At the beginning, Tom was talking about where to locate the repair shop. Was he planning an automotive repair shop, or something else?
Washington Post recap:
Oh, and Mr. Carson? Realize pretty damn quick your lovely wife has been busy having a successful CAREER these past decades and may not have had time at the end of the day to play with her patty pans. I love you Carson, and Elsie better set you straight pretty quick.
When exactly would Mrs Hughes ever be preparing her own meals (or “playing with her patty pans” as he put it)? She’s lived at Downton Abbey for decades, where the meals are prepared for her.
Exactly. If he wanted a homecooked meal he should have married Mrs. Patmore.
I got the impression he wants to move the estate repair shop (the Abbey’s cars, farm equipment, etc.) closer to the main road so it can double as a repair business/service station and (in modern biz-speak) become a revenue source for Downton instead of a pure cost center. Plus he’d get to [del]play with[/del] work on cars again. 
I had an uncle who died from a stomach hemorrhage, like Robert’s – in this modern day and age. So that was no foolin around.
Mary’s conversation with Tom at the end indicated that they knew the relationship between “worry” and ulcers.
I think Andy is truly illiterate.
And there does seem to be a blatantly obvious tie-up-all-loose ends and marry-everyone-off happening, but the sentimentalist in me approves.
I assume Robert’s condition will require some sort of care beyond what the local hospital is capable of, and that will resolve the conflict between the Dowager and Cora, et al.
Well that was… unexpected. I don’t think anyone would have ever predicted blood gushing out at the dinner table. I really did think that was going to be the end for Robert. Though I guess he’s not entirely out of the woods yet, as he’s still at the hospital and who knows what complications can result.
If Mary goes for the racecar driver she’ll be working on an ulcer of her own, given how her first husband died.
Denker and Spratt’s scorpions-in-a-bottle scenes were fun. You can tell how much it grates on Spratt to have to save his hated rival’s job - with no guarantee that she won’t blackmail him again!
The actor playing Neville Chamberlain looked quite a bit like the real thing c. 1925: Neville Chamberlain - Wikipedia
No reference here to the Piccadilly Circus excavation prank: Neville Chamberlain - Wikipedia
But here’s the HMS Dreadnought hoax he referred to: Dreadnought hoax - Wikipedia. Virginia Wolff was among the merry pranksters.
Yeah, that really stunned my wife and me. Pretty gruesome for PBS.
Yes. I did notice this famous Ramsay portrait of George III on the courthouse waiting-room wall, too: George III - Wikipedia
We predicted that, too. Nothing else would cause the Dowager to surrender.
It is mentioned in Horace de Vere Cole’s Wikipedia page. (“On one occasion he directed a group of like minded friends dressed as workmen as they dug a trench across Piccadilly.”) And the recap in The New York Times mentions that he’s suspected of being responsible for the Piltdown Man hoax.
That was the common belief at the time (and well into late 20th century) but worry doesn’t cause ulcers.
Stress can aggravate ulcers, can’t it, even if it doesn’t cause them?
I meant, no mention of a young Chamberlain being involved in the Piccadilly dig, either in Chamberlain’s Wiki bio - or, I now see, in Cole’s: Horace de Vere Cole - Wikipedia.
Here’s an NPR interview with DA’s Emmy-winning composer: 'Downton Abbey' Composer Explains Theme Choices : NPR
I think that’s a fair bet. I don’t have an ulcer, but I can churn out a lot of acid if I’m stressed, and I can feel it. I can’t imagine how horrible it would feel to have it pour out onto an open sore in the stomach.
However they are cause, it’s fairly certain that they are cured by gastrectomy, though.
I thought the “…turn him on his side” was correct and a nice detail. My grandmother died in a similar way in 1966. She had recovered from pneumonia in a hospital but then had a violent cough and a blood vessel in one lung ruptured, basically drownng in her own blood. I didn’t explain this to my wife…
I read something this morning (maybe on NPR) that said the blood splattering on Cora wasn’t in the plan – they didn’t think it would go that far across the table, so that shot of her is really a true reaction. Apparently it ruined the vintage costume she was wearing.
Would you believe one of my first thoughts was, how would the laundry maids EVER get that tablecloth white again?
One thing I was imagining that turned out not to be true: I guessed that Violet had told Denker to yell at Dr. Clarkson so she could then pretend to overract to his letter, fire Denker, and make Clarkson feel bad enough to come back to the fold (and then she would pretend to be persuaded, grudgingly, to rehire Denker by a pleading Dr. Clarkson who didn’t mean it all to go that far).
“Plotting Granny” seemed to be a more likely cause of the scene than someone as self-preserving as Denker to actually do that.
Denker thought, incorrectly, that Violet would love her loyalty.