Downton Abbey Season 4: Facts, Predictions, and Hopes
Facts
Let’s start with what we know. Sybil is dead. Matthew is
dead. Tom is bereft, and we expect that Mary will also be bereft. She has lost
the love of her life, a love that was hard won. Both Tom and Mary have the new
babies to bring up. The new season will start about six months after Matthew’s
death. O’Brien will be gone because the actress quit, but she will have moved
on to a different job.
The Granthams
The widow and widower will feature prominently in the new
season. We know that there will be at least two new love interests for Mary,
who will not be very interested in dating: Mary’s childhood friend Lord
Gillingham, played by the dark and intense Tom Cullen, and aristocrat Charles
Blake, played by the handsome and talented singer Julian Ovenden (who played
Andrew Foyle in “Foyle’s War”). Much has been made of these two joining the
show; though they are well known in the UK, they are mostly unknown here. Mary
will also be feeling empty and will have trouble bonding with baby George, who
will remind her of Matthew. We also know that Sybil’s Tom will have a nanny played
by Daisy Lewis for baby Sybil and that he will have a relationship with the
nanny that first starts in secret. Much speculation surrounds the future
relationship between Mary and Tom. Some fans hope that they will get together,
but I personally think that is unlikely because it would replay the social
class issues and because Mary is, after all, a snob. And in an interview, her
portrayer said that it would not be right for Mary to take up with her
brother-in-law.
Regarding the estate, we know that Tom and Mary will both take a more active role in the estate because Matthew’s death left a void there. Mary will be interested in watching out for her son’s interests. And Lord Grantham will apparently also rely on Lord Gillingham for help and advice.
The Servants
Down in the servants’ dining room, there will be changes
too. In the absence of O’Brien, Thomas, now promoted to underbutler, will be
looking for a collaborator to spy on the upstairs goings on, and one report has
it that he will have a female one. The actor has said that he will not be
getting a love interest this season since he almost ended up in jail last
season. (He has also told fans that he will be wearing a wig for the entire
season as his hair was buzzed, so he could play a deranged drug dealer during
the off season.). That brings me to the big next thing we know. Nigel Harman,
the immensely talented stage and television actor well known in the UK, will be
introduced as a valet named Green. It was originally announced that he would be
a visiting valet, but there has been some information of late that his position
will be permanent. (If that is the case, I would expect a complex story arc
involving him, but more on that later.) Nigel Harman has worked with the
producer Gareth Neame on Hotel Babylon,
a quirky little British comedy series, so for the producers he is a known
entity coming on the show. Brendan Coyle, the actor playing Bates, has also
said that Bates will be darker this season, but Anna has said there will be a
period of happiness for them at the beginning and complications later on. Mrs.
Hughes and Mr. Carson will not be getting married, and Daisy will have some
interesting opportunities.
There will also be a series of guest stars, including Dame Harriet Walter as the Dowager’s friend Lady Shackelton, Joanna David as the Duchess of Yeovil, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa as a singer, Gary Carr of Death in Paradise as black jazz musician Jack Ross (a love interest for Rose) and a jazz band, Shirley Macclaine, and Paul Giametti, who is to play her philandering son and Cora’s brother. The latter two will star in the Christmas special, which, like last year’s, will not be set at Christmas.
Anna and Rose will continue to bond since Rose helped Anna learn to dance and since Anna will feel sorry for Rose.
The above facts are what have been released either by the producers or by the cast. Because the viewers were so distraught by Sybil’s and especially by Matthew’s end, the producers clearly had to announce some exciting love interests for Tom and Mary.
Predictions (some
fueled by rumors, some not)
The Granthams
As noted above, Mary will be the focal point of the new season.
Lord Gillingham will come on as an old friend. I think he may be asked to be
the godfather of her baby George. I predict that Gillingham will realize he
loves Mary eventually, but she may not realize that as soon. The other
prospective beau, Charles, is more dashing, less intense, but also less serious
and not so moral (some have said), but I think that she won’t know that at
first and may not believe it later as she starts to become interested in him. We
know that Mary can be seduced on a purely physical level, so I think she may
even have an affair with him, but at some point near the end of this season or
early next, she will realize that she has made a mistake. Of course, with the
dead Pamuk and now Matthew, some men might view her as bad luck.
Edith continues this Jane-Eyre-like relationship with her
editor… but she does not marry him. In general, I think this relationship is
pretty boring, though other viewers seem to like it. She becomes interested in
women’s rights, and she continues to explore her options. I think Edith will
eventually marry an American whom we haven’t met yet, but this is sheer
conjecture on my part.
