# Downton Abbey S5 - spoiler-free until broadcast in the U.S. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 28, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244 "2014-07-28T15:03:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/81 "2015-01-12T20:05:23Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I get a few laughs. > > Listening to the wireless: Can he hear us, too? My Mom’s parents bought a TV in the mid-50s. My Mom’s grandfather was horrified that Mom would watch the news in her nightgown in front of the news caster. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/82 "2015-01-12T20:10:47Z")
My daughter, who is 3 years old, has started calling this show “Gabby Abbey” because all that ever happens is talking. The teacher COULD NOT be more annoying. She is an awful person. She is rude all the time. Also, why would Rose ever think that the teacher would be dressed for a formal dinner at Downton? While I can believe Rose would meddle and arrange for another dinner invite for the teacher, in a million years I don’t think it would occur to a Rose of that time period to invite someone to a dinner taking place an hour later. I liked that the Dowager was the first to stand up for the King. She is THAT proper. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/83 "2015-01-12T20:25:59Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > Also, why would Rose ever think that the teacher would be dressed for a formal dinner at Downton? While I can believe Rose would meddle and arrange for another dinner invite for the teacher, in a million years I don’t think it would occur to a Rose of that time period to invite someone to a dinner taking place an hour later. Yeah, let’s REALLY humiliate the bumpkin by having everyone stare at her clothes all evening! But it wasn’t just Rose. Even Lady Grantham seemed to think it was a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/84 "2015-01-12T20:34:11Z")
That was pretty funny (the Dowager standing up when the King was speaking). I also wish the teacher arc would just go away… just as the Bates (allegedly ;)) killing Giles. They’ve circled that drain too much already. Though I enjoyed the fight over the wireless, especially the Earl kept saying “No” and Rose was like “I wasn’t asking anything”. That amused me. I enjoyed it even more when the Earl basically told Cora that he may have said yes or at least discussed it if Rose had just come out and asked. Taking a stand against passive and indirect asking for something allows me to overlook the Earl’s shortcomings this week ;). ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/85 "2015-01-12T21:50:48Z")
> [@FeAudrey](#): > > These references to “Edwardian” have been driving me nuts. King Edward died in 1910; “Downton Abbey” opened with the sinking of the _Titanic_, which was in 1912. Alastair Bruce (“Manners” presenter) is billed as the series’ “historical advisor”; he should be more historical. > > Yeah, I know, “Edwardian” is a sort of shorthand for “from Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee to the outbreak of World War One”. Nonetheless, from 1910 to 1936, King George is Da Man. I wrote almost this exact complaint on Facebook. Glad I"m not the only OCD nutter who’s annoyed with it being called “Edwardian” when people are practically doing the Charleston in the drawing room. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > But little miss school teacher’s story arc is getting irritating. She’s an irritating character. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/86 "2015-01-12T22:00:12Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Though I enjoyed the fight over the wireless, especially the Earl kept saying “No” and Rose was like “I wasn’t asking anything”. That amused me. I enjoyed it even more when the Earl basically told Cora that he may have said yes or at least discussed it if Rose had just come out and asked. Taking a stand against passive and indirect asking for something allows me to overlook the Earl’s shortcomings this week ;). I also thought it was dumb that the Earl was SO het up about the schoolteacher, still. Really, what does he care what she thinks? But I think Hugh Bonneville did an amazing job with the scene where the war widow they meet in the village is tearfully talking about remembering her dead husband, and the Earl managed to look sufficiently somber all the while, even though you could also see that he was SO delighted to be winning the point against Carson’s plan. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/87 "2015-01-13T00:14:53Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > I wrote almost this exact complaint on Facebook. Glad I"m not the only OCD nutter who’s annoyed with it being called “Edwardian” when people are practically doing the Charleston in the drawing room. Please see comment #69. Cripes. If people acted like that in 2015, it could _still_ be called “Edwardian”. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/88 "2015-01-13T03:25:41Z")
Certainly not “Elizabethan,” despite who’s now on the throne! I liked this episode. The King’s speech (no, not _that_ one) was a good scene. BBC broadcasters were initially required to be in full evening dress when on the air. It was a much more formal time, obviously, and that carried over to the new medium of the radio. Even in 1945, many Japanese people kowtowed when they heard the Emperor’s voice on the air for the first time: [Surrender had lasting impact on many Japanese after war's end | The Japan Times](http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/08/14/national/history/surrender-lasting-impact-many-japanese-wars-end/#.VLSMoWSOREg) The schoolteacher’s and Daisy’s teacher-student relationship was nice to see, and the teacher (who doesn’t annoy me, all in all, although she certainly was tone-deaf during that first dinner party) at least had the sense not to accept Tom and Rose’s impromptu invitation this time. Molesley’s and the lady’s maid’s anguished scene outside was also good. I almost - almost! - felt sorry for Mr. Barrow when he was talking to Anna by the fireplace about his loneliness. Very sorry to lose Jimmy. Mary’s and Lord Gillingham’s rendezvous was wicked, scandalous fun. But Mary didn’t have to _twice_ tell Anna that Lord Gillingham could handle any unnecessary undressing! Obviously Lady Edith isn’t going to be able to keep dropping in on her little girl indefinitely. _Awk_ward! Favorite moment of this show (and hell, maybe my favorite gag on all of DA so far): Lady Grantham explains to Rose who some famous murdered anarchist woman was (Emma somebody?), and says, “We certainly wouldn’t want anything like that to happen to the teacher.” Lord Grantham shrugs and says “Hmm” noncommittally. I laughed. ---
