L i N d $ @ y

Same here. Aside from Rose I was hoping it was Madeline from the S4 CS.

From The Imitation Game premiere in London.




@ImitationGameUK:
Codebreaker and confidant, @Allenleech is the latest recruit from Bletchley Park #LFF #ImitationGame


@ImitationGameUK:
#ImitationSelfie "@BFI Family portrait from the #ImitationGame team #LFF"

carrie.suze

Thanks for the premiere pics Lindsay, saw the cast holding on to their brolly's on the news this morning, ha, lovely weather for it.

L i N d $ @ y

Here are more pics. Allen was wearing Armani.




Downton Abbey's Allen Leech puts on a dapper display at The Imitation Game premiere | Daily Mail Online

Andorra

I loved this episode! Finally Tom told Sarah Bunting that she is hurting him by fighting with Robert all the time. And of course she didn't respect his feelings again. She just couldn't let go even after Robert admitted she was right about Daisy.

So finally Tom has realized that agreeing on political things is not enough. He loves the family and they love him. Robert apologized to him and he meant it. And I loved it what we saw in the preview: "You don't realize: My child is one of them."

Exactly! She is half Irish and half English. Her mother was "one of them" and Tom loved her. Sybil did not marry him to escape from her family, she married him because she loved him. Would she have married him if he had been posh, too? I think she would have. She would never have led an idle life without purpose and without helping others, but she didn't marry Tom just to escape the system and her family. She dearly loved her family and that was the reason she waited so long to give him an answer.

I think Tom is right. I hate ideologies period. Yes, it is wrong to see the aristocracy through rose tinted glasses and pretend the class system was better than it was, but it is also wrong to idolize a "working class life" in 1924 IMO. There were good and bad people in all classes and the oh-so-good working class life was hard with long days and far from romantic.

I can fully understand why Tom stayed at Downton. He has security for his daughter, he has an interesting job. He will be able to give Sybbie a great education, which is what I think he will want for her. He has people who love her and will always be good to her. She is growing up with George as if he was her brother. She is a happy child in a good environment. He would be selfish and stupid to leave.

L i N d $ @ y

What I didn't like is that it took (or it seems to be that way) Sarah for him to realize all this? He doesn't need someone else to remind him of what he used to be or what he missed. There are other ways to be political if he wants to be. I have to say that dinner scene was difficult to watch (though I loved everyone's shocked faces, haha). For a while I thought he was going to end up apologizing again but it was Robert this time which was warranted.

Andorra

Not here to gloat, but I'm beyond happy this awful Sarah Bunting storyline is FINALLY over!

Finally I can enjoy the show again and finally we can see Tom in other scenes than squirming and apologizing for that awful woman!

What I found completely unbelievable was that he even had to think about his "decision" when we never saw never any attraction or feelings from his side.

And Sarah said she "loved" him? Excuse me if I laugh, but she has a weird way of showing that. He told her repeatedly that he loves his family. He asked her to go easy on them and she never did even try. And she seriously asked him then if he doesn't "despise" them?

No! How often shall he repeat it? Are you deaf?

Oh and then she hoped they would have met before he came to the Crawleys. As if Tom would ever be sorry for meeting Sybil! Sorry of loving her, marrying and having Sybbie with her?

But what will happen with Tom now? 4 episodes left and no love interest on the horizon. No one was announced to join the show who would fit the description.

That is actually very sad, because I think Tom finally needs someone to love again. Someone lovely.

I was hoping for Rose, but it looks like that hope got crushed this week, since Atticus is Jewish. No we have a "flaw" in the eyes of society and he WILL be the unsuitable man that Shrimpy has to stand up for against Susan. I was hoping that was going to be Tom and Atticus just a red herring.

Sad, but who will it be then? I can't believe JF will have Tom end yet another series alone and lonely? Why?

I hope he won't be paired with either of the sisters. I love his relationship with Mary and I'm very much looking forward to next week, where it looks as if Edith is going to confide in him about Marigold.

But I don't want neither Edith or Mary to be paired with Tom. It would be lazy and OOC for all three of them.

Well, maybe we get someone in the CS who we don't know about so far. It doesn't have to be a real storyline this series, but at least a little glimpse into the future at the end of the series? I really need that!

L i N d $ @ y

I'm happy that Sarah is gone too but her saying she loved him seemed off to me. Like when did that happen?

