tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2094562384038868734.post7103462707210029547..comments2024-03-05T20:33:06.615-06:00Comments on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions: Maid to Match (book) by Deeanne GistUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2094562384038868734.post-24674679740070869572014-12-07T23:35:11.918-06:002014-12-07T23:35:11.918-06:00I agree, Downton Abbey would be a good watch-alike...I agree, Downton Abbey would be a good watch-alike. I've only seen the first season, but Anna and Mr. Bates were nice to watch together.A Library Girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06144279685884011943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2094562384038868734.post-87799747849713265022014-12-01T23:26:12.731-06:002014-12-01T23:26:12.731-06:00If intermittent subplots in TV shows count, there&...If intermittent subplots in TV shows count, there's "Downton Abbey," which features a romance between parlor maid/eventual ladies' maid Anna and Mr. Bates, Lord Grantham's valet, although they're a somewhat older, less stereotypical romantic couple than Tillie and Mack seem to be. Anna looks around thirty to me (although the script makes no reference to her age), and Mr. Bates appears to be well into his forties, in addition to being a war veteran with an initially somewhat disabling limp. The limp appears to have pretty much vanished by the most recent couple of seasons of the show. However, when the series started, Bates' leg injury made it sufficiently difficult for him to move around agilely enough to perform tasks such as carrying luggage and waiting on table when needed that a rival candidate for the valet position almost succeeded in getting him fired on the grounds of physical inability to perform his duties properly.<br /><br />Bates also has at least one shady (albeit eventually explained away) incident in his past, in addition to turning out to be still married to a manipulative estranged wife who refuses to give him a divorce. When the wife subsequently dies of a fatal dose of poison, Bates is accused of murdering her. (Some viewers still aren't convinced that he didn't do it.) <br /><br />The first couple of seasons of the show also include a subplot about the young footman William's unrequited love for Daisy the kitchen maid, who only likes him as a friend. When William is severely wounded in World War I, Daisy is reluctantly persuaded to grant his supposed dying wish by marrying him on his deathbed, despite her own well-characterized scruples about this being dishonest and unfair to him. Other flirtations and romances--both one-sided and not--amongst various servants have also been featured in more recent seasons, albeit often more briefly.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com