After West Wing, Downton Abbey has to be one of the most watched and re-watched TV shows of the last 30 years or so— and rightly so. Julian Fellowes brilliant scripts with witty British dialogue and zingers, interesting characters both upstairs and down in the house, excellent acting and interesting plot lines, leads to millions of people caring about what happens to these fictional characters presenting us with a story of England coming out of the Victorian era and WWI and adjusting to increasingly different and difficult world , especially after the stock market crash of 29.
In this final episode (and it is indeed grande more than 2 hours worth that pass by all too quickly) we do have some new characters, including a person playing the real and great playwright— Noel Coward. It adds an interesting twist to the final episode in various was, as does a scandal surrounding lady Mary which just about exiles her from public society and public life.
I loved these episodes, including the added films like this one, and wish it could have gone on for many more years. But alas, all goo cinematic things must come to a end, and this one ends happily, and not with a bang. The old adage– they don’t make shows like this any more, is in fact not true— Downton Abbey proved that, and proved that period pieces from the British era of pomp and circumstance can still capture and thrill a huge audience, especially an American one,