Episode #3.1

Writer Julian Fellowes has set up the new season superbly-lots of conflict, drama and romance/heartbreak in the queue. On first impression, there seems to be a less melodramatic air this season which I rather like. But it is early days, and I will only allude to the fact that there are plenty of twists and surprises in store. It was a stoke of brilliance to bring on Shirley MacLaine as Martha Levinson, who added the perfect counterpoint of the uncouth American brassiness to Maggie Smith's elegantly staid and traditional English Lady Violet. MacLaine's stark make-up and flashy clothes were just so over-the-top, almost theatrical. When she took over during the failed dinner party and turned it into a cold buffet/picnic, and then broke out in song after, I howled with laughter at the reaction by her English relatives and the guests. When the stalwart Butler Mr. Carson agreed (amazingly) that in the nontraditional party was a success with the locals and family, I knew that change was indeed in store for us this season. In stark contrast to this charmed life of privilege is the miserable existence that the incarcerated Bates must endure while locked up in York prison. Anna is working hard to discover evidence of his innocence. And, what of the financial crisis? Will life as the Crawley family has known it for hundreds of years end soon? In the spring of 1920 the wake of WWI is deeply felt at Downton Abbey as change is in the air for England and the Crawley family and their servants. Long standing traditions die hard, and many members, upstairs and downstairs, are determined to resume their pre-war style of life. As guests arrive for the wedding of Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) and Lady Mary Crawley (Michele Dockery), they bring with them a touch of the outside world to this isolationist enclave of English society. Lady Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham's (Elizabeth McGovern) American mother Martha Levinson (Shirley MacLaine) descends on her English in-laws with all the delicacy of a bull in a china shop; her brash American manners and customs are in direct opposition to the other grandmother of the household, Lady Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham (Maggie Smith).

The earl is almost as stupid as his barrister. And shirley maclaine is even more boring ... count on the earl no pun intended to make all the wrong decisions because he is a buffoon that has squandered his wife's family fortune based on nothing but his usual lack of knowledge about anything ... remember he tried to bed a chambermaid then had a guilty conscience ... the guy that wrote this garbage should be skewered.

After season two's flirtations with soap opera threatened to become outright marriage, Season three kicks off with a return to what made Downton Abbey so worthwhile: the ins and outs of the class system, and the interdependence of the two. Shifting loyalties make this more than just things people do, and we can be grateful for the complications which bring out the subtleties. The addition of Shirley MacLaine could have been superfluous -- well, to some extent it is, but Fellowes gives her important things to say. And while she occasionally says things that seem meant to placate modern audiences, we may also remember that the idea of being 'modern' was invented in the 1920s.

The centerpiece of this first episode of the third season is the marriage of Lady Mary and Matthew. But there is a kicker. Robert gets some bad news from his lawyer concerning his prewar investments. Sibyl and Tom Branson have made their ways to Downton and there are sparks whenever Tom opens his mouth. Bates has visits from Anna. We also have the arrival of Cora's mother from America, played by Shirley MacLaine. I find her to be boorish (even more-so than the Britishers). She is insensitive and can't say a kind word. And, finally, the wedding itself which goes on despite some very contentious moments. Off we go.