Downton Abbey

Advertised as a 4 part Masterpiece Series on PBS, "Downton Abbey" set its hooks quickly into the flesh of our family and we gladly accepted being reeled ashore, knowing that resolve would come in the 4th and final episode. The highly anticipated 4th episode aired last night. When the final scene was coming to an end, my  wife and I began to realized that every relationship and event was in a disastrous web of loose ends and there wasn't enough time to pull it all together. Then the camera froze upon the lead character who just announced to the lawn party that England was at war with Germany. Stunned silence. Shock. Rage. Ungracious words. And this not from the elite English guests, but from Robin and I !!!

Oh, and we're supposed to find joy in the 6pt type, sheepishly sneaking across the screen announcing that PBS was working on the continuing episodes? Are you kidding me?

I think that the series should have been advertised as an incomplete 4 part series — that way none of us would have wasted our time and emotions and even allowed ourselves to be sucked into a 4 week, 6 hour ordeal with no resolve.

To try and quantify the emotional level I've devised a simple 1-10 scale most can identify with:

Sorrow for New Orleans after Katrina:  7 (personally I would never build below sea level)
Sorrow for HaitI:  8
The concern for Cairo:  4
Outrage over Downton Abbey:  9.5

I know this paints me as shallow and that my affections are imbalanced. I may normalize when the miff wears off...