Downton Abbey Season 5 Episode 8

SPOILER ALERT! This post is intended for those who have already seen Downton Abbey Season 5 Episode 8

Isis is gone and Anna is in the clink. What the heck is wrong with Julian Fellowes??? He has got to be kidding. Just when you think that we are in the clear with Bates, the police inspectors come to the house for the umpteenth time looking for someone short! (sound of hair being torn out by me).

On a lighter note, a wedding is a great way to finish the series (well we still have the Christmas Episode next week). Even if we did have to put up with Mrs. Shrimpy aka "Insane Mother" and Lord Sinderby aka "His Crustiness". Poor Rose and Atticus! They are sooooo adorable and deserve much better. Thank goodness the silly setup photos of Atticus didn't throw Rose off more than momentarily. Mrs. Shrimpy has done her worst now but it looks like Lord Sinderby is going to be trouble in the future.

Thank goodness Daisy didn't bolt in the big metropolis after all. You have a farm to run in Yorkshire my dear! And what was the nonsense with Denker and the new footman about? Is she the new O'Brien come to stir things up? Can't wait to see her lock horns with both Formerly Evil Thomas and Delightfully Snotty Spratt in the future.

Lovely acting from Mrs. Patmore this week. However I am glad the memorial story line is finally finished.

Prince Kuragin certainly gave Dame Maggie some pause for thought. Did he have to refer to wanting to hop into the sack with the Dowager however? Shudder! I hope she will send him on his way. Now Isobel however should really get together with Lord Merton. Fingers crossed for that relationship.

Tom is going to Boston, Mary is being sad instead of being horrible and Lord Grantham is finally in on the Edith and Marigold story. I wondered when the penny would drop now that Marigold is living at Downton.

Well, I will leave you with this lovely full length photo of Lady Rose in her drop dead gorgeous wedding dress. I believe it was a vintage find by the costume department. Bravo!!! Click on the photo to enlarge it for a better look.

Best Lines of the Week 

Lady Mary: Why does she (Edith) have to carry on as if she'd invented motherhood?

Countess Violet: Though love may not conquer all, it can conquer quite a lot.

Prince Kuragin: I wish to spend my final years with you. As a friend. As a lover. I don't seek scandal. Only love.

Daisy: London is full of possibilities. Sometimes I think my life has no possibilities at all. I feel as if I've been down a coal hole and someone's opened a lid and brought me into the sunlight.

Susan Flintshire: Do you find it difficult to get staff?
Lady Sinderby: Not really. But then, we're Jewish. So we pay well. (snap!)

Lord Sinderby: Divorce signifies weakness, degradation, scandal, failure.

Countess Violet: My dear, love is a far more dangerous motive than dislike.

PS Thank-you to my fave character Molesley (and I suppose Julian Fellowes) for making me look up the Wallace Collection. I must see that if I am in London.

Downton Abbey Season 5 Episode 6

SPOILER ALERT! This post is intended for those who have already seen Downton Abbey Season 5 Episode 6

Great Episode! My goodness a lot happened in this one, and it was all fabulous! Champagne and ice cream for Edith and Marigold, as they have finally broken free from Downton and taken off, likely to run the newspaper in London. I think that was the best possible reaction to the news about Mr. Gregson. Bravo Edith!

And I was very happy that Edith told off Lady Mary before she left. Atticus Aldridge didn't seem put off by the sisterly squabbling: "I'm sorry Mr. Aldridge but you might as well know what we're like."

And Lady Mary is back in the saddle again, bobbed hair and all. I can't wait to see her string Charles Blake along now and try her tricks with him. I think she may find he is not the puppyish follower she is used to. Yeehaw!

Dr. Clarkson says Thomas will have to learn to live with his natural proclivities, and we now are sure that Baxter is a saint! Molesley is a frustrated history teacher and was that a marriage proposal or a business proposition from Carson to Mrs. Hughes? From the smirk on her face I think she assumes the former.

The older set and their romances were simmering away. It seems as though Isobel has decided to accept the proposal from her exalted suitor and Violet seems quite resigned to the fact. These two are getting to be wonderful friends with their cards and their jigsaw puzzles. Lovely!

And one of the steamiest scenes in this episode was between Violet and her Igor. He is one hot Russian silver fox, and if the Dowager Countess could have stopped staring disgustedly at her muddy tea and concentrated on her old flame, her frostiness may have thawed a little. Ah, soon methinks!

