In "A Man, A Plan..." Nucky sends Owen to try to off Joe Masseria. Margaret and Owen make plans to run off together. Harrow and Julia Sagorsky get cozier with one another. Nelson Van Alden gets caught selling Sigfrid's homemade aquavit in Capone's territory. Owen is shipped back to Atlantic City in a crate with his throat slit. Margaret is revealed to be with Owen's child.
OMD: First off, I'll apologize for our absence last week. I was out of pocket, as was Wordy. I, for one, had no HBO until Wednesday night and was sure as shit not going to dump this on a weekend in which absolutely no one was on the interwebs.
So I guess I'll start with the obvious, my prediction that Owen was a dead man walking was proven to be on point. Owen was getting too cocksure. Margaret was getting happy and making plans for a future. Clearly all of this was going to get snatched away. These two can't have a happy ending; the only one that might be in the cards would be for Richard Harrow and Julia Sagorsky. Call me Karnak.
WG: Karnak, what's St. Louis like? Nice call. And like a cockroach twinkie, I could see Mickey Doyle surviving against all odds as well.
OMD: If there's one thing that has been established in our time on God's green Earth, it's that St. Louis is as close to Hell as we shall ever find.
The pregnancy angle was obvious. As soon as Margaret told Dr. French Stewart that it was all "nothing [she hadn't] been through before," the bastard son of Owen Slater being firmly set in her womb and his future of growing up without his father was set in stone. I thought for sure that Nucky was actually the one who served up Owen's head on a platter, but the look of surprise on his face when Margaret ran off crying makes me doubt my assumption. I have a feeling that without the audience being privy to any of this, Nucky has gone through Lansky and Luciano parlaying his control of the Old Overholt Distillery into a partnership that Joe Masseria doesn't know he's a part of yet. It is possible that I'm probably giving Nucky too much credit, though, and this presumption requires the belief that Lansky and Luciano are stepping out much further from under Rothstein's umbrella than they may be ready for. Still, Lansky and Luciano had to have known exactly where the attack was coming from and only Eli, Mickey, Nucky, Owen, and Agent Stan Sawicki could have known. Sure, it could have been Mickey, Sawicki, or maybe Eli, but the most calculated move would have been for Nucky himself to feed the information to Lansky and Luciano.
WG: Your fundamentals are solid. As you've deduced, the spanner in the works is Nucky's realization that Margaret was wounded much deeper than expected over the boxed corpse. You are tracking something though. The details of Owen's death were probably too open ended, which leaves the Lansky/Luciano plotting angle wide open. I don't think Sawicki was in the box, which may have something to do with shipping costs.
OMD: Back to the opening of the episode, the makeshift post-war nuclear unit of Harrow, Julia, and Tommy Darmody was quite the picture. Beach. Ice Cream. Neptune on stage before heading back into the sea. I really think Tommy's not long for the whore house, though it would be quite the bold move for Harrow to actually take Tommy without Gillian perishing in some extreme way. I hope Harrow surprises me and slinks off into the night with Tommy and Julia in tow. Perhaps to live amongst the Indians. At the very least, one hopes that Julia is done with her abusive father's bullshit. Walking out with Richard seemed to portend change in course.
WG: Is it just me, or does Julia look a lot like Gillian? Doppelganger a go-go. I'm wondering if Julia would be able to leave her father? He's an abusive half-mad shitheel, but he's got his reasons. Another plot thread that I'm looking forward to getting unspooled.
OMD: George Nelson Van Alden Mueller got too big for his britches and faced Capone in an interesting exchange. Getting too big for one's britches seemed to be a recurring motif in this episode. Really, this was the episode in which seemingly all of the chickens came home to roost--well, excepting Gyp and Nucky (at least not directly). Nelson, Owen, Margaret, the drunk Mr. Sagorsky, and to a lesser extent Nucky's operation, Gaston Bullock Means (though no one was there to see it), Women's Sexual Education: all got knocked down a peg or two.
