Downton Abbey, nothing of casual
interest. So far, that’s enough to keep
me going. I just hope the next few weeks
bring in more that I like than hate.
A couple of spare thoughts –
Edith’s boyfriend Michael gets a nice moment in the episode,
rescuing Robert and Gillingham from a poker cheat by employing his own,
well-worn card skills. I wish they would
give him more personality like this because he’s a character I could enjoy
pretty easily if his main story with Edith wasn’t just going around in circles.
Watching Branson fumble around with the Duchess was also a
nice treat. I kind of wish they would
send him, Mary, and Rose off to London in their own spinoff.
“Sometimes I don’t know who I’m more in mourning for,
Matthew or the person I was when I was with him.”
So thoughts?
Comments? Just want to tell me my
blog sucks? Let me know in the comments
or on Twitter @TyTalksTV.
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