Yes, the heir thing was a big one. Pretty much the heart and core of the story. Once gone, it didn't leave much. However, I may be mean to Fellowes but I do think he is a lazy writer sometimes. He had plenty of time to come up with an exit for Matthew as dan rejected the continuation when they were starting filming and most probably had conversations regarding it even earlier - no producer will wait till the beginning of the shooting. I also found the writing for the character not so good from one point on. I would expect a self-respecting actor to not be very happy with same five lines in a whole season, so... I expected some outburst, though didn't want to believe it would be so... drastic.

Another problem for me was the lazy writing re: Mary's suitors in season 4. I felt Fellowes rushed this and didn't give the characters chance to develop, so the public can understand WHY Mary would like this one or another. Some men were thrown in the mix with zero motivation and development. Matthew and Mary made sense because they had time to show us how they warmed up to each other, how they dealed with obstacles, how they faced challenges to their love and finally made a decision. These new suitors just came to ask Mary to marry them (or at least thinking about it)... Huh. Lazy writing.

Please add me! I'm currently in the middle of S3 for the first and oh how I love this show. Unfortunately, I know what happens to Matthew, but I'm still adoring every moment between Matthew/Mary. They have the most beautiful scenes together, Dan and Michelle play so well together. My favorite scene so far is either their proposal or before the wedding when they have that fight and Matthew comes to her room and apologizes and Matthew needs to kiss her, so they kiss with their eyes close Made me tear up. They're such a team.