# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/81 "2016-01-15T15:27:42Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Seriously, though, as soon Anna was sounding so defeatist to Lady Mary about ever getting pregnant, I was thinking, “Jeez, even in 1925 you have medical options! Get thee to a specialist!” I think “medical options” were out of the question for a lot of working-class folk. Remember, Lady Mary offered to _pay_ for the doctor. ---
**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 15, 2016, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/82 "2016-01-15T17:06:35Z")
I’m sure it wouldn’t come cheap, but the Bateses never even _discussed_ the possibility. And Anna had to have known that Lady Mary would be generous in that regard, however reluctant she might have been to ask for a loan, let alone a gift. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/83 "2016-01-15T17:19:24Z")
Well, like I said, it probably wasn’t even on their radar. I think you saying “just go see a specialist!” would be like someone telling me “just go buy a house!” 🙂 So not discussing it makes sense to me. And I can’t see Anna ever asking Lady Mary for _any_ money – let alone for something so personal. I’ve watched since the first episode, and can’t remember her ever asking Lady Mary for anything (but then my memory for such things isn’t always great…). ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/84 "2016-01-15T20:01:32Z")
At least Anna was able to put her feet up…just not in the way Mr. Bates meant :eek: ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/85 "2016-01-15T20:47:36Z")
> [@SmellMyWort](#): > > At least Anna was able to put her feet up…just not in the way Mr. Bates meant :eek: I laughed at that line, because I’m sure Anna was picturing stirrups, and that’s what the writers intended. ---
**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 15, 2016, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/86 "2016-01-15T21:26:06Z")
Yeah, that was almost crude, by PBS standards! ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/87 "2016-01-15T21:33:58Z")
I wonder if they’ll tie Anna’s high risk pregnancy into the hospital brouhaha between Isabel and Violet? Maybe the doctor is away or she can’t travel to London and only if there were someplace in town with the proper facilities that could tend to her… ---
**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:** [January 16, 2016, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/88 "2016-01-16T01:06:50Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > Well, I wouldn’t call it _that_ veiled. It’s the one prejudice the Earl has pretty much fully copped to. Anti-Catholicism has an air of historical oddity about it today. (At least to non-Irish people.) They can show Lord G. spouting off against Catholics without alienating the audience too badly. And anti-Semitism in any of the Crawleys would come off as downright weird given that Cora’s father was Jewish & his fortune saved the estate. Cora sure was less than amused when that scatterbrained friend of theirs commented how well they were holding up to Rose marrying a Jew at Rose’s wedding (not knowing about Cora being half-Jewish). :smack: Susan’s anti-Semitism was realistic for period, but even then Fellowes had her use mostly coded language and avoid outright slurs (even when she was in private). > [@Misnomer](#): > > I think “medical options” were out of the question for a lot of working-class folk. Remember, Lady Mary offered to _pay_ for the doctor. I really hope Lady Mary didn’t sit in on the exam as well. :eek: It’s true seeing a specialist is something that Anna probably wouldn’t even consider, but I get the impression that Anna didn’t even think of going to Dr Clarkson. :dubious: ---
**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:** [January 16, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/89 "2016-01-16T03:25:06Z")
At least the surgery suggested for Anna is something that really exists. Unlike the magic voodoo worked on Mary herself. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/90 "2016-01-16T22:45:41Z")
Why do you think it was voodoo? From what I could tell Mary had a cyst of some kind. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2016, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/91 "2016-01-17T01:48:23Z")
I thought whatever she had done was basically done in the doctor’s office, and she spent zero time recovering in a hospital or such. The type of abdominal surgery needed to remove an ovarian cyst would not be done as outside of a hospital. Especially given the time frame of the show, I can’t think of a single thing that would cause infertility that could be fixed that magically. Perhaps there is something, but I’ve never heard anyone suggest something reasonable. (Actually, I can think of one physical flaw that _could_ be fixed that quickly and easily, but do you really think her husband wouldn’t have noticed pretty damn fast that she had an unbreakable hymen?) ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/92 "2016-01-17T19:27:00Z")
I think the boat that was Mary’s hymen sailed LONG before her wedding night. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/93 "2016-01-18T00:22:19Z")
Btw did anyone else find it odd that when Anna & John were alone together in the boot room, she _still_ called him Mr. Bates and not his first name? I understand having to do so when in the company of others, but alone by themselves while having such an emotional conversation? So weird. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/94 "2016-01-18T03:06:10Z")
Best wedding present EVER!!! And nice to see Edith coming into her own with an attractive young man at her side in a crisis. Cora was bitchy, but that was out of character for her and she quickly apologized. And Daisy is going to jinx Mr. Mason moving to a new farm. Shut up, Daisy. ---
**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:** [January 18, 2016, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/95 "2016-01-18T03:53:19Z")
Tom’s return almost stole the wedding spotlight from the Carsons. Glad he’s back–even if he is a little pudgier. He and Mary just need to get it on already. Robert having indigestion…not good. There are no random, benign symptoms on TV. ---
