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A pop culture, beauty, Film and TV podcast for people who are passionate about all the things you and your besties are discussing in the group chat!
Hello, and welcome back to the Pretty Passionate podcast. I missed you guys. I'm your host, doctor Ruth. Today, we are once again getting back into our favorite group chat, diving into topics that we're passionate about. I'm especially excited because I didn't get to put out an episode last week.
Dr. Ruth:Obviously, crazy weeks happen to me routinely, but I was actually also traveling for this crazy week. And it would have been really hard traveling with the two kids alone to bring all of my camera equipment because I kinda have to focus on bringing all of their stuff when it's just me with the kids. So all of my little travel studio essentials kinda had to stay behind so I could take our little trip to see my family. We were meeting everyone up in Maryland. This week, we're really focusing on Downton Abbey.
Dr. Ruth:Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. In case you forgot, I mentioned it a few weeks ago that the third and seemingly final installment in the Downton Abbey series, This one's called the grand finale that premiered this past weekend, and so I was present and accounted for.
Dr. Ruth:You know I was not gonna let the weekend go by without seeing this movie. And so just FYI, right off the top, there's gonna be spoilers, but I'm gonna leave that towards the end of the podcast so that, you can hang out and catch up on, some other stuff with us first. As I mentioned, I was in Maryland, with my kids for the weekend. We were visiting family and attending a birthday party, and it was glorious. The weather cooperated.
Dr. Ruth:The kids were fantastic on the plane. Listen. Two plane rides ago, I was traumatized. My son threw such a fit, and it was like a normal, like, toddler behavior fit around his nap time, around lunchtime. Here we are on the plane.
Dr. Ruth:I thought that might actually be a good thing. Then came the dispute for who gets the window seat. Silly me. I did think to presettle this between my two kids in advance to avoid this kind of thing. So because she's quicker than him, my daughter gets to the window seat on the way back.
Dr. Ruth:Yeah. It was a total meltdown scenario that is like the stuff in movies and, like, nightmares. I was embarrassed even though I know I had nothing technically to be embarrassed about. But, thankfully, there were some really kind people on board who just kinda either gave me a look and a nod, like, it's okay. Or there was an older couple walking by because we were still boarding during this fiasco, and they this older gentleman, he reached out and put a hand on my shoulder.
Dr. Ruth:He was like, you're doing a great job, mommy. And, like, oh my gosh. I had to hold back tears because he was so nice. But taught me some lessons taught me some lessons about traveling with littles. The biggest one of all is set expectations.
Dr. Ruth:Okay? On the outbound flight, you are getting the window seat. On the way back, you're getting the window seat. I don't wanna hear any complaints. Other things, in case you're wondering, like, you know, because traveling with small children by yourself is intimidating.
Dr. Ruth:I I made, like I put together, like, a little list of things that actually help me do this and arrive in one piece with both kids. So I always use a double stroller. My kids are six and three, and, yes, they can walk on their own. But if you've ever been through Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson Airport, then you know it's a behemoth. It's a monster.
Dr. Ruth:It's literally one of the biggest airports I've been in, and you have to use a train to get to most terminals. The walk between terminals is incredible. And to do those with little short three year old legs, no. It's not happening. You're gonna end up with that toddler on your back.
Dr. Ruth:So save yourself some trouble and use the stroller, which you can gate check. Spill proof bottles. I bring them empty and buy a water bottle on the other side and fill them up because it takes a while for the flight attendants to bring water around after everyone's boarded, yada yada, and, they start doing their in flight service. So you just wanna always have that available to your littles because flying is thirsty work. I always bring a travel scarf that opens up real big, so it's enough, like, a blanket for two small people.
Dr. Ruth:The one that I love, it's a Lululemon scarf. It's very old. I've had it for like ten years now, maybe less. I just keep that on hand. It's black, kinda goes with everything.
Dr. Ruth:Plus, if I need a shawl or a sweater or or a scarf, it's very helpful for that. Plug in slash, as in both, Bluetooth and plug in headphones. You can charge them night before, make sure that they are Bluetooth ready and already paired with any devices that you plan to use them with. If not, of course, you can also use those the headphone jack because that's what you need to plug into that infotainment. In order to be able to listen to or watch a show, you gotta be able to plug into that, like, old school jack, and I have, like, an example of so it's like this thing.
Dr. Ruth:Right? And nobody nobody's, headphone headphones come with that anymore because of our phones and how they've changed over the years. So they give you those in flight ones, but they're pretty terrible. And then the kids just complain the whole time, so always have those. And on the note of infotainment, okay, on the way out to Baltimore, our infotainment failed on our side of the plane.
Dr. Ruth:They were like, yeah, it's just not working. So, thankfully, like, I'm prepared with two devices, because there's two kids now, and, you know, we teach our kids sharing, but this is not about learning lessons right now. This is about you surviving. Okay? So bring two devices if you have two kids, okay, With some pre downloaded content, because most of the streaming services will allow you a certain number of downloads.
Dr. Ruth:There's gonna be that downloadable content that you can have already on your, your iPad or your phone or whatever, so you're not dependent on any connection. And this is also useful if, God forbid, you are delayed. Because if you're delayed, remember, you're still sitting in the terminal. And, again, our kids are pretty much device free, like, 99% of the time. But this is one situation where I save myself, and we keep all the lessons for later, and so they're allowed to have screens in those scenarios.
Dr. Ruth:And on that flight, on the way out, it came in handy. It was so clutch because I gave one phone to the other one and one phone to the other and plugged it right on in. Oh, and also have adapters for that little audio jack thing. That audio jack does not plug directly into your Android or your iPhone, so you need those little audio adapter things. I keep them in my little charger plug pouch thing.
Dr. Ruth:Yes. I said Bluetooth on the headphones, which is a great feature, but that battery life has a limited amount of time on it. So that's why I think you should always have also those alternatives. Allergy specific dry snacks, things that won't spoil or get easily crushed. I say allergy specific.
