What life is like in Downton Abbey

MANILA, Philippines - Great news, Matthew Crawley has proposed to Lady Mary. The end of Season 2 of the popular award-winning TV series from the UK, Downton Abbey on Diva Universal finds the heir and the controversial daughter of the house finally admitting they cannot live without each other. That is one problem solved for her parents who must marry off three daughters. Of course, we still do not know what will happen in the much-anticipated Season 3 which airs early next year. Will they stay together? But it is a happy ending for now.

There are plenty of characters in the romantic melodrama and problems aplenty for all. Like Bates who is in jail and Daisy, the kitchen maid is beginning to act up, the dubious footman Thomas has been promoted to valet and the Lady Rosamund found her favored suitor in bed with her maid. These plus other interesting twists and turns in the lives of the residents of Downton Abbey are what keeps viewers glued to show week after week after week even during reruns. The work done in it is so detailed that you invariably find something you missed before and can enjoy episodes again. Like the bells.

Have you ever stopped to think about the roles that bells play in the established social order in Downton Abbey. Life there in 1912 begins with the bell. Various bells denote various jobs. The ladies and the gentlemen need their maids and their valets to help them bathe and dress. The butler knows the bell for breakfast and the footman for the horse and carriage. It is also the signal for the scullery maid to disappear below, because while she cleans the fireplaces, replaces the gas lamps and the candles, and scrubs the floors, she must never be seen upstairs. Only the footmen, young and handsome are allowed near the guests.

The bell regulates the lives of the people in Downton Abbey. Nobody knows who made it so. It is just there like the unseen but unbridgeable divide that exists between the upstairs and the downstairs occupants. The masters, Edwardian aristocrats, are born to privilege and the servants are silently accepting of their lot of servitude. 

Upstairs lives Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham and his family, his moneyed American wife, Cora who brought in her new world wealth to keep the house afloat and their three daughters, the Ladies, Mary, Edith and Sybil. The dowager countess of Grantham, Violet and her daughter, Lady Rosamund visit often as well as prospective suitors. 

They are joined by Matthew, a well-off lawyer but considered a lower classed cousin who is the heir. As per the custom of the entail, daughters are not allowed to inherit the title or the estate. This should go instead to the nearest male relative and that is Matthew. Because girls are left with nothing, it is vital that Robert and Cora marry their daughters off as soon as possible. HopefulIy, to the heir so they don’t get kicked out of the house when he starts his family.

Downstairs is the kitchen and a large suite of rooms occupied by the servants who keep life running smoothly for the family upstairs. The head of this household is the butler, Carson. Just as Robert is the patriarch upstairs, it is Carson who holds authority over the housekeeper, the cook, the footmen and the maids, who are also ranked, from ladies’ maids to the scullery girls. As the story begins, they are joined by the valet to the Earl, Mr. Bates, a man with a mysterious past whose loyalty is beyond question.

All these characters are brought to life with stunning clarity in Downton Abbey. Conceived and written by Julian Fellowes, who won the Academy Award for Gosford Park, it must be one of the most convoluted but also the most absorbing tales ever seen on TV. Fellowes neglects nobody and every episode furthers the individual lives of everyone. How he gets everything moving is truly brilliant. I can just imagine how complicated it is doing diagrams and timelines for all the characters.

Sometimes this is something as simple as depicting Carson’s quiet dignity and devotion to the family or the sibling rivalry among the three daughters. Other times, it is as exciting as, horrors! The death of a handsome, Turkish diplomat on Lady Mary’s bed with the ensuing scandal believed to have destroyed her chances of ever finding a good husband, or of the men having to enlist and fight in the first World War, dying or coming home injured.

These individual tales play out against the elegant backdrop of the gilded era before the First World War in Season One, then during the war in Season Two and during the Roaring 20s in the upcoming Season Three. The changing mores and social upheavals in the world outside of Downton, little by little eat into tradition affecting not only the Crawleys but also their servants. Though determined to remain set in their ways, they cannot remain oblivious to the world.

These are vividly depicted in the inclusion of historical facts. The first heir is said to have gone down with the Titanic. Lady Sybill’s social awakening comes with the Russian Revolution. A newfangled notion like the telephone is welcomed to the Abbey. It is also there in the production design, as the men try out the new dinner jackets and the women’s skirts get shorter and tighter to adapt to the war and the more permissive 20s.

Breathing life to all these is an impeccable cast of actors that has made the world aware again of how great are the Brits with these things. The lovers are particularly impressive. Brendan Coyle as Mr. Bates, the valet cuts quite a romantic figure with the maid Anna as his faithful bride. The ups and downs in the relationship of Michelle Dockery as Mary and Dan Stevens as Matthew put the usual lovers’ quarrels to shame. And what about Jessica Brown Findlay as Sybil, who gives up everything to marry the chauffeur with socialist beliefs. 

If there was anybody in the cast who had no idea of what life was like among the upper crust during the Edwardian era, all that he needed to do was take a look at Maggie Smith. It all comes naturally to this great actress. As the dowager countess, she was born an imperious presence, doling out orders, entrenched in her way of life and intolerant of the new and different. See how she covers her face in abhorrence of electric light bulbs. See how she looks down on people who were not born to wealth or privilege.

No wonder Smith was honored with a Primetime Emmy last year as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Mini Series or Movie. So were Brian Percival for directing, Fellowes for writing, David Katznelson for cinematography and Sarah Buxton and Caroline McCal for costumes. Downton Abbey itself was named Outstanding Miniseries. 

The series is up for more awards again at the Emmys this week. Up for acting honors are Dockery as lead actress; Hugh Bonneville, Earl of Grantham for lead actor; Coyle and Jim Carter, who plays Carson, for supporting actor; Froggatt and the impossible to ignore Smith again for supporting actress. Downton Abbey might also win for direction, writing, art direction, costumes, casting, editing, sound mixing and outstanding drama series.

And that is not the end of it. I know it can be maudling and cheesy, predictable and impossible at times but there is no way one cannot get even more involved with Downton Abbey when Season 3 unreels in January, 2013. There will be fireworks when Shirley MacLaine as Martha Levinson, the rich American mother of Cora faces off with the formidable Smith. This also means that the gorgeous Elizabeth Montgomery as Cora, will be showing off more of her American side, which should be interesting. 

Bates will still be in prison and Anna will still try to get him out. Mary and Matthew might be married but coping with problems. It will seem like great times because the world will be recovering from the war but also sad because the Crawleys will fall on hard times. Wonder how that will happen.