I get that she reminded him of his revolutionary ways but I would have preferred the character to be likable and the problem with Sarah was I tried but I just can't seem to like her at all. With 4 episodes to go, I'm hopeful that Tom will find someone really nice and likeable this time around.

baileycat

Blown away from the awesomeness with that episode! The kiss was so sweet. Tom showed her how much he appreciated Sarah and how much she will be missed. She clearly was a HUGE influence to him and I have never been more proud to call myself a Sarah supporter. Hopefully this means good news for Tom and his confidence now. Without Sarah, he would still be that insecure shadow of himself. *sigh* I can't stop smiling today. Its been everything that I could ever have hoped for. Sarah was exactly what Tom needed find himself again. And I will be forever grateful just as he is to her.


That sweet smile says it all.

L i N d $ @ y

Very nice interview I have just read of Matthew Goode & Allen for The Imitation Game:

Good Wife’s Finn, Downton’s Tom on Cumberbatch -- Vulture

Andorra

not worth it.

HarshBench

I do agree Sarah was a good influence on Tom. He is standing up to Robert now, admitting that he is still a progressive and not ashamed to say it. That's a good thing and IMO the only good thing about the story.

They dragged it out way too long. That didn't need to take eight episodes or three awkward dinners at the house. And his sudden interest in her didn't ring true to me. He never seemed physically attracted to her. Rose had to reconnect them (he never sought her out).

She was a connection to his old self and views, and that was about it in the long run. Which is fine because again I am glad that he feels on more solid ground now. But he did choose them over her (he said so). She never stopped hating them. He told her she did in one of their final scenes, and she didn't even deny it.

So yes, she reminded him who he is and was but he still doesn't see things as she does. He doesn't see things in black and white. He can maintain ties with the family and take their side into account without abandoning his own principles or losing his sense of self.

Andorra

Way too long. 8 episodes that where we only got incredibly boring scenes between them! They never had the slightest chemistry.
When she confessed her "love" for him, he looked away embarrassed.
He gave her a pity kiss, but even that didn't ring true to me.

No, I'm so glad it is over. Worst storyline EVER!

And I'm happy our gut feeling about her was right all along!

carrie.suze

Loved reading that, thanks Lindsay. I like Matthew Goode as well, he'd fit right in at Downton, I'm thinking another suitor for Mary, or even Rose, he'd beat all the others hands down for me, ha, just wishful thinking.

puffball7

That storyline was a ridiculously boring drag that could easily have been completed in 4 or 5 episodes. It just got irritating in the end. The scenes were all the same, just a variation on a theme.

But our gut reaction back in series 4 was that Bunting was a plot device, and it proved to be true, it's pleasing when you get something like that right. As a plot device for enabling Tom to come back to himself and understand that he can still be true to himself whilst belonging to the family, I salute her, she served her purpose, albeit in a rather longwinded manner.

"Hard" decision that Tom made didn't seem to fit though, you're right, there was no previous evidence that he had any interest in her, the only interest he had was on a purely friendship base that came from shared political views. So...yeah that seemed to come out of nowhere.

I actually found their farewell scene cringeworthy, I never thought I'd say that about a Tom scene, but there you go. When she said she loved him, I couldn't help but think, if that's the way she treats people she loves, I wouldn't like to be on her bad side! Tom just looked slightly embarrassed, as you said, and sorry for her. He pitied her. I actually felt a bit sorry for her as well when she thought she would have stood a chance with him if she had met him before he met Sybil. Again, Tom just looked embarrassed and said nothing.

But I did like the scene before where they were standing by Tom's car, because Tom finally laid it out exactly what was wrong with her attitude (basically everything we've been saying previously) yet she was still unyielding and incapable of seeing past the "titles" to the people.

I especially liked this exchange,

TOM You despise the family, but I think you forget, my wife was one of them, my child is one of them. Where does that leave me?
BUNTING Don't you despise them as well?
TOM No, I don't. I don't see things as black and white.
BUNTING Well I do.

That summed it up for me, she was a hater

HarshBench

She just seemed thick as a plank in that scene. How could she asked if he despised them when he had told her he didn't, in so many words, a number of times? When he chooses to live with them? When the wife he loved was one of them and so is his child? Does she never listen or pay attention?

Zero social skills, that woman.