To fans of the show Downton Abbey, what do you think would be the consequences for the last three seasons if Matthew had lived?
The show would have been a lot more interesting as far as Mary's story arc is concerned. I liked that she became more independent as far as running the estate is concerned, and I would hope Matthew wouldn't have stood in her way. Mary would probably not have been as bitter about Edith, and been as bitchy as she was regarding Edith's daughter and marriage. That succession of boyfriends she had just ran together in a mishmash for me. I've seen the entire series several times, and to this day I still can't differentiate among them because they looked alike to me - cookie cutter nobodies who were just really forgettable and unnecessary. I like how Tom was increasingly accepted into the family, and would hope Matthew's survival wouldn't have derailed that either. PBS is running a Downton Abbey marathon over New Year's - the entire series - all 6 seasons plus Christmas specials. So if anyone wants to stay awake for all of it (starts on the morning of Saturday, Dec. 30 and concludes on the morning of Monday, January 1), you'd best get plenty of sleep beforehand!
I've rewatched the entire series a few times, myself. (Didn't catch the New Year's marathon, though.) I can't say I've given Matthew living beyond Series 3 a lot of thought. I believe that Julian Fellowes said that Matthew's death was, in some ways, the best thing for the series because removing the Matthew-Mary relationship from the center of the series allowed room for other characters to grow, not to mention that a "happy" Mary made for a dull show. Perhaps Downton would ended when Dan Stevens left if he'd stayed another season or two. I suspect that, if Matthew had lived in Series 4 and Mary continued to be happy and settled, Edith would have had an even rougher time of it than she did because Fellowes would have wanted more of a contrast between the sisters. Of Mary's post-Matthew boyfriends, the one that I felt worked with Mary best was Charles Blake. Gillingham was super bland, and I never felt any chemistry between Mary and Henry Talbot. (I remember people remarking there was more chemistry between Henry and Tom.) Google tells me there was also Evelyn Napier, and I barely remember him.
First off, I want to correct myself. The marathon ended sometime around 6 pm on January 1. PBS ran pledge breaks every few episodes, which was annoying, though they kept it to a minimum during the midnight-6 am hours (figuring that only die-hards would still be awake, I guess). I did stay awake for most of it - missed a part that I wanted to watch (the episodes where they were in Scotland and Anna learned how to dance), and I slept through Mary's pregnancy and Matthew's death. It's true that in any soap opera (contemporary or historical) that a happy couple is a boring couple, so the writers have to throw in a monkey wrench from time to time. They had plenty of scope to do that and still keep Matthew alive, if the actor had wanted to stay. I guess I just got bored with the neverending stream of model-faced dark-haired aristocratic men who came crawling out of the woodwork to court her and she had all the passion of a sheet of cardboard. The world could end and all she would utter would be a bored "golleh." I found a fanfic story that's a crossover between Downton Abbey and Firefly. It's quite entertaining (but sadly unfinished, and it doesn't look like the author will ever finish it). My own idea for a Downton Abbey fanfic would be this: One day Violet and the Dowager Countess are sitting on a bench under a tree, when a wheezing sound comes out of the air. They see a police box materialize, and a young man steps out. The Tenth Doctor says, "Harriet Jones, I've been looking for you. Time for you to get back to your real job." ... and the Dowager Countess learns that her friend is really a woman named Harriet Jones who lived decades in the future, was the Prime Minister of England, and had gotten sidetracked and lost when she was accidentally stranded back in time during a short "vacation" with the Doctor. She'd had to make a new life for herself and ended up marrying into the Crawley family and had Matthew. Yeah, I know Harriet Jones was a bit on the oldish side for that and she and the Doctor had a falling out, but it's my fanfic and I'll make her a bit younger and tweak stuff a bit. It's at least as plausible as the Firefly crossover. Of course something happens that means they have to leave in a hurry and there's no time to get the Countess safely out of there, so she becomes the Doctor's companion for an adventure or two before he drops her safely home just a short time after she left.
They all were pretty similar. If I ever wrote a Downton Abbey fanfic, it would also be a crossover. After the Series 5 Christmas special (where they went to Brancaster for the grouse hunt put on by Rose's father-in-law Lord Sinderby), I had the random thought that Lord Peter Wimsey and Edith would get along really well. She's in London working on her magazine and living up the London life, their paths cross, sparks fly...! (I was reading one of the Lord Peter novels at the time. Might have been Clouds of Witness.) I don't hate Harriet Vane, but I don't really like her a whole lot, either. (It doesn't help my opinion that Harriet was Dorothy Sayers' self-insert into her Lord Peter novels.) Edith and Peter, at least in my mind that day, seemed like a more interesting couple. I wrote a one page plot for the story, but that was as far as I was willing to take it. I should note that I liked Bertie Pelham. Yeah, becoming the Marquess of Hexham was the kind of improbable, convenient plotting that Julian Fellowes trafficked in, but I liked the character enough (and I wanted to see Edith happy enough) that I didn't mind.
I'm not familiar with Lord Peter novels. As for Edith... yeah, it was contrived, but I just wanted to see her get the happy ending she deserved after taking a lifetime of crap from Mary.
I never really saw what Mathew saw in Mary. But I was team Edith so I was never really going to ship anyone with queen bitch Mary.
^ me, either. I was Team Edith from the start. I was rather hoping Edith would snap, leap across the table and stab Mary with her shrimp fork. I was glad to see Edith get her happy ending, even if it was a bit contrived.
I think Mary is the reason I'm not a fan of Robert and Cora. I know Edith is far from perfect but they never once tried to help Edith. They were determined to make Edith an old maid. Also I don't think much of Elizabeth McGovern has an actress.
I liked her better in the 1990 Handmaid's Tale movie (she played Moira). Every time Cora says the words "seervants" ("servants") in that syrupy tone of voice, it's so grating.