I like how they resolved the lose Downton plot. More opportunity for misunderstandings and conflict now that Matthew is joint master of the place, especially between Mary and Cora.
Glad that Sir Anthony did a runner, Ediths response gives some depth to her character. From the sneak peek for the next episode, the Irish troubles will begin to play a role soon. Good. It woukd be ironic if Branson ends up immigrating to England, quite a few Irish on the anti Treaty side did.
Remember during the war when Thomas was elevated to the Downton hospital overseer post and there was all kinds of conflict with Isobel, the family and the Downton staff?
I thought not.
Well played. I also like how Daisy’s new suitor looks exactly like the original Daisy suitor in order to keep the characters at a minimum for the viewers (same goes with Ethel’s return). I am enjoying this series more than Series 2. I always like it when writers plant future plot points- like Daisy mailing the letter last year. It shows that they have a plan for the future of the show.
I am however most intrigued by Bates’ new character development which better explains where the heck he was. I also like how Thomas is stepping into line now that his standing and powers are growing. He is certainly looking to move up as Carson begins to transition out. But it also brings him into conflict with his only friend/compatriot.
Did they now. I don’t remember Daisy mailing a letter but then in that episode I was too busy hoping that Cora would die rather than Lavinia whom no one cared about.
The idea of Thomas eventually becoming butler is interesting. When you think about it, the butlers on shows like this one and both versions of Upstairs Downstairs are the head of the household and they’ve always been played as men of upstanding character, deferential to the family, the moral center for the staff, etc etc. What happens when someone as weaselly as Thomas ascends to that position?
I honestly wasn’t expecting that. I thought they’d either get married, or he’d collapse at the altar. I don’t think what he did was decent or honorable. Lady Edith is publically humiliated. Sir Anthony is going to be a social pariah in the county for the rest of his life. Admitedly this is more dramatically interesting though. Will Edith fall into spinsterhood? I guess her next course of action for her would be to go on an extended visit with Grandmama Levinson. Maybe she’ll come back with a more shocking mate than either Sir Anthony or Tom. A rich Jew perhaps. That’ll make the Dowager Countess’s head spin. Then again she might look the other way she end’s up Lady Edith Rothschild.
I’m tempted to rewatch episode 2.8 to be sure. Deus in tabellae to be sure. O’Brien is out for blood now, and I’m pretty sure she know’s of Thomas’s sexual preferences. Hell, it’s basically an open joke among most of the staff. And he’s rumoured to get a boyfriend this series so I predict that ends in a vicious blackmail by O’Brien (or maybe she won’t even bother with the blackmail part).
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I like how they resolved the lose Downton plot. More opportunity for misunderstandings and conflict now that Matthew is joint master of the place, especially between Mary and Cora…
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Yeah, though I really wish he & Mary would move out of the main house. At least for now. This living arrangment is downright bizarre, even by the standards of the time. Also I’m upset that the situtation with Swire’s fortune was resolved with Matthew asking Mary how she’d feel if Sir Richard turned up offering her a million pounds for a night in bed with her. 
That’s what I meant to say.:o I’m glad Ethel finally made the right choice, but Isobel’s attitude is comically unrealistic. There was no support system for unwed mothers to keep their children at all then, and Ethel’s not just a mere unwed mother, she’s a prostitute. That being said Mrs Bird was definately out of line (& the preview suggests she either resigns or is fired) though.
I’ve stopped caring about the Anna/Bates storyline. It looks like the Anti-Catholic subplot will involve Tom & Sybil’s baby’s baptism, but that seems too obvious. If Tom’s a Roman Catholic you’d think something Lord Grantham would’ve mentioned it before. Or he could just be oblivious to the possibily that a random Irishmen might not be Protestant. He appears to be oblivious to alot of things. Violet’s right; there’s no way Matthew can go about without putting alot of noses out of joint, one of whos being his lordship’s.
I like the new eye candy downstairs, and loved how different Thomas’s reaction was to him as opposed to his reaction to Alfred. And Daisy finally got her kitichen maid, what a bite in the ass that turned out to be. She’s going to be a bitch to Ivy. BTW wouldn’t an assistant cook make more than a footman? I know cooks were usually among the highest paid (if not the highest) servants. In a house that entertains as much as Downton it’s would’ve be surprising if Mrs Patemore was paid more than Carson. Oh, and did anyone else notice that they’ve apparently switched to black-tie for family dinners?
Do you think so? If he were the son and heir, he’d be living there. If he hadn’t married Mary, then he wouldn’t be living there, I agree; he’d show up after Lord G’s funeral and turf them all out a la Sense and Sensibility. But he did marry Mary and these families all seemed to have a handfuls of relatives living with them and there are about a hundred bedrooms.
