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Thomas's problems run far deeper than his homosexuality, in fact I would argue that homosexuality is the least of his problems. If Thomas's melancholy are based upon his loss of family and home, perhaps he should have considered his luck and good fortune before embarking on his innumerable and feeble Machiavellian attempts to blackmail, denigrate, extort, interfere, undermine and subvert, every member of the household staff for his own personal aggrandizement, ambition and just plain malicious entertainment. Now if anyone can either exculpate, or justify any of what I've outlined, I might, might, be able to see how homosexuality figures in Thomas's feelings of alienation.
The show has presented Thomas as someone who understood that his homosexuality would always make him a pariah in any setting. Because he believed that everyone would ultimately reject him as a consequence of his sexual orientation, which was not an improbable conclusion in that place and era, he rejected people first. He made it impossible for anyone to like him with his mean spirited subversive words and actions. He was arrogant and flippant on the exterior to prevent anyone from seeing the self loathing interior.
Despite all that, and much to his own surprise, he did bond with the Downton family and staff, the closest thing he would ever have to his own family. He reacted to this by becoming a somewhat kinder person. That Lord Granthan and Carson seem so eager to see the back of him, pulls the rug out from under that one illusion of belonging that he had been sustaining.
That accounts for his present alienation and if we roll the film in reverse, we see that the root cause was his homosexuality.
The show has presented Thomas as someone who understood that his homosexuality would always make him a pariah in any setting. Because he believed that everyone would ultimately reject him as a consequence of his sexual orientation, which was not an improbable conclusion in that place and era, he rejected people first. He made it impossible for anyone to like him with his mean spirited subversive words and actions. He was arrogant and flippant on the exterior to prevent anyone from seeing the self loathing interior.
Agree. I have always found Thomas to be the most interesting and well written of Downton Abbey's characters, and I have enjoyed Rob James-Collier's portrayal in the role. I was talking about it to DH last week's episode and wondering if and when his kinder side would show through, and if people would recognize some of the good things he'd done, and my DH said no way, Thomas has made his own bed and will forever have to lie in it. DH described described him as "insufferably self important" and said that is the reason nobody likes him (or trusts him) and never will.
And, I sadly agree with a comment that was made upthread a while back that says that he would probably have been summarily discharged from the home years ago due to his sexual orientation alone.
This is the only home and family Thomas has known and he even mentioned putting down roots at Downton. I feel sad for him in this latest episode, how he was in a corner looking at everyone happy and being left out.
He's made his own bed, as they say; now he must lie in it. He's been cruel, conniving, deceitful, arrogant, and two or three dozen other unflattering adjectives.
No, I don't feel sorry for Thomas. Every time you think he's taking a step toward redemption he takes two steps back by doing something heartless.
Why on earth he wasn't dismissed after framing Bates for stealing from Robert's collection of trinkets (can't remember which trinkets they were!) is beyond me. Or for all the crap he's pulled since then.
Why on earth he wasn't dismissed after framing Bates for stealing from Robert's collection of trinkets (can't remember which trinkets they were!) is beyond me. Or for all the crap he's pulled since then.
I think if we're being honest, half of the downstairs staff would have been fired for one thing or another in real life. Daisy for making a scene in front of the "quality", Bates for going to jail for murder, Denker for confronting the doctor in public, etc. Most aristocratic employers wouldn't have such a soft spot for their servants and give them so many second chances. That's the TV price we pay for being able to see them as something other than overprivileged jerks.
Last edited by fleetiebelle; 02-16-2016 at 11:01 AM..
I think if we're being honest, half of the downstairs staff would have been fired for one thing or another in real life. Daisy for making a scene in front of the "quality", Bates for going to jail for murder, Denker for confronting the doctor in public, etc. Most aristocratic employers wouldn't have such a soft spot for their servants and give them so many second chances..
