Downton Abbey Series 4, Part 5

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This week's installment of Downton Abbey was on balance, I think, another very solid hour -- the season seems to be picking up the pace and pointing to a satisfactory conclusion, which makes me quite happy. :)

In a bid to keep Downton an independent and viable money-making venture, Branson (Allen Leech) and Mary (Michelle Dockery) have arranged to start PIG FARMING. I can't wait to see how this plays out, y'all. Robert (Hugh Bonneville) is characteristically reticent, but manages to be a supportive team player -- and I've got to say, I'm SO glad it doesn't appear we're going down the road of Robert vs. EVERYONE ELSE as regards Downton's running, because that would get old really fast. :P And anyways, he is all ruffled feathers and righteous indignation over some business scandal Cora's brother has found himself embroiled in over in the States. (I have to think this is going to be the Teapot Dome Scandal? The timing is about right for where we are in the 1920's.)

But who cares about Cora's wastrel brother because IT'S ALMOST ROBERT'S BIRTHDAY! And Rose (Lily James) loves her uncle SOOOOOO much she arranges a surprise he's SURE TO LOVE -- a performance by the American jazz band lead by the one and only savior of her honor on the dance floor, Jack Ross (Gary Carr). If my eyes don't stop rolling they are sure to fall out of my head, but whatevs. SO. Rose keeps freaking out that her surprise will be discovered, and enlists Mrs. Hughes (Phyllis Logan) to agree to keep the band downstairs, but she can't tell any of the staff until the band arrives, or some such nonsense. So of course Baxter (Raquel Cassidy) hears this and dutifully reports to Thomas (Rob James-Collier) who takes this to mean that people are going to lose their jobs or something...and at this point can I just say THOMAS, YOU ARE FLOUNDERING. His attempts to be even a marginally interesting schemer post-O'Brien are WOEFULLY inadequate. I mean now that we've seen how nice he is to Sybbie, we know he has a heart and all that, so this pathetic level of scheming just feels extra forced. (Kinda like Rose, I mean there is still no real point there, hmmm??)

Meanwhile downstairs Daisy (Sophie McShera) is not-so-secretly thrilled that Alfred (Matt Milne) wasn't accepted to the cooking program. He is even further depressed when he hears that Jimmy (Ed Speleers) has finally gotten Ivy (Cara Theobold) to agree to go to the pictures with him. But as is so often the case with this show, things change with the speed of lightening. In sum: Alfred is accepted to the cooking program, because he was just FIFTH PLACE and someone in the top four dropped out, whoop! Daisy is CRUSHED. Ivy finally realizes that Jimmy is just out for a good time when he tries to cop a feel after their date and she is scandalized, because apparently she thought he had depth or something. It was hilarious, however, when Daisy tells her off instead of offering her sympathy, and Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol) and Mrs. Hughes agree with her. Ha!! I did love Alfred's public offering of thanks, crediting Carson (Jim Carter) for his success at Downton (Carson was SUCH a proud papa at that moment, lol!), and then going out of his way to thank Daisy for her friendship. I thought that was a lovely moment of honesty between the two of them -- so please, can Daisy move on now Fellowes? Or is Alfred finally going to WAKE UP and realize that eventually the two of them could marry and be fabulous together and I don't know, run a fancy boarding house or hotel or something like The Duchess of Duke Street. Just throwing that out there. *wink*

There are more shenanigans between Violet (Maggie Smith) and Isobel (Penelope Wilton) over whether or not the local chap Isobel insisted Violet hire to work in her gardens has been pilfering items from her home. Isobel is kind of wearing me out again with this weird insistence that Violet live life according to her expectations or something. I did however think it was pretty funny when Isobel transforms herself into Miss Marple to gain entrance to Violet's house and ferret out the location of a missing paper knife -- but more than that I LOVED the fact that she lost her moral high ground and her righteous indignation fizzled out spectacularly when she discovers that Violet, owning a wrong, had beaten her to the punch in apologizing to her gardener and restoring his job. DON'T MESS WITH THE DOWAGER, ISOBEL. You can't hope to win. *wink*

