'Downton Abbey': Let's Discuss Series 4, Episode 6

Isis alert! (Photo: Courtesy of ©Nick Briggs/Carnival Film and Television Limited 2013 for MASTERPIECE)
Isis alert! (Photo: Courtesy of ©Nick Briggs/Carnival Film and Television Limited 2013 for MASTERPIECE)

Previously, on Downton Abbey: Evelyn Napier and his horrible boss Mr. Blake arrive at Downton for a visit, Alfred learns he did make it into Top Chef School after all, which means Molesley gets a job at last, the only story they can think of to do with the Dowager Countess is about whether she’s being robbed by a staff member, Rose brings in Jack Ross’ band to play for Robert’s birthday and then sneaks a kiss with him in the basement, Bates and Anna go on a date and, oh, Edith’s pregnant.  Dun dun dunnn.

Never a dull moment on Downton, am I right? Onward to this week! 

Robert is Going to America! Bates barges into Mrs. Hughes’ office to announce that Robert’s going to America. The ostensible purpose of this trip is to visit Plot Point Brother Harold – previously mentioned multiple times last episode – Bates is not into this plan because he doesn’t think he can leave Anna on her own to go valet for Robert across the pond. Meanwhile, Robert’s busy ranting to Cora about the Plot Point Harold situation and is all kinds of mad that Martha’s making him come all the way to America to help out with it. 

Mrs. Hughes tries to enlist Mary’s help to convince Robert that he doesn’t need to take Bates with him on this trip, because it would be very hard for Anna to lose his support just now. Deploying her best snooty demeanor Mary says that the Crawleys are nice employers, but they do expect to get what they pay for and Bates’ entire job is to be Robert’s valet.  Mary wants to know what’s up with this request in the first place and what sort of special circumstances they’re dealing with.  Mrs. Hughes says it’s not her secret to tell, which is usually code for she’s totally going to tell her in the next five minutes.

Meanwhile, Bates is ranting in the Boot Room of No Return about how he just won’t go with Robert and is getting kind of ragey. Anna says that he’ll lose his job if he doesn’t and then breaks down crying in the hallway. I remain confused about how this America trip is such a game changer.  Robert’s going to be gone, what – a couple of weeks? A month, tops? It’s not like they’re crossing the Atlantic in order to head off on the Oregon Trail. He's just visiting America, he's not actually colonizing it.  (It’s possibly I’m just an awful person, but there you have it. Unpopular opinions are what I do.) 

Crisis Averted, However. Mary goes to see her father to ask whether he can’t take Thomas along to America as his valet, since he’s done the job before, back when Bates was in prison. Robert’s wants to know why Mary is pushing this so hard, but she says he can’t explain it. Mary wins out in the end and convinces Robert to let Bates off the hook. Bates, who’s shocked at Mary’s handiwork, asks what she’s been told. Turns out that Mrs. Hughes told her what happened to Anna in order to convince her to help.  Poor Mrs. Hughes has had to tell this secret to the whole house, practically. 

This is Probably Supposed to Be Foreshadowing.  Violet comes up to the house to see Robert off on his trip to America, which is apparently happening at lightning speed. She’s coughing rather obviously, so I hope you’re all paying attention.  She heads into the library, where Napier, Blake, Tom and Edith are all discussing the impending arrival of those pigs they’ve decided to farm at Downton. (Yes, that’s an actual sentence I just typed. This season, man.) Edith quite seems to like Mr. Blake, precisely because he doesn’t like Mary. Isobel also shows up, and Cora takes the time to sweet talk Robert a bit about how awesome he is for going to bail out Plot Point Brother Harold. Robert says goodbye to the guests and his family and seriously this whole scene feels like he’s moving to America at this point. He’s coming back, y’all! Chill! (It’s almost worth it for the moment where Robert cuddles Isis, but really, this feels like overkill.)

