Another week, another visit to Yorkshire, Downton. Heartbreak visits Mary once more along with a face from the past, Anna’s secret is unsheathed, and Downton paints a 1920s picture of the downfalls of today’s recession. But first, the Downton Debriefing…
Her ladyship Cora has been blessed with a new lady’s maid who bends over backwards to please and seems to be winning the hearts of everyone upstairs as well as below. Of course, this level of harmony is usually short-lived and damn near non-existent at the abbey, so we wait with baited breath for the other proverbial shoe to drop. Somehow I fear the moment of gravitational pull upon ill-fated footwear may have something to do with the Evil Butler, as Thomas has already set his sights on the fair maiden and is trying to mold her into the shadow of the once compliant O’Brien. Dear Alfred has set his sights on culinary school to become a chef, because working in the trenches of the kitchen no longer seems to suit him. Does it strike anyone else as odd that the redheads downstairs are always so damn ambitious? First Gwen, then Ethel, now Alfred…only Mrs. Patmore is happy in her rut and continues to shun all technology from sewing machines to refrigerators. But alas, in spite of the entire house pulling behind Alfred, even Daisy while nursing her broken heart, his dreams were not yet meant to be, and he is rejected by the school. We only hoped he would not turn to satisfying the wanton needs of unsavory characters in the alleyways of London and luckily, his place was saved as footman of Downton.
Cousin Isobel continues her crusade to save the less fortunate and finagles a poor young man into a gardening position beneath the claws of the Dowager Countess, but when cousin Violet notices a missing letter opener and immediately suspects the newcomer of the crime. We lie in wait for a conviction of sorts as the old woman lacks evidence, but completely busted up laughing at the multitude of plucky and sarcastic chuckles that popped from the countess as she strode down the way with Isobel. Lord Grantham manages to maintain one foot securely in his old ways, loaning money to a late farmer’s heir to continue the family’s ownership of a generationally managed farmland, proving he still has a great heart for the villagers and a poor head for business. Michael Gregson is MIA which causes some worry for Edith. See what happens? Ya gave him a piece of the pie before he put a ring on it, now he’s taken his sample and hit the road to find the next open bakery and you’re off to the doctor. Damn Edith, damn. Tom is beginning to return to his roots as a radical socialist and questioning his placement within the abbey and the Crawley family, and oddly Cora is not arguing the motions as much as we expected, given that Sybbie was to be the warm reminder of the baby Crawley sister, the late Sybil. Now on to the juicy bits…
In the middle of Alfred’s journey to culinary school, Carson was faced with the task of finding a replacement footman. In spite of Mrs. Hughes’ telling suspicions, Carson was confident that poor old Molesley would be ecstatic to fill the position. We slighted the uppity Mr. Molesley a few blogs ago for adopting a high and mighty stance against having to temporarily act as footman when Jimmy injured himself. However, when Mr. Molesley was similarly apprehensive towards taking the “permanent” job as a footman after having been an established valet and a trained butler, we felt somewhat more sympathetic towards him. Today, the US has sunk into a deep recession which at times teetered on the cusp of a depression when unemployment rates hit an all-time low a few years back. Many experienced, trained, educated workers were without jobs and without means of supporting their families. While some reached out to grasp any income at all, some sneered at the possibility of having to work minimum wage jobs when their educations and experience had afforded them higher positions in the not too distant past. The recession peaked as I was exiting graduate school and I was utterly fearful of the very real chance that I would be returning to retail in order to pay back my student loans. I was almost indignant at having to lower myself to such a subjacent job. My mother and I even recently discussed the generalized reluctance of taking lower paying jobs with higher skills over having no income at all and living on unemployment and welfare. This was clearly demonstrated with the road-repairing delivery boy Molesley had to “think about” Carson’s offer, before returning the next day and begrudgingly accepting. Sadly, Alfred had not gotten the position and Molesley’s air of superiority robbed him of a job. We pity him, but not his swollen ego.
It was not unexpected that after Mary had rejected Lord Gillingham’s proposal we would be hearing of an official announcement of his engagement to some other faceless twit, but poor Mary’s devastation over the news wrenched our hearts yet again. Though she steered the hand of her own fate while continuing to grieve Matthew, Mary was not totally absolved of her affection for Gillingham. Again Michelle brought a vulnerability to Mary we’ve always loved in her as she blinked and blotted away tears composing a congratulatory letter for him. Completely empathic, we just wanted to throw our arms around dear Mary and cry “It’s okay we still love you! Do not shed another tear and forget all about John- er I mean Matthew, yes Matthew.” But hope is rekindled as the amazingly handsome but self-proclaimed bore-monger Evelyn Napier returns to the abbey, still seeming to carry a torch for Mary after all this time, not even the least bit swayed by her black widow status which she embraced on his first visit to the grounds. But, ever the fool, whenever he seems in pursuit of Mary, he comes packaged with competition, previously a sexy diplomat, now his employer, and we await the circus that will ensue when Blake arrives. I don’t want to give away too many hints, but I see venom and pig shit in his and Mary’s future.
The last heartwarming event of the evening of course goes to the continuing trial of Anna’s rape and Bates’ unfaltering quest to gain knowledge of the incident. After finally blackmailing Mrs. Hughes into surrendering the sordid tale, Bates approaches Anna and melts our heart with the most endearing speech to his wife any rape survivor could hope for and what some only dream of: “you are not spoiled, you’re made higher to me and holier because of the suffering you have been put through”. Our hearts clenched and a lump formed in our throats as he declared his undying love, and the tears flowed. How desperately we all want to feel unspoiled. The warm fuzzy moment passes quickly though, as Bates later issues a clear warning that he will hunt down the culprit and his tone left no question of his seething anger and the fear of what he is truly capable of. Of course, deep down inside, we’re kind of rooting for him.
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