Downton Abbey Part THREE: Shoehorns and Spanish Fly

[NorfolkNChance]

Soooooooooooooo I still reckon Cora to kick the bucket, shuffle of this mortal coil, sing with the choir eternal etc etc

I bet Jane is handy with a shorehorn for Lord 6, he's been out of action for a while so may need some help.

Yeh, Psychic, what a mean thing for him to say to Mary. I don't think him being quite so insensitive was really very believable. Certainly doesn't make him a very sympathetic character. I don't think I like him anymore, so I don't care who he marries now !

So glad it wasn't only me who thought that Matthew missed Mary's mouth. Re-shoot please.

sated with downtonness.

daisy's plot is developing too, she will wind up rich...

I knew JF would string out the Mary and Matthew thing - but I'm really annoyed anyway. He needs to come out of his own brain a bit more and realise people have had enough with the will they won't they thing.

Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith) is in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. So - this could be the reason why the plot lines for her never really seemed to get going, in particular the farmer thing that came and went early on. She was filming elsewhere alongside this I think. They let Penelope Wilton (Isobel) off to do some play, that was the real reason for the move to France, to cover her time off.

I reckon Violet's saying: Edith you will have your time is trigger for her to be the one to get married at Xmas.

Matthew was a terrible Adam's family character at the graveside. DS' acting has been sooo good up to then - not many people could have managed all the corniness that was thrown at him - but at the last moment he crashed out dramatically. LURCH!

Perhaps Mary is a bit stiff too though LadyH - so not all Matthew's fault ?

But on the whole I blame the writing more than the acting for the lack of subtlety.

What happened to the Canadian pretender to Downton? Why did Isobel have so little input into Matthew's recovery? Why is Sybil all of a sudden in love with Pickles when she's merely tolerated him so far? Why has everyone's personality changed?

This plot is like Emmenthal

Is she? Yeah, I guess. But that doesn't explain M's weird rasping at the end. Makeup not his fault though.

Certain key scenes need to be done really well - with a bit more time taken and some thoughtful lines for the characters. Lavinia's death was reasonably well done, but they should have realised that the graveside scene with Matthew and Mary needed similar care and attention to detail - it felt too rushed to me.

YY to Sybil's 'love'. And now that Lord Whatsisname has given her his blessing she won't have to live it proper poor. Which I was looking forward to. Sybil peeling the spuds, Sybil with her washboard, Sybil downing a pint of Guinness in the local tavern etc etc. Now she'll probably have a maid and everything.

I loved it, tosh though it was. Mary was great as usual. MunsterMatthew (TM BossyBritches) was awful at the graveside. Weed.

Sybil did look happy but they can't ship her off to Ireland n'er to be seen again, surely? Poor Edith, first library duty, now present arranging. Glad that Violet noticed her ruefulness, Cora doesn't seem to care, despite her near-deathbed musings re Sybil.

Shall have to watch it agian as I had half an eye on the time wondering who would die and how quickly...

BTW, (having missed the entire 1st series...) what was O'Brien going to confess to Cora on her 'deathbed'?

Ooh yes, did she have an affair with Lord whatshisname ?

no, O'Brien thought she was going to be replaced, so when Cora was pregnant again (which could have been a boy, meaning Matthew wouldn't be the heir anymore), she left a bar of soap on the floor next to the bath when Cora was in it, Cora slipped on it and lost the baby.

O'Brien was never being replaced, Violet was after a new Lady's maid and had asked for Cora's help to find one.

Cora was pregnant unexpectedly (which threw Matthew's inheritance into doubt.) O'Brian overheard Cora and Violet discussing hiring a new lady's maid and wrongly assumed that Cora was looking to replace her. She surreptitiously placed a bar of soap on the floor next to the bath so that Cora would slip and fall triggering a miscarriage. O'Brian then found out that Cora was in fact helping Violet find a new maid for herself and not for
Cora and has been consumed with guilt about it ever since.

Oh lor'! Thank you.

Goes to show the crazy plotting is not all this series. How was that supposed to affect her staying on as lady's maid, Cora losing the baby? Or was it just meant to be spitefulness?

Lord G is a wanker. He wouldn't have turned a hair if Cora had popped her clogs.

I think Rose is going to divert Mr Mason's attention to Ether and bouncing Baby Charlie: she can keep house and be a surrogate d-i-l, and Charlie can be a surrogate grandson.

It´s a shame that they´ve made Sir R so nasty as I think Mary & he would make a better match than Mary & Mr Dull from Dullsville Matthew.

I´m sure it would suit her perfectly to have the lifestyle but not the constraints of the aristocracy.

Think it was just pure spite. She's been a lot nicer in this series, she was proper cowbag in the first (nastiness included kicking away Bate's cane to make him fall on his face infront of the family)

Was it only me that thought Matthew's make up made him look like a vampire?

Yes Matthew's face paint was very Halloween-appropriate, wasn't it? According to wiki, Ethel's not coming back for series 3, so I think that was just that plot being tied up.

Matthew was Suffering, more than Anyone, hence the vampire look.

Sybil - would you, while nursing your mother through a terrifying potentially fatal illness which came on with alrming speed, bother to change into your mothballed nurse's uniform? Or did the director think we'd forget she was A Nurse?

Hurrah for Ethel turning down Harrow and Oxford and his choice of brides for Charlie. Bastard of a drudge indeed.

Just wondering ( trying to catch up here ) how Ethel is related to things ?
Liked that story line too ! Good for her ! Charlie's Grandpa was good and horrid wasn't he ?