Downton Abbey: Season 4

DOWNTON ABBEY:
Living at Downton Abbey requires alot of help in the efforts to keep every day life running. For many generations the large house has belong to the Crawley family but it's their servants that make sure Downton Abbey looks good and is run properly. After her husbands death, Mary (played by Michelle Dockery) is trying to cope with not having him around while raising their newborn son. While she morns her father Robert (played by Hugh Bonneville) tries to figure out a way that he can comfort his daughter while keeping the household running as it should. In the meantime the maids are discovering that with the 20's there's now going to be new changes in the way they live, from modern appliances taking over their duties to trying to sneak out to go into town to have a few drinks and to dance. Drama and passion run in the halls of Downton Abbey as these two classes of people live together to make sure they have somewhere nice to live.

SEASON 4:
I tried to get into this show, I really did, but I just don't get the appeal in it. As soon as I mentioned this show around some people I was flooded with comments about how great it was, what season was I on, what did I think about so and so doing this and that, and many other questions I couldn't answer. Along with not understanding the appeal in this show I don't understand what the show is supposed to be about. Is there a plot or storyline? I really don't know and if there is I didn't get it. What's going on? I don't know. That's all I kept asking myself. Over and over again throughout the whole season. What is the point, what is the plot, is there a story, what is this show supposed to be about? I would actually like to know. Is it the life of the rich having to deal with living in their expansive mansion with their servants? Maybe it's about how the servants live with their employers, if so I don't believe it because they sure seem to be treated better than what I would think the servants would have been in that time.

When the show started I was trying to figure out who the characters where and what their relationship was with each other. Well, that was not going to work being that this is the first time I've seen the show and there are just so many different characters on the show with, what I've been told, a very in-depth background history with each other. I didn't realize that some of the people where actually the servants and not the owners until nearly halfway through the second episode. Then there was the father, Robert, that I didn't know was Mary's father until I had someone point that out to me. I kept thinking about how he was the bad guy on the show for how he was treating Mary and wanting to get the control over her and the estate. Nothing ever really happens on this show, nothing exciting, nothing funny, sad, happy, just nothing at all except for a lot of talking. It's just a lot of talking between a lot of people about a lot of nothing. This ranks as one of the most boring show that I have ever watched and yet I was watching it with some intent. Granted that intent was caused from the lack of knowing what the point is so I was trying to figure it out the whole time, which I didn't.

All this show is, is a soap opera without any of the drama, the sex, the intrigue, the murder, the plots, the deception, but it does have the large assortment of a cast. Now I might not have liked the show but I got to give credit to the show for having some good acting from the cast. Even though nothing really happens in this show the actors make these characters seem real and believable. This show also has a stellar set as well as the wardrobe and make up. Everything looks authentic from the hairstyles to the cars they are driving, and the language that is spoken, not the accents, but the words and how they say them, is well written. I'm also impressed with the dialog, sure it gets boring and unless you already know what's going on it can be quite confusing, it has some natural, free flowing dialog with the characters. Also the characters, as many of them there are, all have their place, I think, in the show and they are all different. They are good characters but they just don't ever do anything that makes the show interesting to me, at least not for over 8 hours straight of watching this show. I don't want or expect explosions or car chases but I would have liked a little more than all the talking.

BLU RAY EXPERIENCE:
Alright, aside from the show being boring, this Blu Ray has one other aspect that I didn't like, the commercials. No, I don't mean the show itself has them during it, the commercials are aired before the show starts. What makes this bad and why I don't like it, I can't just go to the menu option. Nothing big, but when not wanting to watch these ads I would just go to the menu, that option is taken away and I have to use the skip chapter button until I was through them all. It's nothing big but it's also something that was once a selling feature when going to the disc based movies where you could just go right to playing the movie. Aside from that one thing, the picture quality was nice with sharp and bright colors. It might be a boring plot for a story but the way it looks on this Blu Ray is nice. It also has good audio levels and considering all the talking that's being done I'm glad I could hear everything they said, even though it didn't quite tell me what I wanted to know to follow what was going on.