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 2

SPOILER ALERT! This post is intended for those who have already seen Season 5 Episode 2

Well, off goes Jimmy into the big world beyond Downton Abbey. I can't help but think it might be a good thing for him. He seems more of a London boy to me. But will Lady Anstruther (Anna Chancellor) return down the road? I certainly hope so. In the meantime, the unlikely friendship between Thomas and Jimmy (Barrow and James) will have to continue through the post.

And the "Significant Looks Award" goes to Anna and Mrs. Hughes for the discovery of the baby photo under Lady Edith's pillow. It reminded me of the Red Nose Day Spoof of Uptown Downstairs Abbey from years ago. And of course there is more of the Lady Edith/Marigold story line. One wonders why Mr. Farmer/Fireman doesn't just tell his wife that Edith is Marigold's mum. Better than having her thinking that there is something between her husband and Edith, surely????

I do like the addition of the Simon Bricker character (played to slimy perfection by Richard E. Grant) who flirts outrageously in front of the ever dense Lord Grantham. Cora deserves a bit of fun now and then and there is much humour in Lord Grantham's jealousy of Mr. Bricker's attention to Isis!

As an aside, apparently Dame Maggie Smith has had an ongoing 20 year long feud with Richard E. Can't as she calls him, which started when they were in a 6 month long stage production of The Importance of Being Earnest. Apparently she lit into him for nodding off during one of the dinner scenes saying "If I can stay awake, you should be able to too". There is more than a bit of the Dowager in Maggie Smith apparently.

Lord Fellowes is definitely setting up a story line for Daisy taking over the farm with her newly found mathematical ability now that the horrid Miss Bunting is teaching her. Go Daisy!!! And said Miss Bunting is so abrasive that she still seems to be driving Branson back upstairs even as she tries to remind him of his revolutionary roots. She is certainly no Lady Sybil. At least she didn't help herself to dinner and then bitch about privilege again. Run Branson, run!!!

The whole war memorial plot is dragging on. Just build the darn memorial on the square already. Sigh. But the sparks are noticeable between Carson and Mrs. Hughes. All of this elder romance is lovely!

Lord Grantham's ongoing cluelessness is highly entertaining. Now it is the wireless that he refuses to embrace. Hugh Bonneville is now getting more comic lines that Dame Maggie! Perhaps Lord G is now finally morphing into his mother?

Lady Mary in Liverpool doing the try before you buy thing with Tony Gillingham seems fairly promising. But I somehow doubt there will be enough fireworks for Mary to commit. If not, she still has Charles Blake from Foyle's War dangling around. I have to say Anna at the chemist was a real hoot. The poor dear couldn't get more embarrassed. But if they don't stop flogging the Mr. Bates investigation I may...well...go on twitter during the program?

Lord Merton's wooing of Isobel (with romantic talk of quarantine and a visit to his lovely home) continues happily, to the Dowager's consternation. Poor Dr. Death looks ever more uncomfortable with the rich dude trying to steal his beloved medical partner.

Lady Rose is going to help the Russian refugee aristos in York. That sounds promising!

And Molesley is still falling for Baxter, despite her known criminal past. Hurrah!

Best Lines of the Week

Anna (to Lady Mary): Honestly my lady, you'd better hope I never write my memoirs!

Mr. Molesley: Do I take it that I am now first footman?
Carson: You are the only footman. You are first, second, third and last. Make what you will of it.

Lord Grantham: I find the whole idea a kind of thief of life, that people should waste hours huddled around a wooden box listening to someone talking at them. It's a fad...it won't last.

Countess Violet: Mrs. Crawley is never happier than when she has a chance to use her guiding hand.

Lord Grantham: I'm not very good at abroad.

Charles Blake: I love Rose's definition of ordinary life. Dancing and shopping and seeing one's friends.

Charles Blake: Plantagenets are as susceptible as housemaids when it comes to sex.

Lord Grantham: I'm not having Sybil's only child snatched from everyone she loves to be brought up by some harpie in an American sewer.

Lord Grantham: Tell your friend Bricker to stop flirting with Isis. There is nothing more ill bred than trying to steal the affections of someone else's dog. (Really Lord G? Nothing?)

Daisy: Why is it called a wireless when it has so many wires?

Cheers until next week! And again for anyone who hasn't yet seen it, the Text Santa Downton spoof with George Clooney aka Lord George Ocean Gravity, the Marquis of Hollywood. Guffaw!
Part 1
Part 2

Congrats to Joanna Froggatt for her Golden Globe win! Very classy speech!