After a brief absence from the abbey, Sergeant Willis has returned to stir up more drama for the downstairs dwellers at Downton, but for once it's not about the Bateses. The bright-eyed and at times dim-witted law officer has come for Baxter this time around, and as Downton has shown us time and time again, the ghosts of the past are easily and often resurrected. Peter Coyle (quite possibly a distant relation of Brendan), the man who originally ensnared Baxter in his despicable plans to steal jewelry from her employer, has gotten tripped up in his antics and was arrested for a similar situation with another helpless patsy he manipulated. Willis has come pleading for Baxter's testimony against Coyle to put him away once and for all, but Baxter, for reasons that remain unclear is reluctant to assist. Molesley, on the other hand is determined that she serve up a plate of tough justice (tee-hee) and refuses to let this lie. Being unsuccessful in persuading her, he sneaks behind her back and enlists the help of Cora to sway Baxter, which only pisses Baxter off more and consequently ruins any future chances of doing the happy sexy dance with her. However, once she learns of the unfortunates that Peter has left in his wake, she finally agrees to take the stand if need be, leaving Molesley tickled, though perhaps not the way he has dreamed about just yet.
While most of us are tired of seeing Sergeant Willis (but yay him for scoring a recurring role), no one was more miffed about his visit than Thomas. His head has tripled in size after becoming the steward of Downton's staff while Carson and Mrs, Hugh--Car---that chick are off on their honeymoon not worrying about their birthday suits. Not once hesitating to remind anyone willing to listen that he is the current butler, Thomas, in his usual fashion has taken to being more of a despot than a gracious ruler. This has only alienated the remaining few who were still on his side...which of course includes only a few insects in the darker corners of the servants' hall who have little to no awareness of the world around them. And yet, in the midst of acting like a grade A ass, he still manages to somehow whimper and whine about not having friends. This, my dear readers, is the essence of what we call Persecutory Delusions. Unfortunately for Thomas, sympathy is non-existent, except just a few drops from the ever faithful Baxter, and shortly after his sob session, we find him fulfilling the role he was born to play when another shadow from the past emerged through the front doors of Downton.
Alas she lives! Flanking her trustee husband who was invited by Rosamund, Gwen returns to the halls of the abbey, alive and kicking. You may recall the harrowing incident at Castle Black where she was shot through the heart with an arrow ("'tis but a scratch!"). But little did we know Gwen was treated at a hospital run by the Yorkshire County Hospital and made a speedy recovery from her minor flesh wound thanks to the technology and medical advancements such a collaboration allowed. We'd better not tell Violet, she's losing enough ground as it is. Struggling to find the appropriate moment to share her history with the family, Thomas was seething with jealousy and outed Gwen to the lunch table. After the initial moment of awkwardness, a warm revival of Sybil followed, and I admittedly teared up as they recounted fond memories of the youngest Crawley sister. Thomas was later slammed into his place when old LG chided him for his loathsome behaviors, which escaped everyone else's observance but his own (now announcing Lord Grantham, formerly known as Robert, Donk, and Prince will be called LG for the remainder of this blog...it's gangster...but not as gangster as granny).
The return of Gwen only stoked the fires that had been burning under Daisy since she first took up her schooling with Ms. Cu- I mean Bunting. As she worked to develop her own brain and better herself, Daisy became a passionate but naive fledgling who took the wrong idea regarding the farm and and ran with it during the last episode. Mayhaps she has spent too much time around Thomas, developing what we call a Shared Delusional Disorder (yes folks, it is possible to become crazy just by being around crazy too damn much). Learning that the farm might not go to Mr. Mason after all and believing she had be wronged in the process, Daisy throws a fit and storms upstairs to confront Cora, ignoring pleas from the other staff to leave it alone. Luckily, in what could only be a serendipitous moment, Daisy was rescued by fate and the final decision to allow Mr. Mason to take the farm was passed down to her before her bitchfest. Thus, she remains employed, but still somewhat deluded. In spite of her ignorance, I commend the child on being passionate, though misguided, for I too was a Daisy once. Heavily involved and absorbed in various social issues, I was young, more emotional than rational, and easily given to outbursts. But through time and an insanely expensive college experience, I developed the critical thinking skills I needed to make calm rational arguments and in turn avoid looking like a wild, tantrumming, hormonal bitch. One thing I've learned as I've watched other youngsters take that path is that you can always teach a person critical thinking skills, but you can't teach them to give a shit. You will never pick up passion in a textbook and the fiery passion you have should never be extinguished; maybe just contained a tad. Then again, slapping a passionate, wild, tantrumming hormonal bitch once in awhile doesn't appear to cause long term damage to tomorrow's leaders, and that's exactly what my mom and I wanted to do to Daisy. More than once. Maybe a knockout punch. She's still a bit crazy.
In Downton Tidbits, Anna nearly experienced yet another miscarriage after exerting herself a bit too much, and rushed off to London with Mary to save the baby. They make it just in time, and the minor operation was performed to ensure the baby won't be popping out until its scheduled arrival. In the circus of it all, Bates puts two and two together and the secret is out. Hopefully we'll meet the little chap before the season closes. Just our luck, Bates will go the way of Matthew with a horrible accident: just moments after the baby is born, Mary will ask Bates to carry another heavy suitcase down the stairs in spite of his infirmity, he'll undoubtedly slip and crack his head open, leaving Anna to mourn and Mary to bitch about the blood he got on her designer bags. Mary is revisited by her car connoisseur when he joins Lady Shackleton at the abbey, and this leads up to a cozy flirtatious little dinner in London with Mr. Henry Talbot. I wonder how long it will take her to sleep with this one. Though Lady Shackleton arrives for a dinner as reinforcements for Violet, the argument goes astray and Shackleton backs down at the last second, wavering in the face of LG, which only sets Violet off more as she realizes the victory from this battlefield has already been taken. Always the picture of grace and decorum, even Violet throws her own hormonal tantrum and brutally assaults the greens on her dinner plate. As Mary said, their "higher education" was limited in those days, and perhaps the Dowager skipped Critical Thinking 101 for poise and etiquette classes. LG continues to wince in pain throughout the episode, most likely his ulcer misbehaving, but after the hell his children put him through and now having to parent his mother through her behavioral issues, it's no wonder. If Violet doesn't chill, she's going to be heading to Shady Pines sooner than she thinks.
Until next time, adieu dear fans...
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