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.

Anona I think the love story is possible but the part with Lord 6 saying that Lavvie's death reminded him of what was "really important" ....probably not. Most likely Sybil just would have been As One Dead around the place from there on out.

Am wondering if Matthew really does love Mary tbh or is thinking back to how he felt (8?) yrs ago or is in love with the whole idea of Downton & Mary iyswim.

I'm trying not to overthink it because if I do I recall that the last ep of series 1 had M & M having a big tortured conversation in which he announced they couldn't be together, and then er, series 2 has ended with M & M having a big tortured conversation in which he announced they couldn't be together. And then I would feel a leeetle bit manipulated by old Lord JF and cross.

He does love her, he is in fact though a bit of a tosser and I am going off him. As with the majority of us thinking Pickle has NPD, I don't think this is intentional. We are supposed to be thinking Romantic Hero. I'm not.

I wonder if pressure will be put on Matthew - after a respectable time of course - to marry Edith. That will resurrect her frosty relationship with Mary who will go and live in London with R.

O'Brien will get sick of Thomas and get Mrs Patmore and Daisy to put him a pie.

the dance shows they really love each other, for them, if not so much for us; it was a magical kiss.

JF doesn't overcomplicate as we tend to!

They're just both feeling very guilty at the graveside, snapping/ running away

She will marry Sir R, then he'll be arrested for murdering Vera. as a letter will turn up and then Sir R will commit suicide.
then M&M will have another week of dithering and being cursed...
then Lord 6 will die and they will need an heir fast
so M&M will marry
on the wedding day Mr Canada reappears with evidence!
who is the dashed heir after all! and marries Edith.

I´m not sure that it would occur to them to try to get Matthew & Edith together-it seems to revolve around Mary for all of them!

I like the idea of M&M marrying, only for the heir to return & marry Edith!

I thought it was bloody odd him putting on the record and starting up the dance with his fiancee lying ill upstairs. OK, they didn't think she was in any danger, but they thought Cora was. It was like JF didn't even try to contrive an excuse for this situation (such as someone had left it on or something) but just wanted to shoehorn this scene into proceedings. It seemed so out of character - compared with the genius that what the railway station scene earlier in the season it was a bit off kilter.

I always found the soap scene contrived. I mean, what were the chances....?

I agree Georgi - not to mention them having a kiss (I can't call it a snog) in the bloody hall and Lord 6 having his final kiss with Jane with the blimming door open.

Honestly, do these people have no idea how to conduct an illicit affair?

Speaking as someone who fell down an entire flight of stairs on my arse when 30 weeks pg with DD (as did my DM when pg with me, coincidentally) I'm not too convinced about the soap.

In an awful sort of way I hope Branson and Sybil's relationship does go horribly wrong when he shows the cloven hoof that we all know is there. I'm finding it desperately off-putting having to take him at face value as a romantic hero.

Ooh, perhaps the spinning room was meant to be how Lavinia felt when she saw them .

I don't think they knew anybody was very ill at that point, so the dance worked for me. But yes, M saw M from the landing, so not really too difficult to work out somebody else could see them.

About Jane. As soon as she fixed eyes on his Lordship (fatty bum bum) she appeared to go into some kind of trance state compelling her to kiss him at every opportunity.

Magnetic lips!!

The Branson and Sybil thing has got me thinking I shall definitely be lecturing DD on the dangers of an angry man.

Bleurgh! he WOULD be good in the sack I reckon if you like it rough but he is so controlling! Wife beater in the making.

Georgimama, agree about it being odd about Matthew and the gramophone. Even if Lavinia didn't seem that bad, several were suddenly taken ill, it was unusual and it was only a couple of days before their wedding.
Would have made more sense if the gramophone scene had been before dinner, that M&M had been down earlier than the others.

The Kiss was a bit of a damp squib. Either I was disoriented by the spinning room or he did indeed miss her mouth.

actually, the second time I saw it I wasnt convinced Lavvie saw the kiss, she just heard them talking a bit. Mary broke off as soon as Lav called 'Hello?' before she turned the stair corner.

up to 990odd posts now, we'll need another anal-oops analysis thread! only 48 days til christmas

they were talking, the place was deserted, they do love each other; the music was playing, they just seized the mmoment,
it was only a 30second dance seemed realistic to me even though cora and Lav ill; at that point not serious, there must have been a lot of that kind of retiring off to rooms in those days with these stressed out brides to be

just weird Lav had no family there at all IMO

Right, I am busting in the end to ask if it would be worthwhile to watch the episodes available online (presume not all available) or should I wait? I want to see, I want to see!

We're at 994 posts here. Does it end at 1000?

If so goodbye for the present Downton friends.

brilliant posts by you lot. fascinating insights. see you all soon

now

Will anyone be starting a pt 4 thread after this, or a Christmas one nearer the time?

Will be looking for xmas spoilers now

Am praying that at least one storyline ends well for Christmas

Hurrah! Can I finish the thread