And what a Grand Finale it was! We said goodbye to Maggie Smith (sadly, in reality too) in the last Downton. And now we say goodbye to the rest of the cast in this one. So for those who can’t bear the though, start planning your trips to Highclere Castle in Hampshire England, who better have some Downton Abbey tours/AirBnB packages ready to make bank off of.
We’re in the early 1930s with this version of the cast. We start in London, where the Earl (Hugh Bonneville) and Countess (Elizabeth McGovern) of Grantham are enjoying the latest play by Noel Coward (Arty Froushan) and his/everyone’s friends Guy Dexter (Dominic West) and his assistant/lover former Downton butler Thomas Barrow (Robert James-Collier). But all is not culture and fun; Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) is enwrapped in scandal, as she has signed divorce papers from her ex husband Henry. Back at Downton, the times, they are a changin: Both Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) and head cook Beryl (Lesley Nicol) are at retirement downstairs. Upstairs, while Mary’s sister Edith (Laura Carmichael) tries to get Mary back in societal good graces, Mary’s also at friction with her dad the Earl, who realizes that his time as governor of Downton is at its end..but he’s not quite ready to go yet. And, the Countess’s American brother Harold (Paul Giamatti) is in town with his business partner Gus Sambrook (Alessandro Nivola), being extra cagey about the Dowager’s finances since he arrived.
Director Julian Fellowes convinced the producers to go all out for this one. So we get not only our requisite grand tracking shot entering Downton (it never gets old with the music), but we get THREE big giant set pieces. The opening sequence taking us through 1930s Piccadilly Circus is a thing of elegance and beauty, immediately transporting us all right to the time and place Fellowes wants us to, with style and panache. #2 is a horse race; turns out, the British do it up just like the Americans do at the Kentucky Derby, beautiful hats, gowns, suits, and all. And finally, we get the big final festival in the county, a lovely combination of a carnival and a petting zoo. These big sequences get most of our cast onscreen, ready early and often to look spectacular while they deliver their expected wits and charms. These sequences make The Grand Finale feel like a party: a party we’re all lucky to have an invitation to.
In between those big scenes we still get our Downton time though. We can’t quite get the full character development a TV show can do; instead, we have to really focus on a few characters. Being the grand finale, the big hitters get the main chunk of the story. Michelle Dockery, Hugh Bonneville, and Elizabeth McGovern get top billing, as we have to pass the torch between them while also dealing with social scandals. But even Jim Carter and especially Lesley Nicol get their wonderful bittersweet moments as well; Nicol’s exchange with rising head cook Daisy (Sophie McShera) almost brought me to tears. The requisite high profile guest stars Paul Giamatti and Alessandro Nivola come in and look sharp as walking plot devices for our cast to mess around with. But even characters like Edith, maid Anna (Joanne Froggatt), or Tom Branson (Allen Leech) whose arcs are complete, get the real fun jobs to be the avenging angels for any sort of conflict the major players can’t solve on their own. And when emotional arcs aren’t necessary, character like Lady Merton (Penelope Wilton) get thrown into funny side stories planning the fair with the most adorable curmudgeonly old man Sir Hector Moreland (Simon Russell Beale). With a slightly bloated runtime whomever you love that’s still alive will make an appearance and get at least a little something to do. No expense is spared!
I get why it was right to stop Downton Abbey movies here. Big changes are coming to Europe, mostly not good and completely societally destructive. For those who love this time and these people, this is the perfect time to send them all off. Dresses, hats, decorum, mannerisms, and love, in tow. Long live Downton Abbey!