Branson is apparently still stuck on this idea of not belonging at Downton and moving to America, and while I think that is the STUPIDEST IDEA EVER (ha!) it does lead to some nice moments between him and Mary. I LOVE their friendship, and how even though she doesn't want him to leave she's willing to arrange introductions to help him, should he undertake this venture. But the best part -- and perhaps my favorite moment of the episode -- is when Branson, Mary, and a visiting Isobel find themselves in the nursery, and end up sharing a bit about their respective love stories -- how well they've loved, and how much their other half is missed. I thought it was a really beautiful moment indicative of just how far these characters have come since season one, to find such an accord and peace together in each other's company.

Anna (Joanne Froggatt) and Bates (Brendan Coyle) are still struggling to reconnect Bates's discovery of the attack she suffered. Bates is still in DIE, ATTACKER, DIE mode, and when he's unable to hide that impulse from Anna everything gets even worse and threatens to spiral out of control. Desperate to put this behind them, if only for an evening, they decide to have a DATE NIGHT at some fancy restaurant where the maitre'd refuses to seat them even though they MADE a reservation!! This does not help Anna's struggles, but thankfully Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) just happens to be at the same restaurant and gets to have one of her more awesome moments in recent memory -- she judiciously wields a little of her aristocratic power to ensure that Anna and Bates are treated like royalty. The look on the face of the maitre'd was just PRICELESS. I'm thrilled Anna and Bates are working through the fallout from the rape together...I just wish that we weren't (apparently) going down the road of Bates in sudden death mode. But whatever. :P

So just prior to Robert's party, Evelyn Napier (Brendan Patricks) returns as promised to Downton bringing his boss, Charles Blake (Julian Ovenden, a.k.a. ANDREW FOYLE). Mary is all "YAY! HELP US OUT!" and Charles is all "I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE PERPETUATION OF LARGE ESTATES AND ARISTOCRATIC LIVELIHOODS! FOOD FOR THE MASSES!" So that new relationship gets off to a cracking good start and all of a sudden snarky Mary is back and in fine form! :) Really she just needs to step back and think this through -- Blake's a socialist, apparently, her sister married a socialist and she is now all BFF-y with the same, so WHY FIGHT IT??? This is FATE!!! It's in your GENETIC MAKE-UP, girl!! LOL! While the spark of conflict here seems a bit forced (but when is this show ever subtle, lol??), I'm a big fan of Ovenden and thrilled to see him on my television screen again, so I'm anxious to see how this potential relationship plays out!

Poor Edith (Laura Carmichael) is miserable this entire episode. Gregson arrived in Germany but has been missing ever since -- I mean this is 1923, this is a major European country, what the heck? Weird. And on top of all that she receives confirmation that (shocker! not!) she is indeed pregnant so YAY WHACKED OUT HORMONES (on that score girl, I feel your pain). Of course she's not wanting to reveal this little bombshell, but she's not exactly doing a stellar job hiding her upset from her parents who, to their credit, are going above and beyond in the concerned, what-the-heck-is-wrong-with-you department. I felt SO badly for Robert when he found her crying and she's all WHAT ARE YOU DOING I'M NOT YOUR FAVORITE!! C'mon girl, 1) give your parents credit and 2) such responses are not going to convince them that you're not keeping secrets!!! Yeesh!

Wrapping things up, despite some hiccups (Carson's conversation with Jack Ross about race issues is hilariously awkward) on balance Rose's surprise seems to have paid off -- despite the scandal of turning Downton into a temporary NIGHT CLUB!! *wink* Things are going REALLY well for Rose (*ahem*) since at the end of the evening Lady Mary sees her making out with Jack (and I feel like we're missing something? but whatever, they're probably just all carpe diem and stuff!), and UH-OH we have another scandal alert!! Oh, and Molesley (Kevin Doyle) has a job again, replacing Alfred as a footman, but I have a really hard time caring because I am just not as invested in his character as the rest of the downstairs staff seem to be.

