Downton Abbey season 2 has concluded its run on VisionTV after the Canadian premiere broadcast April 4 to May 16. In season 2, the action moved on to 1916 and the struggles of World War I.
(L to R) Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley, Dan Stevens as Matthew Crawley and Zoe Boyle as Lavinia Swire
(L to R) Penelope Wilton as Isobel Crawley, David Robb as Dr. Richard Clarkson, Elizabeth McGovern as Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham and Hugh Bonneville as Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham
ZoomerMag.com says, “The small screen is sizzling with the Edwardian period soap opera, Downton Abbey, and it’s not just the beautiful costumes, set and gorgeous cast.” Read the rest of their Going Downton article.
Season 2 of the Emmy® Award-winning Downton Abbey returns as The Great War rages across Europe, and not even the serene Yorkshire countryside is free from its effects. The men and women of Downton are doing their part both on the front lines and the home front even with the familiar passions, love, loss, blackmail, and betrayal. Downton Abbey itself is to be transformed into a convalescent home for wounded officers. Some newcomers arrive; some young men are absent, desperately clinging to survival in the trenches of France; and some men remain at Downton, their discontent festering. The Crawley women attempt to find their place in the new climate, as Isobel helps chart a new course for one sister and Branson exerts his influence over another. News about Matthew stuns the house, and Mary has a revelation of her own.
Brendan Coyle as Mr. Bates and Joanne Froggatt as Anna Smith
Dame Maggie Smith as Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham
Season 2 – Episode Synopses
Episode One (Special 2.5 hr Episode)
In the throes of the Great War, uncertainty and worry have taken up residence in Downton Abbey. Robert struggles with the uneasiness of a diminished house and among the servants, love is in the air. New maid, Ethel ruffles O’Brien’s feathers and Bates returns with life changing news for Anna.
Episode Two
As a convalescent home for wounded officers, Downton Abbey offers respite from the front. But Cora and Isobel, locked in a power struggle over running the home, wage domestic war. Meanwhile, Branson’s ambitions are revealed and William’s aspirations are fulfilled. And Edith, finally, catches someone’s eye.
Episode Three
Thomas is exerting his authority over the servants with aplomb; Mrs. Patmore, Daisy and Mrs. Bird are cooking up a little something on the side; and Ethel has discovered an age-old way to support the war effort. But between Robert and Bates, faith and loyalty transcend class.
Episode Four
Devastating news from the front rocks the very foundations of Downton Abbey, and it is up to the Dowager Countess to bring Downton’s men home. In an unwelcome return, Vera Bates threatens to make public the scandalous story of Lady Mary’s ill-fated indiscretion. Desperate to contain the story, Mary appeals to Sir Richard Carlisle.
Episode Five
As the war promises to draw to a close, uncertainty still reigns. War’s aftermath opens some doors for the present and former servants and slams shut others. When a mysterious stranger arrives, Downton faces more turmoil.
Episode Six (Special 2.5 hr Episode)
A stunning revelation deeply affects Robert and Cora and incites Richard to tighten his grip on Mary but Mary has accepted her fate with detachment. Sybil discovers unlikely allies; a wedding is planned but fate cruelly intervenes. In its wake lay guilt, grief and, among the servants, fresh horrors.
Episode Seven (2 hours)
Christmas 1919. Downton Abbey is hosting a lavish Christmas party, yet despite being the season of goodwill, tensions are rife and Bates’s arrest has cast a shadow over the festivities. Will he be a condemned man or will he be found innocent in time for the annual servant’s ball? Mary has to consider her future with Sir Richard Carlisle following a contretemps at the shooting party and Violet has concerns about Rosamund, whose new suitor – the dashing but raffish Lord Hepworth, is not all he seems.
WINNER – GOLDEN GLOBE (2012)
BEST TELEVISION MINI SERIES
WINNER – 6 EMMY AWARDS (2011)
OUTSTANDING MINI SERIES OR MOVIE
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS (Dame Maggie Smith)
OUTSTANDING WRITING (Julian Fellowes)
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING (Brian Percival)
OUTSTANDING COSTUMES
OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY
What They’re Saying About Downton Abbey:
One of the great melodramas of the modern television age. – Hollywood Reporter
In this land of egalitarianism, viewers are eating up this upstairs-downstairs tale — and rooting for the British gentry — with a silver spoon.
Everyone loves “Downton Abbey.”PBS’ biggest hit in years, it’s won Emmys, a Golden Globe and the critics’ hearts. We are all smitten with the elegant writing, the fabulous cast (Maggie Smith! Weekly!), the marvelous setting and the chance to wallow in the social mores and accouterments of another age.
-Los Angeles Times
More than 15 million viewers in the U.S. and U.K. are having a love affair with the palace-size hit, which has reinvigorated period drama and earned raves around the world. – TV Guide
Damnably addictive. Topsy turvy upstairs-downstairs drama at its jolliest. Guilty pleasure, what? – Vancouver Sun
The British series, about the aristocratic Crawley family and their titular home, goes down so easily that it’s a bit like scarfing handfuls of caramel corn while swigging champagne. – New Yorker
A cult hit! It is hard to open a newspaper or click on a news website in America at the moment without reading something about Downton Abbey. – BBC
Everyone’s favorite buttoned-up British passionstravaganza – Gawker.com
You might have seen your friends posting about it on Facebook and Twitter, read about it in Entertainment Weekly … absolutely everyone is talking about Downton Abbey. – Gawker.com
Move over, “Mad Men” and Kim Kardashian. There’s a new darling in U.S. pop culture, with a much posher accent and even fancier clothes.
British World War One-era drama “Downton Abbey” and its colorful cast of countesses, cooks and kitchen maids has taken America by storm – Reuters
“Even the royals love Downton Abbey” – stylist.co.uk
Roger Ebert has stepped outside the movie realm to praise it in his blog. Saturday Night Live spoofed it. Mob Wives star Big Ang Raiola recited favorite quips for Us Weekly. – The Daily Beast
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Episode Two
Episode Six (Special 2.5 hr Episode)
Episode Seven (2 hours)
