Top Twelve Best Scenes in Downton Abbey

Downton Abbey has aired its Grand Finale in America, which means the show now feels as though it's truly come to an end. In the lead-up to the big event, I've been playing all the show's previous seasons as background noise while going about my daily tasks, just to get a big-picture sense of what the show was and where it ended up going.

Back when it first started, I recall Michelle Dockery saying in an interview that the show's appeal lay in the popularity of literary period dramas (such as those based on Jane Austen and Charles Dickens) but with the significant bonus of nobody knowing where the storylines would go. Everyone knows the plot of Great Expectations and Pride and Prejudice, but Downton Abbey's originality lent the show a genuine sense of suspense in the progression of its relationships, scandals and character arcs.  

It's as good a reason as any to explain its popularity, though having watched through all six seasons (and the Christmas Specials) it's obvious Julian Fellowes was flying from the seat of his pants much of the time. Let's say, from season two onwards. 

Downton Abbey: The Finale

Well, that's it. Downton Abbey is over.

I'm...not entirely sure what to say. It's been six years since the show's inception; that's over half a decade of these characters in this setting, and now it's all come to a close in a rather swift and unsentimental manner.

As it happens, I've had all six seasons playing as background noise whilst going about my daily chores during the gap between the end of the last season and Christmas Day, so I had everything that preceded this finale fresh in my mind while watching.

Well, almost. I saw Star Wars the day before watching this, and my thoughts have been pretty much obliterated by the experience. So I have no idea whether Downton Abbey's final episode felt lacklustre in the wake of a mind-blowing movie, or if it really did go out with more of a whimper than a bang.

Downton Abbey: Season Three

In the lead-up to the final Downton Abbey Christmas Special, and in preparation of a forthcoming "Best Downton Abbey Moments" post, I've gone right back to season one and started watching from its inception. Well, not "watching" exactly, but I've had it running as background noise while getting on with study/chores/writing. Having just finished season three I thought I'd transfer my original review (posted on LiveJournal) to this blog for the sake of posterity.  

I found some of my predictions and complaints interesting in light of where the show has ended up, and my thoughts on Sybil's death are (I think) still relevant three seasons later – though I couldn't help but add a few little updated comments in italics.

Downton Abbey: S06E08

Well, that was ... that.

I'll admit it, over the last two weeks I fell into something of a Mary/Branson vortex. Deep down I knew it was never going to happen, and I could understand the logic of it not happening, and I will continue to appreciate their platonic (and now explicit) love for each other, but I enjoyed their rapport so much this season that I let myself get caught up in the hope that Fellowes would pull a last minute switcheroo and surprise us all.

Nope.

In the lead-up to this episode the various ship manifestos strewn across the internet calmed me down a little (off-the-wall theorizing usually has the opposite effect on my expectations that such echo chambers usually create) and I've come to the conclusion that when it comes to plot, writers will throw all sorts of red herrings into the mix. But when it comes to shipping, what you see is what you get.

Which of course, is exactly why viewers often take the path less travelled (or the ship less sign-posted) when it comes to the relationships on their screen – they prefer the slow burn to the obvious route.

But I can live with that disappointment. What I'm really galled at is the way the long-simmering Edith/Mary feud was handled. Because I was confident it would play out far better than it was.

Downton Abbey: S06E07

Let's play a game I like to call Take It Out Of Context.

A distraught woman stands in a darkened hall. A man watches her from the nearest doorway and then quickly approaches to clasp her hands. Both of them are on the verge of tears as he tells her: "You’re frightened of being hurt again. But let me tell you this, you will be hurt again, and so will I, because being hurt is part of being alive. But that is no reason to give up on the man who is right for you." Overcome, the woman breaks away and rushes upstairs, the man sadly watching her go.

They're lovers, obviously. Or at least on the verge of becoming so. Right?

Nope, it's Tom and Mary, once again proving that more emotion and vulnerability exists between the two of them than it does with any of the love interests they've ever had – including Matthew and Sybil. YEAH I SAID IT.

Downton Abbey: S06E06

Eep, I'm pretty late for this one, but hey – at least my Polytech assignment is finished!

I'm enjoying this season more than any other since the first, and I can't help but feel that Julian Fellowes' writing has been reinvigorated by the fast-approaching finish line. There's no excuse now for stalling or backtracking; the end is in sight and so he can plot his episodes accordingly. As such the show has a forward momentum that's been missing for a long time.