WG: Great scene with Capone and Van Alden Mueller. That he fell back into his Calvinistic ways and starting reciting bible chapter and verse was a nice twist. It was odd to see him scared. He rarely shows emotion, other than anger, heartburn, or stunned acquiescence. Capone was fortunate that Sigfrid wasn't around. No one forks husband.
Emperor Palpa--er, David Glass
OMD: Stephen Root's performance was once again delicious. Holy shit, does he take the reins in every scene he's in. Means's machinations were a sight to behold, even if he was caught red-handed by Jess Smith. Of course, that was all immaterial because Jess was a basket-case. The best part of it all was Means got $80,000, half from each Nucky and Harry Daugherty to watch Smith pull the trigger himself.
WG: Means is fantastic. His eccentric flair reminds me a little bit of Langrishe from Deadwood. The look on his face when big faltering Jess took his own life was the definition of the cat that swallowed the canary. Shaking down both Nucky and Daugherty for $40K was smooth. Reminds me of the larceny Royals owner David Glass pulls with MLB luxury tax proceeds and Jackson County taxpayers.
OMD: Chalky needs to be running a Cotton Club Atlantic City just to give him something to do. He has been so relegated to the background this season that it would only be recompense to the audience. Thompson will surely be turning to Chalky and his brethren for help to rise up against Gyp's men, but Chalky's central presence in just one episode and another three scenes thus far needs to be rectified.
Sidney Bechet
WG: Chalky should get the new Babette's gig just to showcase up and coming Jazz legends in Season Four. Duke Ellington. Louis Armstrong. Jelly Roll Morton. Kid Ory. Sidney Bechet. Fuck Ken Burns. I want to see Chalky lay it out.
OMD: In profile, young Sidney Bechet actually bears a striking resemblance to Erik LaRay Harvey, the actor who plays Dunn Purnsley. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to have them be kin for the sake of getting him to play there. It'll have to happen by September of 1925, though, as he heads to Europe with Josephine Baker & Co. in the Revue Nègre, and I think he stays abroad until 1929. I'm no jazz historian, though, so I could be mistaken. Regardless, I'm guessing Bechet brings the house down on many occasions.
So Gyp's bludgeoning of Franco with a shovel on the beach pretty much seals his fate, right? I'd be shocked if he didn't go down this season, and it would seem that he's likely to be given up by his right hand now, wouldn't it? Tonino has to see that it's only a matter of time before Gyp turns on him in a similar fashion, and he crushed the skull of his first cousin. Gyp's fate will be directly tied to that action.
WG: When he's on the screen, I get all tingly in my thighs, but Gyp is too crazy to be kept around. I'll call my shot and guess he gets got in the final episode.
In this week's installment, "Blue Bell Boy," Nucky and Owen are trapped in a basement with the precocious thief Rowland Smith as Waxey Gordon's bought-and-paid-for Treasury Agents seize the booze that has been stolen from both Waxey and Nucky. Capone beats one of O'Banion's men to death for jumping a defenseless Guzik. Margaret begins promoting the Women's Health classes at St. Theresa's. Gyp and the Tabor Heights Sheriff's Department ambush Mickey Doyle's caravan of whiskey lorries as they foolishly pass through the town, despite Eli's best efforts to redirect the shipment.
