The second series of the British historical drama television series Downton Abbey broadcast from 18 September 2011 to 6 November 2011, comprising a total of eight episodes and one Christmas Special episode broadcast on 25 December 2011. The series was broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom and on PBS in the United States, which supported the production as part of its Masterpiece Classic anthology. Series two explores the lives of the Crawley family and servants during and after the First World War.
On the domestic front there is a serious shortage of able-bodied men for home front jobs. Matthew Crawley and William Mason go off to fight, while Thomas Barrow joins the Medical Corps. Tom Branson, as an Irishman, won't fight for Britain. Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville) returns to uniform, but is refused active service due to his age. Sybil Crawley (Jessica Brown Findlay) defies her aristocratic position and joins the Voluntary Aid Detachment as a nurse.
In the biggest development, Downton Abbey becomes a convalescent home for wounded officers.
A 46-minute documentary compiled in anticipation of the Christmas 2011 two-hour special broadcast, Behind the Drama features behind-the-scenes footage from the filming of the series and short interviews with Julian Fellowes, the writer, actors (Elizabeth McGovern, Joanne Froggatt, Brendan Coyle, Dan Stevens, Michelle Dockery, Jessica Brown Findlay, Laura Carmichael, Penelope Wilton, Phyllis Logan, Thomas Howes, Lesley Nicol, Sophie McShera, Allen Leech), and other members of the team that produces Downton Abbey. It was shown in the United Kingdom at 7:30 pm on Wednesday 21 December 2011 and narrated by Hugh Bonneville. 4.5 million people watched the show.[1]
September 1916. Matthew, on military leave, returns to Downton. He announces his engagement to Lavinia Swire. Mary pretends to be happy for them but is in love with Matthew. Meanwhile, she has invited Sir Richard Carlisle, a powerful and wealthy newspaper mogul, to visit Downton. The servants prepare for a concert to help fund the local hospital. Bates tells Anna that he is finally able to get a divorce and proposes. Bates' estranged wife Vera arrives at Downton and demands that Bates resign and return to her, or she will expose Mary's indiscretion with Pamuk, having heard the rumour. Bates gives his notice without explanation, much to Robert's anger. Sybil enrols in nurses' training, and Branson confesses his love for her before she leaves. Matthew meets Thomas in the war trenches, where they share a cup of tea. Later, Thomas deliberately gets shot in one hand to be sent back to England.
April 1917. Robert informs Mrs Patmore that her soldier nephew was executed for cowardice. Thomas goes to work under Dr Clarkson at the village hospital along with Lady Sybil. Downton becomes a war-time convalescent home. Matthew is unhappy about returning to England for a recruitment drive. Lavinia is confronted by Richard, an old and unwelcome family acquaintance. Edith volunteers to drive a tractor to help farmers during the war. At the Drake farm, Edith and Mr Drake are mutually attracted. When Mrs Drake sees them, she quietly ends Edith's job there.
July 1917. Violet objects to Downton becoming a convalescent home, while Isobel takes charge. Cora gets Thomas, now an Acting Sergeant, assigned to oversee Downton's military convalescents. Violet, believing that Mary and Matthew are still in love, schemes with Lady Rosamund to end Matthew's engagement to Lavinia. Violet believes there is more to Lavinia's relationship with Richard than as a family friend. William proposes to Daisy before going to war. Daisy does not love William, but Mrs Patmore pressures her to accept his proposal solely to give him hope.
March 1918. New housemaid, Ethel, continually flirts with Major Bryant. Mrs Hughes discovers them in bed together and dismisses Ethel. A few months later, Ethel returns, announcing that she is pregnant with Bryant's child. Preparations are under way for a concert at Downton. Tensions flare between Isobel and Cora, while Edith hears that Matthew and William have gone missing. Branson asks Sybil to run away with him, but she is ambivalent. Robert visits Bates at a nearby pub where he is working. Matthew and William turn up alive, but are forced to return to the trenches.
August 1918. Matthew has suffered a serious spinal injury and is paralysed from the waist down, leaving him apparently unable to father children. He wants Lavinia to forget him and ends their engagement, while Mary attempts to nurse him back to health. Mrs Hughes secretly helps Ethel and her baby after Bryant refuses to have contact with them. Having shielded Matthew from an explosion, William returns to Downton with terminal injuries. He wants to wed Daisy before dying. Mrs Patmore persuades a reluctant Daisy to marry him as an act of kindness; William dies a few hours later. Bates, who paid off Vera to divorce him, is taken aback when Vera vows to expose the truth about Mary and Pamuk. Mary confesses her involvement with Pamuk to Sir Richard and asks him to help. Sir Richard pays Vera to sign a confidentiality contract, then buries the story. Unknown to Mary, Richard announces their engagement in his newspaper. Enraged she was tricked into silence, Vera warns Bates that she will still ruin him.
November 1918. A severely burnt and disfigured Canadian officer arrives at Downton and declares he is the assumed dead heir, Patrick Crawley. Mary rejects the claim, but Edith is persuaded as he recounts memories of their childhood at Downton. Robert's solicitor, Murray, investigates and learns that Patrick Crawley had a close friend who emigrated to Canada. Violet presumes he is impersonating Patrick to claim the family fortune. After Edith vows to never stop trying to prove he is Patrick, he abruptly departs Downton, supporting Violet's suspicions. Mary cares for Matthew as he adapts to his physical condition. Isobel is filled with post-war social improvement schemes using Downton Abbey, but Cora deftly convinces her that her help is needed elsewhere. Mrs Hughes tells Ethel about Bryant's death. Branson issues an ultimatum regarding his marriage proposal to Sybil. Bates learns that his divorce may not actually be final after Vera revealed he paid her to leave him; Bates goes to London to try and settle their affairs. When he returns, he receives notice that Vera is dead. Soon afterwards, the Armistice concludes the war.