The minute Robert’s car pulls away, though, the Dowager Countess drops her everything’s just fine act that nobody bought at all thanks to her constant coughing. Turns out she’s rather ill but that she wanted to send Robert off before he figured that out. I guess just in case she drops dead while Robert is on his apparently endless trip to America. Isobel offers to come back to the Dower House with her, but Violet says that’s the last thing she wants. She looks awful y’all, so this is not okay at all.  

Blake Versus Mary, Round Ninety. After Robert departs, Blake and Mary start going at it again about his grand survey of the neighborhood great estates. Mary wants to know if the reason these estates are failing is just because they don’t have enough money to keep them going.  Blake says that’s part of it, but it’s also because so few of the owners made the most of what an estate has to offer, claiming that no one ever thought about income or adjusting their ways of life in response to a changing world. Mary argues that he has to consider what those people are used to. Blake doesn’t care, insisting that those people have to understand it’s time for them to get used to something different.  He says the owners must face up to the fact that to farm an estate is hard work, or they don’t deserve to keep what they have. Napier pops out of nowhere and attempts to smooth things over, but Blake’s just rude to him too.  He says they’ll have to go right now or be late for whatever meeting they have next. Mary looks furious, poor Napier just looks awkward and I wish I weren’t 100% convinced Mary’s going to end up somehow romantically involved with this Blake jerk, who isn’t a tenth of the person Napier is, let alone Matthew. 

Tom and Isobel = BFFs. Tom drives Isobel home and it suddenly looks like Isobel lives MUCH further away than I previously expected because this trip takes kind of a while. She asks Tom about his life outside the abbey and he says he doesn’t have much of one. Isobel asks what happened to his politics since she, like the rest of us, was forced to sit through his endless rantings about socialism and Ireland and whatever else back in Series 2 and 3. Tom says his politics have mostly vanished these days, largely because he doesn’t have time. Isobel doesn’t believe that and suggests he go along with her to see an MP speak the next day in Ripon. Tom finally agrees and I’m reminded again how sweet this growing friendship between he and Isobel actually is. After all, they’re both peripheral members of the Crawley clan brought in by marriage who both lost the very thing that held them to the family in the first place. (Well, the major thing. There’s always the kids.) But it’s nice to see the two of them growing closer, since they have so much in common and are in such a similar place vis a vis the rest of the family. Who better to understand what Tom’s going through than Isobel, who’s sort of going through the same thing? (Not quite, obviously, but it’s close.) Their friendship is one of my absolute favorite things about this season. 

Edith’s Trials Continue. Edith asks Cora whether she can go up to London the next day.  Her mother wants to know if there’s been word about Missing Boyfriend Gregson.  Edith says all they know is he arrived in Munich and signed into his hotel, went out for the evening and never came back.  Cora tries to be comforting, insisting that if something horrible had happened then someone would have told them by now. She says it’ll do Edith good to go to London, and we all have an awkward moment of how not true that probably is, given what we know about Edith that she doesn’t.  Edith asks if her mother thinks she’s a bad person (clearly because of her terrible luck) and Cora actually does some parenting and says that everyone has bad feelings, but that doesn’t make her a bad person. 

Rose’s Primary Plot Happens Again. Because this is literally the only plot point that ever happens for Rose ever, as soon as she finds out Edith’s planning to go to London, she rushes to ask Cora if she can go too. Did you know that Rose loves London? Cora’s not so into this, arguing that in a few months Rose will be presented and then she’ll have a lot more options for fun.  Rose, because she is really, really good at this, convinces Cora that she just wants to see some old friends and she’ll be able to work on cheering Edith up at the same time. Cora laughs and gives in because one responsible moment of parenting a day is apparently all she can handle. 

