Downton Abbey: S05E07

I found myself surprisingly engaged with this episode, as it had a nice balance of joy and sadness that didn't feel as affected as it usually does (at least until the moustache-twirling nonsense of Lord Merton's sons at the dinner table. Would any born-and-raised gentlemen, no matter how spoiled, really make that sort of public spectacle at another man's house?)

Edith's sudden disappearance is not making as nearly enough waves as you'd expect – actually, scratch that, it's exactly the response you'd expect from this family. Robert is distracted, Cora is vaguely concerned, Tom a little more so, and Mary doesn't give a shit. Sounds about right.

It seems perfectly obvious that she's gone to London, and where else would she go but the magazine offices, and yet it takes Atticus – who's known the family for all of three seconds – to figure this out, leading to this priceless exchange:

Rose: How clever you are!
Atticus: Am I? Seems rather obvious to me.

Oh Atticus. Run while you still can.

Edith is duly tracked down, Cora proves herself a capable mother, and Marigold is brought to the Downton nursery – mostly because the whole proposal was upstaged by the dying dog, but hey – something good happened to Edith! Honestly though, I don't know why she's treated as the family failure. She can drive a car, she's the editor of a popular magazine, she looked fantastic in those clothes she wore in London – lady should be the talk of the town (in a good way).

For the first time she actually felt more important than Mary, who FINALLY got to interact with her son – even if it was just having him on her knee for two seconds – and shrugged off Tony Gillingham once and for all. I've no idea why both he and Blake were invited to Downton (along with Mable Lane Fox!), but at least it allowed the two men to finally have a decent conversation.

So I guess it's Blake/Mary for endgame, despite him trotting off to Poland for a while. I'm not really feeling it; most of the time he behaves like Mary's Sassy Gay Friend, but they do have a good time together and at least he does seem to understand her. Given that she's the Mistress of the Mixed Message thanks to her new hair and general demeanour, it was impressive that Blake responded to Gillingham's confusion with this: "you're muddling her instinct, which is to hold every man in thrall, with her wish, which is to break up."

Fucking A+, Fellowes. That's the most astonishingly insightful comment written by a man on a woman's behaviour I've ever heard. If we expand it to include every woman in the world, we need to replace "instinct" with "conditioning", and "break up" with "be left alone", after which we're left with a remark that perfectly encapsulates the contradiction that exists in every woman who feels that she always needs to look attractive, and how uncomfortable she feels when she's greeted with street harassment as a result.

Seriously Fellowes, I'm impressed.

Love Triangles are tedious, but if you insist on them, it's always preferable to have the rivals act genial toward each other. I like that Gillingham and Blake could talk comfortably with each other, though the former's behaviour is incomprehensible by the time Mary/Blake stage their little tableau outside the theatre: "if you'd have just told me I was allowed to walk away, I'd have just gone."

Buh? Hasn't he spent the last few episodes refusing to go? Oh whatever, he's gone now. But can we maybe keep Mabel Lane Fox around? She was fab.

It hasn't been a particularly good few episodes for Mary behaviour-wise, and that's from someone who usually enjoys her haughtiness. But to have Violet tell her granddaughter: "a lack of compassion can be just as vulgar as an excess of tears" was a well-deserved reprimand. Fandom often accuses Mary of being the Creator's Pet, and though Fellowes clearly considers her the main character, it's also apparent that he's well aware of her shortcomings and isn't afraid to have others call her out on them.

Hee.

And how flustered she was outside the theatre was a nice change of pace. Seriously, Michelle Dockery needs to be given more material like that.

The Rose/Atticus relationship has rocketed on by at a pace that would make road-runners envious, but the actors are selling it as best they can (at least until that awful kiss). That Atticus is Jewish feels more like a perfunctory obstacle rather than something Fellowes is genuinely interested in exploring, but the juxtaposition of the giddy teenagers with the December Romance between Isobel and Lord Merton was nicely handled.

All hail.

On that note, let's all take a moment to fully appreciate Penelope Wilson's struggle to smile at the young lovers after she's been horribly snubbed by her prospective sons-in-law. It was matched only by Maggie Smith's emotional confession to Mary over how much Isobel really means to her. I'm calling it now, Isobel will get cold feet over the impending nuptials, and Violet will take the situation in hand to smooth things over. I wouldn't say no to her backhanding the Merton spawn either.  

The eavesdropping network that exists below stairs reached an all-time high (or low) in this episode, with no less than three people walking in on other people's private conversations and casually butting in.

But did Thomas actually help someone without any strings? Are we finally seeing him turn over a new leaf? It's certainly a step-up from the current tediousness of the Bates (I suspect Fellowes is as bored as we are with them), and it gives us the chance to let Baxter, Moseley and Daisy have a day off at Mr Mason's farm. Mr Mason: everyone's benevolent fairy godfather who always knows exactly what to say.

And finally, Isis is dying. Fandom is devastated. I honestly think there's been more hair-tearing and clothes-wringing over this than Sybil and Matthew's death put together. I've never actually owned a dog, so I'll just nod sympathetically and assume it's all very terrible.

In loving memory.
(Even though this isn't actually the dog that plays Isis).

Miscellaneous Observations:

Wait, Bates and Anna have a London house? Or something? I tend to tune out whenever they're on screen, but this sounds like news to me.

Rose's dress was lovely. I'd wear that in a heartbeat.

 

Yet sadly, these were the best screen-caps I could get of it.

I fondly remember the prickling and disapproval that used to exist between Cora and Violet once-upon-a-time. Whatever happened to that dynamic?

Atticus telling Rose: "our first secret" was very cute.

Fellowes always skips the most interesting parts of Edith's story. I want to see her running a magazine and struggling with the daily chores of being a mother! Still, at least she has something that resembles happiness now. When she left the baby on the train with Mr Drewe, I honestly thought there would be a train accident.

Of course, the next problem in this storyline will no doubt involve a) Mrs Drewe causing trouble, or b) Edith feeling resentful that Marigold has to exist as a foundling and not a legitimate heir.

Is Tom really leaving? Tom/Sybil fans are going to be majorly pissed if they killed off Sybil to keep Allan Leech on the show only for him to call it a day two seasons later. Personally I suspect that a major time-skip is coming, if not just so they can age up the child actors and Fellowes can start writing them as people instead of props.