# Downton Abbey S6 - spoiler-free until broadcast in the U.S. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 16, 2015, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966 "2015-08-16T02:06:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/241 "2016-02-08T15:00:50Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > There was more unsaid than spoken aloud last night. Things that needed saying: > > Daisy! Shut up and butt out of the old folks’ romance! > > Carson, if you wanted Mrs. Patmore’s cooking, you should have married HER! > > Barrow, for God’s sake, tell Carson that you’re teaching Andy to read! > > Anna, get a clue! After _X_ miscarriages, you don’t want to _bother_ going to the doctor? (When Mary clearly wants to go to London anyway.) > > Mary! Marigold is your niece, but you’re so cold and unsympathetic that no one wants you to know! So shut up about it! > > Crawleys all: Letting Granny Violet find out about the hospital appointment from the letter, because nobody had the balls to tell her-- BAD IDEA. What I see is a whole bunch of those trite "let’s build up ridiculous misunderstandings into major but ultimately pointless dramas’ things you find in cheap romance novels. Where the whole plot crisis depends on the fact that the Heroine saw the Hero with another girl who turns out to be his stepsister who needed a lift to the market or something else totally innocuous. And why is everyone letting Barrow get away with that whole poor me, how dare you think my word isn’t good or that I’d hurt Andy crap? Why doesn’t Carson flat out point out chapter and verse of some of the evil stuff that Barrows has pulled in the past, and _that_ is why they’re suspicious of his good intentions now? ---
**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:** [February 8, 2016, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/242 "2016-02-08T17:04:17Z")
That Violet seems to think Downton Abbey is a “perfectly ordinary house” is about as clueless and out of touch as her asking, “What’s a week-end?” And then Mary was peeved that Anna was late returning from the doctor (“I though I was going to have to dress myself.”). Earlier someone asked how Anna was going to handle the baby and that’s a good question, given how unsympathetic Mary is. Perhaps they could open the nursery (where George, Marigold and Sybil are) to other children and turn Downton Abbey into the fanciest day care center in Europe. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/243 "2016-02-08T17:21:04Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > …And then Mary was peeved that Anna was late returning from the doctor (“I though I was going to have to dress myself.”)… And the fact that a fragile, pregnant Anna had to ride the **bus** back from the doctor?? Mary wants to pay the doctor’s bill but she can’t spring for a cab ride? ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/244 "2016-02-08T18:11:22Z")
The scene of the ladies spectacularly failing to enlighten visitors about their home is probably the funniest in the entire series to me. “Well, they were all rather marvelous and sort of … living that life.” And the scene with Robert and the little boy was well done. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/245 "2016-02-08T18:38:45Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Mary! Marigold is your niece, but you’re so cold and unsympathetic that no one wants you to know! So shut up about it! Were she just cold, they’d probably have told her. But she’s actively nasty to Edith and no one wants to give her another weapon (Cora’s actual words) or for her to begin being similarly awful to the child. The Crawley’s really aren’t very good parents. (not that that was a thing 100 years ago, but you’d think that instead of just noticing the way their children treated each other, they might have said something directly to the child in question.) ---
**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:** [February 8, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/246 "2016-02-08T20:42:04Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > There was more unsaid than spoken aloud last night. Things that needed saying… > [@John\_Mace](#): > > That’s a damn fine summary… Agreed on all counts. They _definitely_ mishandled telling the Dowager about the change in hospital leadership. Ouch. My wife, son and I kept expecting Mrs. Carson to give her husband an earful for all his veiled (and not-so-veiled) criticism of her cooking. Next episode, I’ll bet. Hope Moseley’s test goes well, and that he’s able to become a teacher or tutor, as he so clearly wants to be. Lord Merton is such a puppy dog, still running after Isobel and even dragging along his future daughter-in-law to assure her that Pissy Snobbish Son won’t be an obstacle. Isobel’s treated him so badly, though, I’m surprised he’s still interested. On the other hand, Lady Mary and Racecar Guy are clearly hitting it off well. Nice scenes in London. The chances of her developing a romance with Tom seem to be dwindling. Thomas weeping by the fire at the end was a nice image. Being a conniving sneak for years and years just hasn’t worked out for him. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/247 "2016-02-08T21:36:14Z")
Daisy is being a terrible pill this season, and it’s tiresome, because it seems very different from her personality as established earlier in the series. Also tiresome, the whole hospital business, although I did enjoy the Dowager pitching a fit. I find it a little ridiculous that they couldn’t come up with some honorary title to placate her, or letting her stay as “President Emerita” and giving Cora a new title that implies actual duties and work. I think Rob James-Collier does an absolutely fantastic job with Barrow, because I actually have sympathy for him despite his years of past terrible behavior. I am hopeful that Carson will be sufficiently shamed when he learns what’s really going on. I absolutely believe that Cora and the girls could be so clueless about the house, the girls wouldn’t have had any formal education to speak of, so they probably don’t have a very clear foundation of English history to pin anything on. Neither Edith nor Mary seems particularly bookish, so it isn’t as if they would have sought out the information on their own. I think this is the first time they mentioned the librarian for the estate, I wonder what his job description involves. Is this a full time gig? How much is he paid? The scene with Tom and Mary on the stairs, when he deadpans “can this be love?” was adorable and I think a way of recognizing that some fans were hopeful for a Tom/Mary match (that isn’t going to happen). ---
