Downton Abbey,’ Season 3, Episode 4 Recap

Small character moments made this episodes quietly one of the series’ best.

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  • PBS
  • “And while we’re at it, I don’t care for Catholics, either!”



Many TV shows make the mistake of thinking that their series need to be packed full of plot points (“Downton Abbey” being among them - I refer you to Season Two for all the evidence you need). But when you’ve created a rich world populated by characters we have grown to care about, sometimes there’s pleasure to be found in the simplest of things. This week, conversations between Matthew and Violet, Mrs. Hughes and Isobel, Matthew and Carson, were a few examples of how something so seemingly non-dramatic as an exchange can be great, rich storytelling.

Still, “Downton” loves to blow through its plots, which keeps the stakes low and very enjoyable, though not challenging. One of the reasons most of us probably like the show to begin with is that it’s lush and lovely and, well, simple. Bad guys are bad, good guys are good, people don’t change and anything unpleasant is dealt with quickly. Take Bates and Anna for example. There are few things so painful as not hearing from someone you care about and not knowing why. Even on the simplest modern level, think of that unfortunate feeling of “but they haven’t texted me back!”

But we knew why Bates and Anna weren’t in communication even if they didn’t, and within one hour the problem was solved for everyone. Anna didn’t even have time to properly be upset over the lack of correspondence from her husband, and Bates surely didn’t seem to bothered by it (just another chapter in “prison sucks” for him, I guess). It all tied up a little too neatly with quite a lot of conveniences, but is that a bad thing? Narratively it’s not very interesting, but it also doesn’t cause any stress (and writing this after that incredibly upsetting Falcon’s playoff loss, I can say that sometimes a lack of tension is a really, really welcomed relief).