The first three seasons were very well done. When O'Brien left and Sybil left and Matthew died, the show went downhill. We had the melodramatic silliness of the Bates family and just generally poor writing, with a few exceptions.

Given all that, the finale did tie up the loose strings.

For those interested in similar material who have not seen it, the original Upstairs, Downstairs is excellent. Downton Abbey covers almost exactly the same chronological and thematic territory and borrows from UD the same "types," especially downstairs: the conservative butler, the effusive and commanding cook, the maid (Rose) who is in some ways the central character.

The production values of Upstairs, Downstairs are inferior--it was shot on videotape rather than film and sometimes looks more like a filmed play than a movie--but it is very well acted and written.

A lot of what drew me in to the show didn't make it past the 3rd season. The upstairs/downstairs dynamic was interesting, also things like WWI and how their culture was affected. It's just not a time period I knew much about, and the show spurred me to read up on it. After that I was just invested in the characters and their stories. Based on the last half I wouldn't have started watching the show.

Overall I like how it wrapped up.

I liked how it wrapped up. I guess with so few episodes per season, when you tie up loose ends, you end up having to rush it all into a couple of episodes and since each episode often spans a few weeks or even months, you get what appears to be a rushed finish.

But they essentially gave everyone a happy ending.

Has anyone here read Below Stairs or Servants? Both were interesting reads on the topic of life in service. I'm also working my way through Rose: My Life in Service to Lady Astor.

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So, in previous posts I predicted the following, apparently correctly:

• Daisy would end up with Andy
• Mrs Patmore would end up with Mr Mason
• Molesly would end up teaching
• Carson would retire and Barrow would step into his shoes

Turns out that either I'm psychic or, more likely, these writers are terribly predictable.

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I was happy with the way it ended although as you said you could see it coming. I would have enjoyed 6 more seasons but there is a rumor a movie may be coming.

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So, in previous posts I predicted the following, apparently correctly:

• Daisy would end up with Andy
• Mrs Patmore would end up with Mr Mason
• Molesly would end up teaching
• Carson would retire and Barrow would step into his shoes

Turns out that either I'm psychic or, more likely, these writers are terribly predictable.

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I was happy with the way it ended although as you said you could see it coming. I would have enjoyed 6 more seasons but there is a rumor a movie may be coming.

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that or you read about it since it aired in UK months ago.....

personally i predicted Barrow would be head Butler also somehow and Mary would spill the beans about Marigold at the worst possible moment. i failed to predict Spratt was the advice column writer though (lol, that was funny). and i thought ms. patmore would leave too for the B&B leaving daisy in charge - missed that one. i did say Tom would open a care repair place (close there) but i didn't say it would be with Mary's husband.

so yeah...fairly predictable....but not totally.

and i didn't need/want a twist or shock ending but geeze everything literally wrapped up all neat and tidy and GOOD for everyone when the entire series had so much conflict and anguish.

So here's the wrap:

Upstairs:

• Mary pregnant with new hubby's baby, will continue to co-manage estate
• Mary new hubby quits racing, ends up in business (used cars) with Tom
• Tom will continue to co-manage estate and co-run business with Mary's husband..seems to maybe be a love interest brewing with Edith's editor
• Edith married and in a "higher station" than Mary; truth out about Marigold to new family with no seeming issues; will continue to own the paper
• Lord Grantham seems to be at peace/comfortable with his family and times that are changing and with his wife taking on increased role in hospital
• Lady Grantham taking on big role at hospital with Robert's blessing, enters new age for women in solid standing
• Dowager reconciles with Lady Grantham over the hospital thing but last comment to Isobel seems to indicate she still laments bygone days/tradition
• Isobel marries what she thinks is a dying Lord Merton but finds out he isn't dying after all

Downstairs

• Bates/Anna have their baby...live happily ever after
• Carson enters semi retirement due to palsy issue--will live on grounds with Ms Hughes and act as a "mentor" or advisor of sorts
• Ms Hughes--married to Carson.
• Ms Patmore..seems to have a thing brewing with Mr. Mason
• Daisy passed all of her classes, will move to the farm with Mason, and may have something going with Andy
• Andy will help Mason with pig rearing and maybe have a thing with Daisy
• Barrow seems to have been totally redeemed and will become head butler (under watch of Carson)
• Molesly will teach full time and live in a cottage near the school
• Ms. Baxter decides to stop punishing herself for previous crimes with Coyle and seems to have a thing possible with Molesly
• Sprat will continue to butler for the Dowager, while doubling as a columnist for Edith's paper
• Denker presumably will continue as the Dowager's ladies maid while probably still trying to stir up trouble for Sprat.

