YMMV / Downton Abbey

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The TV Series

• Accidental Innuendo: Every now and then, to modern ears.
  Robert: Well, now, still in one piece, thank God.
  Matthew: Touch wood.
  Robert: I never stop touching it.
  • Robert kind of has a propensity for that.
    Robert: Sampson hammered [Michael Gregson]^note He's talking of losing at cards. - he took it like a man, I will say that.
    Cora: Hope you weren't caught up in it.
    Robert: [flustered] I was... more of a spectator.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Isobel Crawley in the 2012 Christmas special. Interpretation 1: She literally had no idea what Dr. Clarkson was getting at. Interpretation 2: She knew exactly what Dr. Clarkson was getting at, but pretended she didn't because she didn't want to upset the status quo and/or she's really not interested. Later developments seem to weigh toward the latter.
  • Did Thomas hate the nanny's attitude, did he get rid of her because he was genuinely concerned for the children (especially baby Sybbie) or both?
  • Did Rose really care about Jack, or was it all just about shocking her mother?
  • Given Elizabeth McGovern's spacey performance in the last few episodes of season 4, some fans suspect Cora has turned to drugs to dull the pain of losing Sybil.
  • Susan MacClare: In her initial appearance, she can be viewed as either a needlessly cruel mother, or more sympathetically as a troubled woman who was forced into an unhappy marriage to a man that never wanted her. By season 5, however, she has descended into cartoonish villainy.
  • At the end of 4x07, did Mr. Green really not realize he was implicating himself in Anna's rape? Or was he doing it intentionally?
  • Did Mrs. Hughes turn down Joe Burns because of her – unrequited –love for. Mr Carson? Did Mr. Carson keep calling Joe Burns names in order to cheer up Mrs. Hughes or to hide his jealousy? Were they already in love each other when they heard about Mrs. Hughes’ cancer scare? Since when has Carson been wondering whether he wanted to retire with Mrs. Hughes? Since when has Mrs. Hughes waited for his confession? Since we could hear and read both confirmations and denials in the case of the relationship between Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes during the past five years, it’s still questionable, when their friendship turned out to be romantic love.
  • Did Mr. Mason truly believe that William married Daisy in part so that he would have someone to love after William was gone? Or had he realized that Daisy felt guilty for leading William on but wanted to give her a reason to no longer feel bad, having already forgiven her himself.
• Arc Fatigue: Bates and his various plots, most of which could have been easily resolved if he just told somebody what was going on. Many fans ended up clamoring for him to just be revealed as a psychotic serial killer near the end of the series.
  • Michael Gregson and his entire subplot. At first, he takes a (reciprocated) shine to Edith and the two get together before she finds out that he is already married. Disgusted, she confronts him and he admits to it, but says his wife is in an asylum and no longer recognizes him, but the law makes it impossible to divorce. He gets the idea to head off to to Germany to establish residency as German law allows divorce from incapacitated people, but shortly afterwards goes missing. There then follows a long subplot where Edith and her family move heaven and earth to find his whereabouts and Edith is found to have become pregnant by him. The story lasts over a season before he finally is revealed to have died, but his story arc continues beyond the grave, with Edith trying to figure out what to do with her new daughter and contriving ever more convoluted plans to keep her lineage a secret from her marriage prospects. This was a case of Real Life Writes the Plot, as Gregson's actor (Charles Edwards) was originally meant to return to the series, but unfortunately other commitments ended up scuppering that entirely.
  • The hospital subplot of Season 6 seems to exist just to have the Dowager Countess miffed at everyone.
  • Daisy's Series 2 plot with William. Her constant whining and complaining and making his death all about here gets old very quickly. Not helped she was already a Base Breaking character to begin with
  • Pamuk's death. It runs for nearly 2 whole seasons, spawns multiple plotlines (including the much-hated Vera subplot), and seems to forever hang over the show. Even Robert lampshades it by pointing out to Cora that yes he remembers the man when he's brought up yet again.
• Ass Pull:
  • In the 2014 Christmas episode, the revelation that Anna was sexually abused by her stepfather as a child came completely out of left field. It appeared to have been weaved into an otherwise credible (although previously non-existent) backstory, and all for the purpose of strengthening the prosecution's case against her, which barely had a leg to stand on otherwise.
  • Mrs. Hughes' sudden backstory has a distinct whiff of this as well, which seems to have been added to generate some conflict to push the proposal to the end of the episode. Although she did mention once in one episode that she had a sister who lived in Lancashire, we've never been given any more details about her or been led to believe that she had this financial millstone around her neck the whole time, especially given Fellowes' particularly heavy-handed brand of foreshadowing.
