Is Downton Abbey season 3 worth it?

[bisous]

I confess, I'm not a fan of season 2. Season 1 was great--really compelling, interesting stories, very tight. Season 2 is a total soap opera and that is just not my genre.

Is Season 3 more like 2 or 1? I'm looking at the length of the first episode and wondering if I want to waste 2 hours of my life...

[cono0507]

I watched season 3 episode 1 last night and LOVED it. SO much in fact that I re-watched a few scenes tonight on pbs.com. :) Definitely on par with season 1.

[citymama]

Where did you watch it? We don't have a tv so missed episode 1. Is it on the PBS website?

[AnnieW625]

Um I already know what happens at the end to a few characters/plot lines because I was reading an article on the Daily Telegraph UK website about something else and caught a DA spoiler in the headline:banghead:, and now there is another depressing story brewing that I am really not looking forward to. I think the show is either going to be wonderful or it is going to be such a Debbie Downer that I am going to feel like it has jumped the shark. I will watch the rest of the season, but I don't have my hopes for anything spectacular lie season 1 or some if the good moments of season 2; but I agree I think season 1 was better than season 2.

[bisous]

I have it sitting on my screen on the pbs website. I think I'm going to watch it but it is too late tonight. Thanks for weighing in!

[AnnieW625]

Where did you watch it? We don't have a tv so missed episode 1. Is it on the PBS website?

I think it is up on the PBS website now because my sister doesn't have a tv and she commented about last night's episode on FB. Oh, and if you saw episode 1 of season 3 when it was linked here a couple of months ago you only need to watch the second hour, which I believe was episode 2 when it originally aired on ITV.

[StantonHyde]

I watched all of season 3--MUCH better than 2!!! Really very good.

[cono0507]

Where did you watch it? We don't have a tv so missed episode 1. Is it on the PBS website?

PBS.com. Don't know how long they keep the episodes available but I watched Sundays episode on it today.

[rin]

We watched all of season 3. I was sort of annoyed by the soapyness of it at first, and almost stopped watching after the first two episodes. I thought it picked up after that, and I enjoyed the rest of it--despite the soapyness--until the season finale. I didn't like the very end of the season, but I read an article or two afterwards that made it clear the writers hadn't a whole lot of choice about what they did (trying to not to give away any spoilers here).

[cntrymoon2]

I watched all of season 3--MUCH better than 2!!! Really very good.

Where did you watch all of Season 3 already?! I thought it just premiered on Sunday, just the first episode?

[fedoragirl]

Season 3 is much better than season 2. Most people watched it online through the UK web sites or illegally. It aired in the UK in Sept.

[quinnsmom]

I know you could buy the Seasin 3 DVD set if you pledged $100 to PBS. That was their big thing last month since it wasn't airing in the US yet.

[AnnieW625]

..... I didn't like the very end of the season, but I read an article or two afterwards that made it clear the writers hadn't a whole lot of choice about what they did (trying to not to give away any spoilers here).

Yes the article read said the same thing.

Oh, and some people were able to watch it because a blogger had linked an ITV online broadcast of it; which IMHO wasn't necessarily illegal because the blogger was not charging people to watch it via the ITV link, which she was able to make work somehow for US viewers to watch. I only saw episode 1 (first hour of the US season premiere) before she removed the link.

[chottumommy]

Season 3 is better than Season 2 but with all the changes that happen, a little depressing. Not sure how Season 4 will be because of the changes in Season 3. They need new characters and new storylines to liven it up. But yes, its a soap with drama not a period drama.