The LOL moment: the new footman is getting ready and Thomas stops in the doorway to speak to him briefly. The next moment, O’Brien passes the doorway. Perfect timing and what a look. She is my favorite character by far!
The bigger picture: When this series was first pitched to the network, I wonder how many episodes they envisioned. Undoubtably they thought: big estate/old family/loyal staff… rapidly changing times… how will they survive? When the story focusses on just the family/staff, it works pretty well. The trouble starts when the writers try to enlarge the scope and go outside of Downton: WWI, the Irish Troubles, Bates prison story. It just feels tacked on.
No he wouldn’t, not after he married. Usually once the son & heir married he moved into one of his father’s other, smaller houses. That’s what Crawley House is for; it’s where Matthew moved in with his mother when he became the heir. If Lord Grantham had a son he’d live at Downton until her married; then he & his wife would’ve moved to Crawley House. Unfortunatly Isobel is still living there and obviously Matthew isn’t going to turn her out any more than Lady Mary would’ve ever agree to live with her mother-in-law.
??? I think it’s pretty clear that Tom is Catholic, especially since he’s a Republican. A Protestant Irishman would be in support of staying part of the UK.
A few Protestant Irish wanted independence. But they were upper-class–not servants!
I’d completely forgotten that, thanks. So instead of Mary/Isobel clashes, we’re to get Matthew/Lord G clashes. Why not have both, I say.
One of the thinks I disliked the most about the Upstairs, Downstairs revival was how the impending war with Germany was shoehorned into everyhing.
It’s not that I think Tom’s a Protestant it’s that I just think it’s really odd that his Catholicism hasn’t been brought up before. Yeah, I know him being from the lower classes overshadows it, but you still think Lord G would’ve brought it up.
They’ve definitely mentioned it before. I’m pretty sure Lord Grantham has made reference to having a fenian son in law or a fenian grandchild or something. Back them if someone was an Irish Republican and of the working class it was pretty much a given you were Catholic, so maybe that’s why it hasn’t been mentioned as a separate issue.
And
Lady Sybill
has
Died. Finally it gets interesting. Poor girl.
I’d read spoilers which said a major character would be killed off this season, but I was not expecting Sybil. Poor girl. I’m glad to see that Cora isn’t forgiving Robert so easily. They have really made his character quite odious this season.
I hope Tom takes his daughter and gets far away from them, but some people are already speculating that Mary & Matthew might raise the child since they seem to be having fertility issues.
Why would Mary & Matthew want to raise the girl–even if Branson conveniently kicks off? To pass on the title, Matthew needs a male heir–legitimate & not adopted. If he doesn’t produce one, the search would be on for a yet more distant heir. (Although I’m pretty sure the people who keep the stud books know the lineage damn well.)
If there’s no heir, the Earldom would go extinct. It happened & still does. In that case, Downton & all its riches (if there are any by that time) would be freed from any entailment & could be inherited by whomever. Even a woman…
Perhaps Mary & Matthew would like to have a child regardless of whether it’s a boy or girl? Anyway it’s just speculation.
Since I’m only New English and have to watch this online, I miss the fact that nobody else around has seen it, and there’s no watercooler conversation about it at work. Reading the Guardian’s review, with tons of great snark and raving by the commenters is really good, especially after this episode.
I predicted the death at the beginning of the season. The writers are adhering quite tightly to “Survivor” story lines- give a big reappearance and then vote the character off the island. (Although to be fair, most have only been temporary deportations previously ala Tom, Sybil, and the prostitute.)
I think that with last series’ focus on the hospital and Sybil’s inability to carry any sort of story (especially compared to Tom’s screen presence) and Edith and Mary are much better actresses- there wasn’t much that could be done short of culling her. Making it Lord Grantham’s fault was brilliantly done though!
Lots of story lines right now- most downstairs, but there was too much focus on Edith during the death scenes to be taken so lightly (added to the fact that Edith was going to drive down to the village for the doctor. The 3+ reminders of Tom being the chauffeur were also too many to be coincidentally.) so I am going to put out that Edith and Tom get together and raise the baby. We know that Edith likes her knew power and attention for writing and this goes hand in hand with the fighting spirit in Tom.
Wait a minute. There is a cure for eclampsia: childbirth, ie removal of the placenta. That’s why they do caesarians.
Oh well. On to other things. Lady Edith writes *one *Letter to the Editor and she gets offered a newspaper column. I say, what luck this family has. Fortunes drop in their laps, unwanted fiancees conveniently die, paralyzed heirs recover, characters whose usefulness had ended die dramatically.
Poor Sybil, written into a corner once she’d run off to Ireland with the chauffeur.
But this is a great start. I hope next week, the insufferable Bates murders his cell mate just as the lawyer arrives with his Get Out of Jail Free card.