But that's the thing about this show -- even when you have Thomas's scheming falling apart and Rose being stupid, I recognize these things but I'm still entertained, because I love this world and all of its soapy predictability. :) Thoughts on this installment and the latest developments? Please chime in! I can't believe we're already into the home stretch with only three weeks left!

*Photo copyright Masterpiece/ITV/Carnival Films. No copyright infringement intended.

The Making of a Lady premieres Sunday!

I have been waiting for this news for forever. :) This Sunday following Downton Abbey PBS will premiere The Making of a Lady, based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett (check local listings to confirm showtimes). Angsty Linus Roache, in uniform?! I am SO there. :) Here's a preview:

Benedict Cumberbatch and the Sign of Four (or is it Three?)

The CUTENESS!!! *dies*

Review: The Hero's Lot by Patrick W. Carr

The Hero's Lot (The Staff & the Sword #2)
By: Patrick W. Carr
Publisher: Bethany House
ISBN: 978-0-7642-1044-0

Review:

Having helped oust the corrupt reader Sarin Valon from the Judica, the conclave of the church, Errol Stone desperately hopes that at long last his troubles have ended. For in a so short a span of time that his head has been left spinning, Errol's life has been left irrevocably changed by the church's call on his life. Raised from the Callowford ale barrel to an earldom by the king, honored as a captain of the watch, and hailed far and wide as a hero, Errol remains ill at ease in his new skin, still wary of association with the church that he holds responsible for many of his darkest memories. But Errol's respite is destined to be a short one, as with its king on his deathbed and the identity of Deas's (God) appointed heir shrouded in mystery, those who would seek to supplant Deas's direction and the power of the church marshal their forces, eager to strike a blow at the heart of the kingdom at its weakest and usurp the throne. As an omne -- one with the power to read a lot cast by any reader -- Errol's gift marks him as an ally of the church and a threat to be eliminated by those seeking to overthrow the kingdom. It is from the latter quarter where the latest threat to Errol manifests itself, as he is brought before the Judica on charges of consorting the spirits -- specifically, the herbwomen who claim Aurae is knowable -- and more seriously, of seeking to undermine the church's authority by participating in Martin and Luis's efforts to cast for the next king.

In a desperate bid to save Errol from the charge of treason, the Archbenefice arranges to have him convicted on the lesser charge of consorting with spirits -- but the gambit has unexpected consequences. The Judica's consensus is to place a compulsion on Errol, ordering him to follow the traitor Valon into the heart of Merakh and kill him. It's a death sentence in all but name; nevertheless, Errol is forced to obey the compulsion, and gathers an unlikely group of allies to aid him in his quest. Meanwhile, Martin and Luis have fled the capital to Errol's home village, seeking to uncover why Deas has so magnified Errol's importance to the kingdom, weaving the unlikely hero's future with the land's best hope of survival. As their journeys progress, the dangers mount, even as the compulsion Errol is under intensifies, driving him onward. Secrets are revealed and faith is tested, and Errol is forced to decide if Deas's call on his life, greater than any compulsion which the church could place on him, is worth the sacrifice of service, even unto the cost of his very life.

A Cast of Stones, the first installment chronicling Errol's journey and Carr's debut, was one of my favorite reads of last year. The Hero's Lot avoids the pitfall of the sophomore slump entirely -- every bit as good as its predecessor, here the characterizations and world-building that made Errol's first adventure such a captivating, enriching experience are deepened and expanded. Errol's kingdom is a fully-realized, gloriously imaginative world laced with deeply personal, thought-provoking spiritual truths. This is my favorite kind of storytelling -- absorbing, fast-paced, and breathtakingly original.

