Downton Abbey - Season 4 - DVD

Content: 1922: Six months have passed since the tragic death of Matthew. While Mary (Michelle Dockery) has completely withdrawn in her grief, the rest of the Crawley family is trying to bring some normalcy back to Downton Abbey. The painstakingly restored order is thrown into disarray by the unexpected resignation of Mrs. O`Brien. Nevertheless, a little peace soon returns to the country estate. Mary manages to come out of her shell and plunge into her new responsibility for her late husband`s estate. Her sister Edith (Laura Carmichael) seems to have finally found happiness in love with Michael Gregson (Charles Edwards). However, Gregson is not yet free and in order to get a divorce he must travel to Germany. It all seems to be going according to plan - but suddenly Edith loses all contact with her intended.

But it's not just the Crawleys who have to contend with life's ups and downs. There are plenty of dramatic entanglements among the servants as well. Anna (Joanne Froggatt) is hit particularly hard, enduring even the closeness of her beloved husband John Bates (Brendan Coyle) after a traumatic experience. When he learns what has happened to his wife, the situation threatens to escalate...

With Downton Abbey, acclaimed screenwriter Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park, Young Victoria) has created one of the most successful and also qualitatively best British TV series of recent years. Even though the stories of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants on the country estate Downton Abbey are, from a purely dramaturgical point of view, not much more than a noble soap opera and the basic idea is clearly reminiscent of the TV classic The House at Eaton Place, the great scripts, the excellent actors and the set make the series something very special. It's a sweeping world that viewers are all too happy to be drawn into.

That's the case again with the episodes in season four. Fellowes and his team have once again crafted sweeping stories, with the dramatic plotline involving Anna being particularly stirring. Given what she has to go through, and given Mary's grief, Gregson's disappearance, the professional misfortune of butler Molesley (Kevin Doyle) or the scandalous relationship Rose (Lily James) enters into with a coloured jazz musician, one could almost think that the new episodes of the award-winning series are suffused with heavy dreariness. But the creators do a first-rate job of never letting the tone get too bleak. Very heavy moments are always followed by scenes of refreshing lightness, offering either some fine romance or wonderfully dry humor. This makes Downton Abbey the perfect entertainment series that has lost none of its appeal in its fourth year.

Spiced up by superb camerawork and first-rate guest stars, which in its fourth year include Shirley McLaine, Paul Giamatti and even Pierce Brosnan's Mrs. Moneypenny Samantha Bond. Certainly, it's always hard to say goodbye to a beloved main character. Matthew is missing from the series, as is the beastly O`Brien. But these losses are well mitigated by the other characters and some new ones. So the departure of two very much central characters doesn`t really dampen the enjoyment of this first class series for a second. Downton Abbey was, is and remains first-class TV entertainment, which is extremely addictive and works again and again both in the wonderful English original, as well as in the successful German dubbing. And for that, of course, there is a very clear: Absolutely worth seeing!!

Picture + Sound: The detail-loving equipment and the beautiful costumes come thanks to the powerful coloring and the very good overall sharpness adequately. Aside from minor point deductions in dark scenes, there's really nothing to fault in the visuals. The stereo sound lets the dialogue ring out very powerfully from the speakers. The beautiful music is well matched to it. Other sound components, such as ambient noises or smaller sound effects, barely make an appearance on the other hand. Overall, this earns a well-deserved: good!

Extras: Unlike in the UK, the season-ending Christmas special (approx. 92 min.) is not released as a single disc, but is included here as a bonus in the box set, as it was with the previous seasons. In addition, the fourth DVD also offers a somewhat short, but very worth seeing Making of (approx. 11:55 min.), as well as the Abbey-Cam (approx. 12:59 min.), which among other things accompanies actress Laura Carmichael on a normal day of shooting and illuminates the individual work areas of the production. Finally, the actors who are new to the fourth season are introduced in a short featurette (approx. 9:02 min.). Good.

Conclusion: The dark shadow that spread over Downton Abbey at the end of the third season still sets the tone at the beginning of season 4. But it quickly becomes clear that an ending, sad as it is, can always mean a new beginning. And so, once again, there's plenty of heartwarming romance, stirring drama, dry humor and lots of beautiful show values in the new episodes. All the things that have made the series such great TV entertainment in the past seasons. The technical realization of the new episodes is on a good level and the bonus material offers an entertaining and interesting look behind the scenes. Absolutely recommended!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp