Husband and I sat and watched our recording of the very last episode of Downton, minus the adverts, on Sunday evening.
What a masterpiece of knots unravelled and loose ends tied up, either in the 'there and then' or, if not, in the suggestion of happy endings to come. Just what you want from Christmas television; well, what I want anyway and is that so terrible! The last series was terrific too, in my estimation, after, I felt, some of the over-melodramatic scenes of former episodes.
Reading some snooty reviews in our otherwise excellent Catholic Herald magazine, I feel that I want to tell those critics that they've entirely missed the point of Downton. It was not, essentially, an historical drama, it wasn't about chronological accuracy or exactitude. It was about people, their lives, their relationships, their stories.
Its characterisations have been excellent and the acting superb. The photography, the settings, the world which has been created for us on a Sunday evening, have lifted us into another life, one which has brought real interest and delight. It will be sadly missed.
Thank goodness that we had this Christmas special to relish, to cherish the resolutions and to share in the satisfaction of a story well-told and well ended.