  • After Series 5, Fellowes seemed to catch on that absolutely no one cared about Mr. Green's murder, so it's hastily wrapped up in the first episode of Series 6 with the reveal that a previously unmentioned other rape victim did it.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Branson. While he's well-liked amongst much of the fandom, fans who are defensive of the Crawleys' aristocratic way of life dislike his frequent expression of his radical and egalitarian views.
    • This lessened in later seasons as he became less radical, helped run the estate, and even returned to Downton in season 6 after living in Boston for a while, since he was homesick.
  • Miss Bunting. Is she a victim of Die for Our Ship and simply providing an alternate point of view, or is she a nasty shrew who needs to learn to shut up?
  • Lady Mary. Either she's the best thing about the show, or she's a Spotlight-Stealing Squad who takes valuable screentime from other, more interesting characters. There is no middle ground.
    • Whether one likes her or not, it can be argued that the role doesn't do Michelle Dockery any favours as an actress and there are those who feel that she should have gotten recognised for better roles.
• Broken Base:
  • Team Mary vs. Team Edith. Everyone seems to love one and despise the other; there is no middle ground.
    • Team Sybil FOREVER!
    • This grew especially heated in Series 5, where Mary suddenly reverts back to her Series 1 self-regarding Edith, seizing every opportunity to viciously insult her. And since Edith is currently going through perhaps her most Woobie-ish plot yet, many fans turned on Mary for being incredibly cruel (and the rest of the family for not commenting on this at all).
    • Several fans and reviewers were utterly furious with Mary's actions in the season six finale and the fact that she became a Karma Houdini, with one putting it fairly succinctly "A woman so nasty that the best compliment her own sister could summon was: 'One day our shared memories will mean more than our mutual dislike.' And yet there she was at the end of the episode getting married – for a second time. It's inconceivable that a woman so vile could convince one poor sap to marry her, never mind two. But Henry Talbot (Matthew Goode) was so desperate to get her down the aisle that he spent the entire 100-minute episode with a marriage licence in his back pocket on the off-chance she would agree. [...] Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) was allowed to enjoy [her engagement] for about 12 hours before her spiteful sister Mary let slip about Edith’s not-so-secret secret child."
  • Series 2 has been pretty divisive: a fairly vocal side of the fandom see it as Seasonal Rot, while others consider it even better than the first season. And of course, some fall in the middle. No matter where you are, it amounts to quite a lively discussion.
  • Series 3 is Flame War-inducing; Series 2 at least had the excuse of World War I and The Spanish Flu for all the added drama and character deaths, but Series 3 is supposed to be a return to normalcy - and yet, it's even more like a Soap Opera, although not all of it's the writers' fault (as with the two characters who were killed off).
• Catharsis Factor:
  • During the finale of Series 1, after Thomas goes too far not only mocking William's mother's death, but also Lady Grantham's unfortunate miscarriage, as well as constantly bullying William and being an unpleasant person in general, he gets a long coming and well-deserved, brutal thrashing from William, which while everyone watches in horror nobody stops until the very moment Thomas throws a punch at William, a good 20 seconds later.
  • Both the inspector who arrests Anna and later on Rita Bevan coming to Downton Abbey to blackmail Mary are set up as clearly anatgonistic, but their lacking reverence for Mary can be quite satisfying in light of the lofty, entitled attitude she's been showing throughout Series 5 and 6.
  • After six series of Mary constantly being cruel and vindictive towards Edith and finally ruining her engagement by telling her prospective suitor about her illegitimate daughter, purely out of spite because she didn't like the thought of Edith being of higher rank than her, audiences were cheering when Edith finally snapped and called Mary a bitch. Doubled down in the final Christmas Special when she and Bertie reunite, securing Edith's high position and happy marriage..
• Creator's Pet: Mary flirts with it throughout the show, but she definitely qualifies in Series 5, where Fellowes seems absolutely convinced that her constantly making random and utterly unprovoked insults towards Edith will just make people love her more. She's also rude and unfriendly towards most of the men she meets and they still end up falling madly in love with her.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Chauffeur Tom Branson, who has a surprisingly large place in the fandom considering that he showed up halfway through the first series and was never considered a regular character until series 3.
  • Probably the most popular character is the Dowager Countess, for being one of the all-time champion Deadpan Snarkers.
  • As of season five, Mr. Molesley, the Butt-Monkey and Chew Toy First Footman is gaining quite a following. As one review put it, "Molesley will spend all day being feted by the greats of Hollywood when he receives the Emmy-winning spinoff series he so richly deserves. [...] One step closer to his breakaway HBO pilot, The First Footman." Firmly cemented in season six, after he goes out of his way to help and support anyone who needs it.
