What if the baby Mary’s carrying is a boy? Would he then get it? Or does parentage play a role (i.e., he’s not Matthew’s son)?
I would think Bertie answered that question handily when he helped her get out an issue of her magazine in an all-night editing session.
Not really, they were just getting started and I thought that was kinda cool. The timeline is not correct but Talbot was a notable automobile manufacturer. I wonder if the writers originally chose the name “Talbot” intentionally to relate to his racing interests. Maybe his cousins had started the automobile business. 
Mary has no claim. Her kids are irrelevant. George inherits because of Matthew. Matthew could have married anyone and his son would inherit.
As mentioned earlier, if Robert manages to have a son then that son gets the title over George. Recall that in an early season, Cora was pregnant and miscarried a would be boy. That kid would have been the next Earl.
Yes. And during the finale’s Warm and Happy Ending scene for Cora and Robert, I was half-expecting Cora to say 'guess what, dear?..there’s going to be a blessed event for us, too!’
Even though that would have essentially booted Mary out of Downton Abbey (eventually, when a hypothetical New Son for Cora came of age). Fellowes had already proven himself unfazed by self-contradictory Warm and Happy Endings (Mrs. Patmore is going to be a devoted farmer’s wife and ALSO run a bed-and-breakfast? Henry is passionate about racing AND willing to give it up after seeing one friend die? Carson is relieved to be able to stay on at Downton AND also pleased that the man he’s been nothing but cold and rejecting to will now be in full charge? Okay …
My bolding.
Violet is the Dowager. Did you mean Isobel-Larry (i.e., Lord Merton)?
And did you mean Mason (Daisy’s FIL)-Patmore (the cook)?
Ick. Must go gouge my eyes out now…
The only moment that brought a tear to my eye was when they all asked Barrow to come back and take over as butler. I hated his new job as much as he did.
Yes, to both.
My first thought was that if Carson’s only problem is pouring, get a footman to pour the damn claret. But I guess that’s just not done. My second thought was to promote him to Butler Overseer, but Carson made a quite valid point: no self-respecting butler would take the job, knowing Carson would be hovering over him.
Robert did suggest that Carson would have some sort of Butler Emeritus role, though, I think?
Well well well. Looks like Daisy has some competition for Andrew’s affection!
Keep in mind that the entail was broken and Mary now owns half the estate in her own right. She’s her father’s daughter so I imagine she’ll leave her entire share to George, but the point is she could leave part of the estate to her future children. When it looked like Mathew died intestate it looked she was entitle to a life interest in a 1/3 of his share (ie 1/6 of the estate); I’m not sure if the reverse is true if Henry outlives her. And if George dies without male issue the title would go to an even more distant cousin (or extinct), but the estate wouldn’t automatically go along with it.
Speaking of inheritance; is anyone else hoping that after Lord Merton changed his mind about giving Larry & Amelia Cavenham Park? 
I doubt yelling “You can have it!” while storming out of the house is legally binding. I’d live to see the look on Larry’s face when someone explains the Law of Property Act 1925 to him.
I think the idea is when Mrs. Patmore is ready to retire as head cook, Daisy will step in, and she and Andy will have Yew Tree farm. After all, just after saying he was fit to farm Yew Tree. Mr. Mason is already talking about how hard it is, and how nice it is to have free labor. Andy will learn on the job and take on the tenency. I still think newly-educated Daisy will be too stuck up to match with Andy.
StG
Good ending and I loved the happy endings. Everyone got what they deserved- except maybe Barrow who got better than he deserved.
Did they every say what year they were celebrating? I turned to my partner and said, if someone ways ‘Happy 1929’, this turns into the Last Supper on the Titanic.
The celebration was to welcome in 1926. (Edited to add that we know that because a title card a few scenes earlier said it was December 29, 1925.)
And I was amused by Carson protesting that it was inappropriate for Anna to give birth in Mary’s room.
If they invested in land, not stocks, they’d be fine.
He’s just trying to make the housekeepers job easier. Could you imagine the trouble of cleaning up from a birth without all the disposables we have today?
I agree. I can never forgive Barrow for how he got out of WWI and still claimed to be a war hero.
Yeah, but they’re married now, and there’s a kid involved, plus his mother seems very conservative. That could change his expectations.
Ugh, they did exactly was I was afraid of-- rushed through a resolution to almost every open issue there was. Everything wrapped up neatly in a box with a perfect bow on it.
I was more than a little surprised by that, too, given that there’s been quite a bit of talk about a possible movie:
They haven’t left themselves much in the way of questions-to-be-answered or suspense that needs to be resolved.
Maybe they’ll do a jump ahead 50 years or so.