Wordy Ginters: Before we dig in, how about a couple of random observations on the opening credits? This may be lingering after shocks from having just seen Bronson, but something about Nucky standing seaward in his bowler hat, with that grey ocean as a backdrop, reminds me very much of Magritte's The Son of Man. Some obvious parallels to be drawn between Nucky and The Son of Man; for example, the conflict between what is hidden from society's view and what isn't being one parallel, the green apple constantly floating in front of Nucky's face being another. Maybe I'm making that last one up. As the opening credits come to an end, Nucky is seen walking back up the beach to Atlantic City. His walk, his way of carrying himself, the inner Buscemi-ness which can never be fully contained, bleeds through the TV even in the opening credits. He looks like Kermit the Frog. The sensation of seeing Kermit gambol about on two feet is similar to the feeling I get when I see Nucky walking. Like it's something we shouldn't be seeing or isn't real. Certainly he does not possess the physical traits we've come to know and love from our anti-heroes. No boiling rage, bulging muscles, or wild palomino like sex appeal. He's a frail sharp with a fearsome mind. Whether or not you think Boardwalk Empire merits Hall of Fame status very likely comes down to the Buscemi question. Can you buy Buscemi's Nucky as a business mobster kingpin? Or does seeing his frail and pale visage soured and nonplussed bring down the whole artifice? I like it precisely because it is different. I don't think Winter had much choice than to go in a different direction after The Sopranos if he didn't want it to be The Sopranos II, Genesis USA: the Early Days down by the Shore. Which way do you lean on the Buscemi question?
Old Man Duggan:Bronson. Great family flick. Hardy sure hangs a lot of dong in that one. I'd imagine the similarities between The Son of Man and Nucky's appearance in the weekly introduction to the show is not coincidental. I know that when I first saw the credits they summoned that image from my memory. Then I jumped immediately to naked Rene Russo making the sex with Pierce Brosnan and down the rabbit hole I went. Back to thoughts in which lust do not enter, I buy Buscemi as mob boss. Historically many of the powerful figures in the criminal underworld were not especially attractive. Aside from maybe Dillinger and Bugsy Siegel, I can't think of many who weren't unappealing. As for his stature, I guess I just think of Meyer Lansky being reportedly a shade under five feet tall, and if someone that small can reach his level of power and influence, anyone can. Also, while I think about Boardwalk's place in the pantheon of hour-long dramas, I'd have to say its story is incomplete, but I'd shortlist it for inclusion upon its completion while reserving judgment until it has concluded.
WG: "Blue Bell Boy" started nicely enough. Nucky maybe less pissed at Owen for being late, than he was at the idea of someone else getting some carnal action. Mr. Poofles? Owen, you deserve better than that. Blowjobs as part of the mise-en-scene brought back fond memories of Al Swearengen plotting and planning by way of oral sex in Deadwood.
OMD: Goddammit, I miss that show. If you saw Bronson shortly before watching this episode, not only were you treated to a ton of Hardy cock, but you also got Cox ass and out-of-focus taint. Bully for you. Owen's little lady is a fetching lass. I guess I'd excuse the slightly emasculating phallic nickname if it were only uttered in that context. In other words, only if she were saying it, we were partaking in a bit of afternoon delight, and I was in 1924 New Jersey.
WG: The director of this particular episode was Kari Skogland, a woman, and the only reason I know is the style of the show was different enough that I was compelled to go back and look. Cut a little more cleverly, with an eye towards heightening tension, tighter in general, and some playful "feminine" angles that were most welcome and well done.
OMD: I suppose it's just in my character, but I look at the writer and director with all my favorite shows. It was a crafty ep. The tension was especially well crafted while Nucky, Owen, and young Rowland Smith were stuck in the basement for an incredibly long amount of time. Women's issues were certainly at the fore.
WG: I don't know what was a deeper shade of purple, lil' deaf Sonny Capone's shiner, or Owen's knob, but it was a deft woman's touch that brought some depth out of both of those early scenes. Part of the fun in Boardwalk Empire is that it's a show filled with famous historical figures like Capone, Rothstein, Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, and Nucky Thompson. Seeing Capone, with a son who is picked on by day, and a slovenly compadre who gets picked on by night, finally blow a gasket and strike a deadly blow on both their behalf was satisfying. Things like this make a good show great. A monster like Capone attempting to toughen up his kid, and then both of them crumbling into wet tears because sonny ain't a fighter, he can't quite bring himself to hit his dad, or maybe the realization that he let his dad down, etc. whatever the case may be, you pretty much are pulling for Capone to kick someone's ass just because. Making Capone human,and a likable guy isn't a new trick, but it shouldn't be as easy to pull off as they do in Boardwalk Empire.
