# 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:** 6
**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, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/101 "2016-01-18T18:08:40Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > …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?)… Many in the UK found it oogie for centuries: [Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907 - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deceased_Wife%27s_Sister%27s_Marriage_Act_1907) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/102 "2016-01-18T18:28:25Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > 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. No, she’s doomed. My guess she’ll die due to complications of the pregnancy, and Bates will be arrested for her murder.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/103 "2016-01-18T18:42:36Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > 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. Wouldn’t it go to Mary’s son? That would have May and Cora both to move in with Maggie Smith, paving the way for next season’s wacky comedy series, “The Dowagers”! 😃 ---
**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, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/104 "2016-01-18T18:47:41Z")
Witty episode recap from the [New York Times.](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/arts/television/downton-abbey-season-6-episode-3-recap-so-nice-to-see-him-again.html?ribbon-ad-idx=15&src=trending&module=Ribbon&version=context®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Trending&pgtype=article) > [@](#): > > …So the wedding turned out to be just delightful — upstairs on one side of the aisle, downstairs on the other — and there were bagpipes, and Mr. Carson said, “That a woman of such grace and charm should entrust her life’s happiness to my unworthy charge passeth all understanding.” > > I mean, it was lovely, Tom, and then you come barging in with that whole Dorothy-back-from-Oz business: “I learned that Downton is my home and that you are my family. If I didn’t quite know that before I left, I know it now.” > > Fine, fine, but what narrative function do you have in mind, Tom? See, Mary’s got the pigs covered. Violet and Isobel have cornered the health care market. Spratt is helping to rehabilitate escaped convicts. Had you come a week earlier, you might have helped to cheer up gloomy old Edith, but wouldn’t you know? As soon as she announces she’s “staring middle age in the face,” out pops Bertie Pelham, the estate agent she met last season in Brancaster. (He’s played by the equally fictional-sounding Harry Hadden-Paton.)… > [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > … > 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… My bold. One more: Mrs. [del]Hughes[/del] Carson said she’d probably never have the opportunity to wear the coat again. ---
**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 18, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/105 "2016-01-18T19:01:02Z")
That recap in The New York Times was pretty snarky. I particularly liked, “Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes have been submerging their feelings for so long they make “Remains of the Day” look like hard-core porn.” ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/106 "2016-01-18T19:28:21Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Wouldn’t it go to Mary’s son? That would have May and Cora both to move in with Maggie Smith, paving the way for next season’s wacky comedy series, “The Dowagers”! 😃 Mary’s son George will indeed become Earl of Grantham upon his grandfather’s death. However, there’s no particular reason why this should result in Cora or Mary moving anywhere, especially if he’s still a child and Mary is running things as his guardian. Violet lives in the Dower House because the family has one and everyone was presumably happier with her running her own household rather than trying to continue running things at the Abbey. It seems unlikely that Mary would expect or want her mother to go live with Granny when her father dies, though. Incidentally, Mary will never be the Dowager Countess of Grantham as she will never be the Countess of Grantham. Since Matthew died before inheriting, she has only the courtesy title of “Lady” that goes to the daughter of an Earl. Little George’s future wife will be the next Countess of Grantham. Until his marriage I believe Cora could continue using the title Countess of Grantham (with no “Dowager”) even though she’s a widow, as there is no other non-dowager countess currently bearing that title. ---
**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, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/107 "2016-01-18T19:34:21Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Or were you talking about Thomas the gay under-butler? Yup, sorry! “Baxter” should have been 'Thomas Barrow. Also my screw up for saying it was Anna who would wear the coat to Lord G’s funeral. :smack: I am so bad with names. > [@DrDeth](#): > > No, she’s doomed. My guess she’ll die due to complications of the pregnancy, and Bates will be arrested for her murder.:rolleyes: Ohhh! Yes, let’s go with that! 😃 ---
**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, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/108 "2016-01-18T21:18:48Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > … Little George’s future wife will be the next Countess of Grantham. … I can see it now. Little Georgie grows up and falls in love with Marigold. They plan to marry, and it seems kosher until… \*\*finally \*\*the truth has to come out that they’re first cousins! ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/109 "2016-01-18T21:39:51Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > 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. Daisy is the worst. Seriously, she acts like a 6-year-old most of the time. No, wait. _Mary_ is the worst. Even after being confronted with Mrs. Hughes’s true wishes for a more ‘common’ wedding, she somehow thinks Cora is the one being snobbish. > [@](#): > > Nice little scene with Thomas and his cranky old prospective employer. Definitely underlined the decline and fall of quite a few aristocrats after WWI. Yes, I enjoyed the visit to the Ghost of Downton Future. ---
**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, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/110 "2016-01-18T22:11:25Z")
I don’t think Mary and Tom are going to hook up. She loves him like a brother and he’s never seen her as anything but a sister. Mary is too aware of her nobility to marry anyone “beneath” her, no matter how fond she is of Tom. She has a legacy to protect. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/111 "2016-01-18T23:39:41Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I don’t think Mary and Tom are going to hook up. She loves him like a brother and he’s never seen her as anything but a sister. > > Mary is too aware of her nobility to marry anyone “beneath” her, no matter how fond she is of Tom. She has a legacy to protect. I agree. Plus there was too much made of the electricity between Mary and the tall, dark-haired unexpected guest, Henry Talbot, at the shooting party held by the Sinderbys in the finale in Season 5. There’s no way that guy has made his last appearance. I love silly Daisy. She’s the epitome of the overprotected, never-seen-the-world childlike servant. Naive in the extreme. And I don’t see why it shouldn’t work out for Mr. Mason to take over the Drewe farm. What else could Cora have been thinking of when she said she might have a notion about how to help? And what possible other plan could there be for the Drewe farm once the Drewes vacate? I can’t imagine what Tom is doing back. I guess we’ll see. Once Lord Grantham cacks it – as he is sure to do after his bout with “indigestion” – there may be several roles for Tom to assume. ---
**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, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/112 "2016-01-18T23:54:09Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I can’t imagine what Tom is doing back. I guess we’ll see. Once Lord Grantham cacks it – as he is sure to do after his bout with “indigestion” – there may be several roles for Tom to assume. Well, I _guess_ Cora will need a new husband… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/113 "2016-01-19T00:48:10Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > Well, I _guess_ Cora will need a new husband… 😉 We are bad people. I had the exact same thought. 😃 ---
**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 19, 2016, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/114 "2016-01-19T01:50:10Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > No, she’s doomed. My guess she’ll die due to complications of the pregnancy, and Bates will be arrested for her murder.:rolleyes: Don’t be silly; the police would not arrest Bates if Anna died in childbirth, they’d address the baby instead. > [@Lamia](#): > > …Little George’s future wife will be the next Countess of Grantham. Until his marriage I believe Cora could continue using the title Countess of Grantham (with no “Dowager”) even though she’s a widow, as there is no other non-dowager countess currently bearing that title. Correct. And if Violet is still alive Cora would be styled “Cora, Countess of Grantham” instead of “the Dowager Countess of Grantham”. Only the most senior widow gets to use the word dower, junior widows are always [_first name_], [_title_]. Incidentally the latter is also how a divorced peeress is styled (hence _Diana, Princess of Wales_). ---
**Author:** ![digitalskeeza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@digitalskeeza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digitalskeeza)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/115 "2016-01-19T01:54:52Z")
I must have missed something…when did most of the other servants turn against Barrow? That newer footman(?) Andy avoids him like the plague, Carson is pushing him out the door, even Mrs. CARSON has shut him down on a few occasions. Is it just the gay, or did he do something really unforgivable AGAIN? ---
**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 19, 2016, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/116 "2016-01-19T02:05:12Z")
> [@digitalskeeza](#): > > I must have missed something…when did most of the other servants turn against Barrow? That newer footman(?) Andy avoids him like the plague, Carson is pushing him out the door, even Mrs. CARSON has shut him down on a few occasions. Is it just the gay, or did he do something really unforgivable AGAIN? I was wondering this, too. ---
**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 19, 2016, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/117 "2016-01-19T02:24:07Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Don’t be silly; the police would not arrest Bates if Anna died in childbirth, they’d address the baby instead… I don’t think the baby would have much to tell them, but in an English stately home, what is the correct form of address for police in speaking to the infant of an Earl’s daughter’s lady’s maid? ---
**Author:** ![Nefario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/59ef9b/32.png) [@Nefario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefario)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/118 "2016-01-19T02:56:15Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I can’t imagine what Tom is doing back. I guess we’ll see. Once Lord Grantham cacks it – as he is sure to do after his bout with “indigestion” – there may be several roles for Tom to assume. I was disappointed for Tom. Does this mean he failed in his new American automobile dealership and now needs family money? He could be the face of the oncoming industrial/automotive age if there were a few more episodes. ---
**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 19, 2016, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/119 "2016-01-19T03:22:37Z")
You know what Downton’s village lacks? An auto dealership! ---
**Author:** ![Quercus\_alba](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quercus_alba/32/4061_2.png) [@Quercus\_alba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus_alba)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966/120 "2016-01-19T03:51:55Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > You know what Downton’s village lacks? An auto dealership! Sure…because _nothing_ bad would _ever_ happen when someone gets a new car on this show! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downton-abbey-s6-spoiler-free-until-broadcast-in-the-u-s/727966.md?page=7)