carrie.suze

Ha, last night I wanted to kick his sorry ass, Cora really has the patience of a saint when it comes to him.

Andorra

Last night's episode was not one of my favourites. Way too much Banna (snore) and the boring murder mystery no one cares about .

Baxter's revelation was okay and I thought Mrs Patmore's story was touching, but there was not nearly enough Tom or Rose in the episode as a whole.

I thought Mrs Drewe was a bit hysteric to be honest. My God, can't Edith just go out for a walk with the child?? As if a Lady of the Abbey would go and steal a little girl??

I loved the scene between Mary and Tom. That made up for a lot of boring minutes.

Bunting is really a pain in the neck. Can't she hold her mouth for ONCE?!! She wasn't even invited, but she is two minutes in the house and already insults one of the guests.

And as someone else said: All Tom does in her presence is apologizing for her. It doesn't make any sense that he is even considering her?? Why should he? She's an annoying cow and certainly not someone anyone could develop romantic feelings for. No wonder she's a spinster!

Violet was very funny this episode. The scenes with Mary were wonderful and I loved it, that for once both Isobel and Mary had the last word in an argument with her! It was about time!

HarshBench

I hope what happens next week is Sarah insults Rose and Tom gets defensive on HER behalf. Because Sarah was rather snide in the kitchen with Rose. I couldn't understand what she said but it sounded snarky and Rose looked hurt or startled.

I want some Tom and Rose and interaction like we got in 5.01. It's like they gave me a taste of something wonderful and then snatched it away! Ugh.

lassothemoon

I feel bad for Tony because she did lead him on.

Okay, don't have much time but my initial thoughts were Violet is still amazing and her scenes with Mary were probably my favorites.

I liked the Isobel/Tony scene because it does show she's made peace with Matthew being dead to an extent and Tony was very kind.

I do think Mary's going to eventually turn him loose ( the thing which I think makes her reconsider/hang on to him a bit longer is probably the fact that Blake may or may not be dating Mabel Lane Fox ), but I do not under any circumstances see her ending up with Charles Blake, because 1) He is very proud and I don't see that happening. 2) I don't think he loves her. 3) She isn't going to crawl to someone like that.

HarshBench

Napier then? Please say Napier and not Tom. Not yet another man in love with her. Just, no. I don't care who so long as it's not tom.

But the thing is yes, Mary is proud and would not go crawling to him, especially if he's with Mabel. But Charles is proud too as you said. He wouldn't go crawling to her either. In that sense they are alike. So maybe he does make sense depending on how JF chooses to play it. I don't know that he doesn't love her. I just think maybe he approaches love the way she does. It doesn't necessarily trump his pride or his own needs.

But I do not ship her with blake. Don't get me wrong.

lassothemoon

Well I'd sooner ship Mary x Tom than Mary x mr nice guy complex or Tony.

Yes, Evelyn. And if the sex with Tony was that bad let's not forget he is the only one out of the three that was stationed in France

Seriously though lewd jokes aside I believed him when Blake said his heart was intact. I think he saw her as a valuable partner but not necessarily for sentimental reasons. He thought that they would do well together which reminds me of Carlisle's proposal to be honest, and yes, he said he loved her, but it sounded more like a business arrangement than a marriage based on this idea of love. With Tony, his love reminds me more of obsession, and it doesn't really flow both ways. Whereas Evelyn does and did have an understanding of love in that he would only see it as a successful marriage if both parties felt the same way. So I don't think he would have ever put himself in that position--he's never 'pined' after her in that sense.

As far as Mary's feelings go, I honestly think the reason why she was averse to Evelyn was because in her mind he threw her over when she was 'tarnished', because boring or not she was expecting a proposal. It had nothing to do with love at that stage--he would have given her a position and it would have saved her reputation. Arguably if he had made a proposal when the scandal was brewing, she would have accepted it. However he didn't because he knew that she didn't love him and she wouldn't have been happy with him. You have to remember that she as a character hadn't heard what Evelyn told Cora, so for all she knows he could have abandoned pursuit for lack of prospects or his suspicions that something went down with Pamuk ( which she knew he knew about if she thought he was spreading rumors ). And literally the episode after that he got engaged to someone else, so I can see why she would have felt that way.

It might not have damaged their friendship irretrievably but you can imagine when he says things like he's blind where she's concerned 10 years later when she's in a much better place in society she's not going to buy it. What's kept them apart is ignorance.