  • Timothy Drewe, the farmer who cared for Edith's illegitimate daughter. Many fans were sorry to see him leave, but impressed with his final episode.
  • Charles Blake (for being a more down to earth and interesting suitor for Mary).
  • Lavinia Swire for being one of the kindest characters on the show and for her tragic death. Bonus points that she and Mary aren't rivals to each other and treat each other rather kindly.
  • Phyllis Baxter, for her unflagging kindness, for reaching out to Thomas even after everything he made her do, and for always being the voice of reason. (Also, for her still-unresolved relationship with her fellow Darkhorse, Mr Molesley.)
• Epileptic Trees: Not quite as erratic as most, but when Rob James-Collier showed up to an event with a shaved head, despite other actors saying they were only about halfway through filming for Series 4, fans started letting the in-show speculation fly. The two most popular were that either he was being somehow written off (or, considering Julian Fellowes' track record, killed off,) or that Thomas was going to be in jail for part of Series 4 (which, considering how Series 3 ended, isn't entirely impossible). Thankfully, it was neither.
  • Despite the show's strong indications that Bates killed Green, many fans suspect that Anna or even Mrs. Hughes did it. It wasn't either of them, instead one of Green's former victims who took her well-deserved revenge.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: Yes, the show ends with Edith, Mary, and even Barrow getting a happy ending. But considering that the Great Depression is only 4 years away, and World War II not long after that, things are not going to remain rosy for long in Downton.
• Fandom-Enraging Misconception: Whatever you do, don't call the show "Downtown Abbey."
• Fanon Discontinuity: Quite a few fans like to stop watching halfway through episode 3x05, before Sybil, having had her baby, wakes up a few hours later and dies from eclampsia. The split has led to an entire 'Lady Sybil Lives' Alternate Universe on Tumblr and in fanfiction. A lot of Matthew fans joined them after his death in the Christmas Special.
• Fan Nickname:
  • In some circles, Thomas is now referred to as the "Edwardian Sex Pest."
  • Also, "Hound's Bum" for the whole series. Watch the opening and you'll understand.
  • American fans like to call Violet "the Dowager C," precisely because of how much it would piss her off.
• Fan-Preferred Couple:
  • Isobel Crawley/Dr Clarkson was this for quite a long time. It was eventually revealed to be one-sided but still proves more popular than the on-and-off ship of Isobel/Lord Merton.
  • Of Mary's suitors after Matthew's death (Evelyn, Tony, Charles and Henry), Charles is by far the most popular and vastly preferred over the final choice of Henry.
  • In the sixth and final season, Tom and Mary suddenly took off as a wildly popular pairing. By this point the two of them could easily be described as best friends, and given their shared history, joint partnership in running the estate, mirrored roles as single parents, and obvious affection for each other, many thought it was a logical outcome to their character arcs. At the time the show was pushing for Mary/Henry Talbot, but it contrasted badly to scenes of Mary and Tom communicating without words, spending nearly every waking moment together, and the odd sense that all of Tom's speeches about how Mary should hook up with Talbot were actually about him. Especially this one. Watching it out of context, any newcomer would naturally assume they were a couple.
• First Installment Wins: The first season is regarded the most favorably with almost universal appreciation. The second season is reasonably popular but criticized for its more soap-opera like elements, the third is disliked because of Sybil and Matthew's deaths and the fourth went past the point of return for a lot of viewers.
• Genius Bonus: In 1920 the family is nearly bankrupted thanks to the collapse of the Grand Trunk Railway in Canada. This bankruptcy is largely attributed to a costly expansion plan led by company president Charles Melville Hays...who, like the heirs to Downton, went down on the Titanic before his long-range plans for the company could be brought to fruition.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Nearly every episode involving Mary mourning over Matthew and the entire finale Season 3 are this, due to the sudden passing of Michelle Dockery's real life fiance to cancer at 34.
  • Hugh Bonneville joking about his "little cough" in A Salute to Downton Abbey becomes a lot less funny after you see Lord Grantham suffer an internal injury by way of a burst ulcer that nearly kills him.
  • Carson smashing a glass and pretending it was clumsiness turns serious in the series finale when it turns out he's developed essential tremor and has to retire.
• He Really Can Act: Joanne Froggatt (Anna) was, before this series, best known as the horrifically unpopular Kate from Robin Hood. What a difference a competent writing staff can make for an actress, eh?
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In Galavant, Sophie McShera plays a mousy handmaiden...who ends up singing a lively song with her boyfriend about how they're going to poison all the nobles making their lives miserable.
  • McShera and Lily James switch places in Cinderella (2015).
