Downton Abbey recap: Edith makes her move and Mary is so, so cold ·

23 Aug 2024, 00:00

After a dully-dull Downton last week, the show returned Sunday night with its best episode in ages, filled with intrigue, nasty sniping and a number of critical plot revelations.

Where to begin? Well, Mr. Bates almost certainly didn’t kill Mr. Green. Edith is officially a pre-marital widow. Lord and Lady Grantham are back to sharing the same bed. Horse races don’t always end with the death of a rider even when you think they will. And Lady Mary has all the sympathy of a mongoose. Not bad for a 50-minute episode.

The show opened with a telegram arriving for Lady Edith. Stop. Telegrams were the text messages of their day. Stop. This one informs her that the business partner of her lover, the missing Mr. Gregson, is coming to Downton with news. Stop.

Everyone at the Abbey assumes, correctly it turns out, that the news is bad. Mr. Gregson, the father of Edith’s child, has been offed by Adolf’s gang of Brownshirt thugs in Germany. The news confirms Edith’s fears and she is understandably upset. Her sister Mary? Not so much. “Well of course it’s terrible,” she says to Anna. “But what did she think he was doing? Living in a tree?”

Oh Mary, you are a dear.

I’m afraid that’s just the beginning of her awfulness this week. In Edith’s moment of despair (admittedly, she has a lot of those), Merciless Mary sharpens her heels for an extra kick or two. More about that in a bit.

The Dowager Countess hears from beanless Shrimpy that he may be close to finding Prince Kuragin’s wife alive in Hong Kong. The DC, who had a fling with the noble Russian refugee many moons ago, decides she should travel to his rundown tenement in York to tell him the news about his wife. Kuragin is not exactly elated to hear it. I think he would have been happier if his wife met the same fate as poor Mr. Gregson. The randy Russian is much more interested in rekindling the magic with the Dowager Countess. He tries to work his charm.

“I wanted you from the moment I first saw you. More than mortal man ever wanted woman,” he tells her. It’s a good line, Kuragin, but the DC isn’t that easy.

“That is a historical detail,” she ripostes. Her words discourage further flirting, but the look on her face says please continue. I don’t think these two are finished with each other yet.

In the meantime, there’s a horse race being planned. Well, why not? Charles Blake is the organizer and has arranged for Lord Gillingham to take part. It’s all part of his plan to set Gillingham back up with his ex, Mabel Lane Fox, and get him to abandon his pursuit of Mary.

Mary is keen to join in the horse race fun. Mary has a thing for stallions. There’s lots of happy chit chat around the table at Downton as plans for the horse race and picnic are being discussed. No one seems to mind that Edith is sitting there in the first throes of mourning. Sorry about your sweetie Edith, but we’re going to a party!

Downstairs, Barrow looks like he’s at death’s door. Anna expresses her concern, but he shrugs her off with a ghostly shrug.

Anna is called upstairs but she has left her button box in the cottage. Mr. Bates, her dear hubby, offers to get it for her. Oh Anna, how could you let him? At the cottage, as we all knew he would, Mr. Bates discovers the family planning book and contraceptive device that Anna has hidden for Lady Mary. He’s furious as he thinks Anna believes that he murdered Mr. Green and doesn’t want to have the child of a murderer.

Bates later confronts his wife. For some reason she doesn’t explain that the hidden goods belong to Mary. Instead the plot unfolds as Mr. Bates explains to Anna that he didn’t kill Green even though he had deduced that Green attacked her. He knew that if he went to London, he would have killed Green. He bought a ticket but never got on the train. The ticket — the one Mrs. Hughes discovered in his coat last year — was never torn. Proof! Anna is greatly relieved. She can finally feel certain that her husband didn’t kill her rapist.

So who did kill Green? This week’s requisite visit from the police provided no answers. Come on chaps, sort it out. This investigation is going nowhere slowly. On this visit the coppers want to see Miss Baxter. They’ve received a letter telling them that Baxter is hiding information. She doesn’t know much but shares that Mr. and Mrs. Bates may have some connection. The police take their leave. I have a crazy hunch we’ll see them next week.

Lord Grantham is still feeling quite frosty toward his wife. He found another man in their bedroom, after all. Even though she claims nothing happened, it’s not the kind of thing you just casually dismiss. Cora wants to patch things up, but she’ll need quite a bit of super glue to put this all back together. She visits him in his dressing room to ask him to return to their bedroom. Lord G refuses, but Cora is having none of it.

“If you can honestly say that you have never let a flirtation get out of hand since we were married, if you have never given a woman the wrong impression, then by all means, stay away,” she tells him. “Otherwise I expect you back in my room tonight.” Tell him, Cora! Grantham huffs and puffs and then pulls himself out of the tiny, tiny bed, tucks his tail between his legs and heads off to join her.

Speaking of sad puppies, I’m worried about Isis. I don’t know what’s going to happen to her, but I think we’re in for an Old Yeller moment later this year. Get your hankies ready.

