Proof That We'll Never Get Over Matthew Crawley

The end of the holidays might be a depressing thought to those whose lives don’t revolve around television programming, but to those of us who thrive on weekly, fictional drama, this is the most wonderful time of the year. January means that certain, despairing hiatuses come to a close and it’s also a time for midseason premieres, as is the case with Downton Abbey which airs Sunday, January 4th. But no matter how happy we are to see Downton return, there is just one thing we’ll never be able to forgive them no matter how hard they may try (and they have tried), and that is the untimely death of Matthew Crawley.

The healthy thing would probably be to move on, but our infatuation with this particular fictional character is far from healthy anyway, so whatevs. While Matthew may have died two seasons ago, his death still looms in our minds and in our hearts and mostly, on the internet , where GIFs upon GIFs of the Downton heir abound, reminding us of all we, err, Mary, has lost.

So, here are the various masochistic GIFs still circulating on the internet that prove we will never, ever get over Matthew Crawley. Like ever.

When He Made Us Want To Be a Slim Yet Sturdy Tree Limb

*cries* *dies* *resurrects* *still not over it*

How His Affable Demeanor Enabled Mary to Open Up to Him

You could never make us angry, Matthew. Come on, now.

When He Made Us Want to Go There

There would have been no hesitation on this end.

He Was a Gentleman in the Streets, But a Tiger in the Sheets

Bow chicka wow wow.

When He Killed Us With His Eyes Like an Early 20th Century Cyclops

But it a good, painless way.

Because He Looked Like a Friggen Disney Prince

Like Prince Eric and the hot human version of the Beast had a baby.

His Protective Nature

I don't condone violence, but damn.

He Was the First Person to Crack Mary's Reserved and Seemingly Icy Facade and Acknowledge Her Vulnerability

What a stupid, adorable thing to say.

THIS, ALL OF THIS

Look how happy they were.

Why did you have to go, Dan Stevens, WHY?!

How Romance Oozed from Every Pore of His Beautiful Body

(Insert squinting, pained emoji here)

His Quick Wit

Zing.

His Debonair Charm

And his side part. Let's not forget that epic side part.

Because We are All Mary

Goodbye, cruel world.

But, Mainly Because He Overcame Tremendous Adversity

Only to be Killed in Cold Blood by an Inexcusably Vengeful Tree...

...ON THE DAY HE BECAME A FATHER

Is there any justice in this sick world?!

Leaving Us Approximately 30 Painstaking Seconds of Crawley Family Time Before it All Went to Shit

It was the cutest thing that ever befell my eyes though, I'll give them that.

I guess.

Images: Giphy; matthewmarycrawley/Tumblr; wdedalus/Tumblr; fyeahmaryandmatthew/Tumblr