  • In Supernatural, Lesley Nicol plays the witch from Hansel and Gretel, meaning we get to see Mrs. Patmore gushing over how great it is to cook children.
  • At the start of the first season, Mary, stung over her parents and grandmother pushing her to marry Matthew just to keep the money tied to the family, tells Matthew a version of the story of Perseus and Andromeda obviously meant to parallel her own situation and be a Take That! at him - a beautiful princess is demeaned and offered to a hideous monster to solve her father's troubles but in the end is rescued by the son of a god, who she believes is "much more fitting". Matthew replies that he'd only agree with that if he knew more about the characters of the princess and the monster. Dan Stevens later played the Beast in a live action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, which is all about how a beautiful girl rejects the handsome suitor in favor of the hideous monster, who turns out to be a better person than he seems.
• Hollywood Homely:
  • Though not a dark beauty like her sisters, Edith really is rather lovely in her own way. The way the family talks, though, you'd think her face would send would-be suitors running for the hills. The actress was deliberately cast to still be attractive, but in a different, less-obvious sort of way compared to Mary and Sybil (allowing fans to sympathize with her and assume she had more inner beauty- Word of God states that "Just as you wouldn't hire a boring actor to play a bore, you wouldn't hire a plain actress to play a plain woman") - it drives her character arc. It's likely down to her aquiline nose (rather nice if you like that sort of thing), her very beady eyes and rather narrow face.
    • Interestingly, the homely part is forgotten when she romantically pursues Sir Anthony and everyone laments what a shame it is that such a lovely young woman is spending her time wanting an old cripple like him (after she's left at the altar, Alfred even says that she's young and beautiful and will have no problem finding a better man). Given how Edith Took a Level in Kindness by that point in the series, it's possible that's the reason more people consider her attractive.
  • The pretty cute Lavinia, who wouldn't need to be such a meek doormat.
  • The maids are all severely glammed down, especially considering bevy of◊ gorgeous actresses playing them.
  • Bates' ex-wife, who's played by the lovely Maria Doyle Kennedy◊.
• Ho Yay:
  • Lord Grantham is devoted to his valet and comrade in arms Bates. Sybil even called their relationship romantic in the pilot.
  • Rob James-Collier and Allen Leech's very close friendship in interviews - even reaching Bromance levels at times - has made Thomas/(Tom) Branson a popular couple among some fans.
  • Matthew and Tom's close friendship in Series 3 also shows signs of this.
  • Henry Talbot takes a requited shine to Tom Branson early on in Series 6, and throughout his courtship of Mary, Tom is always around (a lot) and seems to be an equal focus of his (albeit bromantic) attentions. So much so that Tom even lampshaded and jokes "I've been too involved in this courtship already", and swiftly excuses himself from the library when Henry is poised to finally pop the question. And on the day of the wedding, when Henry and Tom leap into a carriage in their matching morning suits, laughing and joking all the way, one would be forgiven for thinking that they were heading off to their own wedding.....
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!:
  • A common complaint about the Series 5 when Bates is again suspected of murder, Branson is again trying to find his place with his aristocratic family and Mary is again involved in a love-triangle with her suitors.
• Jerkass Woobie: Considering the time period and his orientation, it's hard not to (sometimes) feel sorry for Thomas, for all his nastiness. This is felt most keenly in Series 6, where nearly every other person in the household (except Molesley, Baxter and the children) are now openly showing their distaste and dislike for him. Episode 6 closes with him sobbing by himself downstairs in the darkened kitchen — it's enough to make one want to give him a hug.
• Les Yay:
  • Sybil and Gwen.
  • Cora and O'Brien as well.
    • One very astute viewer pointed out that you can sometimes catch O'Brien looking at Cora with the same mopey look that Siobhan Finneran used when playing a canonically gay character with a straight-girl crush in Clocking Off.
  • Martha Levinson towards the Dowager Countess while performing a romantic song for the family (she even kisses her hand!), in order to make the latter uncomfortable.
  • Mary and Anna, helped along by Mary's almost zealous protectiveness from season four onward.
• Memetic Molester:
  • Judging by the gifs on Tumblr, Thomas is headed this way after his behavior toward Jimmy in ep. 3x06.
  • There was also the "Creepy Crawley" meme for Lord Grantham in Season 2, largely due to his romance with Jane.
  • Tony Gillingham, largely thanks to his valet actually being a rapist. It reached new heights in Series 5 when he and Mary go on what can only be described as a Sex Holiday.
• Memetic Mutation: The Series five premiere features Mary's now infamous line "I'm going upstairs to take off my hat," which became quite popular at home and abroad for being such an oddball concept (in these modern times when women's hats are no longer held in place by large pins that made them an utter pain to remove), with many jokes that it must be a euphemism for some less savory activity.
