Scottish Nightmare (Downton Abbey Season 3 Christmas Special Episode Review)

As mentioned in the title of this review, the Christmas Special of Downton Abbey's third season is a nightmare for fans. Why?

First, a flat and disappointing episode. 

Second, the death of a major character - as in, if you think Sybil's death was devastating... you might want to think again.

Let's first discuss my first reason why this special episode was not so special as I thought it would be. Maybe it's my fault that I'd expected too much since last year's Christmas special was Downton Abbey's best episode ever. But still.... I expected more from this award winning series. The entire episode felt weak and flat. There are a lot of unnecessary storylines that I strongly believe can be included in the season finale a few months back. Also, nothing big really happened during the entire 1.5 hour, just the introduction of the possible character/s for next season, and the exit of some. It was so bad that even the Dowager Countess' crazy and funny antiques did not suffice. In short, the entire episode was boring and pointless. Yes, it was nice to see the characters in action again after weeks of being gone, but still.... the fans are hungry for more.

For the second reason, a character died. It's not just any character, it's Matthew fuckin' Crawley. Yes, the show's leading man himself was killed off in a stupid car crash. It's all over the news weeks ago that the actor - Dan Stevens - had decided to leave the show for good, so I was expecting that this may be his farewell episode or he'll appear in next season's premiere then he'll just leave Downton and Mary for some sad and personal reasons. But no. The writers of the series decided it would be better for him to die. Why, right? Does he really have to die? Furthermore, he was killed when his child with Mary was born! I am personally disappointed with that outcome and I hope that the show can pick itself up for next season.

Overall, I'll give the episode a rating of.... 

4.5/10