One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

I am part of the generation born after the second wave of the feminist movement. I have an extreme amount of pride for my generation. We have achievements and opportunities that our grandmothers and great grandmothers would have not even considered.  But as I pointed out in my post about International Women’s Day, we still have a long way to do. For every one step we have made going forward, we have gone back two steps.

Case in point, two movie trailers:

The first, for the upcoming movie reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Back in the day, TMNT was one of the best cartoons on television. To this day, I can still sing the theme song.  April, the female lead, was strong, independent and part of the group. No different than her mutant male counterparts.

In this trailer, April, played by Megan Fox, upon meeting two of the turtles, appears to faint.

Not cool.

The second movie trailer is the sequel to Captain America. Returning to role of The Black Widow is Scarlett Johansson.  The Avengers was one of the best super hero movies of recent memory. A huge plus for the movie was that the Black Widow was just simply one of the Avengers. She was not a love interest, she was not a damsel in distress.  She had no problems taking care of herself.

In this trailer, for reasons that will be revealed when the movie opens in theaters next weekend, The Black Widow is unconscious and has to be carried to safety by Captain America.

I had hoped that by 2014, the movie industry would not still be writing females as fainting and unconscious damsels in distress who must be carried away by the male hero.

One step forward, two steps back.

 

 

 

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Juliet, A Rose Who Still Smells Just As Sweet

Romeo and Juliet is familiar tale. Anyone who has sat through High School English has read it at least once. Ask anyone off the street to quote a line from a Shakespeare play, a line from Romeo and Juliet will probably be the first line they quote.

One of my previous posts was a review of Anne Fortier’s new novel, The Lost Sisterhood. Out of curiosity, I decided to read her previous novel, Juliet.

Julie Jacobs lost both of her parents when she was a young girl. She and her sister, Janice were raised by their Aunt Rose.  At the beginning of the novel, her aunt has died. Julie’s inheritance is a key to a safe deposit box in Siena, Italy. She is told that the contents of the safe deposit box will guide her to a centuries old family treasure. Arriving in Siena, Julie discovers that not only is her birth name Guilietta Tolomei, but she is descended from a woman who was the real life inspiration to the title female character in Romeo and Juliet.

I liked this book more than I did the Lost Sisterhood.  It contains the same elements, an ancient mystery and lives centuries apart that are somehow intertwined.  Ms. Fortier repeats the use of flashback and flash forwards to tell the story of medieval and modern Guilietta. I have never been to Siena, but I felt like I was there with the characters.  It’s a bit shorter than her newest novel, which for me made a big difference. I recommend it.

Noah, The Flood That Did Could Have Been

The story of Noah is familiar one. Noah was told by G-d that he was going to create a flood to rid the world of those who had sinned. But Noah and his family would be saved by building an ark which would hold the world’s animals. After some time floating on the endless ocean, a dove was sent to Noah, a sign that that would waters would recede and land would soon be found.

Biblical epics have been a staple of Hollywood storytelling since it’s early days.   Transferring the story of Noah from the pages of the Bible to big screen would have happened eventually.

Directed by Darren Aronofsky,  co written by Aronosky and Ari Handel, Noah (Russell Crowe) is the descendant of Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve. He and his wife Naamah (Jennifer Connelly) have three sons. Shem (played as an adult by Douglas Booth), Ham (played by as an adult by Logan Lerman) and Japheth (played by as an adolescent by Leo McHugh Caroll). When Noah is given a message by G-d that the  flood is coming, he seeks out his grandfather, Methusaleh (Anthony Hopkins), for guidance.  During their journey, they find Ila, a orphan (played by as an adult by Emma Watson) who becomes their adopted daughter and the Watchers, fallen angels who become their helpers in building the ark.  But trouble comes in the form of Tubal-cain (Ray Winstone), a self proclaimed king who wants the ark for himself.

When making a biblical movie, Hollywood will inevitably come up against two barriers: the first being that the movie will never be universally approved, there will always be criticism. The second is that biblical characters, like mythical characters are often larger than life. We, as the audience know their story, but we do not know them as human beings, which allows the filmmakers creative license. That creative license may create controversy when a religious movie goer may disapprove of on screen depiction of the story and the characters.

One of the best elements of the movie was the strong female characters. With a rare exception, most of the women in the Bible referred to as the wife of ______ or the daughter of _______. She is not named, nor are we told anything about her other than she is someone’s wife or daughter. Naamah and Ila are both very strong and capable female characters, they are equal to the men as integral parts of the story.

