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Downton Abbey Part THREE: Shoehorns and Spanish Fly

999 replies

NorfolkNChance · 27/10/2011 20:27

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.

OP posts:
CheerfulYank · 07/11/2011 16:12

No, there's filth there, mark my words. :)

I don't think he was saying that he was the only one who could make her happy in a pompous way, just that they loved each other so much that they wouldn't be happy apart.

anonacfr · 07/11/2011 16:23

Which is completely presomptuous IMO. Fact is if he really loved her he would let her go.
We're looking at this with modern eyes but could Sybil be truly happy never seeing her family ever again? Maybe for a few years but afterwards.... It's tough.

And I still go back to the fact that we're sold this amazing love but we've not actually seen it- a few uncomfortable meetings in the garage where he dismisses her job and emotionally blackmails her into running away with her and a kiss.
At least Mary looks like she's in love with Matthew. In this season Sybil's looked undecided and miserable until this episode.

melika · 07/11/2011 16:25

Branson is Lee Evans in real life.

CheerfulYank · 07/11/2011 16:28

I don't know, I can see it.

It must have happened a lot...maybe not that far back, but certainly quite often or we wouldn't have gotten to the point we are now.

I think Sybil is right in saying that it's the family making the choice not to see her. Good for her!

diddl · 07/11/2011 16:30

"I'm surprised Mary doesn't just Hmm and move on."

I thought that she did last night tbh.

When Sir R offered to walk her to the house she said "yes please do" or something like that.

I do think that Matthew was a twat harsh with her, but FFS his fiancee had just died (with everyone in the room as it was obviously a spectator sportHmm).

And I do think that he loved her.

And Mary just wouldn´t leave him alone-why did she have to go to him at the grave-I´m not surprised he snapped.

And it seemed to me that as soon as he said harsh words, she didn´t want anything to do with him anymore.

droves · 07/11/2011 16:35

When Daisy and williams father were talking at his graveside ......Am I the only one who noticed Williams grave ....cross said son of lord of Manchester ,.....

....old man dies ...no other heirs ....hey presto Lady Daisy !

Bet she finds out at Xmas special , lord shagger loses downtown and daisy buys it and saves them from ruin ....then she marries Mathew . ....
????????

diddl · 07/11/2011 16:40

"cross said son of lord of Manchester "

No it didn´t -it was his regiment that was on it.

HermanMumster · 07/11/2011 16:41

Nah - 'of the Duke of Manchester's regiment'

droves · 07/11/2011 16:54

Did it ? . Blush ,

Oh dear must have got all over excited for nothing ....

Must watch It again

droves · 07/11/2011 16:55

Oh well that my Xmas plot rubbished then Grin

diddl · 07/11/2011 16:59

I quite like the idea of Matthew & DaisyGrin

It didn´t work with Mary, nor Lavinia, so he might as well try the next class downBlush

So, Sybil & Tom,
Mary & Sir R-

It´s all down to Edith to make a decent marriageGrin

Animation · 07/11/2011 17:06

"And it seemed to me that as soon as he said harsh words, she didn´t want anything to do with him anymore."

Her assertion to walk with Sir R had a strengh of purpose about it - that signified more than just intolerance of a few harsh words. I think she'd had enough of everything. Matthew's a ditherer and a procrastinator, and maybe she saw that he did love Lavinia after all... and not her. It was like the penny suddenly dropped.

And yes he was in a bad way at that moment, with a pallor so pale ... as if the blood had completely drained from his face.

LadyMontdore · 07/11/2011 17:07

DM just told me that a great great aunt / cousin ran off with a policeman and was Never Spoken Of Again. So yes it did happen. Not that great aunt type was an Hactual Lady.

Fiderer · 07/11/2011 17:09

What do we think happened to the nasty ex-Mrs Bates? She was lying as though she had been attacked and there was the letter. I wonder if she had been blackmailing others (or tried to blackmail Sir Rotter) and the letter was her insurance policy/planned revenge against Mr Bates. She doesn't strike me as the suicide type.

diddl · 07/11/2011 17:13

"and maybe she saw that he did love Lavinia after all... and not her"

I think that he maybe does love Mary-but that doesn´t mean that he felt nothing for Lavinia.

I can´t remember what she said at the grave but I was inwardly screaming-butt out for once!!

It´s not all Matthew´s fault though-she didn´t accept him when she could have- & then let him go off to war (realising by then that she loved him?) with no word & then is surprised when he turns up 2yrs later with a finacee!

I wonder sometimes if she does love him or just wants him to love her iyswim.

I mean last night she could just have said that "Granny" was wrong.

GeorginaWorsley · 07/11/2011 17:14

Still think Sir R had something to do with Mrs Bates' death.
Maybe edith and Matthew wiol get together.....no,JF won't split Mary and Matthew yet awile.
Perhaps Sir R's involvement with said death will come out at xmas ,save Bates from gallows and push Mary back to Matthew.
That is my prediction.Grin

diddl · 07/11/2011 17:16

"What do we think happened to the nasty ex-Mrs Bates?"

Blue & I think that she intended to take a small amount of arsenic(?), cyanide(?)-which Bates had given her so that she could accuse him of trying to poison her-but accidentally took too much.

LadyHarrietDeSpook · 07/11/2011 17:17

Fiderer
I think you may be right. She could well have been blackmailing others too. It's weird how they never really explained what Bates did that was so very wrong (in her mind anyway).

I think Mary's had enough too. But - I also think that Matty's just feeling guilty. He's not a bad bloke Smile but when he was doing something a leetle tiny bit quite naughty he got caught immediately. Whereas Lord Fatty has gotten away with it so far. And Thomas with his duke and putting the feelers out with Pamuk. It's only Mary and Matthew that seem to "Pay a high price for [their] follies" as Mary put it.

LadyHarrietDeSpook · 07/11/2011 17:19

Lady Edith got away with her illicit snog too.

anonacfr · 07/11/2011 17:30

I can't believe no-one commented on Bates and Anna naked in bed. Eeeew. I had to fast forward that bit.

As far as I'm concerned the Lord G/Jane Sybil/Branson plot are just ridiculous. In the real world they would have had a quiet shag on the side and it would have been over with. The 'love story' part is just totally unconvincing. I think JF is pandering to modern audiences there.

diddl · 07/11/2011 17:35

So do we think that Mary isn´t interested now that Matthew is "free & single"?

Fiderer · 07/11/2011 17:45

anonacfr - "Eeeeew" is why no one is commenting. Anna is lovely but Bates all puffy and dry-skinned and eeeeeeeeeew.

I think Mary feels guilty that Lavinia witnessed the kiss and heard what Matthew said, that she died knowing what he felt for another woman and she (Mary) shouldn't benefit from Lav's death by getting Matthew.

M feels guilty too, but in a "poor meee" fashion.

Georgimama · 07/11/2011 17:45

mary is trapped though. and matthew is such a ditherer/moraliser he's never going to accept her when he knows about pamuk. no she's made her bed with sir r and realised it at the graveside. no hope with matthew now.

diddl · 07/11/2011 17:49

I think the fact that he needed Granny to tell him that Mary still loved him was a big warning signGrin

Jajas · 07/11/2011 17:50

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