As "Downton Abbey" returns for its fourth season Sunday night, Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) is dressed in black, mourning the death of her beloved Matthew, and staring moodily out of windows. Mrs. Hughes (Phyllis Logan) is helping everyone from Isobel Crawley (Penelope Wilton) to Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) sort out their emotional issues. And Mr. Barrow (Rob James-Collier) is once more scheming against one of his fellow servants, for reasons known only to him and "Downton Abbey" creator and writer Julian Fellowes.
In other words, "Downton Abbey" is back, in all its endearingly flawed glory. While the show once aimed to make thoughtful points about the decline of the British landed gentry and the social stratification of the upstairs and downstairs classes, Fellowes apparently now fully embraces the soap-operaness of it all.
Which means Season 4 -- which begins with a two-hour episode -- once more plunges us into the lives and relationships of its gallery of characters, serving up a bustling batch of everything we've come to expect: melancholy moments; servant drama; servant comic relief; busybody bon mots from the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith); and yet another conveniently appearing letter, the latest example of the eye-rolling plot twists that adorn the "Downton Abbey" family tree (remember Lavinia's oh-so-handy death, and terribly nice blessing of Matthew and Mary's romance? Or Matthew miraculously regaining the ability to walk?)
Fellowes is utterly shameless when it comes to such howlers, and he also seems to suffer his own convenient amnesia when it comes to writing certain characters. Why, for example, after we saw Barrows being humanized last season as he suffered prejudicial treatment for his homosexuality, is he back to being a nasty little snot as Season 4 opens? Is it just because Fellowes needs someone to be hissable, with the absence of the dreaded lady's maid, O'Brien? (The character departs to accompany the sourpuss Marchioness of Flintshire to India, as hinted in last season's finale; the actress, Siobhan Finneran, decided to leave the show.)
Even with such caveats, it's escapist fun to wallow again in the splendor and luxury of life with the Granthams (whose lives are remarkably complicated considering their main job is to be rich all day), and of the down-to-earth doings of the household staff.
Season 4 picks up in 1922, six months after Matthew's death in a car accident, shortly after the birth of baby George. Mary is nearly comatose with grief, though she's still tastefully restrained about it. Robert (Hugh Bonneville) wants Mary to take it easy, which is good for him, since it appears Matthew left no will and Robert's keen on regaining full control of the estate until baby George is able to claim his inheritance.
It's a testament to Bonneville's supreme likability that Robert remains a sympathetic character even after his string of disastrous decisions (blowing the family fortune with bonehead investments, refusing to allow Sybil to go to the hospital, and so on.) But Robert's not likely to get his way, as Mary has enough steel in her spine that she won't stay a well-groomed zombie forever. Plus, who wants to see an entire season of Mary lying down, looking morose?
Meanwhile, there's the usual hustle and bustle among the staff, with Mrs. Hughes determined to get to the bottom of Carson's reluctance to meet with an old colleague; a bossy new nanny for baby George and little Sybil; and a rather tiresome subplot about a romantic triangle between Alfred, Jimmy and Ivy.
"Downton Abbey" Season 4 premiere
When: 9 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 5
Channel: PBS (10)
And since it's the Roaring Twenties, we have cousin Rose (Lily James) determined to get out and shake her tailfeathers, and Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) zipping off to London to rendezvous with her married editor beau.
But even as someone says, "It's a changing world," in "Downton Abbey," some things stay the same. Well-born ladies still sit without their backs touching their chairs. The Dowager Countess finds time to help find jobs for staff, and other general meddling, while dispensing tart lines of dialogue.
We may find ourselves wondering why we're still paying attention to characters who experience a crisis at a maid's sudden exit. But just when we're tempted to reflect on that, a familiar character returns. Or Isis the dog appears, and we wonder just how old this animal is. Or Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol) tosses off another salty remark.
In "Downton Abbey," it's just one thing after another, which is both its appeal -- and its limitation.
-- Kristi Turnquist
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