Dowton Abbey: Season 2, Inside a Soldier’s Mind
I came across this wonderful Masterpiece Classic series by happenstance; I was trolling through television series and movies on the Internet, looking for something that was meatier than a staged and all-too-predictable sitcom. My first exposure was after the last episodes of first season. After the first viewing, I purchased the entire first season and have watched each episode, looking forward to season two.
I watched Sunday night and was as engaged as I was with every episode. The cast does a magnificent job of presenting the lives of a traditional, English household of means set in the Victorian era. Each detail is carefully done making watching the events of the wealthy household take place “upstairs” and the engine that makes that household work by those in “service” downstairs.
The first episode of this season takes on the devastating effects of war (WWI) and how post-traumatic stress, depression and other mental issues were misunderstood during that time. I came across an interesting article about this episode by Brian Moore and thought it worthy of a reprint. Enjoy.
Downton Abbey: Inside a Soldier’s Mind
By Brianne Moore
Those of you who watch Masterpiece Classic know that the second season of the much-loved Downton Abbey started up last night, and it was a doozy of an episode. Hardly surprising, considering the season takes place during World War I (and starts off at the Battle of the Somme, one of the most devastating and costly engagements of the entire war). With a war on, characters off fighting (or getting ready to go) and youngest daughter Sybil taking up nursing, there are bound to be some interesting and sometimes heartbreaking medical cases coming across our screens over the next few weeks.
In our first episode, we got to see some of the more common and highly devastating effects of being at war: shell shock (now more commonly referred to as PTSD) and depression. Lang, the new valet, arrives at Downton a bit jumpy, and we quickly learn that he’s been invalided out of the service, even though he doesn’t look like he’s been wounded. His anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and flashbacks to his time in the trenches are all classic symptoms of PTSD, and with the house preparing to turn itself into a convalescent hospital for returning wounded soldiers, we can be sure Lang’s condition will only deteriorate. Lang is hardly alone—many soldiers develop PTSD after being in combat (more than half of all Vietnam veterans experienced symptoms)—but the disorder wasn’t actually identified and named until the Vietnam War era. Soldiers like Lang were considered “shell shocked” and just urged to rest for a bit. For someone in his social position, however, a period of rest isn’t necessarily an option—after all, one has to eat and have a roof over one’s head.
Even sadder than Lang’s story was that of Lieutenant Courtney, the blinded soldier being treated in the local hospital. He’s so pitiful he even makes the hateful former footman Thomas grow a bit of a heart. His blindness is the result of the use of new chemical weapons during the war: chlorine, and later mustard gas. These gasses not only caused blindness (both temporary and permanent); they also severely damaged the lungs, caused internal bleeding and blistered the skin. The young lieutenant, faced with a very different life from the one he’d planned, is also suffering from severe depression. Like Lang, he’s not alone—depression currently affects one in 10 Americans—but like so many things, it was poorly understood during this period, and effective treatments were virtually nonexistent. The doctor’s advice that the young man chin up and make the best of his situation was about the best they could do. Tragically, this advice did nothing to help the young soldier, who like many depressed people was struggling with thoughts of suicide.
Nowadays, depression is far better understood, and a wide range of treatments are available (the same holds true for blindness as well), but it never hurts to brush up on some of the warning signs of depression so someone can intervene before it’s too late.
January 13, 2012 at 4:15 pm
If you like 1920′s? Try http://www.amazon.com/Elijah-Rising-Lyn-LeJeune/dp/1935725084/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1310946856&sr=1-1
“They came in gray tailored frocks with braided edges and striped trousers …
This is how the rich experience the war: Last night I was at last ready to tell Mother that was I leaving. But she’d gone to dinner at Churchill’s, attending one of the patriotic reviews that had become the thing in dinning entertainment. When she came home she was escorted by several young men in Khaki uniform, their faces were flushed from the night air and too much liquor. And with them were their girls, all clothed in dresses that went up to their calves, spangles shimmered around their necks, and their mouths were painted dark red. They all looked the same, reflected like chimeras in the long Venetian mirror that adorned the library wall. They laughed unceasingly and begged mother to turn on the radio. “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” was blasting and I longed to escape the assault of the night. The young men twirled their girls around until midnight. Then they all kissed Mother on the cheek and yelled adieu and we’re off to see the Kaiser. Mother was high in color, more than I had seen her in ages, as though the war had given her back her youth.”
January 15, 2012 at 12:29 pm
Thanks, Lyn. It’s not that I’m a fan of the 1920s, rather, the cast and everyone involved in putting on Downton Abbey have done an incredible job making watching this series so enjoyable and intriguing.