Carr is proving to be a master at bringing fresh life to the monomyth, Joseph Campbell's term that defines the universal nature of the heroic journey. That journey consists of three parts: the separation, initiation, and return, and both this and the previous installment of Errol's journey contain elements of this cycle. But as the middle installment of a trilogy, The Hero's Lot delves deeply into what it means for the hero to be initiated -- the process, the cost, and the risk. Having been called out of his former life as Callowford's resident ale barrel-dweller, Errol is no longer who he was, but not yet all he can be, all he shall be if he responds to the call upon his life. And this initiation that Errol endures over the course of this novel is the darkest, most intense test of his mettle yet. This journey is an exploration of the nature of heroism and sacrifice at its finest, richly imagined, and at its center a wonderfully, painfully relatable character whose weaknesses and doubts mirror our own -- but who, in still acting, paints a picture of the best we can be -- and that encapsulates, I think, why stories of this ilk have such enduring power.

I love the world-building in these novels. In the first installment Carr introduces a society peopled by nobles, priests, warriors and peasants, a world at once both instantly recognizable and tantalizingly foreign, enough of a fresh twist on the tropes of a medieval fantasy to fire the imagination and keep one turning pages at a rapid pace. In The Hero's Lot, Carr takes his world-building to new heights, diving deeply into the rich possibilities of the social and religious hierarchy he's created. At the heart of Errol and his companions' journey -- particularly Martin -- is an exploration of what it means to seek to know one's God, to hunger for a deeper relationship. Concurrently with that personal theme is a study of what it means to be part of the church, that glorious mix of human failings and potential. Through Errol, Carr offers an oft-times stark, wrenching exploration of the failings and fall-out of the human side of the church, but also explores that body at its best. It's a thought-provoking call to remember that while man may -- and indeed, will -- fail, the God of that most fragile of organizations, the church, is ever-ready to answer one's call.

That is one of the many reasons I adore fiction of this type, for its ability to illustrate eternal truths through the lens of a compelling story. The Hero's Lot is superb storytelling -- fast-paced, old-fashioned adventure laced with subtly-drawn spiritual truths and unforgettable characters that captivate your heart and stay in your imagination long after the final pages are turned. This is a world I've grown to love and characters so dear, so wonderfully-realized I consider them friends. Much like its predecessor, The Hero's Lot is an experience to savor, and like the best fantasy fiction, it entertains, enlightens, and challenges readers, hooking you with its compelling lead and breakneck pace, leaving you eager for the next installment and loathe to leave its world behind, even briefly. I LOVE this story and am so happy to experience this richly rewarding journey. The Hero's Lot is a hero's tale, worthily, magnificently told.

About the book:

With the king near death, will the kingdom fall?

When Sarin Valon, the corrupt and dangerous church leader, flees the city of Erinon and the kingdom, Errol Stone believes his troubles have at last ended. But he and his friends still have dangerous enemies working against them in secrets and whispers.

In a bid to keep them from the axe, Archbenefice Canon sends Martin and Luis to Errol's home village, Callowford, to discover what makes him so important to the kingdom, and in that journey they discover amazing new secrets about the workings of Aurae.

Back in Erinon, Errol is unjustly accused of consorting with spirits. Convicted, his punishment is a journey to the enemy kingdom of Merakh, where he must find Sarin Valon and kill him. To enforce their sentence, the church leaders place Errol under a compulsion -- he must complete his task, or die trying.

Review: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Cruel Beauty
By: Rosamund Hodge
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
ASIN: B00DB365MK

Review:

Nyx Triskelion was raised to die. From childhood she's known that she was designed and trained to be the instrument of her father's vengeance against the Gentle Lord that held all of Arcadia in an iron grip -- she was not worth saving; rather, she was the necessary sacrifice. For over nine hundred years Arcadia has been isolated from the rest of the world, suffering under the rule of the Gentle Lord, a prince of demons who makes bargains with his vassals -- bargains that always exact a costly and oft-times unexpected price, as when Nyx's father begged on behalf of his wife for children, only to see his wife die in childbirth with a future forfeit to come -- a daughter given in marriage to the feared lord. As a daughter of a famed scholar and leader of the Resurgandi, an organization ostensibly founded to further Hermetic research (the study of the power of the four elements of earth, wind, air, and fire), but whose true goal was to undo the sundering and destroy the Gentle Lord, Nyx was raised as a sacrifice. Robbed of her future because of her father's folly, Nyx is tasked with destroying the Gentle Lord, knowing her life is a sure forfeit in the process.

