i know an awful lot of people hate Downton, my dad and an awful lot of my friends included, but i love it a kind of indecent amount and the Christmas special absolutely made my heart sing. The absolute trick of loving the show, as most Downton lovers probably know, is that its absolutely meant to be fun- you don't have to believe it would or could happen you just have to take the whole thing as a bit of a mini and extremely pretty pantomime where you can boo and throw crisps at the screen every time Carsile comes on, cheer at Sybil and Branson ,enjoy the genuinely heartfelt moments,take bets on the crazy storyline and basically have a lovely time. with all that taken into account i adored the Christmas special, it was festive enough with the snow in the proposal and gray skies at the shoot but also added to the storyline instead of doing the doctor who thing and creating a little "one off" as i had feared. It wasn't too depressing but was absolutely a roller-coaster ride of emotions (forgive the cliché) I think scenes including daisy and William's father, as well as, surprisingly, the proposal itself, seemed genuine and really well acted.it was nice to see everyone have a dance at the servants ball and the Mathew/Richard fight had me actually jumping up and down. of course there were a couple of sticky moments in the script, as there generally is,and the bates storyline seemed a bit detached from everything else and it didn't seem like fellowes couldn't decide how much Sybil/branson stuff should be mentioned but the happiness the (in main) fairytale ending supplied was immense and as always it was beautifully shot, so no complaints from me and i think it was amazing Christmas day entertainment.
Review of Christmas at Downton Abbey