The movie build up a steady pace up to the flood and then the problems start. The third act of the movie, when they are stuck on the ark, I had problems with. Frankly, that part of the movie could have been shorter, shortening the entire movie. Noah is not a bad movie,  but if I were the screen writer, I would written the third act differently.

The Lost Sisterhood- I Got Lost Along The Way

The Amazons are part of the ancient myths that comes down to us from the ancient Greeks and Romans.  According to the myth, they were a tribe of warrior women who cut off one breast so they would not be impeded as they shot their arrows.

In her new book, The Lost Sisterhood, Anne Fortier interweaves two stories.

Diana Morgan is an academic from Oxford University in England, her specialty is the Amazons. Ms. Fortier brings the reader into three different time periods: present day and Diana’s childhood with a grandmother who is either suffering from mental illness or reliving a past life as an Amazon. The third time period is ancient North Africa, where Myrina and Lilli’s mother has just been killed. They make their way to temple of the Moon Goddess. When Greek pirates raid the temple and kidnap several of Myrina’s sisters, she embarks on a quest to rescue them, not knowing that they will be part of the Trojan War.

A mysterious and wealthy benefactor offers to fund Diana’s research about the Amazons. Finding a buried tomb, Diana discovers  that Myrina was once the Queen Of The Amazons. Her journey takes her through the Middle East and Europe. Traveling with Diana is Nick Barran, a man whose name and loyalties seem to be questionable. Adding to the quest to discover who Myrina is and what her story was, she is confronted by those who do not want to her to continue on her journey.

The book is long, nearly 600 pages long. It’s not a bad book, but the meat of the book is in the final third of the story. In trying to mingle academic fact, myth and fiction, the book is almost too long.  I could have done without some of the traveling.   Would I recommend this book? Maybe, if I was going on a long trip and needed a book to keep me occupied.

The Friendly Jane Austen- Friendly Indeed

To those of her time, Jane Austen seemed to have lived an unremarkable life. She was the youngest daughter of a country rector. She never married or had children. During her lifetime, her books were published anonymously as “A Lady”.  Northanger Abbey, her first completed novel and Persuasion, her last completed novel, were published posthumously.

Why is it that a woman seemed to have lived an unremarkable life during her own time period, is still discussed and debated nearly 200 years after her death? Natalie Tyler’s 1999 book, The Friendly Jane Austen answers this question.

Through interviews with academics, writers and performers who have acted in the various adaptions, Ms. Tyler makes Jane Austen as vibrant and alive as she was 200 years ago.

I bought this book at a used book store. I didn’t expect to find it, but it was too tempting to not purchase.

I loved this book. Some Jane Austen related books are written only for the Janeite fan community, an newbie or an outsider might find those books to be boring and unreadable. But not this book. The interviewees include writer Fay Weldon and actress Harriet Walter (Fanny Dashwood in the 1995 Sense and Sensibility). This book is for everyone, whether they be a newbie or a long time Janeite or anyone who is curious about her novels.

My favorite part of the novel was the quizzes. Ms. Tyler creates multiple quizzes, asking the reader what type of Jane they might be and asking them to guess the quotes from the various novels.

I highly recommend this book.

 

 

 

Anne De Bourgh and Anne Elliot: Depression In Jane Austen’s Fiction

Anne De Bourgh and Anne Elliot: Depression In Jane Austen’s Fiction

It is a truth universally acknowledged that any reader who opens the pages of Jane Austen’s novels will find characters with traits that we, as modern readers are still able to relate to after 200 years. This not only applies to the main protagonists of the novels, but also to their parents.

Any reader familiar with Austen’s writing will note that the parental figures with her novels are often flawed. Perhaps it is because the majority of her heroines are between the ages of 17 and 21, when we are figuring out who we are as individuals, separate from the identities cultivated within our families.

The genesis of my theory comes from two separate breakout sessions from the 2013 JASNA Minneapolis AGM. The first session,  concentrated on how Jane Austen’s relationship with her father influenced the relationship between Elizabeth Bennet and her father, Mr. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. The second session inquired as to what was the cause of the ill health of Anne De Bourgh, also from Pride and Prejudice.

