Downton Abbey: The Finale

Well, that's it. Downton Abbey is over.

I'm...not entirely sure what to say. It's been six years since the show's inception; that's over half a decade of these characters in this setting, and now it's all come to a close in a rather swift and unsentimental manner.

As it happens, I've had all six seasons playing as background noise whilst going about my daily chores during the gap between the end of the last season and Christmas Day, so I had everything that preceded this finale fresh in my mind while watching.

Well, almost. I saw Star Wars the day before watching this, and my thoughts have been pretty much obliterated by the experience. So I have no idea whether Downton Abbey's final episode felt lacklustre in the wake of a mind-blowing movie, or if it really did go out with more of a whimper than a bang.

A part of me was trying to remind myself that this is the last time I'll hear that theme music at the beginning of a brand new episode. The last time I'll watch Isis's backside introducing Hugh Bonneville's name. The last time that disembodied feather duster will flutter around the chandelier. (But most of me was just internally screaming STAR WARS). 

I'll miss you most of all, Isis butt.

And then about halfway through the episode I realized that the Fellowes's intentions were not so much in delivering a Grand Finale, but in tying up all his loose ends. Were it not for my awareness that this was the very last episode, I could have easily mistaken it for just another Christmas Special.

I get the definite feeling that Fellowes was more than ready to wrap things up, but it was an oddly lacklustre finish, with none of the surprises or "big scenes" that I would have expected from a very-last episode. The main characters (that is, those that got an arc) were Edith, Thomas and Carson to a slightly lesser extent.

I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised in Edith's case since she was afforded the final shot of season six, but that Mary took such a backseat was not something I expected from a writer who made no secret of the fact that she was his favourite character. Likewise, I never would have pegged Thomas as someone that Fellowes was particularly invested in, and – relatively speaking – Rose ended up with a lot more screen-time that I'd anticipated. (Of course, I thought her appearance would amount to little more than a cameo).

But there's no time to waste on all this speculation! Things have to be wrapped up left, right and centre!

In the wake of the season six finale and her breakup with Bertie, Edith is thinking about moving to her London flat and sending Marigold to a school in the city. It's the best idea she's ever had, but sadly Fellowes never got the memo that Edith would have been the perfect candidate for a character who would embrace modernity and live out her life as a happy and fulfilled single mother and career woman.

Look, I certainly don't begrudge Edith her traditional happy ending (complete with fairy tale castle and title) but I really wish her entire story had taken a different trajectory: ditching her neglectful family, realizing she didn't need a dude to complete her, and carving out her own life with new friends in London.

Edith's new home.

I like Edith well enough, but I was never a huge fan, and there may have been an eye-roll or two when (despite having a lovely flat, a healthy child, and a wealthy background) she's still mostly hung up on the idea of living out her life as a spinster.

That said, I was still holding my breath throughout her second attempt at making it to the altar, half-convinced that Bertie would drop dead or Anthony Strallen would burst in or a train would crash through the church walls – but no. They made it. They drove off happily. No one spoke out when it was asked if anyone had reason why they should not be wed. Whew.

Though in a classic case of Last Episode, New Character, we're introduced to Bertie's mother Mrs Pelham, played by the wonderful Patricia Hodge. As a last-minute obstacle to the union of the happy couple, she's much less of a dragon than you would initially suppose, finally accepting Edith and blessing the marriage largely because this is the show's final episode and there's really no time to make this a more involved storyline.

***

It would appear that Thomas's suicide attempt was enough to kick in his long-dormant good side, as this is certainly not the petty, jealous, vindictive Thomas we've spent the last six years with. I honestly can't decide whether the personality switch works or not, so let's suffice to say that having found a new job, he's ready to leave Downton forever.

The family and staff are gracious in their send-off, and Thomas finally realizes in a devastatingly simple way that all this time he's been surrounded by good, decent people. All those years of resentment and backstabbing and scheming – and for what? They would have accepted and befriended him.

Perhaps the idea behind his subplot was "you don't know what you've got till it's gone", as though I would have preferred him to just leave Downton forever and seek out his fortune across the seas, we instead follow him to his new place of employment where he's isolated, bored and lonely.

So it's back to Downton he goes (which at this point is like the Hotel California: "you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave") where thanks to an onset of never-before mentioned or foreshadowed palsy in Mr Carson's hands, Thomas finally makes the upgrade to Butler.

