Writer's Note: I was supposed to be studying today...thanks Downton!
And of course, love was in the air in this night’s episode
of Downton as we followed dear Rose down the smaller, more cost-efficient
aisle. The young and formerly brazen MacClare finally settled down in the bonds
of matrimony with dear Jewish Atticus, but the road to the altar was not
without its detours. The looming fear of the arrival of Rose’s self-loathing
mother was not an exaggeration of concern. The Debbie Downer attempted to ruin
the momentous occasion more than once after finding out her future son-in-law’s
religion and ethnicity. Initially attempting and failing to frame Atticus with
some scandalous photos, Lady Flintshire capped off the breakup campaign with
the announcement of her divorce from Shrimpie; specifically after being advised
by Rose to appear the happy couple her parents never were and after Atticus’
father had noted his vehement opposition to divorce. This declaration was of
course met by the perfectly synchronized duet of “what a bitch!” by my mother
and me (apparently this has become our official summation of season 5). But
ever the picture of grace and decorum and completely unshaken by the nerve of
the deviant beast, Atticus’ mother intervened and saved the day, silencing both
Lady Flintshire and Lord Aldridge for the remaining vows.
The resilience of Rose’s and Atticus’ love in the face of
such adversity lends some hope to Isobel as she grapples with the decision to
disregard the not so warm and fuzzy greeting she received from Lord Merton’s
offspring and move forward in her pursuit for happiness. And in spite of her
own concerns of losing her dear friend, Violet has been courted as well by
Prince Kuragin, perhaps leading her to a less lonely life in her golden age and
recapturing lost opportunities of the past. Yes, wasting no time, even to
verify his wife’s death, the suave Prince Kuragin has skipped fanning the
flames of Violet’s lady fire and just thrust a big old can of gasoline on
there. They’re old; they don’t have the time or the energy to stoke the embers
to build the bonfire.
With the flames of passion burning hotter than Edith’s
bedroom, romantic love isn’t the only affection blossoming. Edith has taken
quite well to motherhood and has adopted the more middle class approach to
parenting when it comes to young Lavendar, doting on her daughter beyond the
allotted visiting hour Mary has with George and worrying as a parent does when
leaving the child behind for an out of town trip. Her concern for the child,
along with some genetic resemblance, tips off the usually oblivious Donk (by
the way, DON’T call him Donk!) as he puts two and two together and paired the
maternity better than Maury Povich. However, I will say I am finally grateful
that Edith has found her little sliver of sunshine in her otherwise disastrous
life, as her trials and tribulations were beginning to wear on me; I was even taking
to drinking to cope.
But in spite of all the love and adoration enveloping the
Downton family, there are still some darker places of loneliness. After the
announcement that Tom has officially decided to set sail for America with
little Sybbie in tow, along with Rose’s marriage and Mr. Blake off to wherever
the hell he went for work, Mary finds herself alone…well not alone but even
worse, alone with Edith. And even now that Edith has her attention drawn to
Pansey, Mary will be truly on her own. In spite of the overwhelming apathy she
has shown to Edith in the past few episodes that was beginning to sour me
toward her, my heart ached just a bit when she awkwardly invited herself to
Tony and Mabel’s wedding. Some tea to wash down that foot, m’lady? Then again
you led Tony on and baked with him, you stole Mabel’s lover from her only to
toss him back like a used love sponge and now you want a wedding invite? If
Edith had been there to witness this moment it would have given her more than
enough ammunition to stock the allied forces for 50 D-Days. Nevertheless, I hope we're not changing the popular dictum to "Poor Mary," as I've grown accustomed to being a "Poor Edith" myself.
Another lonely soul who has virtually been neglected since
season 1 has been Thomas. I must admit when the temporarily hired young footman
first showed his face in the downstairs kitchen in London and Thomas began
eyeing him, I thought could this be it? On the tail of his rainbow disease
treatments, could Thomas finally have some luck in his awkward existence? Once
in his sights, I began to assume Thomas was looking for another ally to plot his
twisted schemes with, but perhaps as I jokingly suggested in earlier reviews,
Thomas has turned over a new leaf and may have finally dropped the perpetual
chip on his shoulder to make a few friends. He didn’t hesitate to foil Miss
Danker’s plans of using the naïve lad to score some free drinks at the local
casino and quickly put the maid in her place, but not before she got wasted and
resurrected memories of Molesley’s drunken evening at Duneagle castle a few years
ago. Thanks to Thomas, in addition to her self-imposed hangover, she also ended
up footing the bill at the casino. Given the turn of Thomas and the slight
chance that he may be changing for the better, I hope the next season affords
him some love to brighten his rainbow. Joanne Froggatt seems to agree. Just so
long as he behaves.
Daisy was also bitten by the bug of change this episode, as
her educational enlightenment has opened her eyes to all the opportunities the
world can hold for a girl, especially in the changing times of the 20s. Eager
to explore the new world she discovered in London, Daisy announced her planned departure,
which sadly sent Mrs. Patmore spiraling. Of course she wanted only the best for
what has undoubtedly become her adopted daughter, but Mrs. Patmore, who has
screamed and yelled and guided and encouraged and yes, even sent fake
Valentines to young Daisy to spare her heart, can’t bear the thought of her
absence. Daisy eventually discloses her intention to stay, refusing to go the
way of Castle Black like so many aspiring servants before her, and may remain
at Downton for another season yet.
In spite of his multiple moments of assholery, Donk provided
Mrs. Patmore one more heart-mending moment when he had a plaque made as a
memorial for her fallen nephew to hang on the wall in town. Showing he’s not
all ego and stubbornness, Donk won a few more points on his score card and
elicited a few tears from my mom and me (but to be fair we’d had a few glasses
of wine and were vulnerable).
Again resounding on the redundancy of Downton that I had
mentioned in the last episode review, the evening ended with Anna Bates being
led off in cuffs, much like her husband had been, also on Episode 8 of season
2, also just before the Christmas special. The inspector and detective had
visited Downton just before the family migrated to London, revealing that they
had found more rape victims of Mr. Green’s, adding with the ignorance of modern
day 20th century that they had given him little to no encouragement
prior to their rape (the statement of course prickled my spine and was worth
mentioning, but reflected the accuracy of the times all the same). Summoning
Anna to Scotland Yard, almost under the assumption that her plight may take a
turn for the better with the other victims, the tables turned when she was
forced to participate in a line-up for a witness. With the predictability of what
Downton is becoming and those notorious spoilers, another Bates will spend
Christmas in the clink.
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