Rest assured that in addition to the expected set pieces (a day at Ascot Racecourse!) and costumes showcasing the era’s bias-cut fashions, all series regulars are present and accounted for, even former butler Thomas Barrow (Robert James-Collier), who resigned his position and moved to California with film star and new romantic partner Guy Dexter (Dominic West). “The hereditary system cannot be sentimental,” Mary at one point declares. No, but this franchise finale can. A flashback in the last scene is a corny but nonetheless oddly touching tribute. (Be sure to stay through the credits to hear Coward’s own poignant performance of I’ll See You Again, over vignettes of the characters set in the near future.) It all makes for an emotional send-off, with the reassuring familiarity of those heart-stirring strings cuing the final glimpse of the estate in silhouette at magic hour.-Globe & Mail

“With its mix of old characters and new, worldly upheaval and small-town drama, Fellowes illustrates what “Downton” has always done best, which is a social examination of how much things have changed and how they haven’t changed at all.”-Tribune News Service