Creator: Julian Fellowes
I was never a fan of stories of the period pieces about the British class system, so any enjoyment I get from this show is not because I adore the genre. The first season of Downton Abbey is a surprisingly intricate, nuanced, and well-written drama about love, inheritance, and class. The themes of the show are certainly not original, neither are the character types. It's not one of those shows that will sound all that appealing to most people who are not already fans of English literature. But the show has these characters that are so compelling, and they are all acted in such a way that transcends any and all the cliche's associated with those characters.
It is remarkable how the characters and their relationships with each other are so nuanced even though on paper the relationships would be so standard and conventional. The biggest reason the show stands out to me is the relationship between the upstairs royalty and the downstairs servants. Each have their own culture, but when those cultures meet is when the show does great work. All of it helps in telling a story that is also about the culture these characters live in, one that is changing in terms of family roles, gender relations, and also class relations. The show doesn't seem to criticize the class system, but it recognizes the changing perception and tries to capture the change in motion. It is a show that oddly respects the class system while not mourning it when it is clear that tradition is changing. The show is not at all as sophisticated and well-written as Mad Men, but it really is the British Mad Men of the 1910's.
Grade: B+
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