Downton Abbey Season 3 Episode 6

SPOILER ALERT! This post is intended for those who have already seen Season 3 Episode 6!

Bates is back, the ladies are in light mourning now (already out of black and into lavender?) and the baby is christened. In the Catholic church!! By a man in a frock!!!

Lady Cora: What's the matter Robert? Are you afraid you'll be converted when you're not looking?

I am hopeful that Lady Edith (Jane Eyre) and her new employer (Mr. Rochester the editor) go ahead despite the crazy wife in the attic. At least Edith knows about her and so can plan her actions accordingly. Go for it Edith. He's way better than the married farmer or the disfigured Patrick from Season 2 although I bet he doesn't have a lovely estate like Sir Anthony! By the way, best nickname for Edith on the web- POOR MEdith! Bwahahaha!

Lots and lots of cricket talk. Confusing for we non-Brits but interesting. Everyone dressed like we are in Brideshead Revisited. And Tom Branson is truly a toff now! But Molesley was the star of the cricket match. Teehee!

So happy that Ethel's problem has been solved, in spite all of  Isobel Crawley's "life rebuilding". I hope we get to see more of her and little Charlie in Season 4. Now Violet has had her charity case too. Poor Shrimpy's daughter Rose arrives to occupy the Dowager and give us a glimpse inside a 1920's jazz club. I did like that scene, I must say.

We must be about to see more of the frizzy haired Rose in the future methinks. And what is it with the botanical  names Lord Fellowes? Violet, Daisy, Ivy, Rose? All we need is a Lily and we have a flower shop!

Thomas the valet goes and attacks Jimmy the footman in his sleep...what??? O'Brien has some amazing mind control powers! So he's let go with a nice letter of reference, no now he is fired without a reference, no now he's back and with a promotion. And Jimmy also promoted. What's going on down there? And the tall footman Alfred makes yet another face like he smells something foul. Like Thomas?

Glad to know Mary's 20 minute operation in London which no one noticed or questioned has fixed the unnamed "Lady Problem". Did that problem have anything to do with Mr. Pamuk by any chance?


So now we await another 2 hour episode next week (which aired on Christmas Day in the UK). The family goes to Shrimpy's estate in Scotland for a shooting party, the staff stay back at Downton and enjoy a fall fair and we wind it up for another year. Julian Fellowes is writing Season 4 as we speak but it's a long time until next January my friends!

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Violet: What is the Scarlet Letter? It sounds most unsuitable.

Violet: You cannot want your granddaughter to grow up in a garage with that drunken gorilla?

Ethel: These days a working woman must have a skill.
Violet: But you seem to have so many!

Carson to Thomas: I do not wish to take a tour of your revolting world!

Lord Grantham: If I shouted blue murder every time someone tried to kiss me at Eton, I'd be hoarse within a month.

Matthew: Married men who wish to seduce young women always have horrid wives.


Kieran Branson: And what would I change into? A pumpkin?

Lord Grantham: Tom doesn't want me (at the christening). All that crossing and bobbing up and down. I went to a mass once in Rome. It was more like a gymnastics display. (Kieran Branson laughs)

Downton Abbey Season 3 Episode 5

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

Well, Lord Fellowes, you have made me a happy woman again with this episode. We needed time to grieve Lady Sybil's death along with the family and you gave us a full episode to do just that. I think one of the magical abilities British filmmakers have is to veer from tragedy to comedy and back again effortlessly and this week Downton Abbey did just that. They can now throw another Emmy/Bafta at Dame Maggie as she gave us both the laughs and the tears this week.

Violet: I do not speak much of the heart as it is seldom helpful to do so, but I know well enough the pain when it is broken.

Violet: I suppose she has an appropriate costume for every activity.

See what I mean? One minute I am blinking back tears, and the next she has me snorting Earl Grey tea through my nose!

Poor Mrs. Patmore. The hormones in that kitchen are getting out of control. It's like a Shakespearean comedy down there! I did love the rollicking piano playing by Jimmy and the foxtrot dancing by all of the young-uns at some point in this episode. Slow...slow...quick, quick!

Mrs. Patmore: You know the trouble with you lot? You're all in love with the wrong people!

And Mrs. Patmore's best line ever: Do I look like a frolicker?

I also loved the tender scenes between Daisy and her father-in-law at the farm. Anyone else picturing Daisy selling organic jams and whole grain bread to the grandparents of yuppies in Yorkshire?

And poor Jimmy, our new footman. Could Thomas get any creepier with that flesh coloured glove under the table and those leering smiles. Shudder!!

Jimmy: A man can choose to be different without it making him a traitor.

What kind of different do you mean Jimmy? Are  you really gay but just don't fancy Thomas? And what is up with O'Brien (of the ever changing hairstyles) stirring things up again? She needs something more wholesome to occupy her time if you ask me. Can she not take up knitting? Or the foxtrot?