JoJoF92

just saw the new ep. some thoughts, um

-I kinda reacted the same way to Mary's fling as Violet did, as I expected, we're such soulmates and it shows how old-fashioned I am. I don't approve of what she's doing either, I just don't like Tony, nor Blake..but I loved that moment of hers with Tom, even if nothing will ever happen between them, I'm happy to see them being good friends ^^
-I just keep saying "poor Edith" every episode and I'm afraid of what she might do this time in her misery..hopefully she won't do herself any harm or anything
-I really don't like that Robert & Cora's marriage seems to be falling apart I can so rarely see a long-time marriage working in shows (or in real life), but I have to admit that it's time Robert stops being so cold and focuses more on her wife's needs and interests..and I'm glad he finally realized that it wasn't Isis he was supposed to be worried about, but Cora..well, better late than never. I hope they can work things out
-I loved that scene with the Russians, I've always been interested in the Russian Revolution and I got teary when they showed the Romanov relics (it's mostly the influence of the movie Anastasia )
-Violet and Isobel's scenes are my favorites, they're really the dynamic duo. the way they're teasing each other is so enjoyable

HarshBench

i never got that impression.....that in Mary's mind Evelyn threw her over. She didn't want a proposal from him. And even though he got engaged, he broke it off and took the trouble to tell her about the letter so that she wouldn't think it was him spreading rumors.

That seemed like an encouraging sign IMO and if she were interested she might have encouraged him too. But she didn't.

If Mary has feelings for him I think they will be realized late in the game.

northboundtrain

Well...




It struck me when she was talking to Bricker that we never really hear her talk about herself or her interests before. It was a nice change of pace.


He didn't say that, though. Mary made a joke about not breaking his heart, and he returned with a joke of his own about her sounding disappointed, but he never confirmed what she said.

To me, Charles seemed quite upset (certainly, more upset than we've ever seen him), which I think Mary picked up on, which is why she apologized for hurting him. Mary's not one who apologizes lightly. The fact that she felt she had to, just from looking at Charles's face, was very telling, IMO.

HarshBench

I thought he seemed disappointed, for sure. He left it on a dignified note, or at least not a sad sack one like Tony would. But he wasn't happy.

lassothemoon

Nonetheless there's a line in the S1 scriptbook that explicitly says "This is a man who has turned her down." So that's how Fellowes intended it to be read.

It may have been encouraging to us, and I agree it was an encouraging sign, but she didn't view it as such.

Whether he broke it off on account of her isn't explicitly said. I think that it wasn't necessarily because of her, but rather he realized his heart wasn't completely in it.

I repeatedly said she doesn't have feelings for him at this stage but she didn't know about his intentions then and I really do think that affected their relationship.

And Blake was fine. He said "Are you disappointed?" I don't buy he was 'hurt' at all. Unless you mean butthurt in which case yeah he was butthurt.

He always looks pleased with himself. Pompous prats usually are.

Sunshinebright

It occurred to me that people who really dislike Blake will continue to see what they want to see rather than what is actually portrayed on screen. The Mary storyline which I enjoy, the truth is it isn't really high-stakes or high drama. Nevertheless I always appreciate some objectivity and fairness in discussing all the characters involved in that plot.
For me the excitement level of the show so far is declining. The scattered plots involving different characters seem unconnected and not that riveting in this episode.
Who wants to remember Patmore's cowardly nephew? Usually I enjoy these little side dramas but this one was too familiar to be interesting.
I really, really hate this new dynamic between Carson and Hughes. Ugh please no! They are fantastic as professional and courteous partners. This new flustering Hughes is an uncomfortable sight for me.

I don't care about Bricker although it's opening up a new dynamic in Cora and Robert's relationship. But where is this headed? I hope somewhere unexpected otherwise all this screen time given to Bricker is another non-drama.

Thomas, Baxter, Molesley have some good dynamics going although Baxter revealing her secret should have concluded last episode. Wasting one scene just for her to reveal that she was under an evil influence and for Cora to announce she wasn't going to fire her (was she really going to fire her?) was not air time well spent.

I did enjoy getting to know Cora afresh and seeing a side of her we rarely see.

The characters who are bringing the drama for me are not given anymore to push their story forward like Edith, Bunting and maybe to a small extent Isobel and Merton.
Even then these characters are sort of secondary to the main story line which I'm losing sight of more and more.
And Bates and Anna, I mean what can I say? It's a pity Fellowes feels he has to give Brendan Coyle a storyline all of his own every season but this plot interests very little! Why? because I believe it's going nowhere. We will find out that the so-called lead will not give any new evidence and we will be left with either a re-tread of his season 2 story line or a plot that will 'remain a mystery'. Who wants to see that?