OMD: Ms. Skogland is skilled at drawing out hues to be sure. The moment Guzik turned around to see Capone gone I was grinning from ear to ear. Joe Miller was gonna get it. And get it he did. This was a great episode for humanizing Capone. It sucks that there are so many characters that for each one whose name isn't Nucky Thompson you just aren't sure they're going to pop up each week. Luckily when they are featured front and center, Winter & Co. waste no time adding layers of nuance and subtext to the characters. It's not unlike Justified wherein a character may only be in alternating episodes, but when they're present, their presence actually means something to the show.
WG: Margaret steamrolling the Catholic Hospital for the prenatal outreach was a hilarious. Sadly, I can imagine that some of those conversations don't sound all that dated. Found footage from a staff meeting of Missouri Senatorial candidate Todd Akin. You know, maybe Skogland isn't such a feminist after all, under her purview in this episode, the vagina was alternately compared with brussel sprouts and a sardine's twat. We need some Georgia O'Keeffe up in this piece to bring some of the true beauty, mystery, and majesty back to the vagina. It was also kind of fun to see Margaret hustling the boardwalk with her flyers, like she was ginning up numbers for a Minor Threat gig at the 9:30 Club in D.C.
OMD: To be fair, Guzik's unpleasant odor was likened to that of a "sardine's twat," but your point remains. There's very little vaginocentric art that pleases me (I'm not particularly fond of phallocentric art either, ladies and gents), but I do like O'Keeffe. You're really going fine art up in here this week. It's weird to see Margaret The Pamphleteer back at the fore. I definitely like that she's championing a cause that isn't Temperance. I'm a much bigger fan of Women's Health classes. I'll say it right now, and I know this is controversial, but all women should be healthy. They're better than men. Especially white men. White men are the worst.
WG: Rowland Smith. I thought for sure that you were too cute to kill. I thoroughly enjoyed his name dropping of 20's film stars as aliases when Owen first got the drop on him. Lon Chaney. Norma Talmadge. Baby Peggy. He was smooth. Wits about him and quick on his feet. Why do you think he ultimately got whacked?
OMD: You do not steal from Nucky. He knows that he cannot show weakness. He also needs to show Owen, whose sway in the matters of transport of illegal goods and generally violent acts feels challenging to Nucky. When Mickey looks to Owen in the warehouse after Nucky tells them to avoid Tabor Heights, Nucky sees that his absenteeism has had its cost and made him look weak. The first sign that he lets people skate, and he's a mark. He also needs to keep up appearances because Gyp is gunning for him, and he needs to exude strength in the face adversity so that his people continue to fight for him.
WG: Speaking of carnal, doesn't matter what Gyp says when he's on the screen, I love it. "Some day I'm going to take you in the back and show you how to make sauce." "But I don't cook." "It's easy. You stir, and I provide the heat." Best explanation for being a submissive bottom I've ever heard. And he kissed her open palm to seal the deal. Open Palm! Sensual mediterranean moves. Yeah, I'm saying Gyp is a submissive power bottom. He's so damn dominant during his day gig, you know the only way he can get off is to work it from underneath.
OMD: That open palm kiss showed panache, confidence, and total disregard for the threat of germs. The balls on that guy. Especially given the fact that Spanish influenza just ran roughshod over much of the Western World. What a brazen fool. But yes, Gyp is most definitely a power bottom, though I find his being drawn to the ginger waitress as a break from what I'd imagine his proclivities would have drawn him to in the objects of lust department.
WG: I'm ashamed to admit that I was caught off-guard by the double dealing Deputy Ramsey in Tabor Heights. I figured he was going to end up on the output end of a meat grinder after a foolhardy attempt to tangle with the Sicilians. But I guess after seeing your former boss being reduced to a shish kebab, you might think twice about crossing swords with Gyp. Better to listen to his reasoning. Listen only though, speaking can lead to death.