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So here's the wrap:

Upstairs:

• Mary pregnant with new hubby's baby, will continue to co-manage estate
• Mary new hubby quits racing, ends up in business (used cars) with Tom
• Tom will continue to co-manage estate and co-run business with Mary's husband..seems to maybe be a love interest brewing with Edith's editor
• Edith married and in a "higher station" than Mary; truth out about Marigold to new family with no seeming issues; will continue to own the paper
• Lord Grantham seems to be at peace/comfortable with his family and times that are changing and with his wife taking on increased role in hospital
• Lady Grantham taking on big role at hospital with Robert's blessing, enters new age for women in solid standing
• Dowager reconciles with Lady Grantham over the hospital thing but last comment to Isobel seems to indicate she still laments bygone days/tradition
• Isobel marries what she thinks is a dying Lord Merton but finds out he isn't dying after all

Downstairs

• Bates/Anna have their baby...live happily ever after
• Carson enters semi retirement due to palsy issue--will live on grounds with Ms Hughes and act as a "mentor" or advisor of sorts
• Ms Hughes--married to Carson.
• Ms Patmore..seems to have a thing brewing with Mr. Mason
• Daisy passed all of her classes, will move to the farm with Mason, and may have something going with Andy
• Andy will help Mason with pig rearing and maybe have a thing with Daisy
• Barrow seems to have been totally redeemed and will become head butler (under watch of Carson)
• Molesly will teach full time and live in a cottage near the school
• Ms. Baxter decides to stop punishing herself for previous crimes with Coyle and seems to have a thing possible with Molesly
• Sprat will continue to butler for the Dowager, while doubling as a columnist for Edith's paper
• Denker presumably will continue as the Dowager's ladies maid while probably still trying to stir up trouble for Sprat.

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and the dead named characters:

Mrs. Bates - Mr. Bates mother
Vera Bates - Mr. Bates estranged wife
Sybil Branson (nee Crawley) - youngest daughter of Lord Grantham, died of eclampsia following birth of her child
Charles Bryant - soldier who recovered at Downton Abbey had affair with Ms. Parks, later killed in war
Edward Courtenay - soldier killed himself in hospital bed at the abbey
Matthew Crawley - first husband of Mary killed in car crash
James and Patrick Crawley - father and son, Patrick was heir to Lord Grantham, killed in Titanic sinking
Davis - served Matthew Crawley in the war and died there
Alex Green - valet to Lord Gillingham, hit by a bus after being pushed (Bates was cleared of his murder)
Michael Gregson - employer and lover of Edith and father of Marigold, he died in Nazi Germany (presumably)
William Mason - son of Mr. Mason, 2nd footman and husband of Daisy killed in the war
Kemal Pamuk - some Turkish ministers son, lover of Mary, died in her bed while making love
Charles Rogers - friend of Henry Talbot, killed in a race car accident at Brooklands
Lavinia Swire - fiancee of Matthew Crawley, victim of the spanish flu epidemic she dies at the abbey
Reginald Swire - father of Lavinia, contracted some illness and died in London, ashes spread on Lavinias plot


other:
stretcher bearer - talking to Matthew in war about a bullet with your name on it when he is killed by a bullet to the head

animals:
Isis and Pharoah - Roberts Crawleys dogs

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The first three seasons were very well done. When O'Brien left and Sybil left and Matthew died, the show went downhill. We had the melodramatic silliness of the Bates family and just generally poor writing, with a few exceptions.

Given all that, the finale did tie up the loose strings.

For those interested in similar material who have not seen it, the original Upstairs, Downstairs is excellent. Downton Abbey covers almost exactly the same chronological and thematic territory and borrows from UD the same "types," especially downstairs: the conservative butler, the effusive and commanding cook, the maid (Rose) who is in some ways the central character.

