Too bad Napoléon lost at Waterloo because he could have done EPIX customers a huge solid, and sacked this latest offering from the twerps behind "Downton Abbey".
The "big secret" which the Downton Dopes manage to string along for 5 episodes had me howling: NO man of Bellasis's rank would trick a young girl into believing that they are married (and recruit his buddy to "marry" them) unless he wanted to annihilate his family's reputation for the next 100 years! And what was in it for him to target Sophia (pronounced "So-FI-ah" -- EXCUSE ME!)? If you are the son of an earl and you are going to go through life being a cad, have some self-respect! Set your sights on a daughter of a marquess or a duke or - dare I say it! - the king, NOT on some girl whose family has just crashed the party! Well, the joke is on Lord Byron Wanna-Be: he buys it at Waterloo (thanks, Napoléon!). But So-FI-ah dies after giving birth to their son, whom her class-conscientious Mum has had stashed away like a draw-full of Daddy's old Playboys.
Byron Wanna-Be's Mum and Dad (who become the neighbors of So-FI-ah's family at Belgravia -- how convenient!) don't have a clue that they have a grandson, which is neither here nor there as the boy's illegitimacy entitles him to squat, which is also neither here nor there because, flash-forward 25 years, and Junior (who has been saddled with the moniker "Charles Pope") owns a cotton mill and is living large. I hope those who stick this dull, overwritten, (So-FI-ah could have explained her dilemma to Mum in 3 wordless shots instead of babbling about how Dad gave her his blessings to hook up with Byron Wanna-Be) ham-fisted ridiculousness out won't feel gypped when - "surprise"! - it turns out that Junior isn't illegitimate after all! Jane Austen must be spinning in her grave!
The "big secret" which the Downton Dopes manage to string along for 5 episodes had me howling: NO man of Bellasis's rank would trick a young girl into believing that they are married (and recruit his buddy to "marry" them) unless he wanted to annihilate his family's reputation for the next 100 years! And what was in it for him to target Sophia (pronounced "So-FI-ah" -- EXCUSE ME!)? If you are the son of an earl and you are going to go through life being a cad, have some self-respect! Set your sights on a daughter of a marquess or a duke or - dare I say it! - the king, NOT on some girl whose family has just crashed the party! Well, the joke is on Lord Byron Wanna-Be: he buys it at Waterloo (thanks, Napoléon!). But So-FI-ah dies after giving birth to their son, whom her class-conscientious Mum has had stashed away like a draw-full of Daddy's old Playboys.
Byron Wanna-Be's Mum and Dad (who become the neighbors of So-FI-ah's family at Belgravia -- how convenient!) don't have a clue that they have a grandson, which is neither here nor there as the boy's illegitimacy entitles him to squat, which is also neither here nor there because, flash-forward 25 years, and Junior (who has been saddled with the moniker "Charles Pope") owns a cotton mill and is living large. I hope those who stick this dull, overwritten, (So-FI-ah could have explained her dilemma to Mum in 3 wordless shots instead of babbling about how Dad gave her his blessings to hook up with Byron Wanna-Be) ham-fisted ridiculousness out won't feel gypped when - "surprise"! - it turns out that Junior isn't illegitimate after all! Jane Austen must be spinning in her grave!