Downton Abbey: S06E05

I suppose after an episode like last week's, it's only natural to have a rather tepid follow-up. At least, for most of its run-time. I can't fairly say that Lord Grantham vomiting blood all over the dinner table, complete with his wife getting caught in the spray, is "tepid."

Downton Abbey: S06E04

This episode was a GIFT. Easily the best one they've had in years.

We'll start with what I was most excited about: Gwen's return to Downton. I was spoiled for her arrival, but I wasn't sure whether she would get the chance to mention Sybil (and my heart was set on it). And then... oh man, it was better than I ever could have expected!

Downton Abbey: S06E03

Well, Fellowes is scoring some major points this season – so much so you can tell the end is nigh. Marriages, pregnancies, new love interests, old characters ... With the greatest obstacles being fuss over a hospital and squabbling amidst the servants, you can tell a definitive happy ending is on the horizon.

But I'm calling it now: Lord Grantham will be deceased by series end. There's too much emphasis on his indigestion for it to be a coincidence, and it'll be the most potent symbol of the class system breaking down since James Cameron sunk the Titanic.  

Downton Abbey: S06E02

We start with the downstairs morning dance of getting breakfast prepared, and it hits me that this is the last season. I'm going to miss this!

Downton Abbey S06E01

Well, we've arrived at last to the very final season of Downton Abbey. I think it's safe to say that the show has reached its use-by date, and all that remains is for Julian Fellowes to usher out the Crawley family and servants with as much dignity as possible.

That said, I do think that a lot of viewers are needlessly vitriolic about the course the show has taken in recent years. Certainly it's not as good as it used to be, but for the most part I don't think it had any particularly high storytelling ambitions in the first place.

To accurately recreate an era drawing to a close, to explore the relationship between the upper and lower classes, to be light and frothy and occasionally witty – that's the purpose of Downton Abbey, and it's been pulling that off successfully for the last six years.

I'm hardly emotionally invested at this point, but I want to see this out to the end...

Links and Updates

Well, I begin my new job tomorrow which means that my already-limited free time will be whittled down even further.

But that doesn't mean I'll disappear entirely. I'm going to keep on reviewing Vixen (which is thankfully short and sweet) and am currently writing up a review on Indian Summers, and I'm itching to get onto season two of The 100 (so many tantalizing GIF sets on my dashboard). As well as that, my TBR book list is stacked halfway up the wall, and I've got another Polytech assignment to finish by the end of the month.

So it's all on at my place at the moment; but honestly – I'm pretty happy about it.

Christmas Specials 2014: Downton Abbey and Doctor Who

Finally! It's been a few weeks now since these Specials aired and as it turns out there's only a limited amount of time after an episode has been released that I feel in the right headspace to write about it. So I'm going to keep this relatively short (by my standards, anyway).

Downton Abbey: S05E08

Another day, another season finale. Like Doctor Who, this was a fairly ho-hum offering and I was reminded that emotionally disengaging myself from both shows was a very smart decision. As always I enjoyed the frocks, the intrigues, the occasion witticism, and a couple of legitimately tender scenes, and simply glossed over the rest.  

It's off to London so that Rose can marry the man she met five minutes ago in the most perfunctory way possible (seriously – for most of this episode I was under the impression that they were attending an engagement party, not a wedding). This allows for Thomas to partake in an "out-con the card shark" ploy that was reheated from the days Gregson was still around, and for Daisy to shut yet another door on herself when Mrs Patmore's tears made her decide to forego a London adventure to continue life as a drudge in a basement kitchen.

Most of this episode felt like it was marking off time, with plenty of unresolved issues that will no doubt be resolved in the Christmas Special (if then). Anna's arrest, Violet and Isabel's marriage prospects, Edith's secret, Tom's departure – none of it went anywhere.

Susan MacClare is this episode's designated antagonist, and she's certainly a piece of work. Thankfully less one-note than Lord Merton's piggish sons, she's still a nasty creature who uses "love" as her excuse to try and sabotage Rose's happiness. Love had nothing to do with her actions here, and neither did whatever qualms she may have had over her daughter marrying a Jewish man. The actress's performance reveals her motivation as a miserable woman who is desperate to share that misery with others, which allows the audience to feel some degree of detached pity. Thankfully the characters who had to deal with her drama responded by deciding to fiercely ignore her rather than concocting some elaborate scheme to punish her, knowing that some people just aren't worth the effort.