Dr. Ruth:My son is dairy intolerant. I don't wanna call it an allergy yet, but I think it's an allergy. And so you can't count on the airline to have the kind of snacks that you can eat. And, also, they're giving you these itty bitty portions. So just make sure you have something yummy that they really enjoy on hand, maybe that you take from home, pack it in a little backpack, a change of clothes, especially for the youngest.
Dr. Ruth:He's fully potty trained. He doesn't even, you know, he doesn't like wear pull ups or anything like that to school, but you never know. And even if it's not a potty accident, he might actually spill juice all over him because he did that on the way out. He spilled they give you the juice in an open container. He wanted to drink it like a big boy, and I led him, and, you know, his hand slipped, he dropped apple juice all over his leg.
Dr. Ruth:Well, having a fresh, dry pair of pants made that very Hakuna Matata. Okay. Backpacks. They love carrying backpacks to my kids. I think it makes them feel, like, very grown or something.
Dr. Ruth:So I always put coloring books with, of course, crayons, a small stuffy that they can have for comfort, and those things are basically fail safes. In the event of a really long delay, for example, and we're not able to get them to sleep or whatever, at least you have something to offer them to do because that's the thing with kids. You can tell them that boredom is great, but we're talking about your survival here, mama and papa. Not we're not raising kids during the airline flight. We are surviving.
Dr. Ruth:We're getting there in one piece. Now, congratulations to those of you whose children behave like complete angels on a flight from the age of two, and, you know, they never had any problems. My children's in flight etiquette is very much situational, and I just have to have those things on hand for my sanity. So you're welcome for those tips. And, you know, once I have those things, honestly, like, now that I'm a few flights solo flights in with them, I can say, nine out of 10, we're gonna have a smooth trip.
Dr. Ruth:No complaints. They probably won't even bother me most of the time just to let you know how peaceful it is. Mamas take my advice. Pack up those kiddos and hit the skies. We haven't done any long haul flights.
Dr. Ruth:That said, like, big asterisk. We haven't done anything more than four and a half hours. So I'll get back to you if we actually do something longer. I'll see if my little preparation kit actually works for a longer haul flight or if we needed to add some things. We're transitioning now to our hot topic for the week that I had on my list, unless you have been living under a rock, which sometimes happens.
Dr. Ruth:You've heard about the unfortunate shooting death of Charlie Kirk. He's a podcaster. I guess a political commentator. I can't really give a more a more grandiose title than that because he doesn't have, you know, a formal title as far as being a politician or anything. But to be honest, I've heard so much about this man and actually learned about him as a person I was consciously aware of, like, right after the shooting.
Dr. Ruth:Have I heard some of his more controversial takes on stuff? Yes. I I mean, being on social media, clips come up and you see things, but generally speaking, I also kinda just scroll past people saying things that I perceive to be wildly ignorant or hateful. As a black woman, it just what it it doesn't serve me to give that any view time. You know what I mean?
Dr. Ruth:My algorithms have protected me from that content until now, but based on what a few websites have shared of his greatest hits, like, phew, it's not likely that I would ever have been counted among his supporters. So this is not a political podcast. We have enough of that stuff inundating us, I feel like, on a daily basis, and not to say that those people I'm not grateful for the coverage and the explanation and the context creation that they do for important world events, but I'm not a professional journalist. So I try to keep such opinions very contextual and minimal. So I'll be brief.
Dr. Ruth:We are definitely at a point in time in our society, in our country, where truth is very subjective. There's really no such thing in a lot of people's eyes as objective, universal truth. I will only say that just because I don't agree with your positions and your opinions in life, that doesn't mean I wish for, celebrate, or welcome your death. Very simple. Right?
Dr. Ruth:And and just because someone has died, that does not make them righteous or noble or erase what they said or did in life. And that's pretty much the end of it for me. I just felt I needed to say that because it is such a hot button topic, and I don't live under a rock, and neither do you. And I hate the idea that we are, just for the sake of fun, totally divorcing from what's actually happening, what things are in front of us, and just wanted to share that with you. Okay.
Dr. Ruth:So that does it for, I guess, like, life and hot topics, and we're gonna move on to Downton Abbey, the grand finale. My review, recap, opinion is coming up in a few short seconds. So if you haven't seen it, I advise you go see it. And if you are a Gilded Age fan, this is written by this creator of the Gilded Age as well, Julian Fellows. So same flavor in a lot of this writing and kind of covering a very similar time period.
Dr. Ruth:For me, I was dying for a little period drama itch scratcher, you know, kind of coming off of that Gilded Age hangover, knowing it's gonna be at least a year probably before we get our eyeballs on season four. This was fantastic. Spoiler alert. I did enjoy it. So the film is in theaters now.
Dr. Ruth:It's written by Julian Fellows and directed by Simon Curtis. FYI, if this means anything to you, the film already has a 91% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. I tend not to go by what critics think. If I'm just really interested in something, I probably don't even check the score before I go see it, and that was the case with this one. But when I was, looking up a couple of things for accuracy, I came across the score, and I thought, that's pretty impressive given that this is a third sequel in a franchise from a multi seasonal award winning show that was just wildly popular.
Dr. Ruth:It's a tough needle to thread to achieve that kind of fan positive response and success years and years later for something that took off from TV into movies. You know? Just, like, let that sink in. I definitely think Sex and the City could not have pulled off those approval ratings. Even though the show was completely beloved, their films were not as well received.
Dr. Ruth:I enjoyed them, but not 91%, as far as I know, everyone else enjoying them. Okay. So that's all you can hear that isn't spoilers. So peace out, Cub Scout. Catch up and come back if you have not seen this movie.
Dr. Ruth:Okay. So I'll start with my hot take. This film was awesome. Really awesome. I wish I had something more eloquent say, but what a fitting and beautiful farewell to these characters, to their story.