  • After season after season of Bates being suspected of murder, many fans have started accusing him of being a serial killer with varying levels of seriousness.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Many consider O'Brien to have crossed this by deliberately causing Cora to slip and lose her unborn baby. While it's one of her most heinous deeds it's also the one she feels the most remorse about and tries to atone for. Even with that regret, however, the action hangs over her character for the rest of her tenure on the show and unlike Thomas and other villainous characters, O'Brien never truly reforms.
  • In series 4, you know that Lord Gillingham's valet, Mr Green, is truly and irredeemably evil when he rapes Anna.
• Narm:
  • Tony declaring himself in love with Mary after a few short conversations, after they haven't had any contact in years.
• Never Live It Down:
  • Branson's vocal support for the Russian Revolution, and later burning down a castle in Ireland.
  • Mary getting a new hairstyle and holding a picnic right after Edith learned that Gregson really is dead, and accusing her of ruining everything she touches when called out on it. Especially since none of the rest of the family seemed to consider this less than perfectly acceptable behavior.
  • The show itself has gained a largely undeserved Anyone Can Die reputation, (it's even been compared to Game of Thrones!) ever since Series 3 killed off two of the most popular Regular Characters, Sybil and Matthew. In reality, as of Series 5, only three regulars (the third was William) and eight recurring and guest characters have died. For a show with a large cast, that's actually a fairly small percentage, especially with some of the Real Life events (World War I and the 1919 Influenza pandemic) the cast has lived through. Both dogs have also died, but since the show has spanned twelve years in five seasons, that isn't exceptional.
• Nightmare Fuel: In series 6, a burst ulcer causes Robert to collapse at the dinner table. This would be fairly unnerving on its own, if not for him spewing fountains of Blood from the Mouth everywhere. This is frightening and disgusting by itself, but the fact that it happens so suddenly does not make it any better.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Mrs. Gaunt, the telephone operator from season 1.
  Carson: I was just practicing my answer.
  Mrs. Gaunt: Sounds stupid to me.
  • Mary's marvellously camp hairdresser from Series 5, who cuts her hair into a racy new bob.
    • Even better, he had earlier been speaking in an outrageous French accent, then dropped it as soon as she was out of hearing range.
  Hairdresser: At least she can carry it off - most of them look like bald monkeys.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Edith learning to drive and looking after convalescing soldiers in series two leads her to become kinder and less concerned with marriage and one-upping Mary. After the end of the war hits the Reset Button on her character, her sudden interest in women's suffrage in the wake of Sir Anthony abandoning her at the altar could be seen as another attempt at this.
  • Thomas in series 3 as he transitioned from straight-up Jerkass to Jerkass Woobie. His falling-out with O'Brien put him on the receiving end of the worst schemes she has to offer, he ends up being outed and almost sacked (or worse, arrested). The moment when he tells Bates the one thing that will make O'Brien back down is a Moment of Awesome. Furthermore, he acts a lot nicer to everyone in the series 3 Christmas Special, hopefully foreshadowing a kinder, gentler Thomas.
    • Did you expect it to last?
  • Rose, for some. Her Character Development went from a whiny, rebellious, and socially inept party girl to lovably naive and a bit smarter and more mature. Her newer character strength shown in delivering a sharp one-liner to her bitchy mother and quickly saving Lord Sinderby from scandal also helps.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Cousin Rose is Cinderella.
    • And Daisy is Drizella and Gwynne.
    • And Gwen is happy to inform Jon Snow he knows nothing.
  • Sam, the gardener Rose flirts with, is now Ian the intern.
    • And the Duke is now Daredevil.
• Romantic Plot Tumor: Mary's triangle with Gillingham and Blake. A common complaint is that the two suitors are such similar characters that it's impossible to care about which one Mary ends up with. And then she goes with neither of them, making it all feel like an even bigger waste of time.
  • Capped off by her relationship with Talbot (see Strangled by the Red String below) where despite him being even less memorable for some viewers than either of the other two, everyone in the show from Tom to the Dowager Countess badger Mary about how perfect and perfectly in love they are, despite her understandable loathing for his car-racing hobby, extreme distress having to witness his friend's fatal accident, and her constant adamant insistence she doesn't want him. A lot of viewers were not unhappy that Matthew Goode's schedule has so far prevented more than a short cameo in either movies.
• Ron the Death Eater: Sarah Bunting. Yes, she's incredibly rude. However, she's also right a lot of the time (saying that she thought the Czar was misguided for instance). She's one of the most hated characters in the show.
