Blogton, the Run-up, 2015

January 1^st

While everyone on the frozen ground below was joyously- nay, jubilantly!-  (to say nothing of somewhat idiotically) waiting for the giant, magic ball of crystals to finally come down in Times Square and announce the start of 2015 (an almost science fictiony sort of number for all it will be worth, you think?), I could not help but hearken back to the twelve months that had alternately crept or sped by at times- depending on which cliché comes to mind- while awaiting Season Five of Downton Abbey. In addition, I honestly could not understand what the hell everyone packed into those icy, roped off streets in mid-Manhattan was so happy about- Anderson Cooper et al, the politicos, the tourists, the plebes, the cops assigned to the detail, the media crew, the teenagers, the gawkers, the pickpockets and pedophiles no doubt infiltrating the crowd- didn’t they realize they still would have to wait another almost four full days or, to put it less dispiritingly, 96 hours, before the first episode of the new season aired for the masses or those unlucky enough not to have had early access to the DVD??? I have to admit the rape episode in Season Four gave pause for thought and was more than a bit off putting, not really fitting in so seamlessly with all that luscious Edwardian fairy tale splendor to which we’ve become so accustomed; however I was just not ready to give up on the whole thing. It seemed possible that with a little effort they could redeem themselves handily over at gorgeous, drafty old Highclere.

January 3^rd

In that interminable interim between the official start of the New Year and ads for the new PBS season, suddenly I was reminded that I still really cared, even though I had tried to banish all thoughts of the series during much of the previous year and was still smarting from the baddie incident that so beset Anna. During the run-up right before the new season aired I tried not to watch the trailers that were hitting the pixel waves like tantalizing shooting stars for fear of even the slightest hint-of-a-hint of a spoiler, and yet of course I had no choice but to become transfixed each time one of the inhabitants of the venerable Abbey, whether upstairs or down, suddenly flashed across the screen in some particularly captivating pose of abject angst for a mere second or two, snatches of scenes that served as part of the shameless titillation to the fifth season of Downton; and could that really have been a fire they were rather unsubtly hinting at in those agonized mini-moments of enforced viewing on the PBS website?  Did the producers and writers actually have the temerity even to suggest such a horrific occurrence, in that time, in that hallowed place, in that single family structure bigger than my apartment building??? Since I watch the show for the visual splendor and historical detail no less than the entrancing soap opera shenanigans, my rage and indignance at the very thought of yet one, single pillow tassel being corrupted, one square of oriental carpet spoiled, whether by actual singe damage or a mere waft of dark, sooty smoke, was almost too intense to bear. Basically I did not wish to think about it.

January 4^th, 5:33 pm, 3 hours and 27 minutes to go. . . .

Well, all comes to she who waits, and much in the way Mary eventually got Matthew after years of patient turmoil and a lollapalooza of a world war, tonight I finally get to see Episode One of Season Five. Yes, tonight! I know I cannot possibly be disappointed because even if that awful negativity of mind that occasionally creeps in regarding some of the less than stupendous PBS offerings rears its critical little self, I would fight this off strenuously with all the denial I could possibly muster! Furthermore, I could always fall back on that very first hypnotic season as a means of keeping the memory of the series’ debut alive, forever. And if I take issue with any of the new plot lines I also know that eventually I will come not only to accept, but to embrace them, if only because the show still endures and where there’s life there’s hope. But still, one can wonder. . . . I have planned an early, easy dinner and then some meditation before the program begins, to allow enough time to “get ready” so to speak, to assume the optimal frame of relaxation mind and alertness, and will return to this blogton with my take on the new episodes as the season gets seriously underway.