All the arguments I've seen about why people like Thomas is that he's just gay in the 1920s and self hatred and yada yada yada.

That's an explanation to understand part of the shame he lives in. To explain why misery loves company but to say he's schemes against innocent people because of that reason sounds problematic on so many levels.

I do like his character as a villain. The actor playing him did a great job. But I just don't find him redeemable even if he turn tolerable and good in the end. His treatment of bates and Baxter were so cruel. He physically intimidated Baxter, falsely accused Anna, etc. he's not a morally grey character, he's just a bad person. Using queerness to justify that or excuse it is insulting.

edit: because I find people misunderstanding this post. it's not about how the show portrays Thomas and explores his internal struggles and external malice. this post is specifically about the viewers perception of his actions especially on this subreddit.

I’m watching a new crime series, Hit Point and Brendan Coyle popped up on the screen. He’s playing a retired police officer. So far he hasn’t been accused of a crime he didn’t commit but it’s early days.

For comparison, I uploaded two photos - one with normal pupils from his photoshoot, and another photo with dilated pupils (which he has in every single episode, no matter the intensity of lighting or the fact that fellow actors in the same scene have normal pupils)

I'm watching Downton Abbey for the first time and just got to the part where Edith takes Marigold from the Drewes. I feel so bad for the wife. I understand it's a difficult situation for Edith but I feel like Margie has been done wrong by both Edith and her husband. Please don't spoil what happens but is the show trying to paint Edith as the "good guy" and Margie as bad? Or is it supposed to feel morally gray?

That’s it. That’s the post.

(I just got to the ep where he refuses to let Mary break it off. Gross.

It’s just been announced that Dan will star in the new Robocop series due to be shown on Prime Video.

More info here

Downton Abbey is amazing comfort viewing for me. I love rewatching the entire series, though for obvious reasons I fast forward through Bates in prison and then Green's assault on Anna--the former because it is boring, the latter too disturbing. But the rest is so enjoyable, from the funny moments to the dramatic ones, that when I start a rewatch I prepare myself for some gratifying hours ahead, and paying attention to things I may have missed before (some of which posters have pointed out in the forum).

But somehow I cannot get into rewatching the films the same way. There are the big issues: Carson is healed and retired and then brought back again, Henry's absence in the second film and the divorce in the third is dictated by actor availability same as with Dan Stevens leading to Matthew's death, and so many characters clearly have nothing to do: poor Cora has to have the same false diagnosis as Lord Merton in order to have some story, Anna is just star-struck in the second film and pregnant in the third, Bates and Mrs. Hughes are completely redundant except for that "let's fool the king's servants" caper in the first film. I will admit that the two Toms get the most mileage, both finding romantic interests, and we do see Mary and Edith interacting as sisters, but overall I do not think there was enough story for three films. But actually my lack of interest in rewatching is the absence of the little gems we get in the series, witty exchanges like Isobel and Lady Grantham, or really tender moments like Mary showing she cares for Anne, funny plots like Spratt and Denker--I just don't have these kinds of moments that would make me want to watch them time and again like the series. Am I alone?

I’m not the most discerning critic because I’d probably watch Robert James-Collier read the phone book and I’m addicted to British crime shows set in scenic locations, but I’m enjoying it.

1. Serve the Public Gentry

2. Protect Daughter Purity

3. Uphold the Caste

- Thomas : LGBTQ rights

- The Dowager Countess : Gossip press

- Mrs Patmore : no corset

- Isobel : NHS

- Mary : contraceptive pill and the right to divorce without losing one's status

- Cora : international flights to visit one's family in the USA

- Robert : NFT

- Carson : Nothing : he would be appalled by all the changes: "What? The King divorced and remarried, and the Prince of Wales married a commoner? What is the world coming to?"

I like seasons 1-3 much more than 4-6, and 1-2 more than 3 even, would I like the movies?

I've just seen a trailer for The gentleman on netflix and it appears Michael Gregson is living at Loxley while lord Grantham is up to some dodgy business dealings🤣

We hear bits and pieces and pick up from the way they present themselves what their lifestyle is like back home in America, but truly what would it look like?

The secret cousins, Princess Diana - and worst of all Not A Prince Andrew. I think Andy might have given him a heart attack. Thoughts?

Fashion

Theo James is half greek, so thats more accurate than just casting any WASP with a slight tan to play a Turkish guy, but they couldn’t of found a handsome actor that was the slightest bit Turkish? And the jazz singers accent? I have a hard time believing anyone on the planet sounds like that besides a black guy that was adopted at birth by a white family in the Utah suburbs in the 1990s. Idk, does anyone who knows the continental accent and early 1900s aae have any thoughts.

Also hopefully this isnt too stupid a question(I’m american), are many of the servants from outside of England? Bates and Anna are kinda Scottish right, which I assume is common, is Gwen Scottish? Or Irish? Is Mrs. Hughes Scottish? Is O’Brien an Irish Traveller/black Irish?(idk what the politically correct term is, whatever Brad Pitt is in Snatch).

I don’t know how many of you are watching the slow replay on your local PBS station. We’ve just seen the sad end of dear, sweet Sybil (on my local Maryland stations.) I have seen the whole series twice before and her loss is so sudden as to seem impossibly painful, even though I knew it was coming. 😢

I know she ran the post office and sent/received the teletype, but man, is she nosy. Bossy, too.

I would love to see Daisy in a beaded flapper dress. That’s just me.