Mary and Napier Take a Walk. Mary and Napier go out for a stroll around the Downton grounds. Mary is wearing that dreadful coat that looks like a man’s dressing gown and I just wish someone would burn it. Sadly, they are not talking about how perfect they are for each other, but rather about stupid Mr. Blake. I am despair. Mary says she doesn’t understand why he always has to be so superior.  Napier says Blake’s just frustrated by all the families who are giving in and won’t fight back. He tells her that Blake thinks she’s aloof and wouldn’t fight for Downton if it came down to it. Mary’s quite taken aback by all this and says she hopes Napier stuck up for her.  He says of course he did, but he’s not sure how much good it did since Blake thinks he’s blind where Mary’s concerned. Mary makes this face like she’s only just now realized that Napier is totally into her and says they should head back to the house. Meanwhile, at my house, I’m banging my head on the table. 

Mary Knows Anna’s Secret. Anna’s helping Mary get ready for bed. They discuss how Blake is obnoxious and how Mary is really a little bit aloof actually and then Anna says she heard that Mary’s the one who persuaded Robert to let Bates stay behind.  She’s very grateful. Mary fesses up that Mrs. Hughes told her what happened to Anna, and asks again if they couldn’t possibly find out who it was that attacked her. Anna repeats her lie about it being a random person, and Mary’s all awkwardly helpful, asking if she shouldn’t Dr. Clarkson and couldn’t describe the man to someone, somehow. Anna says she’s glad there’s honesty between them again, but she really doesn’t want to talk about what happened to her. Mary insists that she wants to help, and we’re reminded for the first time in a long time how sweet – and uncommon – the friendship between the two of them really is. Mary says Anna’s helped her in the past (remember the Pamuk Incident?) and she wants to do the same for her. It’s very sweet.  Anna reiterates that she  just can’t talk about it, not even to her. 

Alfred Writes Home. Alfred sends Carson a letter, telling him all about Top Chef School. He says he’s doing well and that the French instructor with the unpronounceable name likes him. He also informs Team Downstairs that his father is ill and therefore he’ll be coming up for a visit and hopes to be able to stop by and see everyone on his way in. Ivy gets stupidly excited at this prospect, I guess because she’s realized what a waste of space Jimmy is at last, and Daisy gives her a death glare and asks why she cares. Oh, good, I was legitimately worried that we wouldn’t get to see Daisy and Ivy fighting over Alfred ever again some more. Thank goodness that crisis has been averted! 

Later, Mrs. Patmore and Mrs. Hughes suggest to Carson that perhaps Alfred coming to visit is not a great idea because it’ll just start things off again between Ivy and Daisy in the kitchen. Ha, and you thought this pointless storyline about girls fighting over the generally worthless kitchen staff was over. Psych!! 

Violet is Ill, and the World is Darker For It. Later that night, we cut to the Dower House, where Violet’s well and truly ill and wheezing in bed. Isobel just barges right on into her bedroom, because, well at this point I just assume everyone’s accepted that’s just what Isobel does.  She says something told her to come check on Violet and she’s glad she did because she looks terrible. Isobel says she’s going to fetch Dr. Clarkson immediately, over the Dowager’s objections about not wanting any fuss.

Dr. Clarkson, who is, let us not forget, the Worst Doctor in the World, diagnosis Violet with bronchitis.  This means she could have anything from cancer to a broken leg, really, but let’s just go with it. Clarkson says that he doesn’t have a nurse to spare because of the current flu outbreak or whatever, so Isobel volunteers to stay with the Dowager and do whatever is needed.  “Whatever is needed” eventually involves Isobel being forced to stay up all night with Violet, because the Worst Doctor in the World says her temperature can’t go any higher. Violet’s semi-coherent and babbling about how she wants a different nurse, and Dr. Clarkson pretty much appears to do nothing, as per usual.  Isobel gets all Britishly stoic about it, saying that the Crawleys took her in when they didn’t have to and says she owes them. 