**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 18, 2016, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/96 "2016-01-18T05:12:59Z")
Nice wedding scene for Carson and Mrs. Hughes, er, Carson. Why wouldn’t she take his arm as they walked down the aisle? Is that a modern/more posh custom? I felt sorry for Molesley (again) as he talked to the schoolteacher about his missed opportunities in life. Daisy is such a well-meaning blabbermouth. She needs to shut up about the possible farm swap for her former FIL, but it’s probably too late. I’m enjoying all the intrigue and backbiting over the proposed hospital takeover. Nice little scene with Thomas and his cranky old prospective employer. Definitely underlined the decline and fall of quite a few aristocrats after WWI. Lady Edith has found her future husband, I think. The London gateway where they first bumped into each other was, I think, also shown in last year’s Ian McKellen movie _Mr. Holmes_. Glad she finally sacked her pushy editor, too. Spratt’s secret reminded me of Conan Doyle’s “Hound of the Baskervilles” (in which another butler helps a fugitive relative hide nearby from the police). It would be true poetic justice if Denker, having not told the police sergeant what she suspected so that she could have leverage/a blackmail opportunity over Spratt, was killed by the escaped convict. But that might be a little _too_ dark for DA. Great scene with the Dowager Countess asking for hot chocolate from Denker, knowing full well she’s up to no good. > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Tom’s return almost stole the wedding spotlight from the Carsons. Glad he’s back–even if he is a little pudgier. He and Mary just need to get it on already. > > Robert having indigestion…not good. There are no random, benign symptoms on TV. Agreed on all counts. ---
**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 18, 2016, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/97 "2016-01-18T05:50:49Z")
I’ve been predicting a Tom/Mary affair for some time, and I think it’s now imminent. Even Edith seems to have found love. And they all lived happily ever after! ---
**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:** [January 18, 2016, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/98 "2016-01-18T14:05:56Z")
I’m getting an overwhelming feeling of the pieces in the game being rather too obviously moved into position for a mostly happy end game, with heavy doses of ‘the times have changed but that’s for the good.’ Edith has a new admirer, clearly able to deal with a woman having her own business. She and Marigold and what his face can settle on a life of successful modern young people in London. Mary’s got Tom back again. So much for shifting Lady Mary into the day to day drudgery of estate management. He may not have a fortune or title, but he’ll always defer to her decided opinions, won’t force her to have to leave Downton, and besides their kids like each other. (Am I alone in thinking it’s a bit oogie that he used to be married to her sister?) Anyway, that’s her set until her kid grows up anyway…though I have preemptive sympathy for her future daughter-in-law. Lord Grantham is doomed, of course. Indigestion is never indigestion on TV, unless it’s in a commercial. Which will give Anna that ‘unexpected’ chance to wear Cora’s coat again. Besides, thematically this series started with them worrying over the succession, over what would happen when he died. It wouldn’t be satisfying to leave that gun unfired at the end. Anna of course is expecting again. Sort of a flip of the coin whether he’ll finally let those two be happy – or have her run over by a car eight months into the pregnancy. Or maybe murdered by the criminal nephew. Lady Violet. I’m thinking she’s going to fall victim to the passing of the old era theme. She’s going to lose over the hospital, obviously, but she might also die or just fade away into being less active. Maybe Isabelle will be so happy with the victory that she reconsiders Lord Merton. Hmm. If Grantham kicks it, doesn’t Cora become the Dowager Countess? In place of, or in addition to, Violet? Lady Mary obviously wouldn’t kick her out of Downton the next morning, but at some point she’d retire to the dowager house. Mr. and Mrs. Carson, and Mrs. Patmore, will likely just continue on as before, under Lady Mary while waiting for the sprog to grow up. Baxter – i think he’s sort of screwed. But where is this sudden fondness for that area coming from? He’s young enough to adapt to a new way of life, and I think he’d find life much happier outside of the super-conservative, everyone knows everything about everyone country side Daisy. Daisy, Daisy, Daisy. I think she will totally screw up her ex-father-in-law getting that farm. Which will piss her off enough to finally drive her to abandon serving in a household at all. She will set up a restaurant of some sort, no, better: a pub with food thingy. He’ll have some money put by to help start it, she’ll cook, he’ll tend bar, and that will be good for them. Okay, who am I forgetting? Who else needs to get their life all neatly tied up? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/99 "2016-01-18T15:53:19Z")
OK, Tom the Ex Chauffeur is back and horns in at the wedding. Is HE the one you think is young enough to adapt to a new way of life? (I thought it was odd he came back to England because it sounded like he was unable to make any new friends or find a good job in America! So he came running back to his old small stifling circle?) Or were you talking about Thomas the gay under-butler? If that is who you meant, I, too, am irritated that he’s looking for a new under-butler job in a big house within a day’s journey of his OLD job at DA. He should realize the day of manservants in big houses is coming to an end. He should get a clue, move away to London, and get a whole new life. But no! There he is trudging around the countryside in a circle, looking for same thing/only different. He’s a man, he has many more opportunities to find employment than a female servant. ---
**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:** [January 18, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/100 "2016-01-18T17:51:27Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > … (Am I alone in thinking it’s a bit oogie that he used to be married to her sister?) … Actually, it’s [Biblical](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levirate_marriage), which doesn’t mean it isn’t oogie. But it was not uncommon in that generation. Years ago I dated a man much older than me, and when his mom’s first husband died, she married her late husband’s brother. The second husband was my friend’s father. These people would have been born in the 1890’s. Also my late husband’s mother (born around 1915) was divorced from my husband’s father, and a few years later, her sister died, and she married her brother-in-law (my husband’s uncle). > [@](#): > > Baxter – i think he’s sort of screwed. … You mean Barrow, and he \*\*wishes \*\*he was sort of screwed. Baxter is Cora’s personal maid. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966.md?page=6)