'Downton Abbey: Season 5'

"Downton Abbey: Season 5" has all the elements we've come to love in the series: Nobility in the aftermath a ghastly of war, dignity in the face of a mannered society and (at its core) good, old-fashion sex.

It's 1924, and whilst America may be abuzz with picture shows, cocktails, flapper dresses and the less-expensive yet more reliable wireless radio, these things merely skirt the edges of the great manor. (After all, there's something vaguely immoral and absolutely coarse about a box that brings music, the news and even dramas directly into one's home.)

The problems setup in Season 4 play themselves out this year, and many of these issues deal with women making bold and independent choices in the midst of a progressing society. As Maggie Smith so brilliantly expresses as the Dowager Countess, "In my day a lady was incapable of feeling physical attraction... until she'd been instructed to do so by her Mama."

Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) works right along-side her father (Hugh Bonneville) and Branson (Allen Leech) managing the estate and assuring its future, but she's ready to remarry. The only problem is she would like to experience her courtier romantically and completely before she makes a commitment.

Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) attempts to connect an orphaned village girl that the family fails to realizes is actually her own child, but her interference upsets the adoptive mother. Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) has an admirer, Simon Bricker (Richard E. Grant), an art historian who actually values her opinions on art, to the dismay of her husband. And the Dowager Countess (the always luminous Maggie Smith) reveals a former affair with a Russian exile, Prince Igor Kuragin (Rade Sherbedgia).

Downstairs, Phyllis Baxter (Raquel Cassidy) discloses her criminal past in spite of Thomas' (Rob James-Collier) machinations, Daisy (Sophie McShera) strives to better herself by pursuing an education and Anna (Joanne Froggatt) hides the secret of Alex Green when an inspector begins nosing around claiming there was a witness to the man's murder.

Over 40 minutes of bonus features take the viewer behind the scenes and into the sumptuous visual design and stylistic splendor of this beautifully rendered, three disc Blu-ray set.

"Downton Abbey: Season 5"
Blu-ray
Not Rated / Approx. 8 hr. 45 min.
www.pbs.org