Bates has an illegitimate child in the Transvaal, Lady Mary will marry cousin Matthew when no-one else will have her and the script editor can never have been one of three sisters and should be shot.
My bet is that Lady Mary will marry Cousin Matthew on the very day that the Titanic-Lost-Heir reappears; having made his laborious way home via the Northwest Passage. That will then complete Season 1 on a cliffhanger.
Season 2 concerns (a) that bloody entail again; (b) Angsty decisions by Bad Middle Sister - does she go for Returned Heir or Boring Neighboring Pig-Farmer?
That will leave the Cross-Class love triangle (Milord/Bates/maid-played-by-Joanna-Froggett) for Season 3.
Ooh yes, and if the heir returns all unrecognisable we can have another long- drawn out legal battle proving he is who he says he is without the benefits of DNA testing, his cause supported only by the sister who was in love with him because True Love Knows.
No, Season 3 will be the arrival of World War I and everyone will join up and be DED, cue angst, woez and more fuss about the bloody entail again.
(I managed to get 3/4 of the way through The Children's Book without realising that WWI was about to turn up and kill everybody so am trying to spot it in advance now)
Primetime ITV would be a Real Life documentary, in which they didn't know they were brother and sister until they had a baby and were genetically tested when the child was Horribly Deformed.
How unlikely by the standards of a drama which has already featured "Turkish diplomat dies of heart failure owing to exertions of buttering hitherto virginal daughter of the house"?
By the standards of Downton, half the cast probably have dairy product fetishes, and Thomas is a troubled soul because Buttercup kicked him when objecting to his advances.
Actually, given relative ages and genders, the proposed love-triangle will not be affected by WW1.
so In Other News, Village Boy who has been having sekrit affair with horse-called-Joey in the Ducal stables, will disappear off to Western Front in search of said horse. There WILL be folk-songs! (Not that I've been weeping heart-brokenly over Puppet Horses at London Theatre ... Oooh no!).
I hadn't thought of that, but of course he must. And then Cousin Matthew, though not minding that the heir isn't dead because everyone else will be happier, is v. pissed off that he is told to sod off back to Manchester, because it has damaged his Career. Meanwhile, Sybil (I can never remember which is the youngest one), asks for a clerkship in his office.
I am finally up to date (or at least ten minutes from the end of tonight's episode) and I have been having fun spotting anachronisms... Coming up with inventive ends for Thomas is a rather entertaining passtime.
Once WW1 arrives, there can be a MAHOOSIVE smoosh-crossover. The Children's Book, War Horse, Early-Wimsey-and-Bunter, and sundry RL War Poets could all feature; alongside both Footmen, possibly Cousin Matthew, and some Stalwart Village Locals. (Bonus points for a cameo by hugs*Ralph Vaughan Williams*hugs ).
(There will, of course, be a Field Hospital featuring Penelope Wilton and Vera Brittain).
It occurs to me that if we're having giant crossovers of doom, Cousin Matthew has to turn into the Cousin Matthew of Busman's Honeymoon, making a career out of being distant heirs to estates.
And accidentally getting engaged to the second daughter (Edith?) is just the sort of thing Bertie would do. I expect Aunt Agatha is a friend of the Dowager's, too.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-24 09:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-24 09:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-24 10:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 08:23 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 09:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 08:23 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-24 09:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 07:31 am (UTC)Season 2 concerns (a) that bloody entail again; (b) Angsty decisions by Bad Middle Sister - does she go for Returned Heir or Boring Neighboring Pig-Farmer?
That will leave the Cross-Class love triangle (Milord/Bates/maid-played-by-Joanna-Froggett) for Season 3.
You heard it first here!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 07:46 am (UTC)No, Season 3 will be the arrival of World War I and everyone will join up and be DED, cue angst, woez and more fuss about the bloody entail again.
(I managed to get 3/4 of the way through The Children's Book without realising that WWI was about to turn up and kill everybody so am trying to spot it in advance now)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 08:29 am (UTC)Possibly due to the above-mentioned INCURABLE DISEASE.
his cause supported only by the sister who was in love with him because True Love Knows
I read this as implying his sister who was in love with him, which I felt was a bit unlikely even for primetime ITV. Though not impossible.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 09:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 06:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 09:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 09:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 09:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 02:33 pm (UTC)so In Other News, Village Boy who has been having sekrit affair with horse-called-Joey in the Ducal stables, will disappear off to Western Front in search of said horse. There WILL be folk-songs! (Not that I've been weeping heart-brokenly over Puppet Horses at London Theatre ... Oooh no!).
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 06:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 08:27 am (UTC)I hadn't thought of that, but of course he must. And then Cousin Matthew, though not minding that the heir isn't dead because everyone else will be happier, is v. pissed off that he is told to sod off back to Manchester, because it has damaged his Career. Meanwhile, Sybil (I can never remember which is the youngest one), asks for a clerkship in his office.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 02:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 02:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 06:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-24 10:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 08:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 08:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 02:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 08:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 02:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 02:28 pm (UTC)[x] Turn in desperation to the underhousemaid, and have a mad, passionate affair with her
[x] Mrs Patmore will be dismissed without references next time she puts arsenic in the salt cellar
And am I the only one who is inexorably reminded of You Rang, My Lord?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 02:38 pm (UTC)No. That appears to be where they've done most of the research.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 02:47 pm (UTC)(There will, of course, be a Field Hospital featuring Penelope Wilton and Vera Brittain).
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 02:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 08:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-25 09:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-26 03:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-26 03:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-01-29 07:30 pm (UTC)