Lady Cora: Is it ever over when one loses a child? Is it ever really over?

Well, these past two seeks were finally Lady Cora's time to shine. After her heartbreaking scenes last week and her thinly veiled anger at Lord Grantham this week, I am now a Cora fan. Personally I would have ripped a strip off of him after he lost all my money on a stock gamble. Nice to see her dealing with her grief in a realistic way this week. But also how lovely of Violet to step in.

Violet: Lie is so unmusical a word!

Good for Dr. Clarkson to find out that he need not lie. The truth was hard to hear but very healing for us all. Now we can just hate Lord Grantham for being a snobby bigot!

Oh, yes, Bates is free. Yay. Apparently the pie crust did it.

So let me just end with some other wonderful quotes from this week. Love them quotes!

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Violet: Grief makes one so terribly tired.

Tom Branson: My wife is dead. I'm past help.

Lord Grantham: There hasn't been a Catholic Crawley since the Reformation.

Violet: Do I count as one of the girls?

Violet: It seems a pity to miss such a good pudding.

Robert: I keep forgetting she's gone. I see things in the paper that would make her laugh. I come inside to tell her that her favourite rose is in bloom. And then suddenly...
Lady Mary: Say that to Mama, please...

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Oh, and here is a link for a Salmon Mousse recipe. I feel like I should try it since I have use of my limbs! Oooh, I found a recipe for Charlotte Russe as well. Mmmmmmmm. Yummy!

Downton Abbey Season 3 Episode 4

SPOILER ALERT! This post is intended for those who have already seen Season 3 Episode 4!

Oh, God. They really did kill Sybil! This was all over Twitter last fall and I was hoping it wasn't true, but damn you Julian Fellowes, you really killed her.

I mean all the talk at first about swollen ankles, headaches, albumin in urine..."toxemia with a danger of eclampsia". And Dr. Clarkson fighting with Sir Phillip Thingy about modern things like Cesarean sections...

You had us all worried with Sybil's muddled talking about being on nursing duty, and then you calmed us all down...never mind all that.  It's a girl! Everything is fine! Whew.

Oh, wait! Mama! She is convulsing! Dr. Clarkson! Dr. Thingy! DO SOMETHING!!!!!!!

Dowager Countess Violet: Oh, Carson...we've seen some troubles, you and I. Nothing  worse than this.

Carson: Nothing could be worse than this.

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It hardly seems worth saying that I couldn't care whether Bates ever gets out of prison now. I couldn't understand a word said in that Yorkshire prison anyway. Pie crust poison? Whatever!

Creepy one-gloved Thomas and plotting O'Brien? Who cares? Mary and Matthew squabbling? I. Could. Not. Care. Less.

Sybil is dead.

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Mrs. Hughs: Don't mind me. The sweetest spirit under this roof is gone. And I'm weeping myself.

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Downton Abbey Season 3 Episode 3

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

A bit of a quiet episode today, but hang in there- next week is a big one! This one was sort of setting up future action.

Poor Ethel the prostitute. Mrs. Hughs and Ethel keep trying to avoid that word and Cousin Isobel keeps saying it. She definitely is a...you know, what Cousin Isobel said...but Ethel is a much nicer person now than when she thought she was the bees knees in Season 2.

Isobel: She's been working as a prostitute.

Mrs. Hughs:  My my, that's not a work you hear in this house every day.

Hopefully Ethel can rebuild her life together with Mrs. Crawley. Poor little Charlie. Will his lovely grandmother be strong enough to protect him from his evil mustachioed grandfather? I rather enjoyed this story line and I hope we get to see lots of Ethel and Charlie in the future.

Violet: Edith, dear, you're a woman with a brain and reasonable ability. Stop whining and find something to do.

Yes, Violet, thank goodness you are encouraging Lady Edith to set out in a new direction. Journalism! Matthew is quite impressed I think. But Violet and Cora are not.

Violet: What do you mean you wrote to a newspaper? No lady writes to a newspaper.

Edith: What about Lady Sarah Wilson? She's the daughter of a duke and she worked as a war journalist.

Violet: Well, she's a Churchill. The Churchills are different.

Mary: Have we no Churchill blood?

Cora: I think Granny's right.

Violet: Can somebody write that down?





Wasn't Tom supposed to be the journalist in the family? Now he is just burning down the houses of Sybil's former childhood playmates. And she finally looks a little concerned about what kind of a whack-job she has actually married. Took her long enough! Although he was looking kinda sexy when he was wet and disheveled and running from the coppers...

But it looks like Tom the firebrand has to stay in England indefinitely now, so the baby will have to be born at Downton. Yay!!! Can we now find Branson something to do that doesn't involve burning down the houses of the aristocracy? Write radical newspaper articles to annoy his father-in-law?

And was anyone else slightly disappointed with Jimmy...I mean James the new footman?  I mean, he is OK looking but he's not THAT much better looking than Alfred. Oh well, if Mary and Matthew can't figure out how to conceive an heir to Downton, perhaps the new footman can be of assistance!