The Ladies’ Adventures in London.  Rose and Edith go to see Aunt Rosamund. Rose tells everyone she has to run some nondescript errands that are so vague they’re clearly a cover for some other kind of plot. They just let her go off because that’s basically what happens with Rose. Seriously I can’t decide if Rose is really some kind of insane genius or the rest of her family is too idiotic to live. Rosamund tries to get Edith to tell her what’s wrong, but she just tells her she’ll be away the next evening and her aunt’s not allowed to tell Cora.  Rosamund dislikes this request, insisting that it puts her in a disloyal position where Edith’s parents are concerned. Edith insists that she’s a grown woman and can do what she wants. Rosamund puts her Sherlock Holmes hat on and says the last time she had to not tell her mother something, Edith had been with Gregson, so it certainly can’t be a repetition of that. Edith breaks down crying and Rosamund comforts her. 

Rose Goes on Her Errands. Rose’s vague “errands” turn out to be riding around in a rowboat with everyone’s favorite singer Jack Ross. Rose – who is wearing a darling outfit – says she’s so pleased to see him because she keeps worrying he’ll forget about her.  He says he couldn’t ever forget her, but then decides that floating in a stream under a bridge is the totally perfect time to have the Relationship Talk. He says he likes her very much, but doesn’t know what she thinks can come out of them spending time together. Rose wants to know why they can’t just be in the moment, since neither of them knows anyone like the other. She just wants to enjoy their time together. Jack asks what the Crawleys would think of her spending time with him, and Rose doesn’t care. Instead, she demands that he take her to the club that night. Then they end up kissing in the boat for a while the dramatic music gets super dramatic, so we know something of import is happening. 

Edith Finally Tells Someone Her Secret. Edith, who has finally stopped crying, tells Rosamund about her pregnancy, claiming that she doesn’t know if she’s more scared of the baby of the thought that something’s happened to Gregson. Rosamund asks what wants to do about all this.  Edith, who looks tormented, says that she’s decided not to keep the baby. Her aunt says she’ll support her whatever she decides to do, even though Edith gets kind of snide about it and says that people never mean it when they say that, questioning whether she and her illegitimate child would be welcome in her drawing room.  Rosamund wants to know what she’ll tell Gregson when he comes back and Edith says she’ll never mention it to him, ever. Her aunt tells her that means that once he’s returned she’ll be building her whole life with him on a lie. Edith says she’s thought about that a lot and looks distraught.  Rosamund figures out that Edith’s going to be away for a night because that’s when she’s going to have the abortion.  She asks where she found someone to perform the procedure and points out that it is both illegal and dangerous. Rosamund looks deeply unhappy, but says that if Edith’s made up her mind, then she’ll just have to go with her. (Rosamund is so awesome, y’all.)

No Rest for The Wicked (Or, Seriously, We Are Never Escaping This Kitchen Storyline.)  Does Julian Fellowes owe Ed Speleers money? Honest question. Jimmy is the most worthless character they’ve ever had. Anyway. Down in the kitchen, Jimmy’s trying to get Ivy to talk to him, which I guess she’s decided to stop doing after their date of inappropriate handsy-ness.  Jimmy, because he is everyone’s dream man, defends himself by saying he only asked for what a million men would have asked for.  Carson, watching this, decides that perhaps the ladies are right and tells Mrs. Hughes he’ll meet Alfred at the train station, buy him a drink and send him on his way, without ever letting him get to Downton, even if it means putting him up at the pub instead. Mrs. Hughes advises him to tell Alfred that there’s flu in the house, as an excuse.  Carson is impressed by Mrs. Hughes’ plotting skillz.

Alfred, because he is a trusting person, believes Carson’s story, especially when he lays it on kind of thick about how Alfred really can’t risk missing anymore of his course when he started late.  Carson’s sporting a fairly awesome  jaunty hat and says that they can have a drink man to man before he heads back up to the house. Meanwhile, back in the kitchen wear dreams go to die, Daisy is curious about why Alfred’s changed his plans to visit and Ivy’s disappointed. Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Patmore play it off like champions, but the girls end up fighting anyway. Daisy doesn’t know what right Ivy has to be sad about not seeing Alfred since she made his life a misery before he left.  