**Author:** ![FeAudrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@FeAudrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FeAudrey)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/89 "2015-01-13T04:25:33Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > … explains to Rose who some famous murdered anarchist woman was (Emma somebody?) … You’re thinking of Emma Goldman, but it was Rosa Luxemburg they were talking about. What brought it up was Lord Grantham’s description of the teacher (Sarah Bunting) as a “tinpot Rosa Luxemburg”, which I thought was the best line of the episode, and the best line they’ve given Lord G. in ages. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/90 "2015-01-13T14:53:56Z")
I can’t remember - who is the dead guy the cops are investigating? It’s not the foreign count who died in bed with Mary. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/91 "2015-01-13T14:58:56Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Yeah, let’s REALLY humiliate the bumpkin by having everyone stare at her clothes all evening! But it wasn’t just Rose. Even Lady Grantham seemed to think it was a good idea. Rose is a naive twit, and Cora is an American who secretly thinks this is all silly. I did like that Robert saw a man clearly flirting with his wife and has such a stick up his butt that he transmuted it into “flirting with the dog” rather than even mentally acknowledge it. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/92 "2015-01-13T15:01:48Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I can’t remember - who is the dead guy the cops are investigating? It’s not the foreign count who died in bed with Mary. It’s Mr. Green, the former valet to Gillingham who raped Anna and then had a mysterious accident in London at a time when Mr. Bates was conspicuously away from Downton with a weak alibi and for some reason had a the stub for a train ticket to London in his pocket later. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/93 "2015-01-13T15:13:14Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I almost - almost! - felt sorry for Mr. Barrow when he was talking to Anna by the fireplace about his loneliness. I was waiting for her to tell him that it’s his own damned fault. If he weren’t so nasty to everyone all the time, he might have more friends among the staff (or at least not antagonized absolutely everyone). And the previous episode in which he returned to Lady Grantham’s good graces by saving the daughter was about the third or fourth time he’d been on the verge of being fired before doing something heroic or at least decent. Plus the implication that Bates might have killed Gillingham’s valet seems a rerun of the plot in which Bates was tried for his wife’s murder. Does Julian Fellowes just recycle plots each series? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/94 "2015-01-13T15:43:08Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > It’s Mr. Green, the former valet to Gillingham who raped Anna and then had a mysterious accident in London at a time when Mr. Bates was conspicuously away from Downton with a weak alibi and for some reason had a the stub for a train ticket to London in his pocket later. Thanks. I blocked the memory on the basis of "Bates on trial for murder - AGAIN!!’ was too much for my delicate nerves. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/95 "2015-01-13T16:08:30Z")
Though, I guess it would be fun if it turned out Bates actually had done it this time. But it’ll likely be some sort of ‘mistaken identity’ crap. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/96 "2015-01-13T16:23:35Z")
The scene in the apothecary shop was one of the few instances where I’ve thought “thank God for the century we live in now”. I loved Anna’s mildly righteous indignation – “I think I’ll go back and get a baker’s dozen”. (I’m assuming they were talking about diaphragms – that was the about the only birth control option for women of the time, right?) ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/97 "2015-01-13T16:27:02Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Though, I guess it would be fun if it turned out Bates actually had done it this time. But it’ll likely be some sort of ‘mistaken identity’ crap. Perhaps Bates didn’t do the actual shoving, but someone observed him having a heated conversation with Green earlier the same day. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/98 "2015-01-13T16:42:57Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > Rose is a naive twit, and Cora is an American who secretly thinks this is all silly. Not to get into some length debate about this, but Cora should know that teacher lady would feel humiliated to walk into such a formal setting in her street clothes. Or, even if she really was so self-confident as to shrug that off, Cora wouldn’t know that and should know better than to put her in the situation where it’s quite likely she would be. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/99 "2015-01-13T16:48:15Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > The scene in the apothecary shop was one of the few instances where I’ve thought “thank God for the century we live in now”. I loved Anna’s mildly righteous indignation – “I think I’ll go back and get a baker’s dozen”. > > (I’m assuming they were talking about diaphragms – that was the about the only birth control option for women of the time, right?) I assumed she purchased a condom. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244/100 "2015-01-13T16:51:57Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I assumed she purchased a condom. I would think they would need more than one. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s5-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/694244.md?page=6)