Downton Abbey Fans Can't Help But Laugh At This Aspect Of The Show's Drama

In the world of British high society, drama is as precious as rare gems and as necessary for survival as food and water. This is something that "Downton Abbey" fans know well, as they, too, regularly feast on the problems of the posh. Not only that, but they relish every succulent piece of scandal that the show's heroes, a family of affluent 20th Century Brits named the Crawleys, get tied up in.

However, all of that should go without being said. The first thing anyone should expect in a drama show is, well, drama. It's how that drama is presented that makes a difference. And, whether it's the acting of the show's cast or the cleverness of its writers, fans definitely love it for its presentation as well. But it's not all that they love about the show. "Downton Abbey" has many unique features to its drama, but there is one aspect that fans can't help but laugh at. Luckily, they're laughing in a good way.

In one popular Reddit post, which accrued over one thousand upvotes in the official "Downton Abbey" subreddit, fans gushed about one of the funniest aspects of the show. It all began with a meme poking fun at the show's wide range of dramatic conflicts, which include everything from petty interpersonal squabbles to major political scandals on an international scale. The stakes, as fans point out, are wildly inconsistent across the show's timeline. What really tickles fans about that, however, is that we often don't see the most dramatic moments on screen. Most of the time, we learn about them through dialogue after the fact.

"It's like a Greek tragedy when all the drama happens offstage," wrote u/xxyourbestbetxx.

"After a while, I'm not sure I could bear being handed yet another Telegram of Doom when I'm trying to eat my breakfast eggs," wrote Reddit user u/sir_grumph, referring to the many occasions in which shocking news is delivered at the family table in the show. 

But in choosing to keep fans blind to the actual drama, "Downton Abbey" gets to save the juiciest details for its dialogue. Since fans can't get enough of seeing the gossip, that decision often winds up working in the show's favor. In "Downton Abbey," the reaction to the drama is as important as the drama itself.

The fact that "Downton Abbey" is, at its heart, about the scuttlebutt of the well-to-do isn't the only thing fans are snickering at. Another popular post on the show's subreddit makes light of how the Crawley family's servants must always wind up overhearing the most scandalous details. However, there's more to that sentiment than the original meme might let on. While "Downton Abbey" paints itself as a period piece about the aristocracy, it'd be wholly inaccurate to say that servants and commoners don't also play an important role in the drama. This is something that the show's creator, Julian Fellows, felt was of the utmost importance.

"I'm pretty committed to all of them," Fellows said in an interview with Date Book. "In the film, for instance, [servants] Carson and Anna and Mrs. Hughes are just as strongly involved in the story as [Countess and Earl of Grantham] Cora and Robert are above."

In that sense, the audience shares a lot in common with the servants of the Crawley household. Like the show's servants, fans also become involved in the gossip by way of passive observation (albeit with less actual influence over the situation). If that's the case, then maybe the fandom should consider careers as butlers? They're already pros at soaking up the gossip, and maybe this time they can do something about the next scandal to rock Yorkshire.