When her seventeenth birthday arrives, Nyx is married by proxy to the Gentle Lord and deposited at the door of the crumbling castle that is his home. But her husband is not the demon she was raised to expect. Handsome and yes, even kind, with a smile that makes her heart skip a beat, rather than demand the intimacy of the marriage bed, he grants Nyx the freedom of the house. And most shockingly of all, rather than punish her for her spirit and her desire to rid the land of his presence, he seems to relish her spirit and applaud her honesty, rewarding her with a tantalizing promise -- every night she will receive the chance to guess his name. Guess correctly, and she wins her freedom -- but given the wrong answer, and she'll lose her life, joining the eight previous wives who risked it all and lost. The longer Nyx dwells in Ignifex's enchanted home, and the more she learns about the power that he wields over all of Arcadia, she begins to wonder if Ignifex is as much a captive as her, held in thrall to forces more powerful than she ever imagined. When the monster this beauty has been raised to loathe, raised to kill, begins to capture her heart, Nyx struggles between keeping her vow and freeing her people, or risking everything to save the demon lord who has captured her heart.

I must confess, what first drew me to Rosamund Hodge's debut was not the promise of a fresh re-imagining of Beauty and the Beast, one of my favorite fairy tales, but its gorgeously-designed cover. And having finished Cruel Beauty I love its cover even more, for it is the rare design that perfectly captures the spirit of the novel it represents, a pitch-perfect imagining of the essence of Hodge's darkly beautiful, twisty take on a tale as old as time. But more than a straight Beauty and the Beast re-telling, Hodge takes her story's inspiration from Greek mythology, specifically the Cupid and Psyche legend. In this respect Cruel Beauty is reminiscent of C.S. Lewis's classic Till We Have Faces, which told the Cupid and Psyche tale through the lens of Psyche's embittered older sister, Orual. Hodge skilfully blends the tropes of both tales, bringing her own unique and enthralling vision to life on the page.

This may sound strange, but what I think I loved most about this story is just how angry Nyx is throughout, struggling to reconcile her fate with her own thwarted desires, disappointments, and family betrayals. There is something so refreshingly honest in having a "Beauty" who resents her role as the family's savior, who struggles with the uglier aspects of her personality, sure that the fact of their very existence precludes her from any happy ending of her own, even as she rails against those that demand she sacrifice everything. But even as Nyx struggles to reconcile the light and dark facets of her own personality, in her husband's household she is drawn to the cunning and handsome Ignifex and the sacrificial and kind Shade, her husband's shadow that shares his form but appears to be the complete opposite of his personality. In being drawn to both men -- sure she isn't worthy of Shade, and just as sure she is worthy of being damned for wanting Ignifex's kisses.

Nyx embodies the struggle of being vulnerable enough to love and be loved, of grappling with selflessness, and of buying into the lie that one's own failings can preclude even the possibility of love and acceptance -- but the possibility is tantalizing, as Nyx beautifully states, wanting to "lose myself in the embrace of the one person who had ever seen my heart and claimed to love me after." Cruel Beauty is a gorgeous rendering of the redemptive power of sacrificial love, freely given, and its power to utterly transform the lives of both the giver and receiver. Only when all seems lost do Nyx and Ignifex learn the power of "a handful of kindess," of grace freely given. Only then does a beauty's heart save a beast, but here the beast's heart saves the beauty as well, and that beautifully illustrated reciprocity elevates Hodge's debut from something ordinary to the sublime.

