I’m sure I remember reading that the first of this trio of films (2019) was going to be a one-off? Well obviously it wasn’t and despite a fairly thin plot here, it is quite hard to believe that the “Crawley” clan and their staff are really going to be hanging up their hats here, either. This time, it’s the American cousins who are due to visit them all with, they hope, some good news on the inheritance front following the death of the mother of the Countess (Elizabeth McGovern). It also transpires that “Lady Mary” (Michelle Dockery) is at the centre of a scandal that could well have lasting repercussions for her role as the new mistress of the Abbey. On that front, the Earl (Hugh Bonneville) is struggling to let go of the reins and with “Carson” (Jim Carter) and “Mrs. Hughes” (Phyllis Logan) retired; “Mrs. Patmore” (Lesley Nicol) about to hand over the kitchen to a “Daisy” (Sophie McShera) who’s now married to the newly promoted butler “Parker” (Michael Fox) it’s all change at this grand stately home. They might be able to rescue their socially volatile situation if they can convince none other than raconteur Noël Coward (Arty Froushan) to come visit with their acting pal “Dexter” (Dominic West) - remember he took “Barrow” (Robert James-Collier) to be his “dresser” last time. With all of this happening, brother “Levinson” (Paul Giamatti) arrives with his dashing financial advisor “Sambrook” (Alessandro Nivola) to reveal to “Cora” that there is quite a fly in the ointment and that irreversible change is looming for everyone. If this were a soap, this film would advance the plot only slightly from the last film. We have moved into the 1930s with fashions, music and attitudes beginning to change and though character progress is inevitable, the film misses the sparring between the now “Lady Merton” (Dame Penelope Wilton) and Dame Maggie Smith (to whom the film is dedicated). There is an attempt to recreate that, of sorts, with the curmudgeonly snob “Sir Hector” (Sir Simon Russell Beale at his most entertainingly pompous) and the whole production is classy, stylish and shows clearly that the spirit of Merchant Ivory high British costume drama is not only alive and well, but thriving too. Democracy and end of empire are coming to “Downton”, but let’s hope not too swiftly - else the late dowager will be spinning in her grave and the upstairs/downstairs mystique that made this work will evaporate into something altogether too egalitarian.
