I feel like the show puts WAY too much emphasis on them and how hard it is to be rich and privileged when I'm much more interested in the downstairs people, and I wish they'd get more in the way of storylines.

I agree that it skews too much upstairs, definitely. I'd love to see more in-depth stuff with the people downstairs.

I just flat-out hated him last season because he seemed so intentionally cruel (which is the one thing that I cannot abide) with no sort of human compassion at all. But this season he's seemed much more well-rounded to me, and I'm warming to him. He actually cared about that soldier, and that was the kind of thing I'd been looking for in him all along, so I'm glad to find it. It's sort of like last season when O'Brien looked at herself in the mirror and said, "This isn't you." That was the moment I'd been waiting for--to see her warmer side--and it instantly made me more invested in her. I had that moment with Thomas last night, and I am really glad.

I think her relationship with the farmer grows from the feeling that she's important and wanted for the first time in her life,

This is true. I just have the world's biggest knee-jerk reaction to cheating. JUST NO. So hopefully even if she doesn't make better decisions in the future, maybe they'll be bad ones that don't immediately make me start yelling DO NOT WANT? Because I want to be on her side, I really do. And I think the show can get me there if it keeps heading in this direction.