**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:** [February 8, 2016, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/248 "2016-02-08T22:25:14Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > The Crawley’s really aren’t very good parents. (not that that was a thing 100 years ago, but you’d think that instead of just noticing the way their children treated each other, they might have said something directly to the child in question.) To a certain extent, they never really parented their kids, leaving that to nannies and governesses. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2016, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/249 "2016-02-08T23:16:04Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > To a certain extent, they never really parented their kids, leaving that to nannies and governesses. What is “parenting”? (you have to read that is if spoken by Violet.) ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/250 "2016-02-09T00:19:16Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > To a certain extent, they never really parented their kids, leaving that to nannies and governesses. It was hilarious when Cora said her first career was raising her children. She didn’t raise them, she had the nanny bring them by a couple of times a day. It wasn’t really like it took all that much of her time. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/251 "2016-02-09T00:55:59Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > …Carson, if you wanted Mrs. Patmore’s cooking, you should have married HER!.. And in that reality Carson would spend all his time criticizing his wife’s housekeeping skills. > [@Tangent](#): > > I loved the ‘open house’ scenes, where the family got to display their utter ignorance about things in their home they’ve seen every day for decades. Except for Violet, of course, who knows everything… Not only that she know exactly how to hold the crowd’s interest! > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > And the fact that a fragile, pregnant Anna had to ride the **bus** back from the doctor?? Mary wants to pay the doctor’s bill but she can’t spring for a cab ride? Who’s to say Anna didn’t insist on taking the bus instead of letting Lady Mary pay for a cab? > [@delphica](#): > > …Also tiresome, the whole hospital business, although I did enjoy the Dowager pitching a fit. I find it a little ridiculous that they couldn’t come up with some honorary title to placate her, or letting her stay as “President Emerita” and giving Cora a new title that implies actual duties and work… Violet burned her bridges and pissed off everyone in Yorkshire. This is their way of making it clear they want her to have nothing to do with the new hospital, even on paper. The message is as clear as Bertie’s comments about his bachelor cousin spending all his time in Morocco painting the young men of Tangiers. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/252 "2016-02-09T02:07:49Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > … > Who’s to say Anna didn’t insist on taking the bus instead of letting Lady Mary pay for a cab?.. Because Mary would have said (and Anna couldn’t object), “You can’t take the bus because you need to make sure you’re back in time to help me dress.” ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/253 "2016-02-09T17:33:04Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > My wife, son and I kept expecting Mrs. Carson to give her husband an earful for all his veiled (and not-so-veiled) criticism of her cooking. Next episode, I’ll bet. It was so hard to pick out that out, given the _extremely_ subtle way it was presented. I’m sure the resolution will be just as nuanced. (Plot twist for next episode: Mrs. Carson gets off on being berated and Mr. Carson is only criticizing her food to help her work through her squeamishness about sex). > [@](#): > > Thomas weeping by the fire at the end was a nice image. Being a conniving sneak for years and years just hasn’t worked out for him. The way I took it is that Thomas is really, really trying not to be gay. Mr. Carson basically told him that no matter what he does, everyone knows what he _really_ is and it will always be hanging over him. Even if he does something nice, it will be assumed to be for a nefarious purpose. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/254 "2016-02-09T17:35:38Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > The message is as clear as Bertie’s comments about his bachelor cousin spending all his time in Morocco painting the young men of Tangiers. And note that he didn’t talk about his cousin spending all his time in Morocco painting _pictures of_ the young men of Tangiers. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/255 "2016-02-09T18:29:31Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > And note that he didn’t talk about his cousin spending all his time in Morocco painting _pictures of_ the young men of Tangiers. 🙂 As I recall, that was Isobel’s innocent remark (met with a glacial silence and change of subject). ---
**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:** [February 9, 2016, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/256 "2016-02-09T19:33:02Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > The way I took it is that Thomas is really, really trying not to be gay. Mr. Carson basically told him that no matter what he does, everyone knows what he _really_ is and it will always be hanging over him. Even if he does something nice, it will be assumed to be for a nefarious purpose. Because everything that he did really was nefarious and sneaky and shitty for over a decade. His being gay has little to do with it. He tried to blackmail Carson by exposing his previous life in the theater. He’s been lucky to still have a job. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/257 "2016-02-09T19:51:14Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Because everything that he did really was nefarious and sneaky and shitty for over a decade. His being gay has little to do with it. In the real world, yes. In the contrived, hierarchy-adoring _Downton_ world, it has quite a lot to do with it. Homosexuality, though it may crop up in the best of families, does upset the Natural Order; it cannot be seen to Triumph but must be seen to bring on Suffering and Ostracism. (And it’s worth recalling that Fellowes is a traditionalist Roman Catholic.) ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/258 "2016-02-09T20:47:24Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > He tried to blackmail Carson by exposing his previous life in the theater. He’s been lucky to still have a job. He didn’t. I don’t think he even knows; Bates was there when it all came out, and he swore to keep it secret. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/259 "2016-02-09T21:41:47Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Because everything that he did really was nefarious and sneaky and shitty for over a decade. His being gay has little to do with it. Notwithstanding Thomas’s other many vices, the specific thing that drew Mrs. Patmore’s attention (which she then blabbed to Mr. Carson) was the gay thing. And it is the thing that we have, in previous episodes, seen him go to great lengths to deal with – in a way that, to the sensibilities of the day, would be the most virtuous possible. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2016, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/260 "2016-02-09T22:23:11Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > In the real world, yes. In the contrived, hierarchy-adoring _Downton_ world, it has quite a lot to do with it. Homosexuality, though it may crop up in the best of families, does upset the Natural Order; it cannot be seen to Triumph but must be seen to bring on Suffering and Ostracism. (And it’s worth recalling that Fellowes is a traditionalist Roman Catholic.) I remember seeing an interview with Julian Fellowes in which he said that Barrow was trapped by the times; there’s no way for him to live openly. Fellowes seemed quite sympathetic to the character. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966.md?page=14)