The Pigs Arrive and Cause Some Drama. Blake comes down to join Cora and Mary before dinner. A dinner which, it unfortunately turns out, will just be the three of them, since Violet’s ill, Robert’s en route to America, Tom’s at a political meeting and Napier’s visiting some friends of his parents. How…lovely. (Sidebar: Mary’s purple dress is incredibly gorgeous.).  Mary immediately gets rudely snarky with him, because Mary is awesome.  Blake is nonplussed by her attitude. He is, for some reason, quite curious about the arrival of the infamous pigs and says that after dinner they should all take a walk to go see them. Cora demurs, but Mary agrees to go. 

The two walk all the way down to see the pigs, still in their dinner finery, as Mary explains that their plan is to see how this batch of pigs do, and expand from there.  There’s some trauma at the pig pen though, when it turns out that the animals have kicked their water trough over and several of them are basically passed out on the ground already from dehydration. This seems rather biologically impossibly if the pigs only arrived several hours prior, but let’s just go with it. I mean, if you think about it, the Crawleys are absolutely the kind of people who would manage to buy pigs that could dehydrate themselves to death in a day. Of course they are. Blake shucks his jacket and leaps into the pig pen, Mary offers to go fetch the pig man or run back up to the house for assistance. Blake says there’s no time for that and starts looking about for the closest source of water.  He says when they’ve been without water for so long, you have to give it to them gradually, so the two of them grab buckets and head off to a water pipe in the barn. 

Tom Goes to a Political Meeting, Meets a Nice Girl.  Tom arrives at his political meeting – what it’s about is unclear – and there’s a kind of awkward moment with a  girl in a pretty fun hat about whether or not he can sit next to her (Yes, insert your Mean Girls GIFs here, internet.) The two of them end up chatting during the talk and get shushed by an old guy behind them.

After the meeting concludes, Tom walks out still chatting to Hat Girl. He’s apparently forgotten the part about meeting women that encourages you to, I don’t know, ask what their name is. Instead, he goes on about his past life as a socialist and says he doesn’t know what he is anymore, except a man in search of a better world. (There’s an interesting bit of duality going on here in Tom could be talking about both his politics and his current life with the Crawleys, and it’s neat.) Here’s hoping this Tom storyline is actually going to go somewhere. Hat Girl asks if he would ever go back to Ireland and Tom says no. He tells her thanks for the seat and goodnight and leaves and we still have no idea what her name is. Good job, Tom!

How is this Pig Subplot Even A Real Thing? Sometime later – which we know because it has gotten dark - Blake and Mary are still filling water buckets for the dehydrated pigs because either they are putting seven drops of water in each bucket or the pigs’ trough holds roughly the Atlantic Ocean. Goodness. They’re both covered in mud and dirt and look dreadful, and Mary even manages to get her shoe stuck and fall down in the mud because this whole pig business is a metaphor for her willingness to fight for Downton or something ridiculous like that.    

After what is apparently a tremendous long time, the two sit down together and observe the pigs. Blake thinks that they’ll all be okay now since they’ve brought them an ocean of water, but plans to sit and watch them for a bit longer. Mary says she’ll stay too because they’re her pigs after all. I’m banging my head on the table because this subplot is so stupid. Mary’s shivering, because she’s covered with mud and water from the approximate 17 million bucket-carrying trips, and Blake gives her his coat.  The two of them chat for a minute about how dirty they must be before they actually end up throwing mud at each other and laughing. This is clearly supposed to be charming and cute or whatever, but it reminds me of nothing so much as that kid in fourth grade who shows that he likes a girl by pulling her hair. Juvenile. 