With her stunning debut Hodge delivers a thought-provoking, lushly-realized fantasy, a gorgeous re-telling of a classic, perfect for fans of Robin McKinley's prose. Pacing-wise the beginning of the novel felt a bit sluggish, as the copious amounts of information necessary to understand the mechanics of Nyx's world are revealed, but that issue is quickly overcome as I found myself lost in Hodge's opulent world-building, rich prose, and heartfelt characterizations. Cruel Beauty is a novel to savor and marks Hodge as an author to watch, and I for one cannot wait to see which tale she brings to life, stamped with her unique vision, next!

About the book:

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom—all because of a reckless bargain her father struck. And since birth, she has been training to kill him.

Betrayed by her family yet bound to obey, Nyx rails against her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, she abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, disarm him, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle—a shifting maze of magical rooms—enthralls her. As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. But even if she can bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him?

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Emma Approved returns!

After a brief hiatus the web series Emma Approved returned with a new episode today and I couldn't be happier:



If you haven't tried this series inspired by Jane Austen's Emma, you can start from the beginning HERE.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - new trailer!

Last night during the Super Bowl, Captain America: The Winter Soldier got a new trailer -- and it looks AMAZING;



Bring on April, that's all I'm gonna say. :)

Review: Something Borrowed by Richelle Mead

Something Borrowed (Doctor Who 50th Anniversary #6)
By: Richelle Mead
Publisher: Puffin
ASIN: B00AWJYKPK

Review:

Something Borrowed, the sixth entry in Puffin's series of short stories celebrating Doctor Who's 50th anniversary, features the sixth Doctor attending -- as the title suggests -- a wedding. But not just any wedding -- one occurring in the Koturia alien equivalent of Las Vegas (and given the sixth Doctor is known for his wildly colorful clothing choices, one can only assume he'd fit right in *wink*). Along with his long-time human companion Peri (as played on the show by Nicola Bryant over the course of thirty-three Fifth and Sixth Doctor episodes), Six (played by Colin Baker) arrive on Koturia ostensibly to attend a friend's wedding, but find the city under veritable siege by bloodthirsty pterodactyls. In the midst of this chaotic atmosphere, the Doctor begins to suspect something is awry with the identity of the bride, and he and Peri are in a race against time to prevent this would-be dream wedding from becoming an unforgettable nightmare.

Mead elects to have Peri narrate this story, and the first-person narrative from the companion's point-of-view was in this case immediately off-putting as I felt it prevented me from getting a sense of Six's character until the story was almost finished. Though not overly familiar with Peri's on-screen characterization, I thought Mead did a creditable job capturing a no-nonsense American attitude that seems to fit with what I've read about the character -- smart, willing to learn, and able to stand up for herself. The Sixth Doctor's personality is sadly shadowed until nearly the end of this slim story, when Mead finally manages to relate the volatility and arguably egotistical confidence that characterized his tenure.

I was quite impressed with Mead's world-building here and the manner in which she adapted colorful Las Vegas stereotypes to her alien civilization. And her utilization of the Rani, a rogue female Time Lord, was an unexpected and welcome surprise. This *felt* like it had all the makings of a very solid episodic adventure, but for me its potential remained largely unrealized. Between the narrative choice and the somewhat flat characterization of Six, I was never invested in this short story as was the case in previous installments. There is SO much potential here, and fun nods to Six's canon (like the Chameleon Circuit, and a Gallifreyan female villain), but simply not enough time in which to bring all of the elements to a wholly satisfying conclusion. A fantastic premise, and revealing a great imagination, but Something Borrowed just didn't work for me quite as well as some of the previous Who short stories I've read. However, I suspect there is much more avid fans of Six's tenure than I will be able to appreciate within its pages.

About the book:

A wedding on the planet Koturia turns out to be a far more dangerous proposition than the Sixth Doctor and Peri ever expected. It marks the return of a formidable old foe whose genius matches the Doctor's. Can the Doctor outwit this villain, save Peri and stop the wedding in time?

American fantasy author Richelle Mead puts her own twist on the Doctor's amazing adventures through time and space.