Rose continues life as the show’s wild child, going to 20s
clubs (as we saw last season) and as a representative of the post-WWI
generation. She eventually gets involved with the black musician Jack Ross, and
they will become seriously entangled. This will be the source of racial issues
in the family and elsewhere. But I am not sure if this romance is the end game
for Rose since she is so young and since if her parents find out, they will
take her to India.
Tom will be smitten with the nanny, but just because she is
a nanny, she may not be as sweet and innocent as one might think. One source
suggested that she will be conniving and ambitious. The producers were
impressed with her in her audition, so I would expect a powerful storyline that
involves deception. I would think that the Granthams might want Tom to be
happy, but would find it hard and painful to accept someone as their baby’s
stepmother and Tom’s wife. The nanny will not be the right one for Tom, but
will he marry her before he figures that out?
The Dowager Countess, it seems, will have a friend or two
this season, with whom she can exchange quips, and she will have to deal with
the many changes of modern life. But her story may include a more shocking
twist, so read on …
The Servants
Thomas will need a foil, so he won’t succeed in doing too
much damage. That foil should be Green played by Nigel Harman.
Ten years ago Nigel Harman joined the British nighttime
soap opera Eastenders as Dennis
Rickman, the edgy, oft explosive, illegitimate son of a central villain known
as “Dirty” Den Watts. In the complex role of an unwanted son, Harman tried to get
to know his father and half-sister, and fell in love with his stepsister Sharon,
the fans’ favorite soap actress. The story took three years to play out and
mesmerized fans. It remains one of the most well-known and controversial
stories (with a 25-35% share of the TV audience) to ever take place in the East
End. So I would expect Downton’s writer, Mr. Fellowes, to give him another
complex role to play with a story arc lasting at least two seasons if he is
staying that long.
So what kind of man will Green be, and how will he fit in?
1.
Green is rumored to be a cheerful addition to
the servants’ hall, who makes the servants laugh a lot. So I would expect him
to be a well-liked character.
2.
I see Green also as a foil for Thomas. (I
originally thought that the writer might make him a love interest for Thomas,
which would have been ironic since both actors are huge heartthrobs for the
female audience in England. But the actor who plays Thomas has said that this
season will not be a good time for Thomas’s love life. Also, that story could
be a dead end for Green and limit his interaction with female characters.)
3.
Green may charm some of the downstairs ladies,
but I think Green is most likely to be a threat to Anna and Bates’s love. The
actor playing Bates has said that he will show his darker side, so there will
have to be some problem. Perhaps they will not be able to have a child. Green
may fall in love with Anna, who may be vulnerable if Bates pushes her away or
becomes jealous.
4.
If I were writing for Nigel Harman, I would make
sure that Green also had a story that connects him unexpectedly with the
Granthams :
(a) The most exciting possibility is that
he is the illegitimate son of the Dowager Countess, who, in a moment of
weakness after her husband died, conceived a son with Carson 30-something years
ago and gave the child to someone to raise but lost track of him through some
reasonable but unforeseen circumstance. That would make Green Lord Grantham’s brother,
and it would set the stage for drama both upstairs and downstairs. And it would
be a good showcase for the talents of the actors playing the Dowager and
Carson.
(b) Alternatively, he is the illegitimate
son of a once very young Lord Grantham, who got a young girl pregnant when they
had a moment of weakness in their teens, but he never knew of the pregnancy
because his parents found out and covered it up. That would make Green the
brother of Mary and Edith, so there could be some interesting sibling
interaction and some conflict for Lord Grantham.
(c) A third but less intriguing
possibility is that he flirts with or falls in love with Cora or Mary. It would
be interesting to see him with Mary, but she is a snob, and we already had a
similar story with Sybil and Tom. I am not that fond of Cora as a character, so
I would not really like to see her with Green, but it could happen since Lord
Grantham has already had his own temptation in season 2. Still, I think this is
the least interesting version of possible events.
Hopes
In addition to hoping that my predictions come true, I hope
that whether I am right or wrong, the writers lift the series out of the rather
grim state it was in at the end of last year’s Christmas special. Certainly,
Mr. Fellowes is capable of that and will want to do that for all the fans and
for the sake of good writing. I hope also that he will maintain the integrity
of each character and of the story’s trajectory.
Just 21 weeks to go, and with Thanksgiving and Christmas in
between, the time will fly.
No comments:
Post a Comment