OMD: I, too, was surprised to find out that new Sheriff Ramsey had so little loyalty toward his predecessor. I guess I always suspect the worst in people, though, and I hardly thought that it'd be smooth sailing through Tabor Heights for the AC to NYC whiskey pipeline.
WG: Mickey's dead! Upside! Finally. He undercut Nucky's authority earlier in the show, and I thought, Jesus Christ, what does a guy have to do to get whacked on this show? Answer: Just keeping acting like Mickey. How hilarious was Rothstein on the phone to Mickey? "Why am I talking to you?" Is it possible to display complete contempt for another human, in such a mannered and decent way? Does Eli get back into the fold with his valiant pre-game sleuthing, or will Nucky be pissed that despite his instincts, he didn't get it stopped?
OMD: It would seem to me that Eli is primed to take over the distribution end, despite Nucky having told him jail was the last gift he'd give him. It also seems that with as many men as Nucky just lost, he'll probably have to enlist Harrow, who is simply adrift in a whorehouse right now. It seems like Harrow and Van Alden are both on the verge of getting involved in this whole mess again. The characters simply have too high a profile in the show to not end up back in the mix unless they meet an untimely end. I'm glad that Mickey finally got got, if that was in fact him in the car, dead. It was dark. Rothstein's dressing down and marginalization of Mickey was so thorough and swift that it was impossible not to admire. The more Rothstein the better as far as I'm concerned.
This is a new feature on Inconsiderate Prick in which Wordy Ginters and myself (Josh "Old Man" Duggan) discuss Downton Abbey, starting at the beginning. We are planning on doing an episode a week until we've run through the series. Perhaps Wordy Old Men will tackle other subjects later, but for now, this is what we're doing. I have watched the series once about a month ago, and Wordy is watching for the first time. Both of us were late to the game, but that doesn't mean we don't want to play. This is all meant to be conversational. Think of it like a short podcast that you get to read.
One important note: in choosing which version to watch, we selected the original UK versions, as they are slightly longer and broken up much more evenly than they were when they were rebroadcast on PBS.
Wordy Ginters: I've purposefully avoided any research, other opinion, etc... on this stuff. I guess I've assumed it would more or less follow the Upstairs Downstairs, Gosford Park, Rules of the Game (great fucking film) vibe. And it does.
Old Man Duggan: Heading into this initially, my familiarity to the material you mentioned was limited to Gosford Park, of which I wasn't a huge fan. I certainly knew was the rough concept for Upstairs Downstairs was but only in a cursory sense. The only Jean Renoir film I've seen was The Grand Illusion, which was also concerned in part with the class system, but Rules of the Game is not something I've gotten around to seeing.
WG: I liked it, but my panties aren't completely soaked. Speaking of man sex, odd that the line "one swallow doesn't make a summer," one of the better/filthier bon mots I've heard in awhile, sprung from stodgy old PBS.
OMD: Watching this all for the second time around, that line that Charlie Cox's character (The Duke of Crowborough) uttered to Thomas was more jarring than I'd recalled. I mean jarring in the best possible way, but holy shit was that lewd. I suppose it is possible that this line didn't air on PBS, as we're watching the versions in the original British format. It is also weird seeing Charlie Cox as anything other than Owen Slater on Boardwalk Empire.
WG: I'm more interested in the service staff side of things thus far. That might be because my mind has been poisoned by too much Occupy Wall Street styled socialism from Obama and the left-wing media, and not enough Master's coverage.
OMD: Early on, it is definitely the staff that is most interesting to me. I, too, chalk this up to my socialistic tendencies.
WG: Probably some nice parallels to suss out with current day yawning gap between haves and have nots. First season would have been written when Britain was implementing or discussing some of the austerity measures which most honest economists would tell you have been needlessly harsh on social programs and the great unwashed in general. I'm not familiar enough with British politics to speak with even a hint of legitimacy, so let's just agree that the super wealthy are probably all satanic buttfuckers.
OMD: I wish we could get a British historian in here to weigh in, but I doubt he/she would be telling us anything other than that the super wealthy are indeed satanic buttfuckers.