It's what he's always wanted, ever since the start of the show, but I can't quite consider it a happy ending. He's still single for a start, and what happens if his nasty side breaks out again (he was pretty awful to the rest of the staff while Carson was on his honeymoon). Not only that, but it's a dead-end job in a way of life that slowly drawing to a close. He's still young, surely he could have trained for another vocation?

Perhaps we're just meant to be content that he's employed and surrounded by decent people whose worth he finally recognizes. After all the shit he's put them through – receiving little more than a few irritated looks in response – maybe he'll turn over a new leaf once and for all.

***

For some reason I was under the impression that a main character would die either in series six or the season finale, and once Robert's ulcer was brought under control, there were two main contenders for the role: Carson and Lord Merton.

It seemed all set to be Carson with his onset of palsy, but then Lord Merton comes to inform Isobel that he's got pernicious anaemia. Yet despite there being two health scares, everyone makes it through.

On hearing about Lord Merton's condition, Isobel is badly shaken up – and so it's down to Violet (who else?) to stage a rescue for the Dude in Distress, who's currently being held hostage by his ghastly son and daughter-in-law. It all feels like a stage pantomime, right down to Violet and Isobel bursting into the Merton house so the latter can claim her man, but it's lovely.

Oh you crazy kids.

And in the grand Downton Abbey tradition, a misdiagnosis grants Dickie a new lease on life, giving him and Isobel exactly what River Song and the Doctor talked about in their own Christmas Special: time.

***

I was hoping for more of a reconciliation between Edith and Mary, to the point where I hoped their sisterly bond would be the main focus of the episode. In many ways their relationship has been one of the key touchstones of the show; one that drove a lot of the early plots, and I'd always hoped that one day they would see each other in a new light.

But I suppose I'll have to make do with this. Mary organizes for Bertie and Edith to be brought together at the Ritz, something that Edith later acknowledges and thanks her for. (Though honestly, since Mary is the one who broke them up in the first place, I'm not sure she deserves too much credit – at the very least I hoped to see her go toe-to-toe with Mrs Pelham over her sister's worthiness).

Later Mary decides to keep her pregnancy a secret from everyone but Tom and Henry until after Edith's wedding so as not to steal her thunder, and I'm left thinking: "it's breadcrumbs, but it'll have to do."

With her estate, son and new marriage, there's really nothing more for Mary's character to achieve, and so here she took more of a backseat to her husband. Henry has lost his passion for motor-racing (which delights Mary, though that probably should have been something they resolved before getting hitched) but there's some nice rapport between himself and Edith/Tom.

He fits into the family better than I thought he would, and so it's a fitting end (and one reminiscent of Tom/Matthew's bromance) that he and his brother-in-law eventually go into business together, sharing their love of cars by opening a garage.

If you had told me at the start of this show that Edith would end up a marchioness and Mary would be the wife of a used-car salesman I would have laughed in your face.

***

Tom has largely been ignored for the past two seasons, and had precious little to do here, but at least I called the budding romance between himself and Laura Edmonds. And I actually liked the way it played out. Nothing too heavy-handed, but made obvious enough with their mutual smiles and her catching of the bouquet.

I love that none of the other women even TRY to catch it.

Moseley is offered (and accepts) a new job at the local schoolhouse, while Baxter is still dithering over whether or not to see Coyle in prison. Man, this plot-line really died on the vine, didn't it. I can't help but feel Fellowes had a much different plan than this, only to realize that he either didn't have enough time to explore it, or didn't care much anyway. Because I refuse to believe that simple ignoring the man who destroyed your life is a more dramatically satisfying conclusion to a character-arc than going to visit him in jail to reassure yourself that he no longer has any power over you.

The odd thing is, really liked Baxter. Her actress/character was the only post-season three regular who felt like she belonged on the show (unlike Alfred, Jimmy or Ivy) and her integration into the ensemble was effortlessly achieved. But damn she was pointless.

I won't miss Daisy's whinging, so thank goodness she's finally putting her lovely father-in-law out of his misery and moving to that damn farm. (Though come to think of it, now he's going to have to put up with her endless complaining).

As for Andrew, we got a quick update on his literacy progress (it's going well) and a half-baked courtship with Daisy which mainly involves the two of them miscommunicating and getting on each other's nerves, until finally Daisy takes everyone's advice and realizes: "you could do worse."

Wow, how's that for a commendation? It's almost as bad as Lord Grantham exuberantly telling Edith she's in for: "a good life with a nice man." Oy. So after all the trouble of getting herself an education, Daisy gets a modern haircut and a future as a farmer's wife. Hey, I suppose it's still only 1926.

