Downton Abbey (British version)

The Hats of Downton Abbey I especially covet Mary's hats. Edith really gets shortchanged as she does in everything!

In case anyone is anxious (like me), the season 2 dvds are being released on Tuesday. I just pre-ordered them, so I'll get to catch up on the ending before PBS airs it. And according to the interwebs, it includes the Christmas special.
I *may* be giddy, heh.

HOLY SHIT PATRICK IMPOSTER! I gasped so loud when he said who he was. I love this show! He's obviously an imposter, because Edith's life just sucks that hard. Poor kid. She's actually grown on me since the misstep with the married farmer. Even Mary's going around giving her non-sarcastic props every now and then. But yeah, she's going to be wrong about this one, and everyone's going to be a dick about it, and then she'll probably try to drive the car into a tree or something.

THANK GOD DEAD MRS. BEHHHHTS. Who didn't see that coming when Bates said he wished she was dead? For crap's sake, Bates, have you paid any attention at all to how your life works right now? What's wrong with you? That bitch will cause so much trouble dead, but once it all gets sorted out in 12 years (so, you know, two episodes from now), it will be over forever. I hope. TV Gods, please don't prove me wrong just because you can.

Zero shits. That is what I give about Ethel and her baby.

Hmmm...Is Patrick family or fraud? At first I thought family, but now I'm not so sure. Poor Edith.

Of course Ethel's babydaddy is dead. Of course.

Carson would really consider leaving DA to go run Mary's house? Really? I mean, if she were marrying the heir, that would be one thing, but does Carson really dote on her that much? I'm still new to all this. You knew Richard was going to bully Mary into marriage at some point so I wonder if we'll ever actually see a wedding or just jump forward in time and guess whether it happened or not.

Who called the miraculous healing for Matthew? Time to collect your bet.

Edited to remove comment; didn't make sense, sorry!

but does Carson really dote on her that much?

I think so given what we have seen. Also, I could see that he would feel an obligation because he would worry about who new money Carlisle would hire instead and that they would not present the household well and thus reflect poorly on Lady Mary.

I think Carson probably feels like DA can exist without him, and he trusts the earl to hire someone to replace him who shares his values and can care for the house and the family as well as he did. Lady Mary, on the other hand, is going off into the great unknown, and Carson doesn't trust Sir Richard to take care of her properly. They've set up a real surrogate father-daughter relationship between them, although it was more in the first season than the second, where she would go to Carson for advice and comfort, even more than to her father.

I just wanted to smack Ethel when she was on about how everyone was taking care of the new maid at DA and her baby, and why didn't they care about Ethel in the same way? I was like, a) Mrs. Hughes is right there, taking care of you, you ungrateful nit, and b) do you really not see the difference between a war widow and yourself?

I think Ethel has legitimate gripes, but all she does is complain so it's difficult to feel sorry for her. Maybe Mrs. Hughes isn't doing everything Ethel wants, but she's still doing a lot so Ehtel could at least pretend to be grateful.

I'm oddly cool about Carson and Mary. I haven't liked Carson since he commented on how Lavinia's father isn't in some registry of landed gentry. My eye rolling at the time was epic.

I'm tiring of Mr. BEHHHTS, Anna, and their Zone of Misery. Just let them get married and have kids and live happily ever after, damnit! My completely unsupported theory of Vera's murder:

Spoiler:

I will say I totally doubted that the new maid was actually a war widow.

The new maid is totally into Lord Grantham. If he strays, I will be SO ANGRY.

I'm glad Fake Patrick didn't stick around, that was just too soapy, even for this show. But poor Edith. She's just one wedding dress away from being Miss Havisham.

MLIS wrote:I think Carson probably feels like DA can exist without him, and he trusts the earl to hire someone to replace him who shares his values and can care for the house and the family as well as he did.

Like - oh, I don't know - Thomas, perhaps?

I think your analysis of the Carson thing is spot on; he doesn't trust Carlisle one bit and is following Mary as much to watch out for her as anything else. Iain Glen plays a great ruthless bastard.