• The Scrappy: Sarah Bunting. She's not an "evil" character, and the venom directed at Bunts is mostly due to her representing a rather a clumsy attempt at portraying the hackneyed "feisty female", with very little depth or charm to back it up. In Series 5, she makes a nuisance of herself at Robert and Cora's Wedding Anniversary by being rude to every aristocrat in sight, because he's funding a WWI memorial for the village.
  • Even her name is annoying, especially when Branson says it; "Boon-teeng". When Mary and Robert refer to her, after the above incident, they both place special emphasis on the "Bunt" part of her surname....
  • Hugh Bonneville even said in an interview that “[Robert] would probably be delighted to have a healthy political debate with Sarah Bunting but the trouble is she is just an absolute cow.”
  • Mary quips “I’m not very keen on Miss Bunting”.
  • She gets worse when displaced Russian nobles come to Downton and all she can do is loudly proclaim her support for the Bolshevik cause. In front of said nobles. Said Russian nobles are - rightly so - immensely offended.
  • Eventually she makes one too many of these speeches and Robert tells her to Get Out! and stay out. She does.
  • One hardly knows what about her character is more grating: the fact that she seems to have as much sensitivity as a block of wood or that she has absolutely no concept of how to behave in polite company. The actress portraying her accepted an opportunity to be on an American show, which seems to have turned her character into something of an Aborted Arc. One gets the strong impression that there was intended to be a romance between she and Tom that would've led to Tom's exit from the family at the end of the season. He leaves anyway, but one feels that her characterization could've been more graceful regardless.
• Seasonal Rot:
  • Season 2 was very divisive, featuring plots that were started and stopped at random — a disfigured soldier turns up claiming to be the original heir, only to disappear forever at the end of the episode — and the show's Dashed Plot Line nature working against it.
  • Season 3 had to suffer from the loss of three main cast members, two of which had to be Killed Off for Real.
  • By Season 4, Character Development had become forgotten and Replacement Scrappies were everywhere. Dan Stevens lampshaded this, joking that he only ever gets people saying "I loved the first season."
• Ship-to-Ship Combat: For some reason, fans of Bates/Anna and Thomas/Jimmy do NOT get along, despite the fact that there's no reason why both ships can't peacefully coexist. It's probably because Bates and Thomas are almost antitheses of each other and generally if a person likes one, they do not like the other (or their romantic interests). Then this article came out and fans of each ship attacked the related poll with warlike zeal.
• Shipping Bed Death:
  • Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes: A lot of fans – and Jim Carter himself – wanted Carson to have a romance with Mrs Hughes. After they get together and wed, they only have pointless plotlines. Carson keeps badmouthing his new wife’s culinary skills – without being aware of his own rudeness.
  • Bates and Anna: They used to be one of the most popular couples in Series 1 and Series 2, before endless drama and murder investigations wore viewers out.
• Ships That Pass in the Night: Evelyn Napier and Edith Crawley are shipped by a large portion of the fandom, despite them never really interacting with one another.
• Spoiled by the Format: The fact that MyAnna Buring is not listed in the opening credits is a big clue that her character Edna Braithwaite is not going to be around for long.
• Squick: Bates' ill-advised use of a "limp corrector".
  • In Series 6 Lord Grantham's illness causes him to repeatedly spew Blood from the Mouth and collapse, shocking more than a few viewers.
• Strangled by the Red String: The Tom/Sybil romance in Season 2. What could have been a heartrending story of them falling in love and struggling with their forbidden feelings, turns into a repetitive Yo-Yo Plot Point. Tom gives an out-of-the-blue Love Confession in the first episode and continually nags Sybil to run away together, while the normally fiery Sybil is non-committal. This conversation is repeated Once per Episode, taking up valuable screen time for the characters. The whole relationship really needed some build-up and enthusiasm from both sides.
  • Tony Gillingham falls head over heels for Mary in just two episodes, while she's been mourning and far from her most engaging.
  • The Mary/Henry romance in Season 6 reeks of this. They have a handful of scenes together and suddenly every character is declaring they're perfect for each other. Even worse, the show has already established at least passable dynamics with all her other suitors - Evelyn, Charles Blake, Tony and even Tom - and Mary still ends up marrying Henry.
• Strawman Has a Point: Sir Richard Carlisle was a brute whom the whole family disliked, but his main actual complaints against Mary were her lingering feelings for Matthew and her slowness in planning their wedding, both of which she denied. Upon breaking their engagement, she became engaged to Matthew that same day and they were married within a few months.
  • Many viewers dislike Mary's attitude during Season 6, but it's hard to argue with her being angry that after breaking up with Henry for valid reasons everyone around her is constantly shilling him to the point her breaking down in front of Violet seems less like she's admitting her feelings that everyone else saw when she didn't than that she's giving in to Stockholm Syndrome.
