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Spoilers for the finale of Downton Abbey

I know many of you lost interest years ago, and perhaps some of you don’t see the point of it all, but I genuinely enjoyed Downton Abbey and I’m sorry to see it go. Last night, America finally got to see the show finale, which British viewers got to see a few months ago. We got the ending we deserved… I guess. If you’re like me, you recognized long ago that Downton Abbey wasn’t so much “the best costume drama ever” as much as it was a perfectly enjoyable soap opera with fun costumes and period details. Like, I understand why DA won technical awards for costumes, makeup, set design, etc. But I’ll never really understand why it won Emmys, Golden Globes and SAGs for Best Drama, Best Ensemble, etc. It wasn’t the best, but it was fun. So here are some my favorite moments from the last season & finale:

Lady Mary & Lady Edith finally have a blowout. They needed to have it. That had been stewing for six seasons, and honestly, what Mary did – tell Edith’s fiancé about Edith’s daughter – was unforgivable. So Edith called her a bitch to her face. And I hoped Edith would cut her ties with Mary completely, but in the penultimate episode, Edith comes back for Mary’s wedding, blah.

Lady Mary ends up with Matthew Goode. I kind of hated this match-up. I can see how it looked good on paper, but Michelle Dockery and Goode didn’t really have that much chemistry together, plus they looked like brother and sister. Still, I loved that Mary needed to be taken down a few pegs and now the heiress to Downton is married to (LITERALLY) a used car salesman. Oh, and Mary is knocked up and she seemed to have a sense of propriety about NOT announcing it on Edith’s special day. My favorite part about this storyline? Goode’s character fits in well with the family, he and Tom get along well and we even got to see Goode’s character being a hands-on and loving step-father to George, Mary and Matthew’s son.

Lady Edith ends up with a Marquess. The Marquess seems like a decent enough bloke and I don’t mind that Mary made some machinations to get the two of them together. But the storyline with his mother was… weird. Like, she hated Edith and then she didn’t in a matter of hours. Will that marriage work out long-term? Will Edith get pregnant again at the drop of a hat? But after all of the drama and sadness of Edith’s life, I’m glad she got some kind of happy ending.

Carson is out as butler. Because he has shaky hands. But he’ll still be able to work for the house in some capacity, and Thomas is coming back, this time as butler.

Robert finally realizes Cora is capable. Like, Robert never wanted to see Cora as anything other than his wife. She’s always been capable and smart and he’s always been kind of an idiot about business and everything else. Does one “I’m sorry” negate the fact that he’s been underestimating her for decades?

Isobel ends up with Lord Merton. Let me just say… of course he was misdiagnosed. OF COURSE. I feel like Isobel got tricked into marrying him, but she seemed happy – she had a patient to look after and she got him away from his terrible family.

Tom Branson is probably going to end up with the lady editor. I like that Julian Fellowes didn’t have to shoehorn in a romance for Tom, but they gave him hope that he would find love, etc.

Anna had a baby. I was over the Anna-Bates storyline like three seasons ago. The only thing I liked about Anna this season was how she and Mary acted more like sisters than Mary and Edith ever have. Anna is one of the few people Mary truly loves, and it was really touching to see Mary attend to Anna when Anna’s water broke. Anna had a boy, by the way.

Violet is still the best. What a crazy part for Maggie Smith, right? I could have used more quips from Violet in the finale, but we have six seasons of her magnificent bitchery to keep up ice-cold at night.

There were other wrap-ups of course but those were the main storylines I cared about. Did you watch? Did you hate it? Did you love it? My general feeling is… I’m kind of sad that the soap opera is over. It was fun and infuriating and silly, but enjoyable. I’ll miss it.

Photos courtesy of PBS, WENN.

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