My Downton Obsession

Well, as NOT too many people know, I have an odd obsession with England/Britain. I don't know if it was started from my love of soccer and having English trainers and coaches when growing up or the fact that I became completely engrossed in Harry Potter as a young kid. It has always been a dream of mine to get to live in England and get to go to the pub each weekend and watch my favorite team Chelsea play. This rather unwarranted love of a country I've only ever spent two days in never usually intrudes on my daily life, other than the occasional occurrence of this love of England creating unorthodox and wonderful friendships with complete strangers. I do however notice that this "love of Mother England" seems to come through most often in my movie choices. I have always been extremely fond of Victorian period movies based in England and I will gladly admit and go on record as being a huge fan of the movie Pride and Prejudice (I am a romantic as well when the quality of the movie lives up to my standards). Anyways, this whole build up and back story of my inner Brit is to try and shed light on the fact that I could possibly be biased with my next review, but I will leave that to you to decide.

These past few weeks, I have caught the Downton Abbey fever, which for those of you that have never heard of the show, I will give a short synopsis. Downton Abbey is about a Duke and his family in early 1900s England that live in the town of Downton and own the large mansion known as Downton Abbey, which is where most of the story takes place. I will not pretend that the show entrances me with its unique and unorthodox storyline or incredible twists and turns along the way. It does not. There is no revolutionary innovation that makes Downton Abbey a necessary recommendation for an everyday person. And to most people, it can be fairly predictable at times. This is where my back story and bias comes into play. The story follows the lives of this Duke's family with both their tragedies and celebrations. It is essentially a british soap opera with quality writing and directing as well as great acting. However, this show shouldn't be confused for a standard telenovela that one would find on Univision. Downton Abbey is a wonderful show with beautiful visuals as well as interesting and well-developed characters, but it definitely doesn't set a new precedent which demands a wide audience. It isn't for everyone, but for those of you that don't mind a bit of melodrama and some sexy British accents, you should try out this show. If you get hooked, you're done. I'm through the first two seasons now (which is only about 14 episodes), and there is no drop in quality. I hope the third season holds true to this as well but we will see. So if you need a bit more Brit in your daily life, this is definitely where you can find it. I hope you all enjoy it as I have.