Consequences
The terrible consequences of the wrong choices: Lady Mary
Downton Abbey
Even though it begins with the bad news about the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, Downton Abbey is very 1904. It is now 1919 in the series and it is still very 1904 and if I need to explain that for you, all I can say is that it has to do with sensibility and context and the end of the Edwardian Age, see below, I rest my case. S. and I texted throughout the episode last night from our respective viewing locations, my boudoir and hers. Leaving out spoilers, it went like this:
"Don't be defeatist, my dear, it's very middle class."
OMG
Violet gets all the good lines.
LOL
This plotting has more twists than a pretzel.
Oh good lord Lavinia.
Bates don't be a fool.
Rat Poison? What was he thinking?
Did Mary just make a 'wrong bed' joke?
Bring out the funeral filter for the camera.
We need to to get 'flu shots.
Actions have consequences. Or, actions should have consequences. Right now I'm working on my next book Into Deeper Water, and I've been throwing everything at the hero, poor Sam Finch, he's the wall and I'm trying to see what bad stuff will stick to him. But bad stuff isn't enough, you know. It needs to have consequences. "Sam needs an antagonist," my friend Adrienne with whom I have lunch at Gratitude Cafe says. She's read the first book.
"Someone's trying to kill Sam this time around," I explain.
"It's a start," she admits.
Then I go to sit for my portrait. I have never sat for my portrait by an artist before. I am allowed to watch a movie while I try not to move. I pick Gods and Monsters, which is in part about an artist trying to draw a subject, who in this case is the hot Marine who has come to mow the lawn. But I am no Brendon Fraser.
Of course actions can have huge and overwhelming consequences, even of the above-and-beyond variety, like the long suffering characters on Downton Abbey this season. Exhausting, watching these folks go through the ups and downs of marriages and engagements, heartache and disappointment, and poor Lord Grantham with his daughters each making one bad choice after another. He's like Tevia in Fiddler on the Roof, putting up with those girls. They would have been little girls in 1904, you see.
I wake up this morning with a sad sinking feeling because it's Monday, my character's actions have no consequence and consequently my writing has no consequence or importance, therefore my life has no consequence or meaning, it is pointless going on or even getting out of bed. And then I recall what the Dowager Countess Violet said about being defeatist and being middle class. So I force myself up and go to make coffee. "No, no, I'll get it, Mrs. Patmore," I call out to no one. "Tell Daisy I'll put the kettle on myself."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=r5dMlXentLw#!
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Brilliant.
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Haven't watched it yet, but there's also a Part Two:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3YYo_5rxFE&feature=share
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giggling at you from the skyscraper in manhattan
"don't rush, cook - the roast beef Will Keep!"
if only, love
flying to the Other Coast first thing tomorrow.
not a Moment Too Soon.
_tg xx
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Hurry and get here.
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