WG: It might be cooler if Lord Crawley was actually ALEISTER CROWLEY, but that is probably a Cinemax series.
OMD: I will warn you before we delve farther into the series that this does not veer into the Cinemax realm. Not even the surprisingly decent series Strike Back--which was coincidentally also a British series (the second one at that, don't ask me how to get your hands on the first series because I've yet to find a way)--which had its fair share of the old skin for which Cinemax has always been known. To my knowledge, neither Robert, Lord Grantham, nor Matthew Crawley become Aleister Crowley, though this series does take its twists and turns and maybe this is where the third series will head.
WG: Crawley seems like one of only a few possibly decent humans one episode in. Glad he kept Bates around. Thomas the gay footman was an enjoyable heel to loathe. Dude kind of reminded me of a young Tom Courtenay, with the sneering and the cockney hardness.
OMD: Lord Grantham (and seriously, it took me about five episodes to know anyone's goddamn name on this show as there are 536 characters that Julian Fellowes wants us to know from fucking Jump Street) definitely seems like a stand-up dude, and the dynamic between him and his wife works pretty well, especially as relates to their differing on their views of the help. As far as Thomas is concerned, he strikes me as the classic Hitchcockian villain only with the more open homosexuality that our time affords us. That and he's fucking evil, letting the viewer really sink their teeth into truly hating someone.
WG: Since The Wire, I've been in the habit of watching shows with English subtitles on. Nice way to catch bits of dialogue and minutae that may otherwise get lost in the shuffle.
OMD: There were certainly times while watching Luck that I needed to throw on the subtitles, but that's because they're mumbly motherfuckers on that dearly departed program.
WG: How much does the bldg on Red Apple Falls look like Downtown Abbey? Oh, and Cora used the word "swag" like she was a middle age hipster wearing a fanny pack at a Bon Iver concert.
OMD: I can't believe I hadn't picked up on the similarities between the Red Apple Falls cover art and Downton Abbey. As for Cora's use of the word "swag," I actually did see her at a Bon Iver concert last fall, sans fanny pack. OK, it was just Elizabeth McGovern, and she was actually in character/costume from She's Having a Baby.
WG: Nice. I had Liz pegged as more of a chamber music, string quartet type of gal.
Who kicked out Bates's cane? Was it that old bag, or Thomas the stereotypical evil gay footman?
OMD: The cane kick was Miss O'Brien, Thomas the footman's partner in crime.
WG: Speaking of the servant caste system, footman, valet, bedroom fire girl, etc... nice and arcane. Like an organizational depth chart. I'm going to have to do some research on this.
OMD: Honestly, the servant caste system was so foreign to me that aside from the butler and the head maid or whatever I was totally clueless about who did what. If TSLF wasn't obsessed with the stodgy aristocracy in Olde England in general, I'd have no idea what was going on in the hierarchical sense within Downton. Her general obsession with all things pre-Great War England was actually what fed my initial hesitancy toward giving Downton Abbey a chance. She got on the DA ride on the ground floor--hell, more realistically it was the sub-basement--but I figured that it was just because she watches every fucking thing that Masterpiece Theater puts on. In retrospect, it was totally and needlessly reductive on my part, but I'll be damned if shit like the mid-90s Pride and Prejudice miniseries didn't bore the piss out of me.
WG: You are fortunate to have a Downton staff sherpa at your side. I assume the parallels between the blue-bloods upstairs and the help downstairs makes for a nice plot device. I'm eager to learn more about the intricacies of that heirarchy. Holy shit, how about that for customer service? I was struck by the opening scenes, with literally dozens of folks running about in preparation of the four or five people in the Crawley clan? Nowadays, the 1 percenters are more apt to pay an illegal alien minimum wage to change the little lords and lordettes diapers than they are to spend some of that ill-gotten cash on a newspaper ironer. Which was another nice way of slapping the viewers in the face about the capricous ways of the moneyed class. Sure, ironing the newspaper is to dry the ink. Bullshit. Making someone iron your newspaper is a power move. And a maid serving a duke. It makes me ill just to put those words in my mouth, the shame is so palpable I'm sweating communion wafers.
