Downton Abbey returns to PBS on January 5th in the States, however it premiered in the UK back in late September. And so far it’s looking like one major death this season is going to be the Grantham family dog, who, if you’ll recall (I didn’t), is named “Isis.” The yellow lab was actually named after the Egyptian goddess and obviously has nothing to do with the Jihadist group, but as with Archer — which also dropped the name of it’s spy agency due to the unfortunate coincidence — I guess you can never be too careful when dealing with sensitive subject matter.
In the new episode of Downton that aired this past weekend, the Granthams noticed that their beloved pet wasn’t looking so hot. Of course that can only mean one thing in this show, and that the death knell for poor old Isis isn’t going to be far off. From The Independent:
About 20 minutes into tonight’s episode, Lord and Lady Grantham interrupt discussions on some building work to observe that Isis is looking “terribly listless”. The golden Labrador does, indeed, look a little peaky, splayed out on the ground like a spatchcock chicken. “I wonder if she’s picked up a germ,” observes Lady Mary, in doubtful 1920s speak. “Maybe she’s eaten a squirrel.” Other Moriarty-style observations include her looking “quite fat”, and “perhaps she’s pregnant?”.
Seasoned viewers of Downton – we are now in series five – will know that even the most trifling of conversations are loaded with meaning. So this dialogue – of a banality that is quite normal for The Archers, less so for Downton – must point to some terrible undoing of the dog later in the series. Which would conveniently tackle the PR problem that has plagued this series. When viewers first noticed the connection last month, they took to Twitter, pointing it out as #awkward.
In all fairness, when Isis first appeared on the series it was 1912, and now the narrative is up to 1924, so 12+ years is pretty old for a dog in the early 1900s when the life expectancy for humans was only 50-60 years old. So, she had a good run, poor old Isis. Hopefully however she meets her demise, it will be less stupid and meaningless than Mathew Crawley’s.
I’m personally still holding out hope for dinosaurs.
