When Downton Abbey first aired, I thought it wasn’t geared towards people like me. You know, twentysomething college students who go out on the weekends and spend too many hours studying. However, after binge watching the entire show over the course of a month because I physically could not stop pressing “Play Next Episode”, I was proved very wrong. Downton Abbey is an absolute masterpiece of a TV show, and each episode leaves you coming back for more. There are so many aspects of the show that made it widely appealing to people all over the world, so if you’re not convinced by my glowing recommendation, maybe they will persuade you:

1. The Costumes

Not only are the costumes in Downton Abbey stunning, but also the evolution of fashion from 1912 to 1926 is fascinating to watch. The men attend every formal occasion, which included dinner every evening, in full White Tie at the beginning of the series but relaxed to Black Tie 6 seasons later. The women on the show start the series in structured dresses with higher waistlines and often floor length silhouettes, and finish in shorter, slightly more fitted dresses or even, in Lady Mary’s case, more androgynous clothing like blouses and ties. Oh, and don’t forget the hats and gloves! So many hats and gloves! Seriously, some of those hats looked more expensive than either of my prom dresses.

2. Lady Mary Crawley

Lady Mary, played by Michelle Dockery, is my personal favorite character on this show. She gets a bad rap for being kind of mean, and while she definitely can be cold, especially to her sister Edith, she knows exactly what she wants and how to get it. She gets involved in some scandals – unmarried sex, something about a Turkish diplomat dying in her room, the usual – but somehow escapes them with high society poise and grace. She gets a killer bob in Season 5 that shocks a lot of people, particularly her granny, but she couldn’t care less. She looks fabulous and she wants the world to know. If Lady Mary were real and alive today, she would definitely strut her stuff to Beyoncé’s “Flawless”.

3. The Dynamic Due that is the Dowager Countess and Cousin Isobel

First of all, Dame Maggie Smith is flawless. And in her role as the Dowager Countess of Grantham, she is flawless AND sassy. She is the sassiest 80-year-old woman out there, and when she’s paired with equally sassy Cousin Isobel Crawley (Penelope Wilton, who you might recognize as “Harriet Jones, Prime Minister!”) there’s no stopping them. In the beginning of the series, they don’t get along. At all. However, as the series progresses, they almost become friends. They start to tolerate each other, and the Dowager Countess even tries to play matchmaker for Isobel. Then the two of them team up to try and rescue Isobel’s not-yet-future husband from his horrible son and his wife, Amelia. Amelia tries to shoo the Dowager Countess and Cousin Isobel away from their mansion, and Maggie Smith’s eyebrows practically flew off her face they shot up so fast. Cue the biggest clapback of 1925.

4. The Drama

Scheming sisters. Scheming servants. Dead diplomats. Fires. War. Money problems. Blackmail. Fake adopting your own daughter so you get to see her but people don’t think you had a child out of wedlock. And no, that isn’t a joke. So much drama, and I loved every minute of it. I lived for it. Of course, I would pretend to be horrified at the awful things some of these characters would do, but it was always one of the best parts of every episode.

5. The Slow-Burning Romances

So apparently in the 1910s and 1920s, no one in York revealed their true feelings for each other. It was all stolen glances in the hallways, tiny brushes of fingertips, and unrequited love. Lots of unrequited love. It’s as if they thought, “Ah yes, if I look at you for half a second and then look away before you catch me, you’ll totally fall in love with me.” This wasn’t as much of a problem upstairs as it was downstairs. For some reason, the servants at Downton had a lot of trouble verbalizing their feelings. It was always entertaining, even when you were screaming “Just get together already!” at the TV once an episode.

6. The Attention to Detail

So because I’m a dork, I watched a “Manners of Downton” documentary on PBS with my mom a few weeks ago. Their historical advisor spent the whole hour talking about the steps they went through to make sure everything, from the costumes to the table settings to the cars, was period. For example, Edwardian high society women changed anywhere between 5 and 7 times a day, depending on what they were doing. They had outfits for everything, so the costuming crew of Downton Abbey made costumes for everything. That attention to detail was absolutely essential in making the show believable, and it was clearly like stepping onto an estate in York in 1923. It was almost like a perfect slice in time, preserved and meant to be enjoyed by anyone and everyone.

7. Cinderella - I mean Lady Rose

Lily James, the same actress who played the title role in Disney’s 2015 Cinderella film, plays Lady Rose Aldridge, another member of the sprawling Crawley family tree. She brings life, laughter, and swing to Downton, even if she does cause a little controversy with her flapper ways. During her extended stay at Downton, she manages to persuade the family to acquire a wireless, which was a big deal. Especially because the Dowager Countess nearly fainted at the sight of the telephones in Season 1. Lady Rose is a youthful addition to Downton when she lives there, which helped to make the show more appealing to a younger audience. Plus I liked to think of Cinderella visiting Downton Abbey in her free time.

8. The Heartbreak

While Downton Abbey had plenty of funny moments and plotlines, it also had its fair share of heartbreak. I won’t lie, I cried several times throughout the series. Of course, I won’t spoil any of the tragic details here because I’m trying to convince people to watch the show, but let’s just say there were some unexpected tragedies. I mean, World War I did happen in the first few seasons, what would you expect?

Regardless of the sadness it brought, I think this was one of my favorite aspects of the show as a whole. I got really emotionally invested in it because it gave me no choice. Everything was so well written and well acted that I just had to fall in love with it all. Downton Abbey pulled me in and didn’t let me go until the final shot of Downtown Abbey, all covered in snow, faded away and the credits rolled for the last time. Everyone should watch this show. It will change your life. And also make you wish you had a lady's maid to help you get dressed on mornings when you just can't.