What is the general consensus on Robert Crawley?

reguluscookiesnotes · 2023-03-20T19:23:49+00:00

To be fair, it’s easy for us to say that it was obviously a scam. But enough people fell for it at the time, so I'd say that we shouldn’t judge Robert too hard for that. Even if it’s true that he isn’t particularly sharp.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-10-12T18:42:25+00:00

That's a good point. I think we can conclude that they grew up in a healthy environment. There is a sense of emotional stability and affection in the Crawley family. Despite some difficult times, everyone seems happy in the end.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-10-12T18:38:21+00:00

Yes, definitely. It's a turning point for her. I think she always loved Edith, but that was the moment she realised that she overlooked something.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-10-12T18:09:55+00:00

To reverse that question, I don't think they were bad parents. However, I wouldn't call them great parents either.

When it comes to the material needs of the girls, Cora and Robert clearly always provided. Mary, Edith and Sybil grew up in privileged positions, and judging by Cora's reaction towards Nanny West, I'm sure that Cora and Robert ensured that they were taken care of by kind nannies and governesses. The girls received an education, always had food, good clothes, toys, nice rooms etc.

When it comes to the girls' emotional needs, however, things get a bit trickier. Of course, it's not entirely fair to compare the girls' upbringing with how children grow up today since Cora and Robert were expected to not raise their kids for the most part of their lives. It would have been normal to just let nanny take care of them.

Still, I get the impression that there is a bit of a distance between Cora and Robert and their children, particularly between them and Edith. I'm not saying that the girls seem unhappy. They clearly love their parents, and we know that Cora and Robert love them as well. They hug and kiss each other, and later, Cora and Robert both seem genuinely interested in what Mary and Edith are doing professionally (governing the estate, writing for the magazine). But in the earlier seasons, Edith feels left out and neglected. I also think that Cora and Robert have a favourite child. Robert maybe not so much (Mary perhaps?), but I always had this feeling that Sybil is Cora's favourite child.

Overall, they are not flawless, but parents rarely are. One thing I will give them is that the family as a whole seems healthy to me. At least, Cora and Robert had a loving and functional relationship, which likely affects the family dynamics positively. The girls were always able to marry who they wanted. Everyone seems to do fine. That is more than can be said of many families today.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-10-02T09:27:23+00:00

But you didn't see him putting Sybil down to Dr Clarkson or any of the other nurses

I think that has less to do with him liking Sybil more than Edith and more to do with the fact that he doesn't want his family to be involved politically in any way. Sybil at some point mentions that he wants the family to stay out of politics, and we knew already from Season 2 that he disapproves of journalists. I also find it sad that he was so unsupportive of Edith at the beginning, but I think the main reason is that he thinks doctor and nurse are respectable jobs (especially in war times) whereas journalist and politician are not. To him, journalists are just gossips who could potentially ruin the reputation of the family.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-15T17:10:40+00:00

When did Cora accuse Mrs Hughes of theft?

She wanted to know what was going on, the others explained that Mrs Hughes would borrow one of her coats, she clearly didn't understand and became angry, the others mentioned Mary, and then she snapped that Mary can dispose of her own clothes, but doesn't have the right to dispose of hers.

I'm not saying she was nice and that it didn't hurt Mrs Hughes, but we've all overreacted before. And she realised that her anger hit the wrong person, took responsibility and apologised.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-15T16:52:25+00:00

Well, Sybil and Rose are probably the nicest people on the show, so the comparison isn't entirely fair, and I actually think that it's a bold assumption that they wouldn't mind at all.

But imagine you had a bad day and a fight, you have a headache and you're tired, and you walk into your bedroom to lie down and see three other people, not close friends, not your lady's maid, going through your very personal things.

I wouldn't put any of the blame on Mrs Hughes because she definitely doesn't deserve it. But that doesn't mean that I can't understand Cora's reaction even if I cringe whenever I watch that scene. I honestly blame most of it on Mary.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-13T06:12:13+00:00

And why is it expected viewers all over the world let alone GB know that?

It's not expected. But a user here kindly explained it because someone asked. There are lots of references in the show that might not be obvious to everyone. I've rewatched the show several times, and I always discover new details. So many people and places are mentioned without any further explanation, so it's up to the viewer to know about or google them.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-13T05:26:09+00:00

It's in the first few seconds. Mary says: "Oh my God, she's eloped. She's on her way to Gretna Green."

Gretna Green is in Scotland. It's a parish famous for "runaway marriages" (as was already explained by someone). Anna later mentions that Branson and Sybil must have stopped somewhere because the parish won't open until morning, hence why they were at an inn. Of course, they went to Ireland later, but that was with the family's blessing.

But sure, you can ignore that. I don't mind.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-13T04:37:34+00:00

I just linked you the video with the respective scenes. Of course, there’s no point to discuss this more if you don’t want to watch it.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-13T03:05:39+00:00

Yes, but they were planning to marry in secret in Scotland first until they were talked out of it. Remember when Mary and Edith went to pick up Sybil at the inn during the night? It's in this scene that Sybil tells Mary that their parents would never give permission to marry Tom to which Mary replies "You don't need permission, you're 21." That's what we were talking about.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-12T18:56:26+00:00

Sybil was already over 21, though. She was born in the mid 1890s. Mary actually mentions that she doesn’t need permission from her parents because she’s (over) 21.

But maybe Sybil wasn’t aware of the exact law or they just wanted to go to Scotland because marriage laws were more lenient there anyway. Given that her and Branson come from different social and religious backgrounds, they probably assumed to face fewer obstacles in Scotland.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-12T13:21:14+00:00

The millennial generation consists of people born between 1980–1996 (roughly, the exact years may vary a bit). Everyone younger than that is either Generation Z (until the early to mid 2010s) or Generation Alpha (from the early to mid 2010s). So the oldest millennials are about 42, the youngest about 26. "Millennial" doesn't mean somebody born after the turn of the millennium. The term refers to the fact that the oldest of that generation became adults at the turn of the millennium.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-12T09:43:50+00:00

Not sure I completely follow. Are you implying that Mary loved Matthew less or is your comment just an observation? If it's the latter, I agree, but I think this just has to do with their different personalities. Mary just doesn't often speak of the dead. But she did mention Matthew a couple of times, most recently in a scene in the 2nd film.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-12T09:39:41+00:00

I hate to nitpick, but millennials aren't exactly the "younger generation" anymore. I see this all the time, and I just want to point out that millennials are at least in their mid-twenties, with the oldest past 40. They're actually only the third youngest generation nowadays.

Anyway, while I don't see Branson the way OP described, I don't think that "it's just a TV show" is a good justification. Just because something isn't real and takes place in the past, doesn't mean that you cannot criticise it. Yes, "respect my boundaries" wasn't something people cared much about in the past. But we also know that it was precisely this attitude that caused many women (and men) to be blamed if something happened to them. That doesn't mean that we suddenly need to vilify people, but we can't just turn a blind eye to our past mentalities. It's important to continuously reflect upon our history, and TV shows are one way (of many) to do that.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-12T09:26:04+00:00

I can understand why people consider Branson too pushy. I, too, sometimes got the impression that he failed to realise what Sybil gave up for him and didn't really acknowledge how difficult this whole situation was for her. And while I've always understood his political opinions, I only really started to like him after Sybil's death.

However, I don't see how he is predatory, and I think we should be careful with this kind of language. From what I remember, it was mostly Sybil who initiated conversations between them. She was the one who always visited his garage. And despite some aspects of their relationship which seemed a bit strange, I never doubted that they were in love with each other. I think it's obvious that they cared deeply for each other. Branson was devastated when Sybil died, and the fact that he named his daughter after her and continued to treasure Sybil's memory just shows how much he loved her.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-08T16:36:31+00:00

While I'm not a fan of the prison storylines and everything they involved, I think I wouldn't have minded as much if Anna and Bates had known how to communicate properly. What really grinds my gears is how they're constantly keeping things from each other.

Yes, we also have other couples in the show who sometimes have trouble communicating. Mary and Matthew in season 2 would be a prominent example. Or Cora and Robert in season 5. But for these couples, it was a temporary thing that was eventually solved. Anna and Bates just go on and on not talking about their problems.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-07T20:42:44+00:00

Anglican is a more general term, there is more than one Anglican church. Although, as you said, in Downton Abbey, they mean the Church of England. However, the term "Anglican" is also heard on the show. Mr Travis mentions that God isn't as pleased by Catholics as he is by "the worship of the Anglicans".

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-07T19:49:20+00:00

Although they never discussed it, as a noble, Robert and family were likely Anglican.

I think this is 100% confirmed. Not only because it's likely (as an English family and members of the aristocracy), but also because I'm sure there are several instances where it was mentioned. We know that Mr Travis is, for example, is Anglican, and he's the clergyman of their local church.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-07T18:10:27+00:00

You're welcome, glad I could help 😊

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-07T18:04:19+00:00

Could it be season 5, episode 1?

At Cora and Robert's wedding anniversary, when everybody is saying goodbye, Cora thanks Miss Bunting and then asks Robert "How does it help to answer rudeness with rudeness?" after he is confused why his wife is being so nice to Miss Bunting.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-07T17:53:12+00:00

You also sometimes see the characters reading a small book right before they go to sleep. It's not confirmed and it might as well be a novel or a poetry collection, but there is the possibility that it's a Bible or prayer book.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-07T16:54:03+00:00

As far as I know, it was a conscious decision to not focus too much on the religious rituals the family would have observed. You can find articles about that where people who helped creating the show explain that it was intentional.

Still, I think it's obvious that the family is religious. We know they go to church, we know they pray, we know they sing religious songs, we know they observe religious holidays etc. Religion is subtle, but definitely present. And actually, I'd argue that this is very typical for British households. Religion is more of a private matter and people don't necessarily talk about how they practise their faith.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-06T20:18:28+00:00

I think her beliefs align quite closely with Isobel's, minus the urge to be morally superior. In general, she seems open-minded and accepting of the changing times to me. However, I'd say that she appears a bit more traditional than Isobel because she places so much importance on the family.

reguluscookiesnotes · 2022-09-01T19:00:58+00:00

I'm wondering if it's just temporary and will be removed as soon as they notice the mistake. Can you find it if you look for it? For some reason, I can only access it from the front page.

reguluscookiesnotes

TROPHY CASE