Late Night Snacks. Sometime later (again) back at Downton, Mary and Blake have somehow cleaned themselves up a bit – they’re still dirty, but now it looks more artful, at any rate – and Mary’s making them scrambled eggs in the kitchen in gratitude for Blake’s new role as savior of the pigs. (No , really, there’s actually a joke about him saving their bacon.)  He’s impressed that she cooked for him, but Mary says about all she can do is scramble eggs. (Given that Sybil seemed to have some concerns about the process for boiling water a couple seasons ago, this really probably is quite an accomplishment.) They discuss how they’ve both learned new things about each other during this evening, and Blake says he’s happy about that. Mary wonders what everyone thought the two of them had been doing, since they’ve been out all night and no one bothered to come look for them. Before this unfortunate train of conversation can go any further, the two of them are interrupted by Ivy, who’s come down to start getting the kitchen ready for the day. After a tremendously awkward beat where we learn that Mary doesn’t know Ivy’s name, she and Blake say good night. Mary does a great job of trying to play it off like it’s not at all weird that she’s down in the kitchen with a man alone in the early hours of the morning, but no one’s buying it. 

Edith’s Decision. The next morning, Edith and Rosamund arrive at the nondescript building where she’s scheduled to have an abortion. Rosamund clearly hates the building and is afraid the doctor won’t really be a doctor at all. Edith tells her aunt that she doesn’t have to stay with her, but Rosamund says that’s nonsense. Edith, who looks very small and drawn, says that she loves Gregson and would love his child too, but she just can’t see her way over the top of this situation. She says she doesn’t want to be an outcast or just some relation that no one ever talks about out of shame. She says Rosamund must think she’s terribly selfish. Her aunt, who clearly got all the awesome points for this episode, tells her not to put words in her mouth. She says, very honestly, that she doesn’t know what to think; she just wishes it were over. Edith says that she’ll never be able to face the Downton nursery again after this, not with her sisters’ children there. She then manages to catch a glimpse of the doctor talking with another patient who’s presumably there for the same purpose and gets very upset. The music swells and Edith turns and gathers her things. She tells the nurse that she’s very sorry, but this was all a mistake and rushes out.

Back at Rosamund’s, Edith’s packing up to return to Downton. Rose is furious because she’d made plans for the evening, thinking that they’d still be in town, and stomps off. Rosamund asks whether Edith plans to tell Cora about her condition. She says she expects she’ll have to at some point, but doesn’t know when. Her aunt volunteers to come be with her when it’s time for that conversation. She says she is certain there’s a way forward for all of them. Edith, a bit bitterly, remarks that the decision’s been made now and looks forlorn. Ugh, poor Edith. 

Oh, Good, Gillingham Again. The next morning, Cora breaks the news to Mary and the boys (Tom, Napier and Blake) that Super Stalker Lord Gillingham will be paying yet another completely unsolicited visit to Downton, staying the night on his way up north. Hurrah. (Gag.) Turns out Blake actually knows Gillingham already, and the two of them served together during the war. Napier informs Mary that Blake’s got a much higher opinion of her now, and he’s pleased, only it’s a shame as it increased the competition for him. (Team Napier!) Mary sighs and looks anxious and why on earth she can’t seem to figure out that Napier is darling is mind-boggling. 

Alfred Pops By Anyway. Surely you’ve already guessed that we wouldn’t manage to make it through this episode without some more pointless kitchen staff drama, right? Alfred pops by Downton to say hello to everyone on his way to catch the train. Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Patmore hilariously try to convince him they have the flu, but Daisy keeps blowing their cover. Ivy, now having discovered what a jerk Jimmy is, is basically throwing herself at Alfred, telling him how wonderful it is to see him and how much she’s missed him and grinning and making cow eyes at him. Alfred, who is an idiot, is totally into this. Daisy, who is furious, is trying to kill Ivy with laser beams from her eyes.  Ivy tells Alfred we aren’t privy to, and he replies that she’s given him a lot to think about. She stares after him with a huge grin. 

