I agree with you. But whomps being the nature of melodrama and soap opera, what is a Fellowes to do?
BTW, for a continuing education seminar here I’ve been reading Trollope’s The Way We Live Now. He’s a dab hand at soap opera himself, is our Anthony, and keeps me reading compulsively, muttering under my breath all the while.
(Been trying to get at the difference between Dickens and Trollope, because I sense it strongly but can’t put my finger on it.)