War comes to "Downton Abbey" in Season 2 of the juicy British soap opera about the Crawley family and their servants. For a while, money and love even have to take a back seat to life and death.
Setting a drama in England in the first decades of the 20th century means that war — the Great War, the devastating five-year conflict that killed more than 1 million British soldiers and wounded twice that many — is looming. And in the Season 1 finale, it arrived, as Robert, Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville), delivered the news that "we are at war!" to garden-party guests at his palatial Yorkshire estate.
As the eagerly awaited new season opens two years later, in 1916, some favorite characters are fighting in the trenches. For the Crawley family, which struggled in Season 1 to find a male heir who would keep the estate together, war also means change on the home front. And for a household still reeling from the arrival of the telephone, change doesn't come easily.
Fans won't mind seeing the struggle, though, as the war puts some characters in direct jeopardy, while heightened emotions lead others to reconsider the paths their lives are taking.
Proving that costume drama isn't just for stuffy Anglophiles, "Downton Abbey" drew 13 million viewers and helped to increase "Masterpiece" ratings by 43 percent when it came to PBS last January as a "Masterpiece Classic" entry. The drama, written primarily by Julian Fellowes, was already a hit in Britain, but even Rebecca Eaton, the longtime "Masterpiece" executive producer, didn't have especially high expectations for a period drama like many "Masterpiece" has aired in its 40-year history.
But "Downton Abbey" captured attention and created buzz. Between seasons, Eaton gushed to TV critics, "We have a hit!" Since the first season concluded, many more viewers have caught up online or on DVD, and anticipation is high for Season 2, which aired last fall in Britain.
What makes "Downton Abbey" special? One selling point with viewers is its pacing, which races through seven years of story lines in its first two seasons.
Another is Fellowes' distinctly modern spin on some of the conventions of the genre, including a running, tongue-in-cheek bit in which anyone spilling a secret finds that, inevitably, someone is listening.
But the standard themes of money, love and — especially — class are the engines that keep "Downton Abbey" purring. The basic plot was built on an obscure point of British inheritance law called the "entail," which required that an estate be kept together and passed down to a male heir.
Estates the size of Downton are expensive to run, and aristocrats like Grantham turned to America for wealthy wives. But when the Earl married heiress Cora (Elizabeth McGovern), her fortune became entailed, or locked up, along with his.
Not allowed to inherit, their three daughters have issues of their own, especially Mary (Michelle Dockery), who feels constrained to marry well — ideally, to the heir, a third cousin named Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens).
The up-and-down relationship of Mary and Matthew is pivotal to "Downton Abbey," but the servants have stories, too, especially Bates (Brendan Coyle), the Earl's valet, a Boer War veteran with a limp and a secret past. Many of the plot points are remarkably similar to those in the long-running "Upstairs, Downstairs," except with a country setting and no dawdling over details.
The only major criticism of "Downton Abbey" has been the way some plot points are seemingly short-circuited, introduced and then dropped without satisfactory resolution. Meticulous viewers may find that even more the case in Season 2, as when one character to whom several episodes could have been devoted just up and disappears.
But Season 2 is satisfying for its characters' growth, as some discover a conscience, others find love (or lose it), and still others, especially the women, find that they can stand up for themselves.
Ending with an episode that is set in 1919-20 and aired in England as a Christmas special, "Downton Abbey" doesn't resolve every story line. Luckily, the 10-episode Season 3 starts shooting next month.
'Downton Abbey'
When • 8 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 19. Repeats air at 2 a.m. Tuesdays and 9 p.m. Thursdays.
Where • PBS (Channel 9)
More info • pbs.org/downtonabbey
