This is a project born of shrieking rage, devastating, heart-shredding pain and the hunger for bloody vengeance. But I won't get to indulge any of those feelings for real, so my revenge will be on the pages.
Like a lot of people, I got drawn into Downton Abbey, particularly by the story of Bates and Anna and by the mastery of Brendan Coyle and Joanna Frogatt. I got drawn so far in that the "controversial" plot turn of Anna's rape gave me PTSD, sleeplessness and depression. It also left me with a knowledge of my lifelong commitment to speaking out against the crime no matter how unpopular it makes me. You'd think it would be OK to not like rape, but just try that some time.
I needed to right a slew of wrongs that offended me in Downton Season 4 including story turns, changes in characterization and the ultimate offense of insulting an audience by promising them the rape was for the purpose of "exploring the damage" and then not exploring the damage, but turning "the damage" into a murder mystery.
In the next posting I will list the goals I have for writing a season that will never get made or seen, and why it was important enough to me to spend months of my life writing it.
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