Like most fans of Downton Abbey, I was very upset when I saw Matthew Crawley driving along happily in his car and realized he was about to meet his doom. How could they kill another main character (and, like Sybil, right after the birth of a child)? But in the days that followed I began to reconsider my initial reaction.
Matthew Crawley was a very likeable character, a really good guy. Perhaps too good. In the Season Three finale young Lady Rose declares him a savior. His Mary is the good one. He’s saved the family home with his money and saved the estate with his modern, sensible ideas. He even produced a male heir, further saving the future of Downton Abbey. What could he possibly do next? Let's face it: Matthew was so busy fixing everything he was becoming dull. And now, with Downton Abbey's hero gone, the family has to fend for itself.
With that in mind, imagine the potential Season Four plotlines:
Lady Mary can go back to dating. Before Matthew she played around with a Turkish official and a wealthy commoner newspaper owner — and that was before the wild Twenties. Now that she’s provided a heir for the family the Downton widow can really cut loose. Let's not forget that before Mary paired with Matthew, the series heavily focused on her love life. And once Matthew came along, we were enticed by the "will they or won't they" storyline. And now that she is no longer Matthew’s Mary, she can also go back to being more than a little bitchy to her sister, Lady Edith.
Speaking of Lady Edith, she and her new boyfriend, Michael Gregson, can continue to see each other. Before his demise, Matthew promised Edith that he hadn’t told anyone in the family that Gregson was still married (albeit to a woman in an asylum). But he also advised Gregson to say his goodbyes to Lady Edith, telling him that nobody in the family would approve of their relationship. With Matthew gone, Edith and Michael's secret is safe for someone else to uncover.
Tom Branson has lost his best friend and supporter, and now he has to step up as the only son-in-law. He's already been tested on how he feels about his new position in the house, and no longer has to straddle the downstairs and upstairs, so he may be up for the task (while still remaining “an Irish Mick,” as he says).
Isobel Crawley will no doubt mourn the loss of her only son, but perhaps she can also consider becoming a doctor’s wife again, assuming Dr. Clarkson remains interested. She can also stay busy trying to instill in her grandson the values she gave to Matthew, which stand in opposition to the Dowager and others in the family.
These are just a few of the directions in which the show can go now that Matthew's gone. But if Dan Stevens' career move doesn’t work out, the powers that be could always make the whole car accident a terrible dream and have Mary find him soaking contentedly in the bathtub. That’s a formula that’s worked before — just ask Patrick Duffy.