Dr. Ruth:I just I you just gotta take it in. Obviously, I'm a fan of period dramas. I love a countryside, you know, when they have that long shot of Downton Abbey and the sun is shining and coming in at a direction just over the top, and it's just so beautiful. So very beautiful that I would love to see it in person. Actually, during the previews, side note, there was a commercial for Viking Cruises that includes some kind of exclusive tour of the home of the actual Earl that, like, owns that house and lives there.
Dr. Ruth:So mental note, if you're interested in and were considering a Vikings cruise, there is one that would allow you, like, open access to this beautiful home. Anyway, the film, of course, centers around the Crawley family. We're catching up with them, and it just couldn't have come at a better time. Now that the Gilded Age has ended and it's expanded my worldview of that time period and what was happening in America at the time and the dollar princess thing because remember, Cora Crawley is a dollar princess. She married Lord Grantham, Robert Crawley, in order to I mean, they fell in love, obviously, but her dad's money saved his ancestral home.
Dr. Ruth:And so that makes my appreciation of the storyline here all the richer. So it was it's fantastic timing. I'm sure that was not a mistake on their part to release this film shortly after ending the Gilded Age. Or maybe they were unrelated, and it was just a fortunate coincidence. Who knows?
Dr. Ruth:So we're catching up with the Crawleys, and pretty much all of our favorite characters, another major bonus. You don't have to sit there and think, well, whatever happened to so and so? The people that you care about, you're gonna see. You're gonna get a decent update on them even if it's bite sized. What's going on with them?
Dr. Ruth:Because they interweave all those stories throughout seamlessly. The opening scene takes place at the opera, and it's a very familiar scene you might recall from the Gilded Age because we got to see, you know, our our Russells go to the opera. So they've got that very aristocratic scene of people in the premium seats and the booths. Right? And then a few rows up, I I think it's called Family Circle if you buy it nowadays.
Dr. Ruth:We see the beloved kitchen house staff, also enjoying the show. Afterwards, the lord and lady Grantham, Cora and Robert Crawley, they head backstage to meet the performers, which is pretty cool. There's just some inappropriately dressed women that I thought was really funny to throw that right in right away just to remind us that these, like, upper crust, these are, like, next to royalty people, right, in the very high up in the British aristocracy. I believe yes. They are she's a countess.
Dr. Ruth:She's a countess. Yeah. He's a count, and she's a countess. So they're pretty high up in even the aristocratic food chain. This is not a baron.
Dr. Ruth:I believe a baron is the entry level aristocrat. And all of them are well above my station, so, you know, just but an interesting thing to note. So they're very, very high up in Aristocracy, and so going backstage was not necessarily something that I think would be expected of them, but they certainly wanted to meet the actor and also had a personal connection to the main actor of the show they just enjoyed because we get to see none other than our mister Barrow. That's right, mister Barrow. He was the closeted gay butler, former butler at Downton Abbey, and his story was compelling.
Dr. Ruth:I mean, if you did not see it or if you don't recall it, I feel like it's worth a rewatch. I actually am gonna probably go back and rewatch some of his later arc because as they hint at his sexuality and the seasons move along, at some point, there's a specific focus on it, and he falls prey to snake oil salesman type people who promise to cure him of his homosexuality. He's trying to fit into society and not love who he loves, not want what he wants, and it it's a tearjerker, if you recall that. So he's moved on, and he's currently employed as a valid or personal assistant to the actor, mister Dexter. He looks really happy and it's really heartwarming to see how happy he is and it's also very clear from body language, like, mister Decter puts his hand on the small of his back while they're talking, and it's clear that their relationship is more than just professional.
Dr. Ruth:And it's funny because the lord and lady Grantham are kinda like especially Robert, he's like, oh, well, they seem very familiar with each other, blah blah blah, you know, and it's kind of like, the it it it went over their heads a little bit, and you could see that Edith is is totally clear on the fact that they're together. But it's also very clear that even though the times would have called for maybe a more judgmental response, that they're just happy to see he's happy. So then the family heads off to dinner, and we also get to catch up with the staff shortly after that. There's everyone staying at Grantham House in London for the season, you know, the season, like Bridgerton and the Gilded Age style. There's always a season that we're going to kinda see through to the end.
Dr. Ruth:And they're having discussion and doing some exposition with discussion, letting us know that many of the great houses in London that belong to the aristocracy have been sold. One of them, in fact, was turned into a hotel. And Robert, you know, he takes offense at the the mention of this, And that's where we learn that, of course, his family, with their extremely deep roots, built Grantham House in 1760, I believe he said. And that show the the movie right now is set in 1930. So that's some crazy long history for his family, and so you can sort of understand his almost irrational tie to the property.
Dr. Ruth:So, of note, Anna Bates, missus Bates, is expecting her second child, and she's also still working as lady Mary's ladies maid. And she and mister Bates going strong, happy as ever. There are no breakups of note. Of all the happy couples that we saw come together among the staff and everything, those are all together. So we have a couple of retirements pending, mister Carson and missus Patmore, which makes sense.
Dr. Ruth:They're of age. Right? And they both have trained their replacements. So the replacement for mister Carson and the replacement for missus Patmore is the adorable couple, the mister and missus Andrew Parker. So Daisy and Andrew Parker.
Dr. Ruth:If you recall, Daisy, she was pretty much there from, like, the beginning, I think. And she was a little bit of a scrappy upstart, and miss Pat Morse trained her to be a very capable chef who's able to run the dining room and under her direct tutelage take over for the Crawleys, and it's great to see them thriving that way. We also learn a few things really quickly. They set the stakes for the film, that Lady Mary is divorcing her husband, Henry Talbot, and this will be like something that colors the entire movie, the scandal that is related to her divorce. You know, remember their society is so uptight that, like, you know, this is a big deal.
Dr. Ruth:I mean, we saw with the Gilded Age that and this was in America. People were ready to throw women out of society completely who were divorced. Like, it's like, ugh. I cannot look upon her divorced face. You know?
