We’re kicking off Season 4 with a dissection of everyone’s mom’s favorite TV show, and Donna Meagle’s favorite book, Downton Abbey.

The series gave us fictionalized accounts of two vastly influential cultural phenomena: the “Bright Young Things” of the 1920s, as embodied by Rose; and the late-19th century “Buccaneers” of the titular Edith Wharton novel, exemplified in Cora. 

Our exploration of these two groups meanders into discussions of how Rory Gilmore would have felt right at home at the parties and dances of the 1920s social elite, to how the lagging profitability of English agriculture led directly to the birth of Winston Churchill.

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