The best of these parents are Mr. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and Mrs. Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility. Despite their own personal failings, both have tried to raise their daughters as best they could.  The worst of these parent are Sir Walter Elliot in Persuasion and Lady Catherine De Bourgh in Pride and Prejudice. Austen seems to have cut both characters from the same cloth.

The focus of my thesis is of the mistreatment of Anne Elliott and Anne DeBourgh by their respective parents and how that mistreatment leads to depression.

The symptoms of depression include: *Low or irritable mood most of the time, a loss of pleasure in usual activities, trouble sleeping or sleeping too much, a big change in appetite, often with weight gain or loss, Tiredness and lack of energy, feelings of worthlessness, self-hate, and guilt, difficulty concentrating, slow or fast movements, lack of activity and avoiding usual activities, feeling hopeless or helpless and repeated thoughts of death or suicide.

Both Sir Walter Elliot and Lady Catherine De Bourgh are of aristocratic backgrounds, single parents, overconfident and outspoken, almost to the point of bullying everyone around them. While their daughters were provided with the material comforts of life, they were not provided with self esteem and self respect. Self esteem and self respect, I believe are as important, if not more important than material comforts.

In Volume 1, Chapter 1, Austen describes Sir Walter as the following:

*“His good looks and his rank had one fair claim on his attachment; since to them he must have owed a wife of very superior character to any thing deserved by his own. Lady Elliot had been an excellent woman, sensible and amiable; whose judgement and conduct, if they might be pardoned the youthful infatuation which made her Lady Elliot, had never required indulgence afterwards.–She had humoured, or softened, or concealed his failings, and promoted his real respectability for seventeen years; and though not the very happiest being in the world herself, had found enough in her duties, her friends, and her children, to attach her to life, and make it no matter of indifference to her when she was called on to quit them.–Three girls, the two eldest sixteen and fourteen, was an awful legacy for a mother to bequeath; an awful charge rather, to confide to the authority and guidance of a conceited, silly father.”

Within the first chapter of the novel, Austen uses only two words to describe Sir Walter’s opinion of his middle daughter “only Anne”.  These words set the stage for the person who Anne is when we meet at the beginning of the novel. Her mother is dead and her father clearly prefers his eldest daughter.

Sir Walter places little value in his younger daughters, Anne and Mary. Anne’s only support comes from her mother’s close friend, Lady Russell, who despite her good intentions sees the world from the same point of view as Sir Walter.

In her book, The Glass Slipper: Women And Love Stories, Susan Ostrov Weisser tells us the following about Lady Russell “In Persuasion, the heroine, Anne Elliott, must choose between her desire for her lover and a tradition order of moral rules that govern a woman’s life, including respect for and obedience to authority, represented by Lady Russell”. In short, Anne is a good girl and follows the rules that have been taught since childhood. By following these rules, she is going against her own desires and needs. She is clearly suffering from low self esteem and guilt, having learned that is easier to submit to other needs and desires than to speak up for herself.

Anne seems to be very much her mother’s child, based on the little bit of information we have of the late Lady Elliott. Loosing a parent at any age is difficult. But to loose a parent at a tender age and left with a father who chooses not to emotionally engage himself in his daughter’s lives sets the stage for an unhappy adolescence and an unhappy adulthood.

Lady Russell may have been the one who convinced Anne to break her engagement with Captain Wenworth, but I believe it Sir Walter who Anne is trying to please by breaking her engagement. Depressed and not yet confident in her own decision making, Anne gives up the man that she loves to please a father who will never be pleased.

In Pride and Prejudice, Lady Catherine De Bourgh and her daughter, Anne is often spoken by Mr. Collins, but we do not meet them until Volume II, Chapter 6.

Lady Catherine is described as

*“A tall, large woman, with strongly-marked features, which might once have been handsome. Her air was not conciliating, nor was her manner of receiving them such as to make her visitors forget their inferior rank. She was not rendered formidable by silence; but whatever she said was spoken in so authoritative a tone as marked her self-importance, and brought Mr. Wickham immediately to Elizabeth’s mind; and from the observation of the day altogether, she believed Lady Catherine to be exactly what he had represented.”

Anne De Bourgh is described as:

*“She could almost have joined in Maria’s astonishment at her being so thin, and so small. There was neither in figure nor face any likeness between the ladies. Miss De Bourgh was pale and sickly; her features, though not plain, were insignificant; and she spoke very little, except in a low voice to Mrs. Jenkinson, in whose appearance there was nothing remarkable, and who was entirely engaged in listening to what she said, and placing a screen in the proper direction before her eyes.”