Mary: Well done, Carson. That must have cheered up the maids.

Violet: He looks like a footman in a musical review.

And poor Daisy has been overshadowed by the new scullery maid just when she was getting her nerve up to be "forward" with Alfred. Pooh! But good to get some new blood below stairs I suppose.

The stars of this episode were undoubtedly Mrs. Hughs' new electric toaster and the bouillon spoon.

Mr. Carson: I was worried that Mr. Branson might take it into his head to burn the house down, but I didn't think that you would.

Mrs. Hughs: No? I should never take anything for granted, Mr. Carson.

Alfred: Tea spoon, egg spoon, melon spoon, grapefruit spoon, jam spoon...

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Archbishop of York: I don't want to sound anti-Catholic

Robert: Why not? I am

Archbishop of York: Not in any real way, I'm sure

Robert: I don't want to thumbscrews or the rack, but there always seems to be something of Johnny Foreigner about the Catholics.

Gasp! I know this was almost 100 years ago, but really Mr. Fellowes! Would Lord Grantham really have said that? I guess this is foreshadowing future difficulties with his Johnny Foreigner Irish son-in-law, but really!

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Violet:  A guinea? For a bottle of scent? Did he have a mask and a gun?

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Mr. Carson: Hard work and diligence weigh more than beauty in the real world.

Violet: If only that were true.

Awwwwww...Bates and Anna are still in love and Bates is in favour with the gaol staff again. Whew!

Downton Abbey Season 3 Episode 2

SPOILER ALERT! This post is intended for those who have already seen Season 3 Episode 2!

Strallen you utter bastard! You cruel, waffling, doddery old man! Lady Edith is well shot of you. I smell a career in the future for you my dear.

Isobel:  You can help her by finding her something to do.

Hall Barn Beaconsfield (Sir Anthony Strallen's house Locksley)

Actually I was hoping she would have her moment of happiness (thumbing her nose to Lady Mary) and then Strallen would pop off on the Italian honeymoon leaving Edith as Queen of Locksley Manor. But alas, it is not to be for Edith.

Lady Edith: Hello Granny. Isn't it exciting?

Dowager Countess Violet: At my age, one must ration one's excitement.

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Dowager Countess Violet: I was rather sad you decided against Patou. I would have paid.

Cora: Lucile was safer. We don't want her looking like a chorus girl.

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Is it just me or does anyone else think that Julian Fellowes rather wishes he was a girl? In the 1920s? Living in a big Country House? The man is really in touch with his feminine side. Thank goodness, speaking as a fellowe girly girl! Sorry for that one. Couldn't resist.

The blame for this mess of course, can be laid squarely on the ever pudgier Lord Grantham and his dear mama Violet. With relatives like these, who needs enemies? At least wicked Mary is wishing her well at this point.

Speaking of wicked Mary, Matthew may be wishing for his dear, sweet Ginger Lavinia at this point.

Matthew: I'm not accusing you of faking it.

Yes, actually Matthew you were! And she is totally capable of it as you well know. But Daisy backed her up on this one. Daisy is the one who actually saved Downton Abbey. Someone give her a raise and two scullery maids to boss around!

I was glad to see that all out war had been declared between O'Brien and Thomas. And poor dopey Molesly is the pawn in their chess game. Bring it on!

It was also lovely to see Mrs. Hughs' story line resolve so sweetly. I was in tears when she spotted Carson singing to his silverware. My fave lines here were:

Mrs. Patmore: It's not cancer. It's a benign something-or-other, nothing more.

Mr. Carson: ♫ Dashing away with a smoothing iron, she stole my heart away! ♫

Greys Court, Oxfordshire (Downton House belonging to the Crawley family)

Thank goodness for Cora and Branson for pointing out that to move to "Downton House" and only need 8 servants would be heaven for anyone not as snooty as Mary or Lord Grantham. And what is this about still owning most of the village???? Boo hoo. Oh, well. Keep the gorgeous locations coming and we will forgive you, Sir Julian.

Well Chief Inspector Anna will soon have this case cracked but possibly not before Bates murders his cell mate or vice versa. And what was that thing he stuffed into the crack in the wall? A cigar butt with a knife in it or just a bit of spliffy? And what the heck has happened to Bates' bum leg? He must have been doing physio in jail as he seems to skip around that exercise yard.

Well we shall have to wait for the answers to these and other questions...as the Downton Abbey Turns.

Now Mrs. Patmore, give the tall footman some cheese before he gags on the Oysters a la Russe or some of the other "pickety bits".

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Violet: I really think you should go to bed. No bride wants to look tired at her wedding. It either means she's anxious or she's been up to no good.

Edith: I won't sleep a wink.

Sybil: Tonight or tomorrow?

Violet: Sybil, vulgarity is no substitute for wit.

Sybil: Well, you started it!