Did Downton Abbey Jump the Shark?
Do you know the scene I'm talking about? The one where Anna gets raped by the visiting butler/footman--and then tells the other maid not to mention it to anyone because she's worried that her husband will kill the guy? It reads a bit like a preview for an episode of Dr. Phil. I can see Dr. Phil's mustache quivering in barely concealed rage as he asks the Mrs. Hughes why she didn't go to authorities and then swivels in his chair to ask Mr. Bates if he feels like it's right for Anna to be married to man who she's essentially afraid of? He would offer Bates a free month-long stay at an anger management camp run by his son, who also has a book that he needs to plug. But I digress...
It was distressing to see Anna disheveled and sniveling and asking for another pair of underwear from Mrs. Hughes, and then one wonders how this will unfold in the next episode, if she's able to keep from jumping in fear every time he touches her and if he somehow gets it out of her or Mrs. Hughes and then does go to kill the guy, and then it's back to prison for him. I don't much care, I guess. I'm disappointed that some of the plot points are beginning to resemble a daytime soap. Next, dead Sibyl's long lost twin that the family forgot about will return as that Irish chauffeur is about to make out with the cunning maid and then Lady Grantham will get into a carriage accident in the woods and wake up with amnesia and then become a scullery maid in her confusion or one of the baby's will suddenly have aged to thirteen years old between episodes so that she become a runaway or we'll find out that even though Matthew seems to have broken his neck and died, he's really still alive and has actually been living in the family tomb and will be discovered by the dog, just as Lady Mary is about to get married to a scoundrel.
Stay tuned.
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