The production values of Upstairs, Downstairs are inferior--it was shot on videotape rather than film and sometimes looks more like a filmed play than a movie--but it is very well acted and written.

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I've also started The Forsyte Saga which may be another option if you loved Downton Abbey.

I assume you mean the one with Damien Lewis made in 2002. Thank you, yes, I have seen it, and it is very good, though somewhat different from the book.

The original BBC version invented the mini-series when it came out in 1967 in England and then on PBS in 1969. (I well remember that my parents watched it and loved it; I was at A&M and such cultural niceties were not available.) I have never watched it all, though episodes are available on Youtube. The production values are even worse than those for Upstairs Downstairs, plus it was too expensive to shoot in color, so it is in B&W.

There are those who say the 2002 version is far inferior, but I liked the 2002 version. My only real complaint about it is that I do not care for the actress who plays Irene. Ah well. I recommend the book as well, though it is actually 3 novels and 2 "interludes," over a thousand pages. (And, interestingly, we never enter the mind of the book's central character, Irene. All the reader gets to help understand her is what she says--which is very little. Almost everything that we get in the book about Irene is what other people think and say about her.) Galsworthy won the Nobel Prize for Literature for it.

Very happy with the finale. Sure, the whole "happy ending for everybody" thing is a bit cliche, but I think it was a fitting gift for the loyal fans.

I'd been thinking for quite a while that Barrow would eventually take over for Carson. I actually really like the transformation of his character. I mean come on, he'd made so much trouble for so long...I honestly don't think they could have done anything else with 'bad Barrow'. I thought his turn from the dark side was actually more interesting and satisfying.

While the final 3 seasons weren't as intriguing as the first 3...I like the transformation of the characters.

Mary put on a good front as the "stuck up traditionalist" daughter, but deep down she had a good heart and was willing to stand up for people she cared for (Matthew, Tom, Lord Grantham, Carson, Anna, Bates...and eventually Edith)...and that's the side of her that finally came out for good in the end. I like the subtle parallels with Mary and Barrow. Both have their outer masks and inner anguish...but from time to time would show their caring side...and in the end the good side won out.

Tom went from a young firey socialist that only thought of himself...into an Americanized capitalist that cared deeply for his family, which was nice. It was also interesting to see Lord Grantham slowly transform and embrace the modern age...his character truly got better with time.

The Dowager still remained a traditionalist...but even she transformed. She was shocked and dismayed over Tom in the early seasons...but then when she left on her trip to France this season, she left her letter to the family with Tom because she noted that he was the most sensible. She supported Edith with Marigold. And though she loved to spat with Isobel over trivial things...she was there to fight for her when it counted as the series went on.

I'll miss it. Maybe they'll do a one-off movie special or something one day. I love the history and the characters.

Well said.

Everything's been said that I would add.

So I'll just say that I wish Guy Ritchie would make a Snatch-like movie using ALL of the actors from DA that made it onto more than one episode. It wouldn't be wink-wink 'this is Lady Mary' type-thing. Just use those actors and ONLY those actors.

Edit: Or just say screw it, go Gus Van Sandt and make a shot for shot remake with the actors.

Thought the finale was awesome. So happy, and strange to know that happiness wouldn't last. How many of the family will die in the Blitz or on the fields of Europe?

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Thought the finale was awesome. So happy, and strange to know that happiness wouldn't last. How many of the family will die in the Blitz or on the fields of Europe?

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Another site I frequent had some great guesses as to how the show would end. The best was a flash forward to 1941, with telegram being brought to the library and given to Mary. She reads aloud that her son George, a lieutenant in the RAF has been killed. Mary then looks up and says, "We must find the next heir to Downton."
Fade to black.

I just watched the finale. I'm a sucker for happy endings, so I liked it. I do wish they had gone on a few more seasons just to show life right before WW2. As it is, the only pre-war shows and films Hollywood can think to produce about England are murder mysteries.

I'm so interested in what happens to Downtown right before and during WW2. I guess we'll never know. Their opinion of America would surely change (you'd hope).