楼上，楼下 第二季

下午连续补看3集，越发觉得剧中的历史事件远比《唐顿》中要多。或与男主人身份、故事发生时间范围（正是多事之秋）以及围绕主题不同有关。

《唐顿》中，无非是第1季开头提及泰坦尼克沉没，结尾引出一战；然后第2季，一战贯穿整季，及至圣诞篇，一战结束。很难揣测编剧打算拍到哪一年结束。

《楼上楼下》不同，男主人身为外交官，且与皇家子弟有交。所以，第1季整3集，到第2季所观第3集，6集里，讲述老国王病逝、爱德华八世继位又逊位，慕尼黑会议、犹太人经历水晶之夜、德军进入捷克斯洛伐克，肯特对此评价说：捷克不该成立第二共和国。甚至第1集中还让当时美驻英大使老肯尼迪及其子杰克（即后来的美国总统）出场，当即就想到了8集美剧《肯尼迪家族》中，男主对在英期间的回忆，二者互为印证。

第2集，水晶之夜，正是剧中二小姐打电话求救时外面发生的一切。临近结尾：第一批犹太避难儿童抵达利物浦。火车冒出的白烟中，看到犹太儿童从车厢内出来，有流泪的感动。实在很难想象这些儿童背井离乡，远离亲人的感受。结尾，孤女洛特为新到来的犹太儿童端来早点，说：欢迎来英格兰。

第3集，引入了女同元素，且发生在男主姨母身上，姨母的情人用“残缺的美”，试图好事成双。主人和仆人间平等、尊重，发现女主真的很好的人。

第4集，男主和小姨子，从第一集二人那个吻，加上中间男主安慰流产的小姨子，发展到现在，我的担心变成了事实。女主所遇到的那个美国商人，真的是谦谦君子。

第5集，《苏德互不侵犯条约》签订。男主的上司——外相傻眼了。连印度人都知道德国一战中失败原因之一是东西作战。男主对局势的预测、判断在仆人中被奉为“先知”，要我说，男主除了道德有失外，其它都还不错。从奉行“绥靖政策”的张伯伦开始，英国一步步走错。假如一开始就对德强硬，或许不会有苏台德区被占领，德国胃口变大，吞并捷克、奥地利，最终入侵波兰。不由联想及当前南海乱局中北京立场。有一成语叫“姑息养奸”，有一首歌词是“该出手时就出手”。类似俄格“八日战争”那样的可控的局部战争不妨打一场。

第6集，英对德宣战。剧中是白厅广播。小姨子死了，我很高兴。一开始就对其没好感，与司机偷情，支持纳粹，与姐夫偷情，死前还差点又制造一场悲剧。

p.s.查知剧中肯特身份：肯特公爵乔治亲王(Prince George of the United Kingdom, Duke of Kent) 全名(乔治·爱德华·亚历山大·埃德蒙George Edward Alexander Edmund) (1902年12月20日 - 1942年8月25日) 英国国王乔治五世和玛丽王后的第四子。他是现任肯特公爵，亚历山德拉公主和迈克尔王子的父亲。

the wheel of history rolls on….

165 Eaton Place saw a tremendous change of the era, but made no big fuss… yet.

The paradoxical name of the episode, ‘men’ and ‘woman’, foreshadowed the real sexual orientation of the red-haired lady called Lady Portia Alresfold. Unexpectedly, Her relationship with Dr.Blanche was received well by the family members, for it turned out the family members,including Duke of Kent, were all aware of the fact, and accepted it very open-mindedly.

Interestingly, Gold Blaze was a reminder of ‘Orlando’ for me who had taken two lectures on it and the one on yesterday’s morning named’He was a women.’ It was also a love letter for a lover. ‘Not very long’ though.

The Specimen, or the representative of womanhood turned out to be no typical woman one might perceive of that period. In this episode, all the woman characters were making decisions which made them very different from the old fashion, but indeed, represented the change the era witnessed.

Lady Persie got abortion from her affair in Germany. I was glad when Persie was on the back of the horse, she didn’t fall off like Scarlet, and she didn’t return with nothing done like [spoiler alert for madmania!!!] Joan. She was very fragile and it was heartbreaking to see her lying helplessly on the floor of the toilet of the grand hotel. One thing kept worrying me is her relationship with her very caring brother-in-law Sir Hallam Holland. They shared moments of intimacy, in which they revealed their very personal moments or memories. Hallam said, they didn’t understand the significance of the box for me and took it away. After being cared by Hallam tenderly, Persie gave him the box as a thank and a sign of their mutual understanding. A kiss, a night of care, a box, what’s next? When Lady Agnes complained that the Mr.Rich-American won’t forbid her to do anything in the always eventful trailer of the next episode, is the nice story approaching its end in the mid of its second season?

Nevertheless, at this point, I was still in thrall to it.

Beryl left me an impression of the modern woman, though I preferred her much more over the very dramatic girl of the last season. She visited the Woman Friendly Soc. and made a positive change of her maid life and her fellows. While she and the young members of the community of servitude enjoyed the progress of their downstair life, people like Mr Pritchard found it hard to accept the change.

The visit of Lady Agnes to Miss Buck was heart-warming as well as heart-breaking. The era Miss Buck represented was fading away.

Yet Lady Agnes, while portraited as a clown in the incident Beryl brought about, showed little discontent to her dissent of her social status. She was always smiling and was very much a flat character in my view. I hope she could have some development on character in the later episodes.

For old time sake- but I won’t do anything. The old time was wheeling away. The war was drawing near. The cracks under the serene surface of 165 Eaton Place was emerging….