I’ve been a big fan of Downton Abbey since the first season, and the latest (and likely final) installment in the franchise, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, which you can catch in theaters now on the 2025 movie schedule, is a fitting end to the story, as I wrote in my review of the movie. One thing I left out, however, is something that frustrated me about The Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville). All of a sudden, he’s completely out of touch with everything. It’s out of character for him.
The Crowleys Have Always Been A Little Out Of Touch, But Come On
In The Grand Finale, there are a handful of scenes that see Robert seemingly so out of touch with the real world that he doesn’t understand how apartments work or that people, even rich people, cook dinner for themselves. These would have been perfect scenarios for his late mother, Violet Crawley (played in the series, of course, by the late Dame Maggie Smith), but not for Robert.
The late Dowager Countess was famous in the series for being a Victorian aristocrat who was proudly uninterested in the changing world of the early 20th century, but Robert was always more pragmatic and realistic. In The Grand Finale, suddenly, he’s the one who is comically out of touch.
In one scene, he and Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) tour a flat in London that Mary intends to be the family’s headquarters in the capital. Robert is seemingly stunned to learn that other people live in the apartment building.
In another scene, Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael), whose character is very much adapting to the times, makes a joke as they sit down for dinner that soon they all may be cooking for themselves. Again, Robert reacts much like Violet would have, with shock and confusion. It simply makes no sense for the character.
Robert Has Always Been Old-Fashioned, But He’s Never Been A Fool
Both of these scenes make Robert out to be a fool, and he’s never been that way before. Sure, he laments the changing modern world and has worked hard to maintain the manners (and the manor) of the Victorian Era in which he was raised, but he’s also always understood that things change. While Violet balked at electricity and telephones, Robert saw the future in both. Now we’re to believe he not only doesn’t see the future for what it is, but can’t even understand it? I’m not buying it.
Just as we all miss the presence of Maggie Smith, the characters miss the Dowager Countess, but that doesn’t mean we need a character who has taken on her thought process, as Robert seems to have in the final story from the world of Downton Abbey. He isn’t the right character for it, and no one else in the movie has any illusions as to where the world, and the family, are headed. Robert may not like it, but he’s not blind to it, either.
I still heartily endorse the movie, and I’ve even found myself rewatching old episodes of the show with my Peacock subscription. And yes, I, too, miss Maggie Smith’s biting humor very much, but the world, like the family in Downton Abbey, moves on.