Dr. Ruth:I'm sorry. I'm laughing and I shouldn't because it's very real that this is how women were treated and it ruined people's lives. So I'm glad we're past that as a society, you know. Also, random note, Matthew Goode, why is he always playing someone's nerdy will husband? Do you remember him from The Crown?
Dr. Ruth:He played Princess Margaret's husband, the photographer guy, who they had this super high sexual tension, marriage, and relationship, and then it, like, crashed and burned because he was probably a philanderer, and they had a toxic, situation going. And I don't know if this point, and, yes, Matthew Good definitely play played Henry Talbot. He doesn't appear in the film, which is a shame because I, like, super love him. But at this point, despite my love for him, I feel like when I see him on screen as a love interest, I need to know that the relationship is not gonna work Matthew is whatever character he's playing is gonna break somebody's heart. So they are splitting.
Dr. Ruth:Okay? Also, in the table setting, we learned there are renovations happening at Downton, which is always bleeding the crawlies dry. That stuff costs money. You know? You have these castles built in the seventeen hundreds.
Dr. Ruth:They're drafty. They're leaky. They're old. They always need a new something. They need renovations.
Dr. Ruth:Okay? And those need to be paid for. Also, the crawlies are awaiting settlement of Cora's mother's estate. So back in The United States, Cora, remember her family, is uber wealthy. Think of them like maybe I don't know how if they're quite as wealthy as the Russells, but they got some they got a lot of money, enough money to have saved Downton Abbey and, you know, with a sizable dowry and all that good stuff.
Dr. Ruth:And now that she's passed, they're expecting an inheritance for Cora, which should very much lubricate the way for all of the repairs and stuff that need to happen at Downton. Okay. So news of the settlement of that estate is going to be brought by Lady Grantham's brother, Hector I'm sorry, Harold. Why Hector? By Lady Grantham's brother, Harold, who you may remember from us prior appearance on the show, and he's arriving in London very soon.
Dr. Ruth:So there's also the issue of succession at Downton Abbey that comes up. Lord Grantham, you know, he's keeping his kung fu grip on trying to run affairs. And this actually came up in the movies, and I thought it was a settled, like, done deal. But I think because of the divorce or maybe just his plain stubbornness or a little bit of both, Robert Carly's having trouble letting go of the reins at Downton and fully trusting Mary to take over, even though he has said that he thinks she's ready to take over. Also, there's the issue of a county fair that is being put on by Lady Merton, formerly Isabelle Crawley.
Dr. Ruth:So remember, she married Lord Merton. That's so that's Matthew's mom. That And gives us an opportunity to to really discuss some important themes of the movie and of the era, like class and social hierarchy and evolution in their society. It's it's also some comic relief in the movie just planning this fair and coming up against some of the characters that we meet as a result of the planning. And of note, this was an activity that the late dowager count Countess Violet was all over in previous seasons and everything.
Dr. Ruth:She was, like, a big, part of the planning committee, had a lot of say in how this fair was run, so they also used it as a vehicle to to memorialize her, to commemorate her. And I have to say, although, again, I loved the film and I thought it was awesome, I missed me some day, Maggie Smith. Ugh. She's so sorely missed. Her sharp wit, her commentary, it was so well done.
Dr. Ruth:Obviously, I know that it's written by Julian Fellowes, but her delivery, we have to give her flowers for her delivery. And I will also note that she is the parallel or the parallel for her character is Agnes van Rijn in the Gilded Age, in case you didn't put those two together. Not the same age per se, and obviously slightly different era, but the wit, the acerbic wit that the two of them have and the actress, Christine Baranski, who plays Agnes van Rijn and Dame Maggie Smith, they both have that just just solid delivery that they don't have to put too much into a line or a comment in order for it to be just crazy funny. So she has missed. But, okay.
Dr. Ruth:So let's discuss some of the main themes. We'll start with Mary's divorce. Okay. Her marriage broke up seemingly not by any fault of her own. It sounds like he was philandering, like we know Matthew Good to be doing.
Dr. Ruth:It's like, I don't know what's going on in Matthew Good's real life, please. But, you know, they make reference to infidelity and just them not getting along and basically that it was a him generated divorce or split. They are at a season ending ball in London, so we're kinda catching them at the end of London season. And there are paparazzi everywhere. They're arriving at this big ball thrown by Lady Petersfield at one of the great houses in London.
Dr. Ruth:And turns out that her divorce has already hit the news, and that's why the paparazzi are there. So she's, like, trying to fly under the radar, I guess, dressed in a fabulous red gown. I mean, just gorgeous gown, okay, for this event. And out of nowhere, Lady Petersfield shows up. She's learned of the news, of course, after their arrival, and she's, like, so embarrassed, and she's treating them like she's treating them like she just put the food out and a roach popped out of, like, a tray.
Dr. Ruth:It's how she's treating them. Was like, Mary must leave. She's gotta leave now because, princess is arriving. Princess Anne, I can't remember the name. Princess is arriving, and, oh, she cannot be in the company of a divorced woman.
Dr. Ruth:It would scandalize this princess. It would be so disgusting, you know, that whole thing. And so, you know, they end up putting her out, and even though the lord and lady Grantham tried to stand up for Mary, which is very admirable, and insist that she's allowed to stay, ultimately, they capitulate because society, man. They society has rules, and their rules are even more staunch than America's rules. You saw how strict those rules were.
Dr. Ruth:It really reminded me of that moment when missus Fain showed up to missus Fish's party in Newport because the invitation went out prior to her divorce. And then because missus Astor showed up, missus Fish then had to politely put her out so that missus Astor would not be scandalized by the presence of a divorced woman. Ugh. Give me my smelling salts. So, yeah, sad stuff.
Dr. Ruth:But Mary takes it in stride, and everyone seems to adapt pretty well. They go home. And, interestingly,
Dr. Ruth:you know, when
Dr. Ruth:you think about the timelines here, what we were seeing in the Gilded Age was the late eighteen hundreds. Right? Like, eighteen sixties, I think. And we're looking at 1930 in in England. By 1930, we weren't having the same ostracizing in society of divorced women in America.