In order for modern audiences to be ale to root for the over privileged Granthams, they had to be somewhat infused with modern values. Thus the family is consistently more progressive and tolerant in most matters than what was probably typical in that era.
Remember, it is a tv program and certain distortions of reality are required. Recall how the Cartwright and Barkley families always....always...did the right thing, even if it was risky or was likely to cost them. Of course because it is television, it never did cost them much, everything always worked out okay in the end to the degree that the lives and fortunes of the Cartwrights and Barkleys remained intact.
So it has been with the Granthams. They have defied numerous social conventions in their kinder and more sensitive treatment of their servants, and there have never been foul consequences as a result.
Remember, it is a tv program and certain distortions of reality are required
I think of these as storybook odds. Fellows has worked hard to create a realistic portrayal of the historical times and culture of the era. While that's important and necessary, it's not what makes a good story. We could watch a documentary if all we wanted to do was learn about history and culture. A good story has an improbable combination of the likely and unlikely while the basic rules of reality are still observed.
We've discussed many Downton events that would never have happened in real life and to an extent we are right. I'm sure there were estates that forgave one instance of the servant misbehavior seen in Downton, but they would not have done so with with the frequency we have seen. It's not that a particular event couldn't have happened, it's the number of unlikely events occurring together and with a frequency that approaches statistical impossibility that wouldn't have happened.
More than anything, I think Downton Abbey is about exploring the social and cultural boundaries of an era as entertainment. It's written more to entertain than educate, yet it maintains enough historical certainties and impossibilities to keeps us satisfied. Interesting history happens when the unexpected occurs. The historical figures we revere and despise pushed boundaries in unlikely ways. Downton Abbey's a great entertaining story with a nod to history.
Tom's role has been reduced to such an "also there" presence that it makes me suspect that the show wasn't expecting him to be in the final season. Then when he became available, they had to re-write what they already had in order to fit him into the scenes. Most of the lines which they have given him seem like they could have been handled by Cora since they have been mostly support or encouragement for the characters who are actually involved in plot elements. He has seemed more spare part than anything else.
I was hoping that they would show Tom's life in Boston, but I guess they couldn't do that if they wouldn't even have Edith living in London. Whatever they do with him, I sincerely hope he doesn't end up with Lady Mary. He deserves better than her. Those two can be like brother and sister, and I hope he takes up with the magazine editor. That would be a better match for him. I have to admit to never warming up to Mary. I never understood why she was so popular. Edith can be annoyingly mopey, but she was always more interesting and sometimes much prettier than Mary (like in the last episode).
I hope Edith's beaux is progressive enough to accept Marigold as Edith's daughter. At least I am assuming that will be confessed before accepting the marriage proposal.
Agree. I have always found Thomas to be the most interesting and well written of Downton Abbey's characters, and I have enjoyed Rob James-Collier's portrayal in the role. I was talking about it to DH last week's episode and wondering if and when his kinder side would show through, and if people would recognize some of the good things he'd done, and my DH said no way, Thomas has made his own bed and will forever have to lie in it. DH described described him as "insufferably self important" and said that is the reason nobody likes him (or trusts him) and never will.
And, I sadly agree with a comment that was made upthread a while back that says that he would probably have been summarily discharged from the home years ago due to his sexual orientation alone.
Thomas has definitely been one of the more interesting characters at Downton. But he did have a kind streak in him, even when it did not serve a purpose - such as his trying to help that blind soldier in the hospital during WWI. It may have been a small streak, but it seems to have widened. I don't think Thomas will ever be a saint, but he may become wiser; and perhaps he's realized what his earlier misdeeds have cost him (along with his sexual orientation, which is something he cannot change). I can't help thinking that Thomas is going to end up regaining power and favor at Downton by the end of the series.
Carson has also been self-important, and most fans like him (at least much of the time). Of course, Carson isn't a liar; and Thomas has lied. Hopefully the last episode will not include a suicided Thomas' funeral.
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