‘Downton Abbey’ Season 3 Is Forced to Douse a Firebrand
That house was hideous. But, of course, that is no excuse.
As Downton Abbey’s third season continues, the Crawley family is finally forced to face what it really means to have an Irish revolutionary marry into the family. Those of us watching at home have to reevaluate whether Branson was ever all that great a match for Sybil in the first place. While it’s all very romantic to run off with the family chauffeur and live in genteel poverty bolstered by the occasional bit of cash from home, it’s another thing entirely to discover his political interests come with real danger attached.
All marriages have problems. Mary and Matthew are certainly proof of that, no matter how meant for each other the two clearly were when they met — and still are now that they’re together. But Matthew would literally die before he let his irritating stoicism put his wife’s physical safety at risk, and there’s never any doubt that for all his flaws, she’s the most important thing in his life. Sybil often seems as though she rates a distant second in Tom’s mind to some nebulous idea of “Ireland,” and his truly dreadful behavior is selfish in the extreme.
What’s worse is, he knows it. If it were really all meant to be as fine and above board as he claims, if nothing truly bad were meant to happen, he’d never have lied to Sybil about it. He certainly wouldn’t have bolted at the first opportunity, or left his (extremely pregnant!) wife behind to take the heat for him. Yet no matter how much he claims to love Sybil, it’s clearly not enough to change any of his behavior for her.
