When I was assigned to review "Downton Abbey: Season 2," I was filled with dread. I find most costume dramas difficult to process, most constructed so frigidly that interpretation becomes a chore, not a rewarding challenge. Also creating terror was my moderate awareness of the program, gathered primarily from award show recaps and the occasional social media pledge of devotion. Not wanting to be left out in the cold, I crammed season one in anticipation of this release, ready to swallow whatever televised dry biscuit creator Julian Fellowes was intending to serve. Seven episodes later, I was deeply in love, completely blindsided by a program boasting refined social graces on the outside, while the inside exposed the beating heart of a sublime soap opera, offering immaculate emotional pull and full-bodied attention to a multitude of characters, creating a thickly sliced, yet overwhelmingly effective British drama -- a viewing experience that was much more than droning talk of matchmaking and sips of tea. Suddenly, the prospect of viewing season two wasn't a brutal professional obligation anymore. It became an absolute necessity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com