We know that Lady Catherine is the daughter of an Earl; her sister was the late mother of the novel’s leading man, Fitzwilliam Darcy. She is a widow, her husband, Sir Lewis De Bourgh, has been dead for an unknown number of years. Austen does not provide her readers with any details about Sir Lewis or his relationship with his wife and daughter.

Based upon what little information we have about Sir Lewis, I believe there are one of two theories about Sir Lewis and his relationship with his daughter. The first is that he learned early in his marriage to acquiesce to his wife’s demands. His daughter also learned at an early age that it was simply easier to let her mother get her way, rather than speak up for her own needs.

The second theory is that Sir Lewis was his daughter’s companion and protector. When he died, his daughter lost the emotional support she did not receive from her mother. In her novel Mr. Darcy’s Diary, Amanda Grange illustrates this possibility

“Poor Caesar. I had forgotten about Anne’s exploits. She was much more lively as a child, when her health was good” I remarked.

“And when she has Sir Lewis to defend her”.

Sir Lewis had always been fond of Anne, and she in turn had been fond of her father. It had been a sad blow to her when she died.”

Anne De Bourgh, like Anne Eliott suffers from depression. Her symptoms include loss of pleasure in usual activities and a big change in appetite, often with weight gain or loss. Her appearance, in addition to her silence in the novel, to me, are indicative of a woman that learned long ago that it was better to be silent rather than arouse her mother’s temper.

Jane Austen was a writer ahead of her time. She was also an observer of her fellow human beings, noting both their strengths and their weaknesses. Of the two Anne’s, only Anne Eliott is able to break from her depression, build up her confidence and trust herself to make her own decisions. Anne De Bourgh, we are told at the end of Pride and Prejudice remains as she is when we meet her at Rosings half way through the book.

Could it be coincidence that she named two of her characters, Anne, both who suffer from depression and live with parents who are unable to provide their daughters with the necessary emotional support? Or has Austen discovered that the secret to raising children who will become successful adults is to teach their children self respect and self esteem?

*-Medline Plus-http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003213.htm

*-Italics notes text from the novel and supporting information. All text from the original novels are from www.austen.com

* Mr. Darcy’s Diary, by Amanda Grange

*-The Glass Slipper: Women And Love Stories, by Susan Ostrov Weisser.

In Defense Of Fanny Price and Edward Ferrars

It is a truth universally acknowledged certain characters with the universe that is the fiction of Jane Austen are more popular than others. Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy will always be the alpha female and alpha male of the Jane Austen Universe. That means with every world that contains the alpha male and alpha female, there inevitably be those characters who are least liked and always a subject for vigorous debate.

Two of these characters are Fanny Price, of Mansfield Park and Edward Ferrars, Of Sense And Sensibility.  Both, I believe are under appreciated. If I may, I would like to explain why each of these characters deserve more respect than they get.

Fanny Price

The first paragraph of Mansfield Park introduces the reader to the Miss Wards. The eldest, Miss Maria Ward, married Sir Thomas Betram and upon marriage, became a baronet’s wife. The second Miss Ward, married Rev. Mr. Morris, a friend of her brother-in-law. The youngest Miss Ward, Miss Frances broke from her family and married a Lieutenant from the Marines.  This man was everything her brother in law was not; he was without education, wealth or connections. From this union, our heroine, Fanny Price is born. At the age of ten, she is taken from her family to Mansfield Park, where her wealthy Aunt and Uncle live.

Fanny grows up with her Bertram cousins. She is not a servant, but she is also not a daughter of the house.  The treatment she receives, especially from her Aunt Norris is more akin to an unpaid servant than a member of the family. The novels begins to take off when Mr. Norris dies and the living associated with the parish within the park goes to Dr. Grant, until Edmund came come of age and take orders.  Arriving with Dr. Grant is his wife and her younger siblings, Henry and Mary Crawford.

The complaints about Fanny are that she is weak, physically and emotionally, in addition to always being right.  Some might say she is priggish.

But I argue that despite these drawbacks, she has qualities that I believe are overlooked: a backbone and a sense of self that guides her even when she is told that she is wrong.

