Season 3 kicked off last night and the tragedy fell like rain.
1. Laura Linney is suddenly walking.
It's embarrassing enough that Laura Linney has to explain Downton Abbey to us each week, but can't she hold still while she's doing it?
2. A preposterously large footman is foisted upon the house.
Carson, as ever, said it best when he made the point, "no footman should be over 6'1'." For thousands of years, the realm has made do splendidly with footmen never an inch above six feet and you didn't hear a peep about it. From King Arthur through to Victoria's reign, the people felt that any taller than 6 feet would be gilding the lily. But suddenly, like so much else, that has changed and Carson has been forced to take on a ginger-haired pup of gargantuan frame. After this, what is left to lose?
3. The chauffeur turned son-in-law insists on dressing like the Man from Prudential.
What is the point of marrying Lady Sibyl if you're going to go about looking like you're here to collect the gas bill? It's all well and good to say of clothes that "I see them as the uniform of oppression" but what if someone tries to buy a car insurance policy from you at the dinner table? What would you do then?
4. You lose all your wife's money.
It was, after all, The. Main. Railway. In. British, North. America, For God's sake. The Main one! How could that not be a goldmine, what with the war being over and these Canadians loving trains like they do.