Dr. Ruth:And it's just very interesting to note timeline wise that America was very much ahead of British aristocracy as far as how the upper crust saw, viewed, and treated divorced women. Okay. So they end up leaving and Lady Mary's parents vowed that they're gonna stand up for her and, again, I just love that because we saw what sometimes parents might do in the Gildan Age with Mrs. Astor, just kinda turning their back on their divorced kids so that they don't get kicked out of society as a result. But the extent of her banishment is severe and they really are gonna have to work uphill as we see throughout the rest of the movie to overcome that.
Dr. Ruth:So they decide to host a dinner back at Downton Abbey and they're really bruised to get a ton of regrets. A lot of people have already gotten wind of the news and although they thought they might get better support from their local friends and the people who live in their county where essentially they're like the reigning king and queen there, nothing doing. So Edith has a really genius idea. She thinks to invite the actors that we meet at the beginning, Noel Coward and mister Dexter. Mister Coward and mister Dexter are the celebs.
Dr. Ruth:They're in England and basically inviting them will attract people who are attracted to celebrity. You know? I mean, people have a lot of moral stances and a lot of, you know, a lot of grandstanding that they might do and say and talk about and theorize, but a lot of that goes out the window when you are in the presence of real celebrity. I mean, real celebrity. Right?
Dr. Ruth:So Oh, and on Edith, by the way, I absolutely love where she's like showing up right now. She doesn't actually get a real meaty storyline or any storyline of her own at all in this film, and that makes sense because prior films had been about a lot of this the show and the films had been about her love story, her struggles, her, you know, having that child out of wedlock and such. So But being a Marquis, it suits her well. She's married a very kind man, she has her marigold, she has her son, she's at the top of the British society and I'm sure that has helped a lot with her attitude and her getting along with Mary, they're getting along so much better, they're having these really touching sister moments and it's nice and clear to see that they both have definitely grown a lot since the two feuding sisters that you thought would, like, literally rip each other's throats out. But, anyway, I love that Edith was able to step in and and help Mary in this way, getting those actors to come because as you we will see that changes the tide of people's attitudes towards this dinner and makes them actually attend.
Dr. Ruth:And I appreciate that, but I couldn't help but think, like, Mary, why are you so damn impulsive? What is the issue? Like, what is the issue? We've seen her make misstep after misstep with her choice in men, but at some point, I mean, do you learn any lessons? Her picker is so off.
Dr. Ruth:Okay? We are introduced to a male character who arrives with her uncle Harold. This guy's name is Gus Sandbrook, and right away, he's for Mary. He's here. Have a drink.
Dr. Ruth:Have some more. Have some more. It's a little, ugh. You know? I mean, I get it at the time and everything, and they're in privacy of her home, so that's not a factor.
Dr. Ruth:But for someone who's just basically in that moment being scandalized by British tabloids, I don't know. You'd think that she would just pump the brakes on hooking up with some new guy that you literally just met. You know nothing about him. But, yeah, I think her picker is an issue, and he does not hesitate to try and get into her pants and he does so successfully. And then later on when that presents itself as a problem, which I'll get into in a minute, you know, she comes to Edith and Edith looks at her with the same, like, girl again.
Dr. Ruth:I guess it just bees like that. I guess, you know, Mary just got she's taught to try, and that's all there is to it. So the estate fairs. We're gonna move on to that. So not long after Robert's mother dies, of course, Cora's mother dies, and as I mentioned, there's an inheritance that they're very much expecting to help with their expenses at Downton.
Dr. Ruth:She unfortunately left her brother in charge of their financial affairs. So he arrives with an unexpected guest that mister Sambrook, Hopin, marries pants guy, and this is, like, his right hand dude. He like, everything is, like, he's, like every thought is being filtered through mister Sandbrook, oh, he's gonna explain everything. He knows exactly what's going on, and he'll explain it all. That's why he came and all this, and it just immediately, my spidey senses are tingling because I just don't I don't love the idea of this person who's not a relation they've never met before having so much say and pull over what seems like very large sums of money.
Dr. Ruth:They never say exactly how much, but it's an estate from rich people. So the initial skepticism I should note, I thought was like, are they romantically linked, he and Harold, because he had so much say over him, just FYI, if you think I'm like b s ing. Like, I was like, are they together? And that's what he's going to finally break to his family? No.
Dr. Ruth:But also, once again, thanks to the Gilded Age, the Spidey sense thing started ticking off faster when mister Sandbrook started yapping about investments and how pulled the money out of the stock market just in the nick of time, but then some investments went bad. And so while he initially saved the family from financial ruin due to the stock market crash, he ultimately still somehow loses all their money making bad investments. And this, like, nondescript word salad way that he starts talking about financial affairs and investments and currency or whatever, things like that, it just started to stink of con man. You know? And I I have to thank the guild age for that because it might have taken me longer to catch on had I not just, you know, witnessed that happening with the Maude Beaton storyline over time.
Dr. Ruth:So I know. We learned that Harold lost everything. Right? And the only reason he's actually showing up in England is to try to convince Cora to allow him to sell their mother's remaining property, which is a cottage, and we know what these cottages were like now, in Newport, and have some liquid so they could pay mister Sandbrook back and also, I guess, have some some money available to them. I'm not sure if the money from the sale would help them tremendously at Downton.
Dr. Ruth:It seems like it would, but it would also leave her with no remaining assets from her mother, which would suck bad. And then I thought, pay him back? Pay mister Sandbrook back? The guy who just said he lost your money investing it stupidly? What am gonna pay him back for?
Dr. Ruth:I don't know. But Harold is, like, convinced. He's like, oh, if it wasn't for mister Sandbrook, he's been floating me, basically. I guess he's loaned him some money to get him through these tough times after losing his fortune. Very, very stinky, swindly, and weird to me.