The biggest change she's made in six years.

Anna really had nothing to do in this episode but have her baby, though I loved the role-reversal between herself and Mary when it's finally Mary's turn to help Anna out of her clothes (or at least her shoes). Mary's droll: "Ah, your water's broken. Right." Hilarious. And Anna giving birth in her mistress's bed? Oddly perfect.

And then there's Bates – poor old Bates, who arguably used to rank alongside Mary, Robert, Matthew and Carson as the closest thing this show had to a main character, and is now reduced to announcing: "I'm a father" as everyone looks directly at the baby Anna has just given birth to.

Whatever. They came second only to Edith in the beat-downs life handed to them, so I'm happy they're happy. It's well deserved.

Let's see, what else? The Denker/Spratt feud ends with Denker trying and failing to get him in trouble over his magazine column – but as Spratt says: "[The Dowager] doesn't like to be predictable." It's a little more than he deserves really (remember how his introduction to the show was deliberately sabotaging Moseley while he was desperately trying to get a new job?) but we got some comedy gold out of Violet pretending to be surprised at Denker's obvious set-up of the man.

Rose and Atticus were a breath of fresh air, and as was said of her, she's just as lively and lovely as ever. Robert finally gets a fuller appreciation of Cora when he sees her leading the hospital committee. Mary is expecting her second child with Henry. Edith and Bertie drive away into wedded bliss. Violet finally gives Cora the validation she's probably been seeking since the day she married Robert. Mrs Hughes leads the singing of Auld Lang Syne, which befits her as the heart of the downstairs home. It's everything you expect.

Miscellaneous Observations:

Although a lot of this was rather bland, there were some nice little character beats: Henry telling Edith: "your Mary isn't my Mary" (the dual nature of Mary's personality a constant theme throughout the series), Carson asking: "what shaking?" as he instinctively hides his right hand, Violet's neverending stream of witticisms (my favourite for this episode: "don't be mysterious – it's the last resort of people with no secrets") and Carson disapproving of the hair-dryer until the moment Anna informs him Mary wanted one.

And yes, it was rather fitting that we got one last new-fangled invention to see out the show.

There were plenty of namedrops to earlier characters: Alfred, Ivy, Prince Kuragin, Michael Gregson, Martha Levinson (via a telegram at the wedding) and probably some more I missed, and it was nice that Fellowes found room to involve some long-time recurring guest stars: Rosamund, Reverend Travis, Mr Mason, Doctor Clarkson were all present and accounted for. Even Shrimpy managed to score himself the speech at Edith's wedding.

And yet for all of this, there wasn't a single mention of Sybil or Matthew. How bizarre. (And I was half-hoping we'd get a glimpse of Anthony Strallen, watching Edith's wedding party leave the church from atop a grassy knoll, à la Willoughby at the end of the 1995 version of Sense and Sensibility).

There were a couple of things missing, mainly brought out of the odd dynamics that Fellowes chose to focus on. For instance, I've no idea why it was Rose who was the one to show Robert the true measure of Cora's worth (surely it should have been Mary or Violet?). There was no real interaction between Mary/Violet or Mary/Tom, which have always been touchstones of the show (though at least we got a touching Mary/Carson scene). If there was any sort of declaration between Baxter and Moseley I must have missed it, and they were a damn sight more built-up as a couple than Andrew and Daisy.

Though I heard some mutterings about how it would have been better to have a Distant Finale in order to chronicle the lives of these characters beyond their years at Downton, I felt that Fellowes's desire to give everyone a happy ending prevented this. We all know what's on the horizon, and it ain't pretty.

There was something a little sad about the depleted servant hall; one which is about to get even emptier with Moseley leaving. But one thing made me laugh: that despite six seasons and a handful of Christmas Specials that all revolve around the theme of change, the show still ends with the servants stuck downstairs while the family celebrates in the great hall.

I feel like I should have something more profound to say about this finale, which in many ways was the end of a television and cultural milestone. And yet ... I find there's nothing left to be said. Happy endings were dished out left, right and centre. All the couples were neatly paired off (sans foreveralone Thomas). There was true delight in the montage of "happy new years" shared among the characters, whispered or shouted depending on who they were.

And Isobel and Violet were given the last lines. Say what you will about the rest, but that at least was perfect.

So goodbye Downton Abbey. I'm off to write about Star Wars.