Recently, albeit a little late, I’ve gotten hooked on the TV show Downton Abbey. It is set in a mansion owned by a British earl, and follows the lives of his family and the household staff. The show is fraught with drama and loss, and it’s all delivered in crisp British accents.

(Which apparently gives one a wider vocabulary, because I’ve unintentionally written this story in an accent and I sound really smart.)

Because of the accents, and the reserved manners of the characters overall, it’s a little difficult to tell if most of the actors can actually act or just deliver lines with a straight face. Maggie Smith, on the other hand, is always a delight, portraying Lady Crawley, the earl’s mother. She brings elderly sass and and regular comic relief with her sharp insults.

Having only recently gotten hooked on the show, I’m only halfway through season 2. World War I is still coming to a close and death is creating havoc but, more importantly, everyone’s love lives are still in turmoil. They have enacted early twentieth century romance, in my humble opinion, excellently. You have the rich daughter in love with the chauffeur, the engaged-to-another-man fiasco, the old raging not-quite-ex wife debacle, and the classic I-got-married-to-a-man-who-died-a-couple-hours-later situation. I can’t wait to see how all the love (or lack thereof) resolves itself!

The furniture, costumes, and hairstyles are beautifully ridiculous and, to my untrained eye, seemingly accurate to the time. They’ve got the facts, the story, and the accents to pull off this enthralling show.