“You are mistaken, Sir,”—cried Fanny, forced by the anxiety of the moment even to tell her uncle that he was wrong—”You are quite mistaken. How could Mr. Crawford say such a thing? I gave him no encouragement yesterday—On the contrary, I told him—I cannot recollect my exact words—but I am sure I told him that I would not listen to him, that it was very unpleasant to me in every respect, and that I begged him never to talk to me in that manner again.—I am sure I said as much as that and more; and I should have said still more,—if I had been quite certain of his meaning any thing seriously, but I did not like to be—I could not bear to be—imputing more than might be intended. I thought it might all pass for nothing with him.”

She could say no more; her breath was almost gone.

“Am I to understand,” said Sir Thomas, after a few moments silence, “that you mean to refuse Mr. Crawford?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Refuse him?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Refuse Mr. Crawford! Upon what plea? For what reason?”

“I—I cannot like him, Sir, well enough to marry him.”

“This is very strange!” said Sir Thomas, in a voice of calm displeasure. “There is something in this which my comprehension does not reach. Here is a young man wishing to pay his addresses to you, with every thing to recommend him; not merely situation in life, fortune, and character, but with more than common agreeableness, with address and conversation pleasing to every body. And he is not an acquaintance of to-day, you have now known him some time. His sister, moreover, is your intimate friend, and he has been doing that for your brother, which I should suppose would have been almost sufficient recommendation to you, had there been no other. It is very uncertain when my interest might have got William on. He has done it already.”

“Yes,” said Fanny, in a faint voice, and looking down with fresh shame; and she did feel almost ashamed of herself, after such a picture as her uncle had drawn, for not liking Mr. Crawford.

“You must have been aware,” continued Sir Thomas, presently, “you must have been some time aware of a particularity in Mr. Crawford’s manners to you. This cannot have taken you by surprise. You must have observed his attentions; and though you always received them very properly, (I have no accusation to make on that head,) I never perceived them to be unpleasant to you. I am half inclined to think, Fanny, that you do not quite know your own feelings.”

“Oh! yes, Sir, indeed I do. His attentions were always—what I did not like.”

Fanny is aware that Henry Crawford flirted with Mariah and Julia, knowing full that Mariah is engaged. She is also aware that becoming Mrs. Crawford would elevate herself and her family out of poverty.

The intuition is finally respected when Mariah, now married, runs off with Mr. Crawford, threatening to ruin the entire family.

Fanny is not perfect, but she respects and follows her own intuition.

I’m going to end my argument with the following:

“We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we attend to it, than any other person can be“.

On a similar note, Mansfield Park is the subject of this year’s JASNA AGM in Montreal, Canada. I suspect there will be many heated discussions that weekend.

Edward Ferrars

Sense and Sensibility begins with the death of Henry Dashwood. The law of the land was primogeniture, meaning the eldest son inherited everything, except for what was specifically left for the younger children. Henry Dashwood married twice, producing four children. His son and heir, John was born to his late first wife and his daughter’s, Elinor, Marianne and Margaret were born to his second wife. John and his wife take over Norland Park and force his step mother and step sisters to vacate their home.

But not before the younger Mrs. Dashwood invites her brother, Edward Ferrars to visit. Edward and Elinor have an immediate connection, but it is broken when Elinor, with her mother and sisters leave Norland Park for their new home in Barton Park.  Edward wears a ring with lock of hair, which he says belongs to his sister. A third of a way into to the novel, we are introduced to the Steele sisters. Miss Lucy Steele, tells Elinor in confidence that she knows of her in laws because she has been secretly engaged to Edward Ferrars, her uncle’s former student for several years. At the end of novel (spoiler alert for those who have not read it), Edward losses his fortune to his brother when his mother finds out about the secret engagement. Lucy does become Mrs. Ferrars, but she becomes Mrs. Robert Ferrars.

Edward Ferrars is not Fitzwilliam Darcy, Captain Wentworth or even his future brother in law, Colonel Brandon.  But he is loyal. He is loyal to Lucy Steele, who is basically a gold digger.  Unlike some of the other Austen leading men, he doesn’t need much a live on. His professional goal is to join the clergy. He doesn’t need a large estate or a house in town. He want’s a parish to run and a home. My favorite thing about Edward is that even though he is engaged to Lucy through most of the story, he is faithful to Elinor.

In short, Edward and Fanny may not be perfect, but they deserve our respect.

*Italics notes original text

A Dolls House- A Timeless Masterpeice

It is a truth universally acknowledged that certain stories are meant to live forever, re-visited and introduced again and again to audiences.

