‘Downton Abbey’ season 5 character debate: Lily James and Lady Rose

There is no “Downton Abbey” character as polarizing as Lady Rose. Some people out there enjoy the sort of rebellious energy that Lily James brings to the show; meanwhile, others just think that she is the second coming of Cousin Oliver, a character meant to capture some of the spirit that Mary and Edith had during season 1, but on an exaggerated scale to make her stand out more.

All in all, Rose had her moments during season 4, and in particular the (spoiler alert!) romance with Gary Carr and his character of Jack Ross. While it was somewhat frustrating that it did not actually go anywhere, it did allow us to see a little bit more into what makes this young lady tick. Now, we just have to hope that she grows up and gets over some of her more childish quirks that she has shown as of late.

When we last saw her – Rose was presented to the English royalty in hopes of further showing her maturation into a woman, and this produced a great moment simply from a visual standpoint of seeing all of the great costumes. She also showed some of her own recklessness when she had to rely on some of the rest of the family in order to ensure that the Royals were not embarrassed. Then again, she probably enjoyed the process of ensuring that the note incriminating a certain man was destroyed, since it was an adventure.

What we could see – Personally, we’re thinking along the lines here of more bumps in the road for Rose, especially if she ends up getting with the wrong guy. She is still very young, so we do not necessarily feel like there will be a hurry for her to settle down and get into a relationship. But with all of the changes that are happening in England in the 1920s, we actually feel like Rose is going to be more prepared than most.

What we’d like to see – Our own hope for Rose is that we really start to see her go downhill, and get into a dark, interesting place. While all of the daughters have went through some horrible stuff (and Sybil is dead), wouldn’t it be interesting to see what happens when someone really starts to break apart from the family and cause trouble?

Is there anything in particular that you want to see from Rose on “Downton Abbey” moving forward into next season? Share some of your thoughts below.