Still, she did at least provide the episode's best scene: the verbal parry and thrust across the dinner table with the Aldridge family, as barbed comments were made by some and smoothed over by others at a breathless pace.

The unveiling of the war memorial was a nice end-note to finish off the season, and Lord Grantham gets to be both compassion and observant for a change, first in establishing a memorial for Mrs Patmore's nephew, then in realizing that Marigold looks like Gregson (even though the casting agent undoubtedly picked this particular child to match Laura Carmichael's colouring).

Mabel Lane Fox gets her man and Gillingham gets a dignified exit. As I was hoping for something completely different from Mary's story-arc this year, all I can feel is relief that the love triangle has finally come to a close. She was somewhat back to form in this episode – a GIF set was doing the rounds that cast her "even you Edith" comment into the realm of verbal abuse, but it wasn't as bad in context. Still, I'm disappointed that there wasn't more emphasis on sisterhood this season. I felt sure that all Mary's disparaging comments were somehow concealing a forthcoming demonstration of solidarity to Edith, but apparently not.

Still, at least she got another lovely scene with Tom and some long overdue interaction with Carson. I haven't seen their rapport for a while.

Fellowes wrote himself into a bit of a corner regarding O'Brien, requiring him to quickly relocate her from the MacClares to another family. It's a pity Siobhan Finneran wasn't available for a one-off reappearance – it would have been nice to see a confrontation between herself and Cora.

Prince Kuragin is a much more hot-blooded suitor to Violet than Lord Merton was to Isobel, and I loved that Violet had to sit herself down in the face of his declarations.

So Anna gets raped by Mr Green and is then arrested for his murder. Gross. Nevertheless, I'm sure Mr Bates has something stupid in store when it comes to rescuing her.

With both Doctor Who and Downton Abbey coming to an end (and it becoming increasingly unlikely that I'll continue much longer with Arrow or Sleepy Hollow), I find myself with a lot of free time on my hands. The Fall is starting very soon, so there's that to look forward to, but I think I'm going to turn my attention to films and books. When I look back over the past two years, it feels like most of my free time has been spent on episode reviews – it's time for something different. 

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.

Downton Abbey: S05E05 and S05E06

It's always nice to see Rosamund again, though I have to confess I had completely forgotten Violet even knew about Edith's baby! But what – Edith is going to kidnap a child now? One who is old enough to have formed an attachment to her adoptive parents? Why oh why can't they simply TELL Mrs Drewe the truth? Perhaps if she had been written as a prude or a gossip there would have been reason to keep Marigold's parentage from her, but she comes across as a fairly discreet woman.

But at this point Edith's plight seems so awful that simply coming out and confessing that she had a child out of wedlock and weathering the scandal is surely a better course of action than shipping the kid off to France.

And I continue to find it ironic that Edith is grappling with so much grief over her daughter whilst Mary seems to have completely forgotten she even has a son.

I've never hated Sarah Bunting, so I'm glad she left with a modicum of grace. Having read a couple of spoilers I was under the impression that she left town in a huff; as it happened she was given a better job offer and Tom's rejection was simply her incentive to take it.

Still, I'm left wondering what on earth the point of her was. Wouldn't the character have worked better if she had been a genuinely sweet teacher who made a few clumsy comments around the Crawleys and who subsequently felt mortified and intimidated by them? In other words, actually giving Tom's choice a sense of real poignancy at letting go of a good woman who just didn't feel comfortable around his extended family? Instead it felt like Fellowes needed to push her into being more and more awful until it was a blessed relief that she finally left.

And I like that she made the effort to tell Mrs Patmore not to let Daisy give up her studies.
Naturally Robert decides to punish Cora after she's been propositioned in her own bedroom by a man who was not given permission to be there. Of course. I'm sure all his memories of the housemaid he nearly slept with while Cora was dying in the upstairs bedroom has completely fled his memory.

It was certainly a good episode for men acting like children; on the left we have Carson getting haughty that Mrs Patmore decided not to take his financial advice; on the right we have a Russian aristocrat getting pissy that Rose had the audacity to bring a Jewish man into his vicinity. But I actually appreciate Fellowes for this point-of-view; a personal experience I had the other day really brought home the realization that men (in general) honestly have no idea how much work women have to put into coddling their fragile egos. As Mrs Hughes said: "I wish men worried about our feelings a quarter as much as we worry about theirs."

Mabel Lane-Fox can come back at any time. She was a hoot!