Such is Henrik Ibsen’s masterpiece, A Doll’s House, presently at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music until March 23rd.

Nora and Torvald Helmer (Hattie Morahan and Dominic Rowan, Elinor Dashwood in the 2008 Sense and Sensibility and Mr. Elton in the 1996 Kate Beckinsale Emma, for my fellow Janeites) have been married for nine years.  The play opens just before Christmas, Torvald is waiting for a promotion to bank manager, which will mean a raise. His wife, Nora, appears to be flighty and somewhat dimwitted.

The arrival of Nora’s childhood friend, Kristine Linde (Caroline Martin) reveals that Nora is much more than she appears.  Early into her marriage, Torvald became sick.  Following doctors orders, they traveled to Italy where the warm weather was recommended to improve Torvald’s health. Unbeknownst to her husband, Nora took out a loan which she is secretly paying off and has not told him. One of her husband’s employees, Nils Krogstad (Nick Fletcher) knows that he will be out for a job very soon and tries to use the unpaid loan to get his job back.

This play is amazing. Morahan is perfect for Nora and Rowan is equally as perfect as Torvald.  The tension is there from the moment that it starts. The audience knows Nora’s secret and we all know that it will only be a matter of time before Torvald finds out. The slamming of the door at the final moments of play reverberated throughout the theater.

I’ve heard of this play, but I’ve never seen it.  I hope to see it next time it comes my way.

International Women’s Day

Today is International Women’s Day.

When I think about how far we have come from where were only two generations ago is amazing.

My grandmother’s generation, like their mothers and grandmothers before them, were solely expected to marry and raise a family. If they were educated, their education was minimal and unimportant compared to their brothers. A career was out of the question.

Thankfully, things have changed. But that change did not come easily. My generation has a lot to be grateful for. Our mother’s and grandmothers have paved the way for us. Without their tireless work, we would be stuck in the same life cycle as our ancestors.

But we have a long way to go.  There are still goals that have yet to be reached.

• Equal pay for equal work
• Stories of women being raped, both here at home and abroad continue to dominate the news.
• Teaching our daughters respect for themselves, teaching our sons to respect the women in their lives
• Ensuring that all women are guaranteed educational and career opportunities
• Providing women, with and without children, a reasonable living wage to care for themselves and their loved ones

The list goes on and on. Our foremothers started on this path generations ago, it’s up to us to continue on this path.

I’m going to end this post with a quote from one of my favorite writers and a true hero in every sense of the word.

“If men could see us as we really are, they would be a little amazed; but the cleverest, the acutest men are often under an illusion about women: they do not read them in a true light: they misapprehend them, both for good and evil: their good woman is a queer thing, half doll, half angel; their bad woman almost always a fiend.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Shirley

 

 

 

Downton Abbey, Series 5

Dear Julian Fellows

I am aware, like many within the Downton Abbey Fandom, that filming of series 5 has already commenced.

No one is perfect and no writer is perfect. Every television series has at least one episode or  plot line where the viewer is questioning the  judgement of the writer or writers.

From one writer to another, I would like to make a few suggestions for the fifth series.

1. Baby Bates.  Between John in prison in the third series and Anna’s rape in the fourth series, they deserve a little happiness.
2. Fire Thomas. Yes, we all know that he took a beating for Jimmy and was nearly fired without a recommendation at the end of the third series for kissing Jimmy, but he has apparently forgotten those who showed him kindness at his hour of need.
3. Tell us what secret Baxter has that Thomas is alluding to. And let her hook up with Molesley.
4. Allow Edith to win at something. Career, romantic relationship, something.  We all know that the scrapes in life make us stronger, but she deserves to win for once.
5. Give Daisy a boyfriend. After Thomas, William and Alfred, she deserves a little love in her life.
6. Show us the Crawley grandchildren. Granted, the UK may have similar laws that the US has in regards to child actors, but it would be nice to see Sybbie, George and Edith’s unnamed daughter.
7. Let Mary be single for a while. It’s not like she needs a man to provide for her or give her a home.  She has a home and an income.  She also has a son to raise and an estate to run. It’s not like she is sleeping until noon and eating bon bons all day.
8. Answer the will they or won’t they between Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes. I’m not a Charles Carson and Elsie Hughes shipper, but I’m sure the final moments of the 4th series gave those who are a little hope.

Sincerely

A Downton Abbey Fan