Dr. Ruth:I I'm just like, I don't owe you anything, sir. In fact, you know, like, lucky I don't carve this money out of your backside. You'd lost all my dag on money, and I gotta pay you back. But, anyway, turns out that the actual scam that got herald is is is somewhat embarrassing. It's like a currency and gold exchange scam.
Dr. Ruth:Like like, one of the oldest in the book, really. Like, literally, like, sir, did you hear about this from a letter you received from Nigeria? A Nigerian prince, perhaps? Like, I don't know. It was sad.
Dr. Ruth:I just I was like, oh, man. That's how you lost the money. But thanks to good old Tom Branson man, that guy is such a breath of fresh air every time he shows up on screen. Tom Branson runs into an acquaintance who tips him off about mister Sandbrook because they see him at this horse racing event. And thankfully, the world is small enough that he's not able to just anonymously jump into British society.
Dr. Ruth:I mean, this guy's passing out business cards like, you know, like Oscar Van Ryan. He's trying to do business, and so you can imagine he was looking for his next mark. I always wonder with these folks, where is this money going? Where is this money go this even applies to modern day scammers, honestly, not too much to sidetrack here, but even with modern day scammers, do you ever notice that, like, most of them, despite however much money they steal, it could be, like, tremendous, like, eye watering sums of money. Do you notice none of them actually ever, like have money?
Dr. Ruth:What is that about? Like, when it all falls apart, a lot of them don't have two nickels to rub together. They have like camels and like sports cars and houses and things to sell, but all that liquid just goes right through their fingers, man. Anyway, so they gotta keep working. That's why they get caught because they earn it or earn it.
Dr. Ruth:They steal it by scamming, and then the money that comes easy, you don't value, so you just spend it like nothing, but then you find yourself now having to prop up this lifestyle you've created, so you have to scam some more, and it's a it's an endless treadmill. It's it's a crazy way to live. But anyway, so, yes, thanks to Tom, he alerts the crawlies, and guess what? To my shock, surprise, and delight, it's Edith who's like, I'll talk to him. She's gonna get him altogether.
Dr. Ruth:I was worried about her for a split second, and I just remembered. I was like, he can't. This is, like, all of British society right here, and he he can't actually do anything to hurt her. I was worried that, like, what if he, like, tries to choke her out? But I loved this scene for her, honestly.
Dr. Ruth:She doesn't have a main storyline, but I just love to watch her in the few opportunities they give us, totally flex that Marquess title on in a very unobnoxious way. It doesn't come up when she's amongst her family, but in this sense, she's like, sir, I don't know if you know this, but, like, we have some power here. Like, as far as I recall in the hierarchy of things, a marquis is behind a duke and a duchess, which is second only to actual member of the royal family, like princess prince type of people. So FYI, they're very high up. And so she's like, we have some power here.
Dr. Ruth:Okay? And, basically, I can get you arrested for something, you know, if you don't hightail it on out of here and forget about thinking about doing any business here in London. Like, I will make your life a living hell, and rightfully so. So he beats it on out of there, tries to talk to Mary who was very eloquent if you ask me and very polite to him because I would've hit him with that umbrella, like, learning who he really is and how, in retrospect, it is now abundantly clear. Like, I had some like, I was trying to give the benefit of the doubt, but he very much threatened Mary trying to get her to make her mother sell the house.
Dr. Ruth:He, at some point, has this cute little conversation with Mary where he's like, oh, it'd be so crazy if everyone found out about us. And now that we know he's a grifter, I know that that was not a misunderstanding. That was very much his intention to threaten her, to use her moment of weakness, sleeping with him as leverage to get what he wanted financially out of the family. So may he fall off of the edge of whatever boat he's on on his way back to The United States. So once they bring Harold up to speed on what's going on, that's the point in the movie where Robert decides that their only move really is to sell Grantham house.
Dr. Ruth:And actually, it was Mary's idea, which Robert got pissed about, but then he comes to the conclusion that, yeah, that's what we're gonna have to do. So it seems to do the trick. It gets them, like, back on track financially, that whole plan, and this is also when we see that hilarious scene from the trailer I told you guys about a few weeks ago where Mary is helping him tour an apartment, a flat, for the first time, it seems. It still cracked me up. It still had a lot of humor left in the scene because seeing the whole thing play out, like, he they go up the stairs to this apartment in this to this flat, rather, in a building, and you see another resident leaving her unit.
Dr. Ruth:And Robert looks at her like, well, who is she? You know? Is she, like, one of the servants? Like, he's very confused about this woman inside of this space. Like, he doesn't understand that that's her house, and then this little space you're going into is gonna be your house.
Dr. Ruth:He gets in the apartment, does a tour, and he hilarious. Like, where where where do we go when we wanna sleep? I was like, oh, the uber wealthy, like, so cute you are. But ultimately, he does relent, shocking, and he's like, okay, if we can sell Grantham House, we'll move into this flat, which I was impressed by. Ultimately, they do end up moving into the Dower House, which is now empty, of course, because his mother passed away, and that made much more sense to me for a number of reasons.
Dr. Ruth:Number one, they wouldn't be all the way in London away from their grandkids, and then they wouldn't be them you know, we're talking about people who, like, every couple of minutes, they're in some kind of financial peril. Right? So why does it make sense to then purchase another property to live in when you have the Dower House that you would also need to get a tenant for. So I'm glad they make that decision, and they're gonna kinda keep Violet's spirit alive in that house and keep her thing there. And it's interesting because I thought these are these are rich people options, honestly.
Dr. Ruth:Like, even though I know they run into financial troubles often, there's still rich people, like, solutions. Right? Like, oh, we could get our own flat, but instead, we'll just move into this sizable house on our incredibly large property that we don't have to pay for. And, yeah, it's a beautiful thing. I feel like more people nowadays should look into, if it's possible, if you have a bunch of family members and you all live in the same area and you get along reasonably well, why not just, like, pool your resources and get a compound?
