Downton Abbey (Season 2)

Starring: Hugh Bonneville, Jessica Brown Findlay, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Siobhan Finneran, Joanne Froggatt, Thomas Howes, Rob James-Collier, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Sophie McShera, Lesley Nicol, Maggie Smith, Dan Stevens, Penelope Wilton, Amy Nuttall

Creator: Julian Fellowes

Genre: Period Drama

Rating: A-

While not entirely as awesome as the first season of Downton Abbey, the second season still manages to be one of the best shows on TV.  The big problem with this season is simply that it moves too fast – it’s rather clear that the show runners were eager to get out of the war as quickly as possible – but despite that I still think it managed to treat at least most of its plots fairly well, and still succeeded in keeping you on your toes as to what is going to happen with your favourite characters.

The season starts in 1916, with the Battle of the Somme, and ends in 1918 with the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. With few exceptions all the original cast are back, and the viewers get to see what happens to Downton during the Great War. The Earl (Bonneville) is struggling with finding a place in the new world that is emerging around him; he’s very firmly attached to the identity that he had before the war and is unable to find a useful role during the war. His wife and daughters are each struggling to do similar, in their own way, as the Countess (McGovern) deals with the idea of turning Downton into a convalescent for the local hospital, Lady Edith (Carmichael) learns to drive and begins to fill in for the missing men in the town and cares for wounded officers, Lady Sybil (Brown Findlay) becomes, more political, and develops feelings for chauffer Tom Branson (Allen Leech), and Lady Mary (Dockery) … well, Mary gets engaged to Sir Richard Carlisle (Ian Glen), while still pining for Matthew (Stevens), who’s gone to war and gotten engaged. Isobel (Wilton) is pretty much set about making life difficult for the Countess, causing her and the Dowager Countess (Smith) to team up and work against her. Amongst the staff, Thomas (James-Collier) has gone to war as a doctor; William (Howes) wants to go to war but has promised his father he won’t; Anna (Froggatt) and Bates (Coyle) are desperate to get married, despite the many obstacles to do so presented by the current Mrs. Bates (Maria Doyle Kennedy); Carson (Carter) and Mrs. Hughes (Logan) are trying to keep the household together; and new maid Ethel (Nuttall) is a bit of a bitch and kind of a whore.

The big problem with this season is that it takes on too much and moves too fast.  While time doesn't pass too much faster here than it did in season one (with each covering about two years) it feels like it is.  There are a lot more plots going on here and it really seems like some things are just randomly dropped.  So much of the first season was based on the (very simple) plot of Mary needing to get married upstairs and the addition of Mr. Bates downstairs.  This time round there's a lot more going on and, to the disadvantage of the overall tone of the show, a lot of plots seemed to be rather quickly abandoned.  Just a few of the plots are a bit contrived too, taking you out of the delicate realism that is the show.  The further into the season things get the more soap opera-y it gets.

The acting, however, is still good, and while the show does add on a gazillion additional plots the focus really is still Mary, Matthew, and Mr. Bates. Of all the different directions that the show takes in this season, I still love how it remains about that core.  Some of the things that they do with Bates are a bit over the top, as are some of the things that they do with Matthew, but the overall story is still there.  It wasn't the best season, but it could have been a lot worse.