I have to agree with the people expressing lack of interest with Ethel. I couldn't care less.

We made jokes last week about how the mystery soldier was totally the zombie heir Patrick, back from his watery grave on the Titanic, so I totally called that one. Snerk.

So glad to see Cora and the dowager teaming up to fight crime, I mean Isobel. I love Isobel, but I totally don't get her suggesting they keep the house open as a convalescent home after the war is over. I'm glad she's getting something useful to do...elsewhere.

inversed wrote:The new maid is totally into Lord Grantham. If he strays, I will be SO ANGRY.

I'm kind of worried about that plot, so much so that it's distracting me from the rest of the show. I don't want to have to go back in time to smack a fictional character, but I will if necessary.

It seems to be mainly on the maid's part, though. Getting all bubbly and laughing when he offered to help her son (understandable, but unprofessional compared to the demeanor of the other servants), and staring at him in the foyer, while he only gave her a polite glance. At least I'm hoping it doesn't go beyond that on his part. But they've made it clear a couple of times that Cora has left him to his own devices sometimes, and he's spoiled...and his pride was bruised when the military only wanted him as a figurehead. I'm afraid an adoring maid might be a sop to his ego.

There was no confirmation that faux heir was necessarily faux, was there? Did I miss something?

There was no confirmation that faux heir was necessarily faux, was there? Did I miss something?

Well I think with him taking off when Peter Gordon was discovered, not knowing any real details, the story about coming up with a name from Gordon's gin, asking Edith what she would think if it was discovered that Peter Gordon had joined his same regiment and signing his letter to Edith simply P, were all good indications that he was an imposter. Though if he doesn't come back I will wonder why they even decided to go there in the first place. I am also still confused as to why either Peter or Patrick would have a Canadian accent since they would have only been in Canada for six years.

Do we have any confirmation that the new maid IS an actual war widow? If she is wouldn't she be receiving his pension?

Do we have any confirmation that the new maid IS an actual war widow? If she is wouldn't she be receiving his pension?

Yes, she went to the meeting that they were encouraging Daisy to go to to explain the benefits they will receive as war widows. So I am assuming she has some sort of documentation.

biakbiak wrote:

There was no confirmation that faux heir was necessarily faux, was there? Did I miss something?

Well I think with him taking off when Peter Gordon was discovered, not knowing any real details, the story about coming up with a name from Gordon's gin, asking Edith what she would think if it was discovered that Peter Gordon had joined his same regiment and signing his letter to Edith simply P, were all good indications that he was an imposter.

Yeah, that's what I meant--it's implied he's not the real Patrick, but there was no determination, i.e., the door is left open for a possible dramatic revelation later in the series. His story was ridiculous...but there was nothing that passed as actual proof. I now look forward to seeing a major family occasion, possibly a wedding, disrupted by implausible story guy, wielding what seems to be proof of his identity and sending the family into crisis.

naughty zoot wrote:Do we have any confirmation that the new maid IS an actual war widow? If she is wouldn't she be receiving his pension?

When William asked Daisy to marry him, he said he wanted her to get his pension even though it wouldn't be much. I think new maid supports her mother as well as her son, so it's probably not enough for all of them to live on. Of course, these are all assumptions, so maybe there is something there.

Shadowlass wrote:

inversed wrote:The new maid is totally into Lord Grantham. If he strays, I will be SO ANGRY.

I'm kind of worried about that plot, so much so that it's distracting me from the rest of the show. I don't want to have to go back in time to smack a fictional character, but I will if necessary.

Ugh, I am so nervous about this. Cora makes it a point to mention how busy she is once or twice an episode, Lord Grantham had to suffer the disgrace of eating lunch alone, and this new maid is pretty and tragic and adoring. NO. BUENO. Don't even, show. Don't even.

HOLY CRAP YOU GUUUUUUUUYS. That was one hell of an episode. I can't believe they went to the "mysterious disfigured man turns out to be former loved one who died tragically...OR DID HE?...OR IS HE??" place; that is HILARIOUSLY soapy. I feel so bad for stupid neglected Edith. I have liked her since the beginning. She just can't catch a break.