• Take That, Scrappy!: In season 6, Mary asks Tom for "no more Miss Buntings, if you have any pity!"
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Shows up consistently in general fan response to the second season. Some elements of the series are altered drastically with the advent of World War I, although a great deal remains the same, which, in turn, has spawned an outcry from other portions of the fandom, who protest that the narrative glosses over or speeds by too many major global events to be considered realistic. An unfortunate but unavoidable side-effect of setting a drama series during a time of extreme social and political upheaval.
  • Series 4 had to deal with the loss of three major cast members within the previous year, leading to some awkward writing at times.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Michael Gregson, the perfect match for Edith with a quite interesting story of his own. Then he disappears in the Beer Hall Putsch, with the question of whether he's still alive being stretched out for an absurdly long time given that it turns out he isn't, apparently just because Edith must be utterly miserable at all times. It eventually came out that Fellowes decided to expand his role to Love Interest after being impressed by their chemistry, only for Charles Edwards to not be able to stay on the show as he'd planned for the original small role and set up several other future gigs. The long period before his death was confirmed was Fellowes desperately holding out for his being able to come back before finally giving up.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • The Lord Hepworth/Lady Rosamund/Marigold Shore subplot in the Christmas special. It didn't really go anywhere, which is just sad considering the possibilities. Also falls into They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character for Hepworth and Shore; the two were played by gifted veteran actors Nigel Havers and Sharon Small, and when you've got actors that good, you really ought to do something with them. Small in particular deserved much more than spouting undeniably witty one-liners and the utterly predictable subplot of her affair with Hepworth.
  • In series 4, instead of the rape storyline, many fans said a better way to take it would have been for Thomas to save Anna, resulting in her and Bates being indebted to him.
  • You'd think that ever since the time period of the show moved into the Twenties, they'd take as much advantage of what was going on in that age as they did in the 1910s, which had the sinking of the Titanic, the Suffragette movement and World War One.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Robert in Series 5. He's clearly supposed to come off as an unreasonable jerk like in Series 3-4. But it's perfectly reasonable for a grandparent to want to keep their grandchild from growing up in poverty. And let's face it, Branson's new love interest Sarah Bunting can be a really nasty piece of work when she wants to be as seen at Robert and Cora's Wedding Anniversary Dinner Party. Given that the Russian Revolution has just happened, Robert is understandably suspicous about Tom striking up an accord with someone who was in many ways just like his old self: hateful, and hot-headed.
  • In late Series 5, Mrs Drewe is set up as hysterical and unreasonable over Edith trying to be close to her beloved and dearly missed daughter, but not only did she raise Marigold for more than a year as her own, she's also completely right in that her husband made the situation way worse by lying to her. Had she been in on the facts, she and Edith might never have become hateful rivals over Marigold.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Kemal Pamuk is a stunningly attractive and charming man who quickly causes Mary to lose control and sleep with him, putting her at risk of massive scandal especially after he dies in her bed. While Mary confesses that she willingly slept with him, horrifying Cora, the dynamics of the preceding scene—an unannounced kiss, Mary's fear and consistent hesitance—make her consent feel far more dubious and coerced and can leave Pamuk feeling far more blameful for what happened. Some viewers may come away agreeing with Cora's initial concern that the encounter was forced (and thus, that Pamuk would have been the problem in the scandal).
  • Sarah Bunting is supposed to come off as a progressive, liberal person like Sybil, but she is nowhere near as charming or polite as Sybil was. In fact she's down right nasty when talking to the aristocracy, just because they are the aristocracy.
  • Tom and Isobel support Sarah Bunting instead of their in-law, when she speaks her mind when she's voicing what she thinks about the village war memorial... as rudely as possible... at Robert and Cora's wedding anniversary party, at which she is a guest - hardly the time or place to discuss such things.
  • The incident with Jimmy and Thomas in Series 3 is treated as a matter of tolerance in the show, with the question of whether or not to sack him being treated as a test of how open minded each character is towards homosexuality. The problem is that, while he mistakenly thought Jimmy reciprocated his feelings, what Thomas did was still basically sexual assault, which would (without context) give one a good reason to want to dismiss him, no matter how tolerant they are of gay or lesbian people.
  • Anna in Series 4. Her being raped and clearly distraught about it? Tragic. Her doing everything possible to make the situation worse (refusing to go to the police to report it, allowing Mr. Green to rape more women, not just lying to Mr. Bates but treating him like he raped her)? By the end all the sympathy viewers had for her ended up being washed away.
