Well, Lady Mary is on the cutting edge of morality yet again. She seems to have enjoyed the roll in the hay with Tony Gillingham and yet doesn't seem impressed enough to get hitched again. Matthew must be a hard act to follow. I think Mary wants more of a challenge than Tony. He's just too eager!
The Lady Edith and Marigold saga is finally starting to bubble. The poor farmer's wife thought she had abducted Marigold, and I have to admit I was rather thinking that myself. Something is going to give with Lady Edith. I only hope she stays sane.
And good grief! Will we never hear the end of this Mr. Green the rapist valet story? Why can't we have a happy story with the Bates's? Maybe a mini Bates? Never mind...keep going stringing this mystery out of who flung the bastard under the bus, Lord Fellowes. It could have been any number of women in London I would think!
I wonder where Thomas is really going in London? Certainly not to visit his sick father if we know Thomas...and we certainly know Thomas.
Lord Grantham's surprise visit to London backfired big time. And Mr. Bricker is getting pretty cozy with Cora, who seems to be giddy as a school girl with the brazen flattery. But she doesn't seem to have any desire to take it past a flirtation as His Lordship should now be aware!
Daisy is turning into a well educated feminist thanks to the horrid Miss Bunting. By the way, how many times can Miss B come upstairs and make trouble before Lord Grantham sics Isis on her??? I was a little shocked that Daisy had to leave school at age 11 and that she thought education to age 14 would be wonderful. Gosh!
It's lovely that Mrs. Hughes and Carson still seem to be thick as thieves. But even she couldn't change Carson's mind about Mrs. Patmore's nephew. More friction downstairs!
I looooove the appearance of Prince Kuragin, the Russian flirtation of Violet's in the glorious Victorian era. And Lady Mary's sly dig at Granny was perfection! Hurrah! And any guesses whether the Fabergé eggs they were weeping over were real? They look pretty wonderful!
And now Baxter can stay (will the nasty man who forced her to steal show up in a later episode?) and there are plans under consideration to build ugly housing on "Pip's Corner" but Lord Grantham seems horrified even though it would free up some cash for the estate.
"Significant Looks Award" of the week goes to Spratt, Violet's butler and my new favourite character at Downton. Lady Mary's escapades just about popped his eyeballs out. By the way, I just re-watched Julian Fellowes's other masterpiece Gosford Park this weekend and you will find Spratt, Dowager Countess Violet and Mr. Bricker from Downton amongst many other familiar faces from various Period Dramas. I left the closed captioning on this time and caught a few lines I had missed on other viewings. :)
Best Lines of the Week:
Tony Gillingham: I want to acclimate myself with the routines and rituals that will govern the rest of my life. (Ewwwwww! Creepy!)
Lady Mary: I've been tarnished once and I won't be tarnished again.
Isobel: Servants are human beings too.
Violet: Preferably only on their days off.
Isobel: Hopeless lovers wandering over a desolate moor. If it wasn't Emily Bronte it could be Tolstoy or Gogol.
Countess Violet (to Spratt): What were you imagining? Nothing vulgar, I hope. Nothing beneath the dignity of a butler of this household.
Mrs. Patmore: Sympathy butters no parsnips.
Mrs Hughes: My advice Daisy is to go as far in life as God and luck allow.
Countess Violet: In my day, a lady was incapable of feeling physical attraction before she was instructed to do so by her mama.
Lord Grantham: That an art expert would find your observations on the work of Piero della Francesca impossible to resist, yes, it is hard to believe. (Ouch. You're going to regret that one Robert!)
Lady Mary: Granny has a past!
Actually, my grandmother (born in the early 20s) only had schooling through grade 5, when she left home to go be a live-in maid/cook/nanny
ReplyDelete"in town" for a middle class family. Her paltry wages were paid to her father. She ended up eloping with my grandfather against her parents' wishes as a married woman could get better wages elsewhere. All this in rural South Dakota, no less.
Hi JoAnne! Wow, what a story. I guess it was all hands on deck in the depression. We don't realize how easy we have it and what a gift education is. Go Daisy!
DeleteMy biological father’s step-grandfather went into service at 10.
ReplyDeleteI seriously cannot take much more of the horrid Bunting. I get what she is there for, but I’m sick of her. My heart is breaking for Lady Edith. Given the times, I just cannot see how this will end happily. Mrs. Patmore’s nephew’s story is also just heartbreaking. I loved Cora’s response to Lord Grantham’s douchey comment on why anyone would want her opinion on art. I really wanted to punch him in the face when he said that.
Hi Bridget! Age 10? Most 10 year olds these days don't even have chores.
DeleteLady Edith does need a better story line. No happiness at all now that she has been banned from seeing Mariglold. And yes, I wonder what Hugh Bonneville thinks delivering some of those assinine lines. Ugh! Go Cora!
I'm worried about Mary breaking up with Lord Gillingham, partly because he's such a hunk, but also because that will surely bring to light Mary telling him (just before Green's death) that Green had done something he (Tony) would find abhorrent. And that, inevitably, will also lead to the discovery of Mary's pessary in the Bates cottage and create another whole set of problems for poor Anna and Bates.
ReplyDeleteLove seeing Cora getting the appreciation and attention she so richly deserves. Her quiet, steady role is long overdue for another upgrade, and I can see why she pines for her activity during the war years. Will Robert ever stop saying to her "It's nothing to concern yourself about" when she asks what's going on (and will Carson ever stop saying the same thing to Robert when Robert asks what's troubling the downstairs staff?)?
I'm actually liking Bunting more and more with each episode. She's clearly a boon to both Daisy and Tom. Why are some aristocrats (both Russian and British) such grotesquely thin-skinned bullies toward anyone who openly challenges their views?
Hi JB! Lord Gillingham is cute but he would need to play hard to get if he wants Mary. She's a bit cracked! You are probably right about the Anna and Bates issue however. Oh, dear.
DeleteAnd you are right about Robert and Carson. Two of a kind.
Bunting does like to stir things up doesn't she?
Here's another leaving-school-early story--my dad, born in 1921, had to leave school at 14 to get a job to help support his parents. He did go to night school though and ended up an officer in the RAF in WWII.
ReplyDeleteGreat recap as usual--Lord Grantham is rapidly becoming my least favorite character and if he isn't careful, Isis will turn on him! Yes, the Bates need a cheery storyline at some point!