OMD: It is definitely hard for me to get in tune with the sundry ins and outs of the social customs of the class/era. It is hard for someone who has spent as much of my life turning my nose up at the needlessly garish and pointlessly extravagant customs of the upper class to take shit like the unconscionable thought of having a maid serve a duke seriously. I am sure within certain circles that would have been extremely gauche, but I'll be damned if I can figure out why.
WG: Batman, Bates, Boers. I hope this intersects with the story down the road.
TITANIC! Fuck you James Cameron.
OMD: It is pretty crazy that the situation that Lord Grantham and family find themselves in is all James Cameron's fault. Then again, so is everything else in the world.
WG: Speaking of odious power moves, did you see footage a few weeks back of Cameron taking his little miracle submarine to the lowest spot on earth? How symbolic.
OMD: I wish he'd taken Avatar with him. Fuck that horseshit. He is the lowest of the low, though, and he should have taken that brazenly ripped off hacktastic film with him.
WTFuck?
So I missed this the first time I watched the episode a couple months back, which leads me to believe that if I missed the two craziest parts of the first episode that I was not paying nearly close enough attention early on, but what the fuck was up with that asparagus tower that one of the footmen is carrying immediately following the reveal that Lord Grantham and Mr. Bates were comrades in arms. Seriously, what was that? It looked like some odd Native American structure.
WG: The asparagus! Fuck yes. Shades of Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters. We can only imagine what horrors may be contained inside the inner sanctum of the asparagus cylinder. Maybe it was some kind of elaborate garnish that signified some kind of social more. Like the mourning period which evidently requires all black clothing for 4-6 weeks, and a requisite number of memorials.
OMD: It seems nearly miraculous that Fellowes is able to have us caring about Mr. Bates almost immediately. Bates isn't on screen until the 9:25 mark in the episode, and that's for a split second. He doesn't have a line until after the 10:00 mark. By the end of the episode, though, it's hard not to get worked up over the threat of his departure. Some of this surely owes to his being pitted against the loathsome foils of Thomas and Miss O'Brien, but it seems like it's really the way he carries himself--especially after the cane kick--and that scene in his room with Anna that so effectively endears him.
WG: It was a bit bracing to follow the rapid plot and character development set up over the course of 60 minutes compared to the glacial pace of something like Luck. Fellowes definitely pulls it off. Some of the character devices were a bit on the nose for me, but fuck it, I let go and it worked. You've got to be a flint-hearted prick to not pull for a one-legged war veteran. That he handled the river of shit engineered his way with the classic Brit stiff upper lip certainly made him appealing. Fellowes gives him a few more shades than the other characters. He weeps. He's vulnerable. He's determined. He's modest. He has a certain style and grace. Bringing that through in such a short amount of screen time is a credit to Fellowes and Brendan CoyIe. I especially like the way Bates one ups the Drip of Crowborough by asking him if there is anything he'd like to inspect in his room.
OMD: Fellowes also does a fantastic job of fitting in exposition in a way that makes the world of Downton Abbey accessible to rubes like me. When he has Miss O'Brien explain the situation that the Crawley's find themselves in regarding the death of the James and Patrick Crawley and the ensuing inheritance issues that are arising, he lets another character (Gwen) ask why Mary cannot inherit her mother's fortune. Even with Miss O'Brien calling Gwen stupid, we get our explanation and the pain of being called dumb is eased by the fact that it was the heinous Miss O'Brien who was essentially insulting us. This happens multiple times in the pilot. It's necessary to make sense to the dim masses but doesn't derail the momentum of the show.
WG: Delicate ground work by Fellowes. Strikes just the right balance between advancing plot filigree and being pedantic.
There you have it. A weighing in on the first episode of the first series/season is in the books.
