Stay to the Lights

Maybe it's a good thing next season will be the last, then.

WildRose

I hope it would be the sort of closure that gives us DA fans hope so that we won't have to face with something as final as another major character death

L i N d $ @ y

There's definitely no character death, we're assured of that. I just hope that the ep is like the bow on the Christmas presents we receive. Yes it will be dramatic but I don't need to get shocked or cry so much on Christmas day please. I remember the producers & JF has apologized to fans for how S3 CS ended last year.

WildRose

I really try to avoid spoilers (and it's working so far ) but I def hope they would leave the BEST for last this time

So I think it's fair to say the CS is what... three weeks away?

L i N d $ @ y

It is. I'll have the CS discussion ep 2 weeks from now so we can all chat a bit before the very last episode this season.

We already have a schedule/time for the CS so it's just a matter of waiting for it now.

WildRose

Indeed

ediedoyle

Don't forget that the whodunit is a favorite of Julian Fellowes'. He is far more concerned with the way information leaks/spreads, and how that plays with people's minds, rather than with the crime itself.

Even if we never find out what really happened to Green, the fact that he is gone could make one relationship better and another one get messed up. But who gets what end of the stick? That's the real question! I do think it will be cleared up in the CS considering This can only go on for so long.

L i N d $ @ y

I agree. I'm actually bracing myself that we won't find out what really happened to Green.

I just hope we'll have plenty to talk about the CS, both good & bad.

Also, I'll be bumping up the episode discussion threads soon when PBS airs S4 next month. Feel free to drop by if you'll be watching the episodes again.

ScarletCourt

So I guess now that we've seen the C/S that JF is insisting that Bates killed Green. The question is why on earth did he keep the train ticket and how did Mrs. Hughes figure out it was the day Green died just by looking at it? Did the date get seared in her mind?

L i N d $ @ y

All puzzling to me right now, Scarlet. But I'd rather that SL be over already. It was anti-climactic anyway so I'd rather it be all done with.

ScarletCourt

Something I realized recently that was missing from S4 that we had in S1 and parts of S2 was being able to see someone from all facets. For example, in S1 we saw Matthew from his interactions and open conversations with all sort of groups: elders, peers, servants. He had scenes with his Mother, with Mary, Edith, Sybil, Robert, Violet and Moseley. In S2, Richard had a history with Lavinia and we saw him interact with Carson, Anna and Lady Rosamund on top of Mary. In S4, I don't think either of Anthony Gillingham or Charles Blake spent much time talking to anyone other than Mary or one another. At least not openly and this makes them much more one dimensional characters. Did AG talk even to Green for more than two seconds when they got off the car when they arrived at DA?

L i N d $ @ y

And some of the core characters had little interactions too. Yes the friendships were great, I did like that. But how background were Robert/Cora this season? All the downstairs people had a lackluster SL and Anna/Bates were the only ones who had potential but ended up lackluster too.

Edith's SL probably is the one that stood out for me this season with a potentially strong SL moving into S5. Mary = meh. Tom = meh. And what about Isobel now, what exactly do we do with her other than being Violet's BFF?

ScarletCourt

Well, at least we had Dr. Clarkson and Lord Merton both pursuing Isobel, but I think that switcheroo had to do with the suicide of David Robb's wife than anything else and they needed to switch in a new actor.

I agree that SLs have been lacklustre wherever you looked. Plus JF got rid of both Ivy and Alfred. I do wonder if Jimmy is next.

Andorra

I wasn't particularly sad about Ivy and Alfred, since JF never seemed to have an idea what to do with them. But we have so many new characters and the only one I really liked instantly was Madeline Allsop. And she probably will never come back.

The others? Either rather boring (Tony Gillingham, Charles Blake) or really awful (Sarah Bunting). Even though I liked Tony Gillingham best of them all, I don't need to see any of them back really.

ediedoyle

Sooo true! It ticked me off because i felt like we were listening to the same conversations between the same people over and over. It's a classic soap opera technique that ends up giving us way more fluff and filler talk than real developments.

Part of the problem is that JF hasn't decided which of the new characters should become central to the story. So for example...unlike Matthew, whose motivations were a driving force in the narrative, we never get to see through the eyes of Charles/Tony/Evelyn -- we only see them briefly through Mary. They are not "people", only "suitors". It's a disservice to his own work because JF has created some interesting characters and it would be fascinating to know them better.