Meanwhile, Back at the Dower House. Isobel has spent the better part of two days tending to Violet, and sits up with her at night to try and keep her from getting pneumonia. Violet, who’s been out of it for most of that time, did a lot of moaning about feeling terrible and hating her nurse. The Dowager finally turns the corner and both Isobel and Dr. Clarkson are super pleased.  Violet also learns from Clarkson how much Isobel did for her while she was sick, and is actually kind about it. Isobel’s grinning when Violet accepts her offer to come back up and sit with her that night, and offers to bring some cards.

Later the two ladies do sit up playing gin, and Maggie Smith and Penelope Wilton are just adorable together, particularly when Violet realizes that gin is actually a game that takes quite a bit of time to play. Despair! 

Gillingham Returns. Whyyyy. Horrible Rapist Green barges into the servants’ breakfast, which is how we know that he and his Super Stalker boss have returned. Molesley and Jimmy want to know if he’ll get up any more of those card games while he’s there, Mrs. Hughes is glaring death at him, and Anna looks dreadfully upset when she finds him in the kitchen. It’s so obvious that something happened between them that I’m amazed Bates just doesn’t murder him in front of everyone on principle. Anna makes some excuse to run away immediately.

Meanwhile, Mary meets Gillingham on the staircase. She looks quite happy to see him, and the two make small talk for a minute, which basically involves Gillingham telling her how much he’s been missing her, because stalker.  Mary asks after his fiancée and that’s awkward.  She then proceeds to tell him about why Napier and Blake are staying with them, and Gillingham’s primary contribution to the conversation is an admonition that Mary shouldn’t get to liking Blake better than him. They reach the drawing room and Blake and Gillingham are reunited. They chat a bit about Blake’s report and Gillingham asks after the future of Downton and the two of them take a minute to wax poetic about how awesome Mary is. (This just makes me miss Matthew a lot, y'all. I can't say I'm terribly invested in either of these guys as suitors for Mary. Yuck.) 

Mrs. Hughes is My Everything. Mrs. Hughes follows Horrible Rapist Green down to the Boot Room That Everyone Visits Now. She’s all sorts of righteously furious and tells him that she knows who he is and what he’s done. She says if he values his life he should keep himself well out of everything while he’s at Downton. Green tries to act as though he and Anna got drunk and made some poor choices last time he was there, but Mrs. Hughes is not having any of that, declaring that he was the only one responsible for what he did. Green asks if Bates knows and Mrs. Hughes admits that he doesn’t know that it was him who attacked Anna. Green thanks her for keeping that part of the story quiet and Mrs. Hughes says she’s not kept quiet for his sake, so he can keep his thanks to himself. 

That night at dinner, Green, who apparently has a death wish, starts talking to Baxter about his last trip to Downton and seeing Dame Nellie Melba sing and how much he couldn’t stand her voice. He goes on at some length about how he had to flee down to the kitches to escape the racket and get some peace and quiet and it seems for all the world like he’s deliberately baiting Bates, who’s across from him at the table. Mrs. Hughes and Anna exchange anxious looks, Bates glares at Green ominiously and the tinkly music of tension picks up and you can practically see Bates thinking KILL KILL KILL. I assume we're meant to think that Bates has figured out what happened now, but maybe not? Guess we'll have to wait and see next week. (Really, what a shot to end an episode on!)

Whew. Another week, another bunch of drama! What'd you think? Hit the comments. 


Lacy Baugher

Lacy's love of British TV is embarrassingly extensive, but primarily centers around evangelizing all things Doctor Who, and watching as many period dramas as possible.

Digital media type by day, she also has a fairly useless degree in British medieval literature, and dearly loves to talk about dream poetry, liminality, and the medieval religious vision. (Sadly, that opportunity presents itself very infrequently.) York apologist, Ninth Doctor enthusiast, and unabashed Ravenclaw. Say hi on Threads or Blue Sky at @LacyMB. 

More to Love from Telly Visions