Something big really needs to happen soon to blow this season open. Much of this episode was too mellow especially when compared to the last few minutes or so. I usually love listening to podcasts of each episode but this episode's plots besides Mary and Edith's plot, didn't have much to say for itself.
Looking forward to next episode. I expect I would enjoy that one more.

L i N d $ @ y

I finally got around to seeing this and I really enjoyed it. It was a hilarious ep for me actually.

So what did Mary want from Tony, sex? Of course he already proposed but because there's no date yet or if we know it's ever going to happen makes me happy. I kind of love that it was Spratt who saw them and told Violet. I also don't know why she is hiding it. It's not like they're not seeing each other and Tony is the only constant man in Mary's life right now.

My favorite duo in this ep (two duos actually): Violet/Isobel. I loved that look of Violet when a man from her past spoke up during that Russian party at Downton. I even loved it more when Isobel teased her about it in the end. Some taste of what you're doing to Isobel, Violet? My other favorite duo: Tom/Mary. God I love their scene. They both knew about Tony & Sarah and in the end of their conversation, if they do love each other then they will support each other whatever their decision will be. Mary/Tom FTW!

Rose, meh. Storyline having to do with Russians. Not enough Thomas as well but his father is ill and so...? I just want Jimmy back.

I knew Cora wouldn't fire Baxter. Knowing the entire story wasn't really going to change her mind. For a moment I thought she was going to fire her because she was upset about Robert.

I kind of like the vibe going off with Bricker/Cora. But Robert was a git about thinking they had something else. I think I'm going to go side with Cora/Bricker for now just so Robert wakes up and realizes that he really doesn't give a crap about his wife's opinions most of the time. I don't want Robert/Cora to break up but they need some shaking up in their relationship right now. No, I don't want the Jane kind to happen to them again because that was really unfair. But if Robert doesn't make an effort (and I can't believe I'm saying this), Cora should leave him.

Poor Edith (again!). This was expected though. Mrs. Drewe was going to reach her boiling point and in fairness to her, Edith was treading too much. I just hope Mrs. Drewe finds out all about it already but I fear once she does find out, it will be sad.

I find myself agreeing to Carson when Mrs. Hughes tried to speak to him about the memorial for Mrs. Patmore's niece. It's unfair and yes he was family but he didn't exactly die honorably.

Oh Bates. I got lost how the police asked to question him but as of now, all evidence points to him. I don't think it was him (and honestly I really want this SL dead) and it may be another person and Green is probably implicating Bates since he knows he's Anna's husband.

I also loved the Tony/Isobel scene. I can feel that while Isobel is not fond of him, she respects him. And that's all there is to it.

Big LOL moment: Sarah Bunting. That's all I'm gonna say.

Next week, CHARLES BLAKE Y'ALL. And Mabel Fox.

ClaireK80

Yes, I agree. But I also think Charles... I don't know how to put it, but I don't think he will immediately fall at Mary's feet just because she has dumped Tony, even if he's still into her.

Exactly.

TBH, I'd like to see Mary break up with Tony and then realise that maybe she can't have Charles either.

I still enjoy this show immensely, but I agree.
The various storylines do feel disjointed, which is probably inevitable with so many characters and storylines, it's not like they can all be connected. But at least S4 was focused on this "Mary recovers from Matthew death" arc (no matter if you liked it or not), while in s5 no storyline seems central so far.
I also agree that something big needs to happen. I know that many disliked Anna's rape storyline in S4, and indeed it could've been handled better, but the truth is, around episode 5 or 6, when people started to understand something was wrong with Anna, and it was clear Green was going to pay for what he'd done, I couldn't wait to see what would happen next.
Now, I'm not very excited by any of the storylines... but we'll see.

Andorra

We always had something big happening in the middle of the series and so it will this series, too.

Series 1: Pamuk (Episode 4)
Series 2: Matthew's injury (Episode 5)
Series 3: Sybil's death (Episode 5)
Series 4: Anna's rape (Episode 3)

This can be said the other way round, too. It's not as if the Blake-lovers are in any way more objective than the Blake-haters.

Personally, I think he's an arrogant little man and Tony is a sad sack and I wouldn't mind to see the back of both of them. But luckily I don't care. If Mary is going to marry one of them, she has my compassion, but that's it.

I do! I loved Mrs Patmore's storyline in the last episode! It was one of the best things in the episode.

Bunting is bringing "the drama" for you? For me she is just bringing annoyance again and again. Certainly no drama. I hope we'll see the back of her forever next episode. The moment can't come early enough!