***

And she did come back thanks to Charles Blake and his clever plan to throw her back into the path of Gillingham. Those two already seem much better suited than Gillingham and Mary, so fingers crossed they manage to pull it off.

When it comes to the Edith/Mary rivalry I usually come down on Mary's side (though she seldom deserves it), but damn – she was a stone cold bitch this evening. Showing off a new hairdo while her sister is grappling with news of her fiancé's death? That was fairly awful of her, especially in the way she handled Edith's explosion. In fact the whole family was pretty insensitive.

And as ever, so was Fellowes. We see Mary prepare for her hair appointment, talk about her hair appointment, get her hair appointment, receive praise for the results of her hair appointment, and yet Edith finally learning the truth about Mr Gregson is all done off-screen. Oy.

The disappearing accent of the hair dresser made me laugh though.

But poor Mrs Drewe, she didn't deserve that. To love a child only to have it taken away is just as cruel as everything that's ever happened to Edith. And does Edith even know how to look after a child? I'm pretty sure Marigold isn't potty trained yet, and it's only a matter of time before she starts crying for the woman she thinks is her real mummy.

I'm assuming Edith is going to London, and fingers crossed that she actually goes ahead with running Gregson's magazine. That would be a wonderful storyline for her, far better than what Fellowes has put her through regarding this baby business, and I think she'd embrace the Bohemian lifestyle of a single mother raising her child in the big city.

Bates finding the birth control wasn't as big a deal as I thought it was, though this whole Mr Green debacle has got to end soon. So Bates is innocent. Big whoop. Can we clear his name with the police before a retreat of season two?

Is Isis being killed off because of the current unfortunate implications of her name? Because if so, wow there are a lot of stupid people out there.

As ever, Thomas's storyline is surprisingly touching, and Miss Baxter continues to impress. Of all the new characters that Fellowes has been introducing since season three, she is by far the most effective. I wasn't at all surprised that she would take care of Thomas despite the crap he's put her through – her attitude of kindness and sufferance makes her a wonderful foil to the ghost of Mrs O'Brien.

The Prince Kuragin and Violet scene was incredible. Put two esteemed actors playing characters with history in a rundown room together and just see what happens.

The horse race was fun; it's always like a breath of fresh air when the show leaves the estate and the village in order to explore the social events of the English calendar.

There are three episodes left, so what do I want from the rest of the season? Well, I have mixed feelings about Mary and Edith. On the one hand, I like that Fellowes isn't all Little Women about the two of them. They're very different people with little interest in each other, and that's an interesting course to take when it comes to depicting sisterhood. On the other hand, I'm really holding out hope that Mary will come through for Edith. Of all the people in that house I honestly believe that she would be the least scandalized to learn that Edith had had a child out of wedlock and ironically the most likely to support her decisions in the matter. Apart from Isobel I suppose.

But something else occurred to me when it came to spotting the differences between the show now and back in the good old days. I've previously said that what's missing is the core relationships that made up the crux of the show (the trinity of the Crawley sisters, the OTP of Mary/Matthew, Lady Violet's snark).

But I also think what's missing is the self-contained stories that used to be introduced and wrapped up within a single episode. Just off the top of my head, we had for example the little tale about Violet always winning the flower show and her deciding to concede victory to the man who deserved it more, or Isabel insisting to Doctor Clarkson that he perform a particular operation on a dying man in a bid to save his life. Where have those sweet little stories gone? Everything's serialized now, and as a result everything feels painfully drawn out. The mini-stories gave one a sense of completion among the larger arcs, so that every episode had at least one beginning, middle and end.
 

Downton Abbey S05E04

Another episode, another forty-five minutes of routine littered with a few gemstones.

For the first time ever, I actually sympathize with Robert on an issue. Here in Christchurch the earthquake has decimated thousands of houses, and now tons of beautiful fields and prospects are being bulldozed in order to make way for more housing. Obviously there needs to be a rebuild, but some of my favourite walks and scenic spots are gone forever.

Prince Kuragin is a gorgeous man. And if he's like this now, I can only imagine Violet's temptation to run away with him when she was a young woman.

Ages ago I was informed that Mary wore purple because she was in half-mourning, but that time has passed and she's still favouring those colours. And I like to think it's a deliberate way of visually linking her to Violet.

Lord Merton is certainly a smooth operator. I can almost believe that Isabel will go through with the proposal.

