Downton Abbey: Series Two

Downton Abbey: Series Two, 2011. The goings-on in a large English household during WWI.

Created & written by Julian Fellowes. Directed by Ashley Pearce (2 episodes), Andy Goddard (2), Brian Kelly (2), James Strong (2), & Brian Percival (1). Starring Hugh Bonneville, Jessica Brown Findlay, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Siobhan Finneran, Joanne Froggatt, Thomas Howes, Rob James-Collier, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Sophie McShera, Lesley Nicol, Amy Nuttall, Maggie Smith, Dan Stevens, & Penelope Wilton.

Concept: D
Story: D
Characters: D
Dialog: C
Pacing: C
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: Visually, the scenes in the trenches bring things down quite a bit from series one. B
Acting: B
Music: C
Enjoyment: The story is repetitive and lacks anything in the way of creativity, which is growing tiresome after two series. The characters continue to be poorly developed; I probably couldn't tell half of them apart if it weren't for the good casting. On the other hand, Maggie Smith. C

GPA: 1.9/4

Downton Abbey: Series One

Downton Abbey: Series One, 2010. The goings-on in a large English household in the 1910s.

Created by Julian Fellowes. Directed by Brian Percival (3 episodes), Ben Bolt (2) & Brian Kelly (2). Written by Fellowes, with Shelagh Stephenson (1 episode) & Tina Pepler (1). Starring Hugh Bonneville, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Rob James-Collier & Dan Stevens.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent). Spiteful people backstabbing each other is not my idea of entertaining drama.
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent). And occasionally finding out secrets about characters is not my idea of development.
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). It's well done for what it is. I just don't see the appeal of this sort of thing. It probably doesn't help that it portrays an oppressive world as something good and noble. At one point the family patriarch makes a little speech about being merely a custodian of his estate, implying that he's burdened with responsibility and not, contrary to all evidence, obscenely privileged. And of course he's fair and protective of his underlings, and they're all much happier in servitude than they would be otherwise. It's pretty disgusting. But then, I'm a straight male, so no one expects me to enjoy this kind of show. My wife liked it.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.5/4 (Okay)