In the kitchen, Daisy misses Miss Bunting. (That makes her unlike anyone who watches the show.) Mr. Molesley offers to help Daisy continue her studies. He wants her to have a chance for a different kind of life. Daisy ignores him at first, but Mrs. Patmore sets her straight. “He’s very kind, you know,” she tells him. “We must always be polite to people who are kind. There’s not much of it about.” (I hope you’ll all remember that in the comments below.)

Big news this week: Mary is off to York for haircut. It’s a mod bob! Now she’ll no longer have to go upstairs to take off her hat.

Share this articleShare

The haircut sets the scene for another splendid showdown in the Downton drawing room (which I believe was designed to look like the office of Congressman Aaron Schock). No, Bunting is not involved. But it turns out the regular crew is perfectly capable of creating their own drama. Edith is still mourning Gregson, but Mary seems to think this is a swell time to show off her new do. This causes a stir. Grandma gets in a dry dig. “Ah, it is you,” she says. “I thought it was a man wearing your clothes.”

Edith can’t comprehend how inconsiderate Mary is being. “I’m amazed that even you would choose the day after I learned the man I loved is dead to try out a new fashion,” she says. “And if that weren’t enough, you’ve planned a jolly picnic for Saturday. Am I really expected to join in?”

“Hopefully not, as you usually spoil everything,” Mary replies icily. Mary will have her own wing in hell.

Deathly ill Barrow seeks out Baxter and tells her about his self-medicating disaster. It’s not working and he needs help. Baxter insists that they go to see Dr. Clarkson. As they leave, Barrow tells Baxter he was the one who wrote to the police about her having information about Green’s death. She had already sussed that out.

Dr. Clarkson lets Barrow know that the medicine he’s been injecting himself is nothing more than saline. He asks Barrow why he sought out medication.

“To change me,” Barrow tells him haltingly. “To make me more like other people. Other men.”

“There is no drug, no electric shock that will achieve what you want,” Clarkson explains kindly. “My advice to you, Thomas, is to accept the burden that chance has seen fit to lay upon you. And to fashion a life as good as you are able. Harsh reality is always better than false hope.”

Barrow walks away seeming relieved of a great burden.

Off to the horse race. Though the setting is beautiful, there’s an ominous feel about the day. This is just the sort of “Downton” scene which looks so lovely — and then someone dies. Mary has decided to join the race — though I still don’t understand how one races sidesaddle — and takes off at a gallop. As Mary approaches the first jump, everything points to her falling and breaking her neck. Shockingly, this doesn’t happen.

After the race Atticus Aldridge, Rose’s new interest, introduces his parents to the Granthams. The Dowager Countess and Mrs. Crawley sit at a distance, taking in the scene and talking about the possibility of romance between Aldridge and Rose. Mrs. Crawley informs the DC that the Aldridge family is Jewish.

“There’s always something, isn’t there,” the Dowager Countess says wearily.

Isobel also confides to the DC that she has agreed to marry Lord Merton. “I know you’ll think me foolish, but I feel it’s my last chance for a new adventure before I’m done,” she tells her. Could the news get any worse for Violet?

While the rest of the family is off to the races, Lady Edith makes her move. She writes a letter informing the family that she is leaving Downton. And then she heads to the Drewes to pick up her daughter Marigold. Mrs. Drewe is enraged and then devastated by this development. When she finally realizes there’s no alternative, there’s a wrenching scene as she tries to comfort Marigold and tells her that her new mummy loves her very much.

(Did anyone else notice that this Marigold didn’t look the same as the Marigold in previous episodes? I do hope Edith has collected the right girl.)

Earlier Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes went with Mrs. Patmore to look at her retirement cottage. This has given Mr. Carson ideas. Carson suggests that perhaps he and Hughes should buy a property together. As a business venture, mind. This is Carson’s reserved way of telling Mrs. Hughes that he is deeply, madly in love with her. Hughes knows as much and she’s tickled. I love Mrs. Hughes as well.

Back at Downton, the family discovers that Edith has departed. And dear Grandma is the only one who knows that she’s taken little Marigold with her. But that won’t be a secret that can be kept from the family for long.

At a London hotel, Edith has Marigold all to herself. “We’re together, darling,” she tells her. “We should celebrate. I’ll order ice cream and a glass of champagne. And we’ll be as jolly as you like.”

Poor Marigold. She doesn’t look the least bit jolly.

That’s all for now. Let me know if I got anything wrong. We’ll do it all again next Sunday.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZLumw9JomKuso2Kur7CMnqWtnaKprqq6zJ6lrWenpXxzfJBuZmlqX2WFcLDOsKWtp55irqOuxLJkq52Tlr1uscOiq6FlnZa4pr%2BMoZyrZZ2kw6Z5wKebZqWRp8ZutdJmqqhlo6R6pLvLnWY%3D

Downton Abbey recap: Edith makes her move and Mary is so, so cold

Share!