Which Downton Abbey character do you love the most?

Downton Abbey, Season 2. Episode 2. 

Ok, I am addicted.

I love the entire package; the setting of Downton Abbey    (aka Highclere Castle http://www.highclerecastle.co.uk/)   and it’s interiors, the massive paintings, the pale green fabric on the walls in the dining room, the red walls in Lady Mary’s bedroom, his Lordship’s desk in the library, and of course the costumes, the actors, the acting, but the writing is the real juice in this turn of the century drama. 

It’s the writing that fills O’Brien with humanity when she looks at herself in the mirror after she has failed to pick up the soap that has fallen underneath Lady Cora’s tub, and says to herself "this isn’t who you are..."

It’s the writing that makes the Dowager Countess so fun to watch, the writing that gives her fabulous lines like her response to making Downton a convalescent hospital...

"what’s next, amputation in the dining room, resuscitation in the pantry?"

It’s the writing and the creation of all these characters that makes us feel as if we are there, just out of sight, just behind the curtain watching all the fabulous comings and goings of the Crawley family in their quest to establish Matthew Crawley as a suitable heir to the estate after the known heir went down in the sinking of the Titanic.  


Who do you like the best?



http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/season2_characters_vote.html


And let me ask you this: Does Matthew feel that Lady Mary hesitated on giving him her answer because of the question of inheritance and status, or was it a moral question for her? Was she conflicted about Mr. Pamuk? Will O'Brien's act of pushing the soap in Lady Cora's path become known? Does everyone have something to hide?