It lets him have a legal right to be involved in the running of the estate now, rather then when he inherits.
Control of investments and co-dibs on the help. It’s a soap opera after all.
I shouted, “Strallan, you asshole!” when he dumped Edith at the altar. As if he and she hadn’t already discussed his health and the age difference ad nauseam! But my wife and I thought it might be either that, or he’d pull a Mr. Pamuk on their wedding night. The Dowager Countess’s rushing forward and telling Edith to let him go was just too much.
Love to see Mrs. O’Brien’s and Thomas’s feuding, though. Let the epic war of dirty tricks begin!
I think Bates found a shiv hidden under his bedding, but I couldn’t quite be sure. I presume his cellmate paid the guard to “discover” it.
I’ll be glad to take Downton Place off the Crawleys’ hands if they find it too cramped and down-market.
Carson’s solicitude for Mrs. Hughes, the housekeeper, was quite touching.
All in all, a good episode.
It also sets things up so Matthew and Lord G can have a MAJOR disagreement on how the estate should be managed. So far the two of them have gotten along very well. Is it time for them to have a falling out?
Otherwise, I don’t like Edith but this time I actually felt sorry for her. I’ve never been left at the altar, but OMG that would be the absolute worst way to break my heart. Poor thing, I actually wanted something to go right for her, for a change.
But the photograph of the 3 sisters was a gorgeous shot. I love watching all the wardrobe changes as the women’s styles evolve.
Strallan, what a ridiculous prig! Having qualms at the altar, really?!?
I was sure MAry would get pregnant, and then Matthew would accept the money on behalf of their children to save the house for them. I was also very glad indeed that Robert didn’t just accept the money. This way there’s a man with some knowledge of the world (Matthew) who can stop him from pissing it away agin!
Violet has lost me; I was a huge fan, but now I dislike her intensely. What she did to Edythe was appalling. The time to hold her peace had long since passed, and she darn well knew it.
they already introduced the idea of women speaking their mind with the servant conversation. It sets up the emerging changes in society. Edith might just pick out another chauffeur.
Heh. The priest didn’t even have the chance to say “Speak now or forever hold your peace…”! (BTW, it’s just “Edith”: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/season2_characters_edith.html).
Here’s the Duchess of Marlborough, whom Strallan mentioned was soon getting a divorce. She, like Lady Cora, was a rich American who married an impoverished British aristocrat: Consuelo Vanderbilt - Wikipedia
So daisy has eyes on the tall footman. Of course he has eyes for a fellow ginger in the house, maybe Lady Edith?
And what is it about her, Fellowes should throw a lesbian fling her way, see how she does…
Matthew refusing to read the letter was bad enough, but his reason: “Lavinia’s father will just say that I was the best thing that ever happened to Lavinia, and I can’t bear to have his praises indelibly etched on my brain.” Geez…talk about being full of yourself!
And then accusing Mary of forging it?? So that Mary had to track down whoever mailed it to prove it was authentic?? What an asshole.
I love Edith. She is my favorite and frankly, the prettiest. I do love a prominent nose.
What’s up with the ex-maid-gone-astray who went to see Mrs. Crawley?
This episode certainly covered a lot of ground.
She’d had a fling with an officer when DA was a recovery hospital during WWI, despite being warned not to, and was fired for it. The officer later died and his family refused to accept that her baby was his. Looks like she’s fallen on hard times and turned to prostitution, and wanted help for her child (who would be two or three years old by now, I guess).
They seem to gloss over the Matthew-Mary dispute over the letter. Matthew, for all I was in lust with him, is being an utter douche. Why wouldn’t he save his own estate? What am I missing? His refusal didn’t make any sense.
I really suspected there is more to Sir Anthony’s abandonment that what we’ve been shown. Maybe he’s got cancer, or a brain cloud or something and is going to kick the bucket immediately. I can’t say that I’m sorry to see him go, though — his smile is the fakest, smarmiest thing I’ve ever seen.
Edith needs to go slumming and find her another farmer to boink. Girl needs to get laid. 
I sort of remember that, but the tension around her seeking out Mrs. C makes me wonder if yet another ugly family secret is about to hit the light of day. Why did the girl retreat saying, “This was a mistake”?
The parents of the officer who got the maid pregnant wanted to take the baby from her, remember. She wouldn’t let him go — right? Or am I forgetting. I recently watched Vanity Fair and am tending to mix up the two stories a little. :smack:
Maybe she’s changed her mind now and wants Mrs. Crawley to dig them up and take the boy off her hands. But it’s too hard for her to do, even though she’s in dire straits, which is why she keeps approaching Mrs. Crawley and then dashing away at the last second.
They do get the historical details right. In the beginning of the episode they were talking about Edith’s wedding dress being from Lucile rather than Patou. Lucile was Madame Lucile, a famous designer of the time. She was also famous for being both a Titanic survivor and married to Lord Duff Gordon who also survived the Titanic.
Strallan seemed inordinately interested inthe Marlborough divorce. The twit. ( change the vowel as you wish! Grrrr.)
My sense of the maid/prostitute (Ethel?) is that she is planning suicide, but wants Mrs. Crawley to take her son, not the Grandparents. The way she kept saying “It’s too late for me” makes me think she’s planning to end it, and wanted to make sure Mrs. Crawley would rememebr her when the auhorities showed up with the child.
Am I the only one who thinks it’s because he’s gay?
Yeah, he sure went from “no, I just can’t do it” to “OK, let’s do it” in about a nanosecond.
I agree it sets things up for some serious conflicts between them about how to invest going forward. Also, it sets up a generational thing about how to adapt to the changes that are coming.
If you’ll remember in the last episode, Bates noticed his cellmate having a conspiratorial discussion with a prison guard. (Cellmate: “You didn’t see anything” Bates: “I agree”). In this one, a fellow prisoner tipped Bates off during exercise time that Bates’ cellmate was plotting against Bates, and he should check his bed. Doing so, he found “something” (contraband? weapon? I couldn’t tell) just before the co-conspiring guard came in to search his bed. He managed to hide it in the wall. I doubt this is the last we’ll hear of this incident.
No, he’s just British. Of course, he was married before, so perhaps he was dreading “closing his eyes and thinking of England” again.
I thought he was going to admit that his arm wasn’t the only thing that he lost in the war.
On a lighter note, what happened to Bates’ limp? I didn’t see any sign of it when he was walking in the circle in prison. I rather doubt he got hold of another Limp Corrector[sup]TM[/sup] in prison.
I am hoping on some level that he didn’t really off his wife. Too much temptation for the writers to have Anna wallow in moral crisis about being married to a murderer.
And I couldn’t see what had been planted in Bates’ bunk. Was it a shiv? I got the impression it had been planted - who did it, and how? And why?
I think it is time for Bates to escape from prison so they can do an Edwardian version of The Fugitive. He and Anna can meet clandestinely for Doomed Romantic Interludes.
And what was the boards’ impression of the disfigured alleged long-lost heir? He was faking it, wasn’t he?
Regards,
Shodan
The Fake Patrick was a one-episode wonder. Of course he can’t be the heir–he isn’t as handsome as Matthew!
The story gave us another instance of “Edith is a loser.” And avoided any of the wounded officers actually talking about the War. Because all that matters is who inherits Downton, not the war that destroyed a generation–in several countries.
I tell ya, it was the newspaper mogul who had her killed.