Okay, so whatever's going on with Thomas went completely over my head. From what I gathered from that magazine article, he's trying to de-gay himself? And made himself sick doing so? I guess I'm used to Fellowes spelling out every little thing for me, because I wasn't totally clear on what's going on here.

But I like that Baxter is extended a sympathetic hand, even after all the crap Thomas put  her through.

I realize that children on set are a pain, but Sybbie and George's limited screen-time is really starting to pall. Mary hasn't interacted with her child once this season.

I really wish the family would treated Edith as more than just an afterthought. Robert was surprisingly sweet to her, but Violet asking Shrimpy to track down Prince Kuragin's wife came so quickly on the heels of her discussion with Edith about Michael that I assumed she was asking Shrimpy to look for him.

Rosamund lives! I'm always pleased to see Samantha Bond, and I loved how she figured out precisely what was going on with Edith's daughter just through Mary's casual comments.

Ten points to Fellowes for letting Mary go to a fashion show, thoroughly enjoy it, and purchase some of what was on display afterwards without making her shallow or frivolous.

Was that woman who was with Blake the woman that Gillingham was engaged to? It went by so quickly, but like Mary said – she definitely wasn't how I imagined her.

Mrs Patmore mentioned "our William." Aww.

Best dialogue of the episode goes to Blake and Mary: "I wish I could work you out." "I wish I could work me out." Heh. I can relate.

Hey, it's Shrimpy again! And he gets a rather lovely scene with his daughter. Why can't we get more of this material?

And I'm not surprised that Gillingham isn't handling rejection well. Let's hope he doesn't make a complete ass of himself (though there were some rather nasty implications in his tirade to Mary).

Anyone else amused at the amazing proficiency of the police force? They're following up every miniscule lead, questioning all the staff on hearsay, posting a plainclothes policeman outside Gillingham's door, and putting what seems like a huge amount of manpower behind solving the mystery of a jerk who got run over in a busy street several years ago.

Finally, Sarah Bunting. I guess I'm going to have to concede that Fellowes wants us to think that she's obnoxious and unpleasant, otherwise I have no idea why he's writing her as so lacking in social mores. Which is a shame. I liked Sarah, or at least the idea of an intelligent middle-class teacher with a slight prejudice against the wealthy, but it's reached a cartoonish level now.

As is to be expected, the outspoken teacher is getting more hate than the sadistic rapist, so let's hope Fellowes wraps all this up soon.

Downton Abbey: S05E03

Mary and Gillingham are in the midst of the most genteel love affair of all time. On the one hand, it's nice that Mary is happy and relaxed, on the other, it's clear that this whole thing is a train heading towards a collapsed bridge. He's pushing too hard for marriage and she's still being coy.

Then there's this:

 Not a good post-coital look.

"I've been tarnished once, I won't be tarnished again." Does that mean she's told Gillingham about Pamuk?

Violet and Isabel give me life. I know I say it every week, but they really are the reason I'm still watching. I wish they had more love: if they were young and male you know fandom would be all over this dynamic.

Mrs Patmore's plea to Mrs Hughes over the war memorial was fairly heart-breaking. That was a nice bit of continuity regarding her nephew, and naturally Mr Carson decides to be an ass about it despite the growing awareness of shell shock.

If I was Violet I couldn't bear to have Sprat in the house. He creeps me out. But in another demonstration of just how good Maggie Smith is, Violet's Bad Bad Acting in creating a cover-story for Mary on the spur of the moment was actually quite good; but just strained enough so that the audience could see a little crack in her veneer. All the awards to Dame Maggie.

Lily James's breathless hesitation before she tackled that mouthful of Russian was rather amusing.

Poor Anna. Recently she's been up there with Edith in the bad luck department, and now she's going to have to go through the whole rape trauma again because her husband took matters into his own hands (instead of Anna feeling confident enough to go to the police because she knew her husband would take matters in to his own hands). And what are the odds that Bates is going to find Mary's diaphragm and go berserk?

And I can't believe that Fellowes going over this "is Bates a killer?" thing all over again. Surely he's going to have to prove that he was in York or else it's a total re-tread of season... three? I actually forgot what season all that took place in.

Mary and Violet in a room together – priceless! "A young woman of good family who finds herself in the bed of man who is not her husband has invariably been seduced." Then they have a face-off:

 

Every woman deserves a flirt outside of marriage every once in a while, but naturally Robert manages to spoil Cora's good mood. Still it was nice to create that thematic resonance between Violet, Cora and Mary.