  • Many viewers objected to being asked to sympathize with the exiled Russian nobles in Series 5, considering the conditions in Russia prior to the Revolution (not that they got any better after, mind you). Especially since one of them still speaks of the Romanovs in adoring terms (note that this was far from the case historically, as many nobles eagerly took to blaming the Romanovs for the Revolution). Particularly bad is when, just three episodes after we're meant to be offended on behalf of one of them when Bunting badmouths the Czar, the exact same guy is shown to be a despicable anti-Semite.
  • In the second episode of Series 6, Mrs Drewe snatches Marigold from a country fair and takes her back home, tearfully claiming that the Crawleys were "paying no attention to her". We're clearly meant to be outraged at the child-snatching...but the trouble is that it's near impossible to sympathize with the Crawleys. They — and in particular Edith, albeit she is Marigold's biological mother — have shown blatant disregard for Mrs. Drewe's feelings by encroaching upon and then taking away the little girl whom she did all the hard work of raising and whom she justifiably regards as her daughter, with barely a word of explanation. Several reviewers pointed out that Marigold probably would have been happier with the close-knit and affectionate Drewes, instead of being separated from the family she's known all her life and first whisked off to London by a woman who's still essentially a stranger to her, then installed in a household full of total strangers, where she can't even be acknowledged as her mother's child for fear of causing a scandal. Many viewers were also not impressed when Robert and Cora debated whether the Drewes should move to another estate because Mrs Drewe's emotional outbursts were complicating things, with Robert even admitting that it's 'poor payment' for all the Drewes have had to put up with at the hands of the Crawleys. While in the end the Crawleys don't force the Drewes out (Mr. Drewe deciding to move of their own accord, as after the snatching even he realized that things would get no better) the whole incident still left a bad taste in peoples' mouths.
  • In Series 6, Mrs Patmore's bed & breakfast gains a reputation for being a "house of ill repute" through no fault of her own. For some reason, almost all the other characters (including her best friend Mrs Hughes) find this really funny and laugh at it, making them look like assholes while Mrs Patmore is understandably devastated, as the project she had saved money for and planned for many years is in danger of being ruined.
• Values Dissonance: Besides the deliberate use of the period, the show also runs into this hard upon airing in America, where viewers tend to side far more with the working class than is quite intended and find the Crawleys, Robert especially, insufferable for their flaunted wealth.
• Wangst:
  • An in-universe example in Season 4, with Mary after Matthew's death. While she has the right to mourn, all the family, (well, except Robert), agree she should be getting over it and reengaging with life, six months after the event. And of course, to put it in perspective, Tom was in a much worse situation when he lost his wife, as he was stranded alone at his hostile in-laws house but made an effort for his daughter, whereas Mary had her whole family supporting her and basically ignored George.
  • And it gets worse in Series 5 when she refuses to acknowledge Edith has any right to be upset at all when Gregson's death is confirmed, and accuses her of ruining everything, a comment that Cora inexplicably defends.

The Movie

• Ending Fatigue: The ball can really stretch your patience, coming after the movie seemed perfectly over and dragging on to tie further bows on every story as Fellowes was clearly well aware this was likely the franchise's last hurrah.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Lucy Smith proves to be a real scene-stealer - getting the most praise for the new characters introduced in the film. Not to mention the genuine chemistry between her and Allen Leech.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Mark Addy's most famous role had been as a king. Now he appears as someone Squeeing at the thought of getting to feed a king.
  • Michelle Dockery had starred in a Funny or Die sketch where she attempted to play a modern police detective and kept slipping back into Lady Mary. It becomes especially amusing when viewed with the film, where she actually does foil an assassination attempt.
• One-Scene Wonder: Mark Addy only appears in one scene as Mr Bakewell but his Squeeing over the thought of his food feeding the royal family endears him and makes him memorable.
• Strangled by the Red String:
  • Tom and Lucy do hit it off over the visit, but their kiss and dance towards the end feels a little unearned. Him asking her to keep in touch would have been effective enough.
  • Thomas and Richard Ellis are a little better as, while they do hit it off quite quickly, it's justified by it being one of the few chances Thomas gets to actually make a connection with someone, and when such connections are rare because of the time period you live in, you seize them.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Isobel is the one who deduces that Lucy is Maude's secret daughter. While it is in line with Isobel's character to be so observant, it would have been more fitting if it was Edith to uncover the secret, giving that she went through a similar experience. Also Edith notices Maude's unusual affection towards Lucy and gives her a curious look.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Andy becomes convinced Daisy is straying to the new plumber over a misunderstanding. But rather than reproaching his sudden possessiveness, this somehow gives Daisy the final push to accept they should be married.

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