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majorfrost
Reviews
Downton Abbey (2010)
Nobody does period drama like the English
As a history buff I was very impressed with the set design and costumes but the story still has to work and it does. The casting is also outstanding; having Samantha Bond play Maggie Smith's daughter was particularly inspired (spoiler) While I understand it was done for dramatic effect, the final scene where the state of war is announced rang false; Britain had given Germany an ultimatum to respect Belgian neutrality, demanding an answer by midnight, August 4, 1914. It was on the front page of every paper in the country for days and thousands of people were in the streets of London on the 4th awaiting word from Germany. It never came. The whole county knew they were at war the next morning, they wouldn't have to be told at a garden party.
Apart from that minor quibble I found it to be very entertaining, probably the best thing I've seen on Masterpiece Theatre since "Little Dorrit".
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Rule Fifty-One (2010)
Sometimes I hate myself for liking this
It really is the cast that keeps me coming back to this show. Luckily the pacing is such that you can gloss over some of the larger holes in the plot but something in the story arc leading the the Season 7 cliffhanger made me groan out loud. (twice) The big "threat" hanging over Gibbs was that Abby was able to prove the bullet that killed the Mexican drug dealer came from Jethro's sniper rifle. HUH? When they showed Ducky pull the slug from the remarkably preserved 20 year old corpse I just shook my head. How many times have they rerun the moment when Gibbs killed him? And the graphic visual of spraying blood from a through and through hit!! There is no way that slug would have still been in the victim. And even if it was there is no way of connecting it to Gibb's rifle without a sample to compare it to, and why on earth would they have one from his rifle? OK, I still enjoy the show, I just wish they would try a little harder with the scripts.