L i N d $ @ y

Series 5 Christmas Special
Thursday, December 25, 2014, 9:00 - 11:00 PM Greenwich Mean Time


Description
It's grouse shooting season and Rose’s father-in-law, Lord Sinderby, has rented out Brancaster Castle in Northumberland and invited the Crawley family to a shooting party. While good sport is enjoyed, Stowell (Armstrong) has an axe to grind and a scandalous secret threatens to undermine the holiday. Surprises are in store as the families become better acquainted with each other and some new faces arrive on the scene.

Meanwhile the servants hold the fort back at Downton. As Anna faces an uncertain future behind bars, Bates takes drastic measures in a bid to clear her name. Baxter and Molesley are busy on a joint plan and Carson and Mrs Hughes consider a business venture.
Source




Rules of the Discussion

1. Please try not to insult any characters, ships or actors. Stay positive and respect your fellow posters.

2. Keep any criticisms of the episode constructive, please. Not everyone will be happy about everything in the episode, but try to keep things constructive. "This plot is ridiculous!" is not considered to be constructive criticism.

3. Please no discussions about illegal downloading, asking or commenting about it. Any posts with that topic will be edited or deleted. Use PMs instead.

4. Reminder: All post CS storylines are a spoiler so while the OP has storyline information, you can react but not discuss it until then even under spoiler tags.

Thank you and enjoy the episode!


Countdown to Christmas Special

 

L i N d $ @ y

I will be away starting Tuesday and won't be back (full-time) until January 2nd. So enjoy the holidays everyone and I hope this will be a wonderful Christmas special for us.

Andorra

I'm dreading the CS. It might be festive and happy for some, but if Tom is really going to leave at the end of it, it will be the end of the show for me.
It will be so disappointing and sad, I don't know how to bear it and it will certainly take all the joy out of Christmas for me.

carrie.suze

Have a Very Happy Christmas too Lindsay, and that tree looks wonderful in the grand hall of Downton.

I'm hoping Tom won't leave either Andorra, it won't be the same without him, but I'll still be watching the next series, fortunately there's other characters that still hold some interest for me.

Chances are I won't watch the episode on Christmas Day, as I'll have the family round, I'll probably record it and watch it in peace and quiet later.

Looking forward to seeing what the girls are wearing, as much as the storyline itself.

L i N d $ @ y

I think some of us were able to post here during and after Christmas Day last year but in any case, I will request MST for the time I am away. If some of you can post on some threads, I'd appreciate that. I don't want the board to go over the 48-rule while I'm away.

I am officially on my holiday break so enjoy the ep everyone and see you all 2015!

carrie.suze

My holiday starts today as well, and I'll be sure to pop on the boards when I can, probably not Christmas Day itself though.

Enjoy your holiday Lindsay, and thanks for everything you do round here, see you in 2015 hun xxx

Maité

I'll be posting except maybe on Christmas eve. Christmas day is not busy here so I'll be free plus I'm soo excited for the CS!

carrie.suze

Enjoy it tomorrow everyone, I'll be saving it for the next, so doing my best to stay away from spoilers.


Have a Very Happy Christmas xxx

Andorra

Well, Goodbye everyone. It was nice talking to you, but without Tom Branson I don't see any point of watching the show anymore.

I thought the CS was boring and disappointing.
Banna? Who cares
Chelsie? Who cares
Isobel/Merton? Over = disappointing
Kuragin? Who cares
Broth storyline = stupid

Matthew Goode was the only good thing. The new agent is already on the horizon in Edith's suitor and Tom has left.

No thanks. I'm done.

Andorra

Lowest ratings ever!

Only the 8th most watched show.

Excuse when I do this:

aggiemom09121416

I liked the CS episode!

Am weary of the Bates storylines (death and prison, YAWN)
Will admit to being a bit teary eyed during the final scene between Carson and Mrs. Hughes)

I didn't care much for the sinister butler story, thought it just got in the way of the central character's storylines!

So, Rose and her new hubby are moving to New York and Tom's headed to Boston! Guess we will start season 6 and Tom's already gone, might be best, would be hard to see him walk out the front door.

Robert's medical issue is seen as minor right now, but who knows what's in store in season 6.

And I was disappointed in Isobel turning down Merton yet again~good grief.

And also glad the Russian story line appears to be over, that was another yawnfest for me. zzzzzzzzzzz

A lot of stuff happened in this episode. Mary was her normal ugly self to Edith, man what zingers she can roll out of her mouth!

Looks like there might be a love interest for Edith and a new one for Mary as well!Charles Blake better be paying attention. lol

I was disappointed Jimmie wasn't the new footman, but seems like I saw Daisy giving the new footman a lustful gleam. LOL

pio231

I'm fed up with the Green storyline being dragged out too, can't Fellowes just let Bates and Anna be happy? I'm glad that Isobel wasn't going to marry Lord Merton, I didn't feel there was much chemistry between the two of them. I enjoyed Thomas getting one over Lord Sinderby. It was great seeing Matthew Goode in Downton Abbey too.

aggiemom09121416

I wanted Isobel to marry Merton, she's had so much sadness and it would be nice to see her have a companion. When she was watching from the train station watching the family leave it made me cringe, the last time she saw Matthew alive was when he was leaving on a family trip, from the train station.

I thought Violet handled the Russian love triangle very nicely, I never was a fan of her hooking up with him, LOL.

And the Dinker/butler storyline GETS ON MY NERVES. lol

I don't know who Matthew Goode is supposed to 'be', guess I need to look him up.

I was hoping for a more romantic marriage proposal from Carson, but it was still really sweet.

Lucresiare

I enjoyed Carson's proposal and I didn't expect it. I would have liked it more romantic too, but I don't think it is Carson's style. He's too reserved.
I liked the prayer moment for Sybil between Tom, Edith and Mary.
I didn't care about Banna, Could the writer do something else than accusing them of murder and send them to jail ?
I'll miss Tom. They could have let him stay and give him something meaningful to do in Downton.

L i N d $ @ y

Just dropping by in a huff to say that I've just seen the CS and I absolutely love it.

I will post more thoughts when I get back and because it sucks posting on the iPad.

Oh yes, this ep was so much better because of Matthew Goode. What a delight to see him on the show.