I just watched the final episode of “Downton Abbey.” It was chock-a-block with happy endings (“more happy endings than a gay massage parlor,” quips the Dowager Countess in the director’s cut), except for two things.
1. Carson, the head butler who ran the household, evinces what looks like incipient Parkinson’s disease: His right hand trembles when he pours a bottle of wine. It may indeed be Parkinson’s, or it could be something related, like essential tremor (ET). Nonetheless, he steps down from his position.
It irks me that he left his job merely because his hand gets the tremors. His career involved so much more than refilling champagne flutes. He was managing a huge household, with a great number of important visitors, an extensive staff, and a gazillion square feet of castle. His mind still seemed OK and was a repository for so much information about how to smoothly run the joint and how to deal with daily albeit minor crises. It seemed ridiculous and cruel that he couldn’t continue to work – even if it was his decision. And his stepping down from his job ran counter to a major theme of the series, which was the expansion of opportunity for many (most?) of the characters. Many of the female characters were getting interesting jobs; one of the male household staff became a teacher; class barriers were breaking down. Carson’s ending was not a happy ending for me. Furthermore, I now envision him sitting at home all day, quickly losing his mind and throwing in the towel.
2. How about that Thomas, the gay guy, returning to the Downton Abbey staff to become the head butler? This is a step in the wrong direction. While everyone else in the show was finding love aplenty in the final episodes, Thomas was more and more cockblocked (to use both meanings of the slang term). A better choice for him would have been to move to London and hook into the gay subculture there, or venture further afield to, say, Tangier, which had more of an anything-goes ambience. (That’s where the apparently gay brother of Edith’s husband Bertie sallied off to.)
Discuss.
Update March 16: Bev‘s comment below makes a lot of sense; my reaction above was certainly knee jerk. Carson may indeed still remain active in running the household, and Thomas may feel like he’s now one of the family. However, while practically everyone else in the show was enjoying their heterosexual romances (budding or full bloom), I see a bleak future for Thomas if he stays on at Downton.
Meanwhile, click here for input from the horse’s mouth. The NY Times published an extensive interview with Julian Fellowes, the creator and writer of “Downton Abbey.” I’ll paste here the pertinent Q & A’s:
Q: Mr. Carson’s life was stricken by tragedy. Is he meant to be showing early signs of Parkinson’s disease?
A: He’s got a tremor, and they don’t really know if it’s Parkinson’s or not. We now call it an essential tremor. But in Carson’s time, it didn’t have a name. You just had the shakes and that was that. It was just to show that, in the end, it will be our own bodies that let us down. And it’s a sign that the Grim Reaper’s waiting at the other end of the passage. But I also wanted that very sad moment when he leaves. Because we know the house won’t be the same again.
Q: This also sets up Thomas as the house’s new butler. Is that a happy ending for anyone?
A: For Thomas? Well, I think it’s a reasonably happy ending for him. I mean, he’s not the easiest. I don’t think he’s ever going to be cozy to you.
Thanks, Bev, for furthering the discussion!
NEVER EVER WATChED IT. !!!!
I watched the final episode last night. Carson’s apparent PD was too close to home.
I understood that, although relieved of the physical duties, Carson was going to continue as an advisor and consultant to Thomas, thereby still engaged and not just sitting at home. In earlier years, Thomas wouldn’t have been receptive, but considering his personality change, I thought it was a great solution for both of them. This is the only family Thomas had known and he was happy to return. He was fond of the children and could continue his relationship with them, perhaps becoming as important to Master George as Carson was to Mary.