Edith's story is going downhill, not just because it's veering back into depressing territory, but because the whole thing could be resolved if they simply told Mrs Drewes what's really going on.

Mercifully the Baxter drama seems to have played itself out. I like Raquel Cassidy's performance, but I don't think any other subplot has ever dragged on this long. Not even Bates.

I laughed at off-screen Rosamund, which I assume means that Samantha Bond is again busy with other projects.

Tom and Mary as confidants! I've missed their quiet rapport with each other, and there was even an acknowledgement of love in that conversation.

Damn it Miss Bunting, I was in your corner! But upsetting overemotional Russian visitors in somebody else's house was not cool.

That final moment when Violet is confronted with Prince Kuragin ... I have to admit I got a little emotional. Now, finally, Fellowes strikes gold! So much history demonstrated with so little words between these two characters, topped off with a simple but weighty "I don't know" when Violet asks after Kuragin's wife. Beautifully done.

This episode had a bit more energy than the previous two, with an added bonus of delivering up some of my favourite interactions: Mary/Violet, Mary/Tom, Isabel/Violet. The last few minutes were pure gold, almost enough to make up for the entire season so far,  so I guess I'll stick around for the final stretch.

Downton Abbey: S05E02

1. So in case you were wondering, this was the most exciting thing that happened in this episode, for both the audience and the characters:

Seriously, it was staged as the climax and everything.

2. Elsewhere, Mary mortifies Anna by asking her to buy contraceptives for her. Still, that was an interesting little scene. Anna nervously asks for a lady to serve her, the woman behind the counter is quietly judgmental, Anna fibs that she has health problems, and is later disgruntled on behalf of hypothetical housewives everywhere who may not want to live their lives knee-deep in children.

Say what you will about Fellowes, but he does have an eye for woman’s issues that many other writers wouldn’t even know about, let alone address.  

3. Mrs Hughes continues to be the most intelligent person in the house, picking up on the meaning of the baby picture concealed under Edith’s pillow, and connecting the dots when the policeman comes calling to ask questions about Mr Green.

4. Does Robert ever stop complaining? Ever? And once again Fellowes bails him out of having to make any sort of meaningful sacrifice by letting him keep his cricket pitch.

5. The funny thing is I suspect that Fellowes is deliberately writing Robert as an ass in order to make the audience root for Sarah Bunting, who isn’t afraid to stand up to him. Which leads me to believe that Fellowes clearly doesn’t understand the nuances of shipping.

But I’m still in Sarah Bunting’s corner. I like that she agrees to help Daisy with her mathematics (and proves herself a good teacher) that she’s incredibly insightful when it comes to Sybil. Like it or not, all her conjecture on the late Mrs Branson was accurate.

6. So long Jimmy. You were pretty pointless in the end.

7. I still don’t care about Mary’s love triangle. I’d much rather see her in her role as a mother, or in her financial dealings alongside Tom regarding the estate. Heck, even squabbling with Edith is preferable to this!

That said, my money’s on Blake in the long run. You don’t have a man make that sort of speech without planning on bringing him back in some capacity.

8. As much as I’m interested in Edith and Marigold’s plot, I smell contrivance on the horizon. Why would Mr Drewe’s decide to keep his wife in the dark? She’s raising that child as her own and seems genuinely concerned that the lady of the house will lose interest in her little “doll”. Tell her the truth, and all will be well.

9. Nice little moment of compassion between Anna and Thomas – though honestly Thomas, if you want people to like you, then maybe stop threatening them at every turn?

10. Richard E. Grant! Always nice to see him, and he even gets to flirt a little with Cora.

11. As dull as the debate on the war memorial was, at least Fellowes took the time in establishing both points of view. Do they locate it in the centre of town where it will stand as a daily reminder, or do they place it in a quiet location in order to encourage peace and reflection? It felt like a genuine issue that would have been debated in the interwar years.

12. Random question – have Violet and Mrs Hughes ever interacted? I’m wracking my brains and nothing is coming to mind. I suppose I’m only wondering because next week Violet is going to get up in arms about Mary’s incandescent affair, whilst Mrs Hughes seems to be on the fast track to figuring out what’s up with Edith. If they ever teamed up they’d be unstoppable.

13. As snarky as I was about the wireless scene, there were some real gems: a) Daisy confused that it was called a wireless when it was filled with wires, b) Mrs Patmore concerned that the King might be able to hear them, and c) Violet standing when she heard the King’s voice. Priceless!