And while all that's happening, Mary's future husband reveals himself to be basically mustache-twirlingly evil, AND Carson might leave Downton (if Mary marries that ass I'll eat my hat so I don't think Carson's leaving either), AND Matthew's fiance reappears, AND Matthew has feeling back in his legs, AND the new maid is into Lord Grantham (I did notice the references to Lord G. not liking to be alone, etc. -- unsettling), OH AND ALSO Mr. Bates's evil wife MYSTERIOUSLY DROPS DEAD. OH AND ALSO WORLD WAR I ENDS, NBD. Lordy, sometimes I feel like on this show they mostly walk around and look pained, but then a million things drop at once. And I thought LAST week's episode was eventful.

My theory: O'Brien is behind Mrs. Bates being dead. MARK MY WORDS. I think she's feeling bad about how she assily called Mrs. Bates a couple episodes ago for some reason I forget and told her to come to Downton, and now she feels bad because everything is super fucked up and she's trying to fix it, and maybe she hired someone to like rough her up or something, but instead they killed her. With ARSENIC. I don't know how all that would work exactly, but I totally think she did it and now she's going to be found out and I don't know, maybe Thomas will have to pay off the cops or something. That's my theory.

The Patrick plot was almost exactly like on X-Files when the mystery burned guy shows up and claims to be Mulder but then turns out to be

Spoiler:

Except replace "nearly drowned on Titanic" with "set on fire by, I guess, aliens." I agree they left it open enough so he could come back and cause more trouble, even though I definitely don't think he's the real Patrick.

Oh right, Ethel. I also could not care less about Ethel. I feel bad for her and all, but she was always so obnoxious and I'm having trouble mustering up a lot of sympathy for her, especially since Mrs. Hughes IS helping her, a LOT, and she doesn't have to. I hope we're not heading towards some horrifying plot where she kills her baby or something.

Instant Monkeys wrote:Oh right, Ethel. I also could not care less about Ethel. I feel bad for her and all, but she was always so obnoxious and I'm having trouble mustering up a lot of sympathy for her, especially since Mrs. Hughes IS helping her, a LOT, and she doesn't have to. I hope we're not heading towards some horrifying plot where she kills her baby or something.

The way she was tearfully holding and kissing her baby at the end of last night's episode certainly made it seem like she was going to do something desperate--especially because it was the only time she's shown affection to it.

This was all I could of when that giant baby was on screen, though.

I hate dumb Ethel. God, Ethel, EVERYONE knew nailing that guy was going to end in tears AND IT DID.

My theory: O'Brien is behind Mrs. Bates being dead. MARK MY WORDS. I think she's feeling bad about how she assily called Mrs. Bates a couple episodes ago for some reason I forget and told her to come to Downton, and now she feels bad because everything is super fucked up and she's trying to fix it

I think so too! We all know O'Brien has terrible impulse control when it comes to doing bad things. I really am excited that Mrs Bates is dead though. I wish I'd poisoned her myself.

I could more easily see O'Brien killing Vera in an attempt to frame and get rid of Bates once and for all than doing it because she felt bad.

Gillian wrote:But yeah, she's going to be wrong about this one, and everyone's going to be a dick about it, and then she'll probably try to drive the car into a tree or something.

Hee! I just flashed to the tragic death of Lady Toonces Crawley.

ITA regarding the theory of O'Brien (or Thomas, or both) trying to frame Behhhts (or Anna) for Vera's murder.

If Robert strays, he is dead to me.

biakbiak wrote:I could more easily see O'Brien killing Vera in an attempt to frame and get rid of Bates once and for all than doing it because she felt bad.

I still don't get why she hates him so much. So what if Bates got the job that Thomas would have been terrible at? He's clearly going nowhere at this point, and you'd think O'Brien would stop with the revenge plots after causing Cora's miscarriage.

I don't think Mary's going to marry Richard either, but maybe they'll just flash forward 12 years, and she'll be a widow and Lavinia will have died in childbirth. Meanwhile, Daisy is still 15 years old, heh.