After six seasons, five Christmas specials, and three feature films, Downton Abbey finally ends where it all began: with the illusion of change. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing for longtime fans of the upstairs-downstairs drama, which debuted in 2010. Downton has always tried to have its cake and eat it too, with stories that nominally challenge the early 20th-century British aristocracy while also luxuriating in the premise. In its final act — a two-hour theatrical release by Simon Curtis, appropriately titled Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale — it brings more of the same to the table, but peppers it with just enough hints of nostalgia (and narrative finality) to make this umpteenth ending feel definitive.

It's no secret that the series has long outstayed its welcome, having now

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