Anna and Bates ended up pretty well in this episode too. The happy snuggling is back, now that she knows he didn't off the rapist after all. I hope she sets him straight about Lady Mary's unnamed contraceptive device pretty soon. Does this mean we finally can set this drawn out plot to rest and get down to some "Married Love" between the Bates's? (by the way, does anyone else have an uncontrollable urge to read that Marie Stopes book?

Kudos to Cora for giving it to Lord Grantham about his sanctimonious attitude and telling him to march right back into that marital bed. Man the ladies were hot in this episode!

But Isis is ill? Noooooooo!!!!!!! Just don't let Dr. Clarkson take a look at her. Let's hope it was just a dodgy dead squirrel.

Best Lines of the Week (and they were really good this week!)

French Yorkshireman Hairdresser: At least she can carry it off. Most of them look like bald monkeys.

Dowager Violet to Mary: Oh it is you! I thought it was a man wearing your clothes.

Dowager Violet: All this endless thinking, it's very overrated. I blame the war. Before 1914 no one thought about anything at all.

Lady Edith: I'm just amazed that even you would choose the day after I learn the man I love is dead to try out a new fashion.

Prince Kuragin: I wanted you from the moment I saw you. More than mortal man ever wanted woman.
Countess Violet: That is an historical detail.

Countess Violet: We all pander to Spratt in this house. He rules us with a rod of iron.

Cora: If you can honestly say you have never let a flirtation get out of hand since we married, never given a woman the wrong impression, by all means stay away. Otherwise, I expect you back in my room tonight.

Mabel Lane Fox: Why turn up looking like a cross between a Vogue fashion plate and a crate of dynamite?

Downton Abbey Season 5 Episode 4

SPOILER ALERT! This post is intended for those who have already seen Downton Abbey Series 5 Episode 4

The young people's love lives are a disaster and the elderly are Romancing the Abbey! Here is Lady Mary who has been cruelly toying with as many bachelors as she can keep dangling and now she ditches Tony. Well we could see this one coming before the "sketching trip".

I did like the use of some London filming locations like the Peter Pan statue at Kensington Gardens. And the CGI of Anna at Piccadilly Circus was unprecedented for Downton Abbey! If only she didn't have a creepy man following her. Will this Mr. Green sub plot NEVER die?

Poor Lady Edith is finally going to hear what happened to her newspaper man and is now stalking Marigold and the farmer's wife. Egads! At least she is still writing her column...about how the world is changing...actually I would love to read it!

Mr. Bricker aka Richard E Can't, is still sniffing around Cora. Let's hope Robert will soon toss him out in a manner similar to his Miss Bunting blowup in the dining room. I actually rather enjoyed that scene. It sure caused a stir below stairs! Entertainment for Granny and the servants!

And what in heaven's name is going on with Thomas? Is he doing drugs in the attic? The saintly Baxter will find out. And why is Shrimpy back on the scene? We haven't seen him since two Christmas episodes ago, so does what does this mean for Rose? Surely he is not just back to find the wife of Violet's old beau! Extreme foreshadowing of romance for Rose, the blank cheque thing. And that Prince Kuragin is kind of greasy (in a strangely attractive way) but he has livened up the Dowager lately. She is "Imperious. Magnificent." You bet your sweet bippy she is Kuragin!

Lord Merton is my new fave character, since there was no delicious Spratt in this episode. Even matter of fact Isobel Crawley is moved by Lord Merton's heartfelt declaration of love. So she will...think about it. Good grief Isobel! He is adorable, rich and he looooooves you! What the heck?

Isis! More Isis! Look at that adorable face. And wonder of wonders, Lord Grantham finally said something sensible in this episode, wanting to build quality, attractive houses on Pip's Corner. It's about time Robert started talking sense.

The fashion show was kind of fun (or "yummy" as Mary called it). But what is with that hat on Rosamund? And could Julian Fellowes possibly cram more characters into this episode? We have the return of Charles Blake and even Tony's jilted fiancée Mabel Lane Fox. I smell trouble!

Then we have Mrs. Patmore's impassioned plea to Lord Grantham about her shell shocked nephew. Bravo Mrs. Patmore and shame on Carson!

As usual, we can't wait for next week. Cheers!

Best Lines of the Week:

Countess Violet:  Hope is a tease, designed to prevent us from accepting reality.
Isobel:  You only say that to sound clever.
Countess Violet:  I know...you should try it!