Early February 1919. Matthew begins feeling sensation in his legs. He announces that he and Lavinia will marry soon. Violet tells him that Mary still loves him, but Matthew feels obligated to marry Lavinia. Richard distresses Anna by asking her to spy on Mary; this leads Carson to reject his employment offer in Richard and Mary's new home. Bates realises Vera committed suicide to frame him for murder. Mrs Hughes contrives a meeting between the late Major Bryant's parents and Ethel and her baby. Mr Bryant denies the child is his grandson. Thomas embarks on a new money-making scheme in the post-war black market. Robert is attracted to Jane, a new maid. Realizing she loves Branson and desires a new life, Sybil agrees to them eloping. Mary discovers her plan, and she, Edith and Anna intercept them en route to Scotland. They persuade Sybil to return home and openly plead her case to their parents.
April 1919. The family are appalled that Sybil wants to marry Branson, a chauffeur. As preparations are under way for Matthew and Lavinia's wedding, Cora, Carson and Lavinia fall ill with Spanish flu. Despite being in love, Matthew and Mary acknowledge they can never marry as it would be cruel to Lavinia. Lavinia overhears their conversation and later tells Matthew she will not prevent his happiness. Ethel refuses the Bryants' offer of money in exchange for custody of their grandson, Charlie. Jane leaves Downton before she and Robert become more involved. Anna and Bates secretly marry; Mary secretly has a Downton bedroom prepared for their wedding night. Cora and Carson recover, but Lavinia succumbs to the flu. Guilt-ridden and blaming himself for Lavinia's death, Matthew tells Mary they can never have a relationship. Robert reluctantly gives his blessing for Sybil and Branson to marry. Bates is arrested for Vera's murder.
December 1919 and January 1920. The household bustles with Christmas preparations. The staff entertain themselves with a ouija board. Bates is convicted of Vera's murder, but his death sentence is commuted to life imprisonment after Murray's appeal. Bates encourages Anna to stay at Downton and live a full life. Daisy meets with William's father, Mr Mason, who assures her that she is a good person and asks her to become his surrogate daughter. Rosamund contemplates marriage, but her suitor is exposed as a fortune hunter. Sybil, now married to Branson and living in Ireland, writes that she is pregnant. Cora insists that she and Branson return to Downton for the birth. Cora finally tells Robert about Mary and Pamuk. Although Mary stays with Richard to keep the scandal undercover, Robert, seeing Mary's unhappiness, encourages her to break the engagement. Though fearing Matthew will consider her "soiled", Mary tells him about Pamuk, then prepares to leave for America. Although initially dismayed, Matthew puts everything behind them and proposes; Mary happily accepts.
Production
Filming began in March 2011. The scripts were written by series creator Julian Fellowes. Episodes were directed by Ashley Pearce, Andy Goddard, Brian Kelly and James Strong. Cal Macaninch, Iain Glen, Amy Nuttall, Zoe Boyle and Maria Doyle Kennedy joined the cast respectively as the new valet Lang, Sir Richard Carlisle, the new housemaid Ethel, Lavinia Swire and John Bates' wife Vera. Nigel Havers and Sharon Small appeared in the Christmas Special as Lord Hepworth and Marigold Shore, Rosamund Painswick's maid, respectively.
Reception
Series two was highly acclaimed. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has fresh rating of 100% based on 24 reviews, with a weighted average of 8.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "With its excellent cast and resplendent period trappings, Downton Abbey continues to weave a bewitching, ingratiating spell."[27] On Metacritic, the series 2 has a normalized score of 85 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "Universal Acclaim".[28]
The series generally received overwhelming reviews from critics. Linda Stasi of the New York Post wrote the second series "seamlessly moves between the horrors of war and the gentility of life in the show's titular 100-room manor."[29] Writing for TV Guide Magazine, Matt Roush said, "For those of us who hungered for a year to witness these new chapters, the appetite is insatiable."[30]The Wall Street Journal's television critic Dorothy Rabinowitz said, "The vibrant brew of upstairs-downstairs relationships is more savory now, the characters more complicated."[31] Robert Bianco of USA Today also lauded the series saying, "There's nothing in Downton you won't recognize, and almost nothing you won't enjoy."[32]Variety's chief television critic Brian Lowry praised the series cast and said the creator had "created such a vivid group of characters and assembled such an impeccable cast--effortlessly oscillating from comedy to drama--that the hours fly by, addictively pulling viewers from one into the next."[33] Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter said, "The characters are so beautifully and thoroughly rendered that we, as viewers, are caught up in their lives."[34] Robert Lioyd of the Los Angeles Times said, "It is big, beautiful, beautifully acted and romantic, its passions expressed with that particular British reserve that serves only to make them burn brighter."[35]
Some media outlets and critics were more critical towards the show. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette TV critic Rob Owen wrote, "Writer/series creator Julian Fellowes weaves together an engrossing tapestry of stories, although some of them stretch credulity or peter out."[36] Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times also gave the series moderate reviews by comparison to the first series and said, "Season 2 is in many ways as captivating and addictive as the first, but this time around, the series comes off as a shameless throwback to itself."[37] In a moderate review, Maureen Ryan of The Huffington Post said, "Your investment in the many stories spun out by creator Julian Fellowes may take longer to develop this year, because the costume drama's pace is off in the early going and it's far more contrived and inconsistent than it was in its first season."[38] In a less enthusiastic review for The Washington Post, Hank Stuever quipped that the series, "lacks surprise and is stretched precariously thin, a house full of fascinating people with not nearly enough to do, all caught in a loop of weak storylines that circle round but never fully propel."[39]
