Spolier alert! For those of you that did not stalk the theaters on September 20th to watch the very much anticipated Downton Abbey movie then do not read this post. However, if you are a fan of the show and everything related to the English aristocracy then by all means, read on!
After the 2015 end of this show, creator Julian Fellowes leaked the perfect news, a movie to supply the fix that every fan was waiting for. The King and Queen are coming to Downton Abbey as part of their Yorkshire tour (a real event that occurred in 1927) and it is up to the big house to make it a success. In true Downton fashion, there are several sub-stories that lead up to the big day and one of those is that Tom Branson finds a new (and very suitable) love interest.
We encounter Tom in season 1 when he is hired by Robert to be the chauffeur. It is here that Tom meets and falls in love the with the youngest Crawley daughter, Sybil. After the war, Sybil agrees to get married to Tom and move to Dublin, but after a disastrous encounter with an Irish rebel group and an old aristocratic family implicating Tom in the crime, the Bransons are in Downton. While at Downton, Sybil gives birth to her daughter and tragically dies the same night. Tom, now a distraught widower and father of newborn Sybbie, has to navigate a world that he was not born into and still maintain the estate.
From the moment Sybil died, Tom undergoes a massive transformation in his personality. Hailed as the brash Irish revolutionary, Tom is now faced with the task of reconciling who he is on the inside with the Crawley family that he learns to love as his own. During the series, Tom is set up with a fiery schoolteacher, Ms. Bunting, who is disliked immensely by Robert for her forward thinking. However, by the end of season 6, Tom has reconciled that his life as the estate manager will be something that he is happy with.
The movie finally gives Tom a happy ending in the form of Lucy Smith. A girl who is the illegitimate daughter of Lady Bagshaw, Violet's cousin, finds her way into Downton Abbey. As her story unravels we find out that Tom is in love. Edith and Mary try to encourage him to pursue it given that he truly deserves a house of his own. Tom, who has struggled immensely trying to fit in and still maintain his identity, is falling in love with a woman who is associated with money and status but can't quite achieve it.
It gives hope for the middle class that the aristocracy is close enough to get to but not without hard work. And, honestly, Julian Fellowes couldn't have written it better.