Dr. Ruth:I don't know. I live near my family. That would be the plan. I mean, the the idea for even where we live now out in the country is that at least it's an option, you know, compound living. I keep trying to convince my folks to move down here for that reason.
Dr. Ruth:But I digress. So in the end, at the end of the film, like, Lord and Lady Grantham do, like, retire to the Dower House and they voluntarily it's beautiful because the way it's being filmed is, like, showing them walking into the future, the next chapter of their life. And also, it's kind of representative of a new chapter for the British aristocracy as well, like, by the time it's all said and done. So I loved it. I loved the way it was shot.
Dr. Ruth:I loved the way it wrapped up. They even get to trade ladies maids and therefore keep the Bateses together because that was a concern for the Bateses when there was a chance they were moving permanently to London. So Anna gets to be the ladies maid for missus Crawley, and John remains the personal valet for Robert, and so that's lovely too. And then the last little bit that I wanted to cover is the county fair. We've seen these before in previous show slash movies, and it's always a source of, like, really, you know, kind of funny quippy lines back and forth because there's always, like, a committee and a planning and some contentious debates that happen around this event.
Dr. Ruth:So this year, Isabelle, formerly Crawley, is at the helm. She's co chairing with this very obnoxious gentleman, sir Hector Moreland. And he serves as, I guess, our substitution, since we don't have Dame Maggie Smith. You know, he serves as our substitution for some of those, like, snobby British singers. I can't say he's as fun and funny and enjoyable as as Lady Violet, but still, I think he made me laugh a few times.
Dr. Ruth:So he's this representative of the old guard. He doesn't want anything to change. He's using this opportunity to push his agenda and to kinda recalibrate even some of Violet's progressions and get things back to the way they should be. Obviously, Isabelle is even much more progressive than Violet, so she's pushing in the polar opposite direction and they butt heads immediately. That is great.
Dr. Ruth:So one of the things she suggests is that Daisy and mister Carson actually join the committee, so she thinks there should a more diverse representation from the community that they're serving in this county fair, and what a radical idea that we should let some of the peasants. That's like that was his reaction. Not he didn't say the word peasants, but, honestly, their input was very valid, and they showed us where Daisy was able to speak up for herself and really make valuable contributions that we see play out and see the success of those contributions for the attendees of the fair. So it was great. They had, like, a lost kids booth and just stuff that it made sense from the the user end.
Dr. Ruth:You know? You gotta get some user feedback in order to make things better. And Isabelle also gets her way placing Mary in a position to present the final, award of the fair to none other than our very sweet, very lovely mister Mason. Mister Mason, is married to missus Patmore, but I guess, really, we should be calling her missus Mason too. Right?
Dr. Ruth:So and on a related note with mister Mason, prior to this whole county fair award thing, we have a little brief conversation between missus Hughes and missus Patmore slash Mason that leads me to believe that at her age I was like, is it possible? Is that what they're telling us? Missus Patmore has never been familiar with a man? Okay. So this is what she says.
Dr. Ruth:She says she's been married to mister Mason for a minute, which we know, and he's absolutely lovely. Everything's great. And this is pre Viagra. Right? So I don't think he's gonna be too frisky and bothering her too much.
Dr. Ruth:You know what I'm saying? I don't think their libidos are necessarily gonna be a crazy mismatch. It's more of this is like a class issue if you think about it. People who worked in the servant class, this was considered a really great and prestigious job. You got to be in the proximity of wealth.
Dr. Ruth:Even if you don't enjoy it, there was something very enjoyable about the proximity of wealth and also the steadfast regularity of the job if you do it well an opportunity for advancement. And if you think about the other opportunities on the table for people post industrial revolution, you could do this job working in the Castle Mansion manner of a wealthy aristocrat who might actually be a kind person like the Crawleys and you grow to love them or you could choke to death in a factory that has poor regulations and yeah. So I know what I would choose. But if you think about it also, they live in the house with the people they are serving or working for, and therefore, they're not like, they don't have a life. They have to serve the Crawleys full time.
Dr. Ruth:Like, if Robert Crawley wakes up in the middle of the night and he's like, oh gosh, I'm starving. Like, literally, missus Patmore's gotta probably get out of bed or Daisy now and make him something fix him something to eat. You think Robert Crawley is gonna be, you know, digging around in his kitchen like some bear in the middle of the night? No. That's if you think about that, then it adds up that our dear sweet missus Patmore has never had a dating life, has never had an opportunity to be with a man and even with her husband.
Dr. Ruth:They don't live together. When would they really have a lot of time to do that? I'm assuming because I have modern day eyes that they went on some honeymoon, but we don't know that. So anyway, side note, completely unrelated to the fair, but something I just remembered that would that had my jaw, like, in the theater.
Dr. Ruth:Okay. And when you
Dr. Ruth:think about actually all the couples in this movie, especially in the staff, it's people who work there. They just pair off. You know? The men and women who work there just pair off because they don't get a chance to meet other people. But, anyway, just an interesting little bit of kind of a sad but funny conversation that they had and and so yeah.
Dr. Ruth:But anyway, in the end, we're treated to, like, some very satisfying conversations. There's character evolution, there's updates, and it helps us, like, wrap it all up in a very neat bow so that you're not left wanting. Right? Lady Mary is solidly in a place with her kids. She is the mistress of the manor, so to speak, at Downton Abbey now.
Dr. Ruth:Her succession is complete. Her parents have moved out. It's really truly her home. And she has a moment where she's looking around the room at the very end, and she's in the foyer, the grand foyer of the house by herself. And as she looks around the room, she's having all these memories of things that took place, parties they had, events that took place in that house, in that space, with all the people that have touched their lives, including a very touching brief appearance from Sybil, their sister who passed.
Dr. Ruth:So we know she's in a good place even though she's divorced. Lady Edith, we know, is doing great and feeling herself. Amen. Let the church say. The Lord and Lady Grantham, they've moved forward.
Dr. Ruth:They're happy. They're going to their little cottage, the the dower House. No kicking and screaming, especially on Robert's part, so evolution there. Harold, Cora's brother, you know, he's kinda like Oscar Van Rune, he's kinda reeling, feeling like crap, very embarrassed. He alludes to possibly moving to England to be closer to his family, which makes sense because it doesn't sound like he has much else going on back in The States, but, you know, but that was sweet.
Dr. Ruth:Tom Branson, remember they or they do mention that he sold his car business, so he's doing pretty well financially. In fact, well enough that at some point, he actually offered Robert Crawley money to help and save Downton Abbey, which, of course, Robert refused, but was very touched by the gesture. And so he's doing great. He has a little sibby with him. Thomas Barrow, we saw that he was already moving forward with his life in Hollywood with mister Dexter, and they even give us a little a little brief moment to see him standing at a window, like a picture window in front of the Hollywood sign.
Dr. Ruth:And so we know that he's doing great in Hollywood, living his life, hopefully out and proud. And I love that they gave us a happy ending for Thomas without being ridiculous and unrealistic about the historical context. That ultimately, realistically, the best place for a homosexual man in that time period would probably have been Hollywood, where just, you know, the thinking was more liberal and people could live more open lives in a happy way. So great for him. The Bates', they welcome their second child.
Dr. Ruth:Looks like a girl, but I'm not sure. And after all they've been through, I'm just like, yay for them that they didn't put poor Anna through anything in this movie. Baxter gets her version of a happy ending with mister Mosley. Honestly, he's so weird. He is mister Mosley is, I think, the only storyline I absolutely hated, to be honest with you.
Dr. Ruth:His whole thing about being a writer and trying to get in front of a mister coward and does he remember me? Does mister Dexter remember me? I wrote the screenplay for this thing. It just felt kind of clumsy and unnecessary, and I felt like it wasted valuable screen time, but, you know, you be the judge. We have Daisy.
Dr. Ruth:Daisy and Andrew, she's properly taken over the kitchen at Downton. She's in her rightful and respectable position and doing a great job. And even in their local society now, right, she sat as a committee member on that county fair organization. So she's climbing herself, and she made it very clear that Honey Downton is not her last stop in life. She's on her way.
Dr. Ruth:And I think they gave us a little bit of an inkling to see how that may happen for her and how that might unfold in the future. Her hubby, Andrew, he's holding his own as Carson mister Carson's replacement. Even though Carson did not want to leave, like he has shown him, I've got this. Forcefully, but still, shown him I got this. And, yeah, the end credits, they have this adorable integration of all these scenes with each of the couples and the characters.
Dr. Ruth:So that's where I got all the info. It's just from sitting, hanging back a couple of extra minutes, and letting the credits roll where you kinda see these little these little montages, these little scenes. So, honestly, I love that they did that in this way without trying to cover every single thing in the film and in the show in a way that would run the time of the movie up. Because I think it was like it was a little over two hours. It was I had it here somewhere.
Dr. Ruth:Two hours and three minutes. So ultimately, the run time did not feel that long to me, and I think it's because they did not make a labor of wrapping things up. They wrapped it all up, but they did not make it laborious. So if you're new to the Downton Abbey world, do yourself a favor. Forget everything I just said, first of all.
Dr. Ruth:Why are you listening? And go watch the series. I believe Prime is the place where I last streamed the shows and the movies, and then just treat yourself to just this beautiful world. If you are into those period dramas, you're a Gilded Age fan, it really is just a beautiful world to immerse yourself in, and the human stories that you get to hear and see and the characters that you get to fall in love with, like, just like the Gilded Age, again, if you're a fan, and sorry for all the references, but it's just so fresh on my mind. And there is so much relationship between the shows, namely because of the creator and writer, but also because of the time period and the class of people that we are learning about in all these stories that are being told.
Dr. Ruth:But, yeah, if you're a if you're a fan of that kind of genre of TV and film, don't don't hesitate to dive back. Obviously, it's timeless. It's covering a time period that's long since passed. So, yeah, well worth a watch. So well done.
Dr. Ruth:Beautiful storytelling. And really, if you think about it, kind of a shining example of how one can transition from TV to movie and conclude the story in a way that's done extremely well. I'm looking at you, Sex and the City slash End Just Like That, with that nothing of an ending that didn't end a thing. Anyway, it was so thoughtfully executed, and it only makes me, like, more excited for season four of The Gilded Age because the show is in the hands of the person who did this, who gave us an entire, like, story that crossed generations that was, like, you know, spanned to America, had an American arm. I don't think we ever went to America, but people were going to America, so it wasn't small.
Dr. Ruth:This world was big. We were at Downton Abbey. We were in London, you know, and they just they managed to still bring it all together. And so I really hope that that's kind the of ending we get with The Gilded Age. I hope we get a movie.
Dr. Ruth:I hope we get a Newport spin off. I hope we get maybe even a Newport movie, a black Newport movie, like something. Keep it going. Keep it going, Lord Julian Fellows. Hats off to you.
Dr. Ruth:Okay? And that's the end party, people. Very detailed. I hope you enjoyed my coverage, my takes. I hope you saw it.
Dr. Ruth:Did you see it yet? Drop a comment if you saw it or plan to see it, and also just share your thoughts if you did see it on like how you felt, did you enjoy it, loved it, hate it, felt like, what was missing, if I missed something. Please let me know, or please feel free to send an email to prettyprescription17@gmail.com. Alright, folks, I'm gonna get the heck out of here. I've got surgery tomorrow, so I am heading for bed.
Dr. Ruth:The littles are down. As always, I wanna thank you all for listening and remind you to like, subscribe, comment, share this content with anybody you think might actually enjoy our fun little group chat. I'm so glad to be catching back up with you guys, and I hope that you enjoy our weekly chats as much as I do. Next week, I should have a bonus episode up for you to finish out that coverage of sirens as promised, and then after that, we're back on track. So until next time, friends.
Dr. Ruth:Bye.