Reviews

The most frustrating element of any drama is a huge plot hole. The lack of logic to the Tennent storyline is absurd. Simply telling the truth, by a vicar, and pow, the story is over. It's as if the characters realise they need to do something really foolish or else there is no drama to make, which kinda spoils the idea that there is supposed to be some reality. Stanley Tucci is the world's favorite actor, and always delivers, but here he seems to want to be Lector light.

This is an example of a good idea that was not then stress tested in the making, with not enough time spent or control over the script and plot. I can see the bones of a good show, but there is no flesh on those bones.

A catalog of disappointments this was a mixture of cliche and manipulation aligned with random violence. How many times do we need to see a motor bike chase through a Mediterranean village? A car chase? A jeep chase? Let's add a child to add fake fear! And then the sheer callous violence as the "good" guys kill maybe 50 people without a look backwards. Ten men with machine guns all contrive to miss one man with a pistol. All Bond tropes but delivered without a jot of wit or a glance at the audience. Throw in a plot that had all the sense and tension of a wet sponge and you have a very poor Bond.

I think I've seen this story in just about every possible work environment. Underdog turns mean boss into wonderful new shiny person.

Downton the TV series was engaging, had a modicum of historical social interest and was fun. The movie was simply a rehash of several Disney animated Princesses. The upper class were all worried about the terrible stress in their lives, while the servants were worried about them too. The dreadful stress of keeping a huge house going versus living on a pittance and being treated like, well, servants was absurd. The staff were outraged when the Royal staff were high handed and talked down to them, yet that happened every day in their jobs. The "rebellion" was totally farcical. This was the norm, so would they not say "hurrah, a day off!" The reference to the General Strike produced the best joke, Maggie Smith saying her maid had spoken to her in a funny tone, but was ignored otherwise as everyone in the village saw the visit of the King as the high point of their lives. Tom the Irish Republican has been shown the error of his ways, and now sees that being part of the British upper classes is the way to go. Edith's notion that her husband should play a part in the birth of their child in 1926, rather than going on tour with the Prince is from 1996 not 1926! Fellowes writes this class claptrap over and over again. See Belgravia, and the English Game for more rehashing of history as a class struggle between the classes, without a genuine working class person in sight !