THE RECORD
Downton Abbey finale
9 p.m. Sunday, PBS
In these rude and crude times, how I wish Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, could dispense her wit and wisdom to a world she’d never live to see.
Can you imagine if Violet, an octogenarian in 1925, were to aim some of her best zingers at 2016’s most annoying and discourteous transgressors?
“Vulgarity is no substitute for wit,” she might say to any number of today’s politicians, pundits and social-media commentators. And, Violet, played to perfection by Dame Maggie Smith, could fix the self-righteous with that withering stare and ask, “Does it ever get cold on the moral high ground?”
Violet’s witticisms top the list of things I shall most miss about “Downton Abbey,” which airs its 93-minute grand finale at 9 p.m. Sunday. For several months a year over the past half decade, PBS’ highest rated drama has been a weekly respite from 21st century life, an escape to a world of manners, civility, magnificent homes, stunning and elegant clothing, a place where dignity was greatly valued.
As I write this, I have not yet previewed the finale of the sixth and final season on the press site, in part, because I want to be surprised, in part out of fear that I’d inadvertently spill spoilers.
These days, of course, it’s easy enough for anyone in America to find out what happens next, as the “Downton” finale was written about and recapped aplenty after it aired in Great Britain on Christmas night. What’s more, the final season DVD has been available for purchase since late January.
Still, I’d rather avoid specifics here and just ponder something that Hugh Bonneville, who played Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, said about the final episode when cast members did a press event in New York City in early December: “There are conclusions to a lot of wonderful stories, but not everything is tied up in bows,” he said. “It’s left to the imagination of the audience, for them to continue these characters’ stories in their own imaginations.”
Along the way, “Downton Abbey” picked up Primetime Emmy Award nominations as outstanding drama series four years in a row (for a total of 59 nominations and 12 Emmy wins, over its run), and lost two of its most beloved characters — Lady Sybil Crawley (Jessica Brown Findlay) and Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens), deaths precipitated by the actors choosing to not renew their contracts. But at that December event, cast members and executive producer Gareth Neame suggested there would be mostly happy endings Sunday night.
https://www.northjersey.com/arts-and-entertainment/tv/at-wits-end-over-the-final-downton-1.1522992