Prince Kuragin: Now you are the great lady. Imperious! Magnificent!

Mrs. Patmore (re: Daisy): Mathematics is one thing. She's studying to be a revolutionary now.

Lord Merton: I state freely and proudly Isobel, that I've fallen in love with you. And I want to spend what remains of my life in your company. I believe I could make you happy. I should very much like to try. (Best Downton Abbey line in as long as I can remember!)

Charles Blake: I wish I could work you out.
Lady Mary: I wish I could work me out.

Lord Gillingham: Am I a bad lover? Is that what you are trying to tell me? (Yes Tony, that is exactly what she is trying to tell you!)

Downton Abbey Season 5 Episode 3

SPOILER ALERT! This post is intended for those who have already seen Downton Abbey Season 5 Episode 3

Well, Lady Mary is on the cutting edge of morality yet again. She seems to have enjoyed the roll in the hay with Tony Gillingham and yet doesn't seem impressed enough to get hitched again. Matthew must be a hard act to follow. I think Mary wants more of a challenge than Tony. He's just too eager!

The Lady Edith and Marigold saga is finally starting to bubble. The poor farmer's wife thought she had abducted Marigold, and I have to admit I was rather thinking that myself. Something is going to give with Lady Edith. I only hope she stays sane.

And good grief! Will we never hear the end of this Mr. Green the rapist valet story? Why can't we have a happy story with the Bates's? Maybe a mini Bates? Never mind...keep going stringing this mystery out of who flung the bastard under the bus, Lord Fellowes. It could have been any number of women in London I would think!

I wonder where Thomas is really going in London? Certainly not to visit his sick father if we know Thomas...and we certainly know Thomas.

Lord Grantham's surprise visit to London backfired big time. And Mr. Bricker is getting pretty cozy with Cora, who seems to be giddy as a school girl with the brazen flattery. But she doesn't seem to have any desire to take it past a flirtation as His Lordship should now be aware!

Daisy is turning into a well educated feminist thanks to the horrid Miss Bunting. By the way, how many times can Miss B come upstairs and make trouble before Lord Grantham sics Isis on her???  I was a little shocked that Daisy had to leave school at age 11 and that she thought education to age 14 would be wonderful. Gosh!

It's lovely that Mrs. Hughes and Carson still seem to be thick as thieves. But even she couldn't change Carson's mind about Mrs. Patmore's nephew. More friction downstairs!

I looooove the appearance of Prince Kuragin, the Russian flirtation of Violet's in the glorious Victorian era. And Lady Mary's sly dig at Granny was perfection! Hurrah! And any guesses whether the Fabergé eggs they were weeping over were real? They look pretty wonderful!

And now Baxter can stay (will the nasty man who forced her to steal show up in a later episode?) and there are plans under consideration to build ugly housing on "Pip's Corner" but Lord Grantham seems horrified even though it would free up some cash for the estate.

"Significant Looks Award" of the week goes to Spratt, Violet's butler and my new favourite character at Downton. Lady Mary's escapades just about popped his eyeballs out. By the way, I just re-watched Julian Fellowes's other masterpiece Gosford Park this weekend and you will find Spratt, Dowager Countess Violet and Mr. Bricker from Downton amongst many other familiar faces from various Period Dramas. I left the closed captioning on this time and caught a few lines I had missed on other viewings. :)

Best Lines of the Week:

Tony Gillingham: I want to acclimate myself with the routines and rituals that will govern the rest of my life. (Ewwwwww! Creepy!)

Lady Mary: I've been tarnished once and I won't be tarnished again.

Isobel: Servants are human beings too.
Violet:  Preferably only on their days off.

Isobel: Hopeless lovers wandering over a desolate moor. If it wasn't Emily Bronte it could be Tolstoy or Gogol.

Countess Violet (to Spratt): What were you imagining? Nothing vulgar, I hope. Nothing beneath the dignity of a butler of this household.

Mrs. Patmore: Sympathy butters no parsnips.

Mrs Hughes: My advice Daisy is to go as far in life as God and luck allow.

Countess Violet: In my day, a lady was incapable of feeling physical attraction before she was instructed to do so by her mama.

Lord Grantham: That an art expert would find your observations on the work of Piero della Francesca impossible to resist, yes, it is hard to believe. (Ouch. You're going to regret that one Robert!)

Lady Mary: Granny has a past!