The first trailer for Downton Abbey: A New Era came with the huge surprise that Maggie Smith's Dowager Countess of Grantham, Violet Crawley will return for the sequel. Unfortunately, the pleasant revelation of her continued presence at Downton undoes the emotional ending to the first Downton Abbey movie, ruining what was set up as a passing-of-the-torch moment. While Smith's return is no doubt a bonus for fans, it comes at a great cost to the story.
In Downton Abbey's movie, Lady Violet tragically revealed that she had been to a medical consultation in London that had led to a grave diagnosis. In other words Downton Abbey's ending is somewhat overshadowed by the reveal that Smith's beloved Dowager was dying and had little time left to live. Somewhat typically, she affirmed her defiant refusal to die quietly, insisting on living the remainder of her life as she had always lived, while also sharing a touching moment to reflect on her legacy with Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery).
That scene in Downton Abbey that showed Mary discovering Lady Violet's tragic secret gave the eldest Crawley child a chance to speak for the audience, telling the Dowager that she would live on as long as Downton stood. What followed was a loaded sequence that seemed to suggest Violet was saying goodbye, with a close-up of her watching her family enjoy the royal dance at Harewood House. Crucially, the Downton Abbey movie also confirmed that she saw Lady Mary as her replacement, and felt confident leaving Downton in her hands. There seemed no room for doubt: this was her farewell and the announcement of a future without her. To bring her back and set up another story around her life is a major disservice to how the first movie ended. It robs Lady Violet of her perfect ending.
Given Lady Mary's own struggles with legacy and the daunting future that lay ahead for Downton during the movie's events, having the Dowager anoint her as the Abbey's de facto protector was a fitting ending too. She gained renewed purpose, firmed up by the knowledge that Violet would no longer be around to always have Downton Abbey's best interests at heart. This was the perfect passing of the torch that Mary had been robbed when her appointment to the role of agent was sneered at by some of her family, and the answer to who Downton's true heir would be that was seeded way back in season 1.
While it's always good to see more of Maggie Smith's prickly matriarch and the promise of more revelations from her past is intriguing, it comes at the cost of what was already a perfect send off for her. Extending her story beyond the point of saying goodbye seems reductive and Downton Abbey: A New Era must live up to its title and move beyond the Age Of Violet Crawley if there is to be real narrative satisfaction.
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