"Downton Abbey"

Just finished binge-watching the entire "Downton Abbey" series (but not the film, yet).  Loved it.  So easy to understand why this was such a huge, popular hit.  Some called it an historical soap opera, others a romance.  It was both, and a lot more.  The British do everything well and, from a production standpoint, it is top-notch.  Writing, setting, direction, acting.  The one and only thing that could be improved on is editing which jumps awkwardly through as the timeline skips a beat now and then.  It's a minor complaint.  What is "Downton Abbey" about?  Everything.  There is a huge cast and every character, each and every last character, has a story.  None of them are simple and even the bad guys have complexity, if not mitigation, in their actions.  Like "Upstairs, Downstairs" it reflects the seismic change which occurred in a small window of time.  The series opens with the sinking of the Titanic, which is metaphor for the death of an era.  In no time, electricity in homes transforms domestic life.  Kitchens have refrigerators and electric mixers, which makes dramatic changes in food choices.  Hair dryers and curlers make a significant impact on hair care and style, telephones allow for instant communication and speed up life as a whole.  With radios, news begins to fly rather than crawl.  The changes are embraced by some, fought by others, which sets up a kind of upheaval on every level of society.  The first Labor government is elected.  Amidst all of this we see the second major theme of the tale.  Aspiration.  The upstairs folk, the rich, they drift and try to find meaning.  The downstairs workers dream, and they dream big.  Some of those dreams allow them to rise above, in other cases the dreams take hold with the hunger of a python and they are strangled in the process of trying to reach up.  Then there is Love.  All kinds of love.  Tragic love, new love, mature love, imperfect love, unrequited love, passionate love, comfortable love.  There is, of course, a lot of drama.  Happy people make for a boring show.  But in the end love triumphs, dreams are fulfilled and balance is found ... if only for a moment in time.  A kind of perfect escape in our own history-making time.  Worth a week or so if you want to get away.  The interaction of two characters, in particular, is worth the price of admission.  I howled at the exchanges between Maggie Smith's Dowager and Phyllis Logan's Mrs. Hughes characters.  Best laughs I've had since this whole thing started.  Enjoy.