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Description
Mr Barrow is undisputably my favorite character in Downton Abbey. He may well also be my all time favorite queer character, and one of the characters across any storytelling medium to whom I have related the most.

(Following rant will contain spoilers from Downton Abbey: A New Era, so proceed with caution)

Which is why I cannot hide my disappointment at how his storyline played out in the recent movie. In an otherwise sweet, endearing, emotional film, the way they decided to wrap up my favorite character kind of soured the experience for me.
His chemistry with the Guy Dexter fellow was...almost nonexistent. Despite the latter's many protestations, they never get past the formalities of a rich man talking to a servant. And for him to leave Downton- the place and the people he worked and suffered so much to be accepted by-so he can fly off to Hollywood with this man he barely knows...sorry, but no. I don't buy it, I don't like it, no.

By contrast, his storyline in the first film was perfect. Richard Ellis, unlike Guy Dexter, worked in service like him, so they talked to each other on the same level. Even if they probably spent less time together, it felt like they bonded more, and there was no room for doubt that Ellis was also gay and that there was something between the two. They left off as something a bit more than friends, nothing more and nothing less, with the future open for possibility, which I liked. Him leaving his home and his position for someone that only teased and hinted at wanting something with him, with whom we never saw any real chemistry developing...no, I can't get on board with that.

On top of it, and this is definitely more subjective, this ending kind of crushes what I dreamed for the character when the series first ended. I wanted Barrow to become as dear and indispensable to Downton as Carson had been. To be for little Master George what Carson had been for Mary: a confidant, a surrogate father. I hoped that we'd get to see him kill it as a butler in either of these two films...but that didn't really happen. Both times Carson just had to be brought back from retirement, the characters and the writers seemingly forgetting that he too was getting on with age, and could only assist the family from the sidelines now, not as head of the household.

The films did a wonderful job at conveying that Mary was in charge of Downton now, not Robert or Granny. But they didn't do the same with the downstairs staff, which is weird considering that a recurring theme in Downton Abbey is change, and passing on the torch. But the writers couldn't really divorce Carson from his role as THE butler, and Barrow just HAD to have a romantic storyline in both movies (though I don't think his character necessarily needed it).
Anyway...was it too much to ask that they didn't make my beloved Barrow elope with the first person that made eyes at him, like a hormonal teenager? 😡

I guess we'll always have headcanon 🤷🏻‍♂️

Description
Mr Barrow is undisputably my favorite character in Downton Abbey. He may well also be my all time favorite queer character, and one of the characters across any storytelling medium to whom I have related the most.

(Following rant will contain spoilers from Downton Abbey: A New Era, so proceed with caution)

Which is why I cannot hide my disappointment at how his storyline played out in the recent movie. In an otherwise sweet, endearing, emotional film, the way they decided to wrap up my favorite character kind of soured the experience for me.
His chemistry with the Guy Dexter fellow was...almost nonexistent. Despite the latter's many protestations, they never get past the formalities of a rich man talking to a servant. And for him to leave Downton- the place and the people he worked and suffered so much to be accepted by-so he can fly off to Hollywood with this man he barely knows...sorry, but no. I don't buy it, I don't like it, no.

By contrast, his storyline in the first film was perfect. Richard Ellis, unlike Guy Dexter, worked in service like him, so they talked to each other on the same level. Even if they probably spent less time together, it felt like they bonded more, and there was no room for doubt that Ellis was also gay and that there was something between the two. They left off as something a bit more than friends, nothing more and nothing less, with the future open for possibility, which I liked. Him leaving his home and his position for someone that only teased and hinted at wanting something with him, with whom we never saw any real chemistry developing...no, I can't get on board with that.

On top of it, and this is definitely more subjective, this ending kind of crushes what I dreamed for the character when the series first ended. I wanted Barrow to become as dear and indispensable to Downton as Carson had been. To be for little Master George what Carson had been for Mary: a confidant, a surrogate father. I hoped that we'd get to see him kill it as a butler in either of these two films...but that didn't really happen. Both times Carson just had to be brought back from retirement, the characters and the writers seemingly forgetting that he too was getting on with age, and could only assist the family from the sidelines now, not as head of the household.

The films did a wonderful job at conveying that Mary was in charge of Downton now, not Robert or Granny. But they didn't do the same with the downstairs staff, which is weird considering that a recurring theme in Downton Abbey is change, and passing on the torch. But the writers couldn't really divorce Carson from his role as THE butler, and Barrow just HAD to have a romantic storyline in both movies (though I don't think his character necessarily needed it).
Anyway...was it too much to ask that they didn't make my beloved Barrow elope with the first person that made eyes at him, like a hormonal teenager? 😡

I guess we'll always have headcanon 🤷🏻‍♂️