I wrote a bit about watching Downton Abbey–the account of a wealthy family dealing with a changing society in the early 20th century–over on my blog United Monkee and the idea to make Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham played by Hugh Bonneville a Pop Poppa Of The Week selection seemed perfect after watching the first season. He was so, SO nice, going out of his way to defend his former war buddy Bates and seemed like a pretty progressive man considering his station. Heck, he even went out of his way to make sure Matthew, the man who by law would take the house and title away from him, feel comfortable. He treated his daughters with respect and even seemed okay with the fact that his older daughter had yet to marry, which was terribly uncouth back then. So, based solely on the first season, Lord Grantham gets the nod!

Cut to Season Two, which we just finished last night–so SPOILER WARNING if you’re not caught up–and he not only gives his youngest daughter trouble for wanting to marry the Irish former chauffeur and even fooled around a bit with one of the maids. It’s a bummer because he was so good and so awesome in the first season, but there had to be cracks in his perfect veneer, right? He even does his best to make up for the mistakes he made in the second season finale, so it’s nice to see that there’s still goodness inside of him.

So, I guess if there are things to learn from Robert Crawley as a man and a father, it’s to emulate his good naturedness from the first season and his hard-learned humility from the second. We all make mistakes, but it’s important to admit them–at least to ourselves if not the person they were originally aimed at–and try to make them right. Crawley seems to have done that, but only time–and the Christmas Special followed by the third season–will tell!