PBS

Downton Abbey (2010-2015)

downton-abbey

Downton Abbey (2010-2015)

Network:

PBS

Starring:

Hugh Bonneville

Phyllis Logan

Elizabeth McGovern

Michelle Dockery

Laura Carmichael

Dan Stevens

Plot:

A chronicle of the lives of the British aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the early 20th Century.

Review:

I watched the first season way back when it first aired but then canceled cable and totally forgot about it until I saw it on Amazon Prime. I ended up not re-watching the first season because I could remember the major points and I flew through the rest.

Mary, Michelle Dockery, was my least favorite character. When Lady Edith, Laura Carmichael, called her a bitch in the final season I nearly shouted, “Finally!” I really did not understand why the man she wound up with even liked her. She was nicer to Matthew, Dan Stevens, in the second season and she wasn’t bad in the third season, but all others she was horrible.

Loved watching the characters grow, I did think the fact that the Bate’s were almost always being framed for murder a bit tedious. All in all I could have enjoyed several more seasons of the show and now I’m trying to find something similar to it.

4/5

Foyle’s War (2002-2015)

Foyle's War

Foyle’s War (2002-2015)

Network:

ITV/PBS

Creator:

Anthony Horowitz

Starring:

Michael Kitchen

Honeysuckle Weeks

Anthony Howell

Plot:

As WW2 rages around the world, DCS Foyle fights his own war on the home-front as he investigates crimes on the south coast of England. Later series sees the retired detective working as an MI5 agent operating in the aftermath of the war.

Review:

Wow was not expecting this, it was crazy good. Foyle’s War was recommended to me by Netflix after my parents visited and used my Netflix account. One day I thought, why not, next thing I knew I was spending a month and a half watching this show. It was hard to get anything else done because all I wanted to do was watch.

I loved the fact that Foyle, Michael Kitchen, didn’t let people use the war as their excuse for being bad. So many people would tell him there’s a war going on, what I did was for the greater good, and he would just look at them and give that dad look that says, ‘I’m so disappointed with you and that the ends doesn’t justify the means.’ Loved it.

Foyle had a moral compass that could not be corrupted.

The side characters were just as interesting. Sam, Honeysuckle Weeks, made it through the entire season and I liked to see the development. Milner, Anthony Howell, didn’t make it in the final few seasons and the last season he was in was kind of rough, but he was still a good character.

Honestly, that’s my only complaint with the show. The first five seasons are amazing, but the last few aren’t as good. Foyle is no longer a police detective or not really and Milner eventually gets a promotion but he changes when that happens. He seemed to really learn from Foyle, but then all of a sudden he’s just as bad as everyone else.

It didn’t make the show horrible or even bad, but it wasn’t as awesome as those first few seasons.

Highly recommend Foyle’s War.

5/5