The Honourable Thread of Downton Abbey - The Third

[Moln]

Who filled up the last thread? Hmm?

All I wanted to say was Jonathan Rhys Meyers?

No!! I don't like him and he's a pants actor.

What sort of "op" would mary have had? and exactly what for? -fibroids? Much preferred the theory that she had caught an STI from Pamuk.

The firebrand Irish commie is not talking about profits and evicting tenants.Thomas gets promoted, bigger salary etc so he can play in a cricket match?? - all bonkers

MR ROCHESTER!! JANE EYRE!!

Fancy calling your wife a 'lunatic' and 'mad' eh - in the 'asylum!! More predudice highlighted (thanks JF) in attitudes to mental illness!

Stay away from this one Edith - though Jane Eyre still is one of my favourite books.

Anyone think that Mary had a retroverted womb hence small op to 'clip' it into place? i'm not a gynae expert but I know it's not a big op.

Well everyone was complaining DA was too slow and we have 1 affair with a married man and 1 nearly! Then JAZZ fgs plus cricket and the police turning up about a nr. gay affair! what more is needed eh?

Next week on Channel 4:

Anna's Handmaid House. Anna Bates transforms a meagre estate cottage into prime period property using only her wit and ingenuity. *

*and a few gallons of F&B 'Happy Valet'.

Next week, join Anna as she works tirelessly from her kitchen table, starting up her knick knack business, Not In The Outbuildings.

Animation - those were the sort of expressions they used in those days. If the dialogue had been written in 21st century terms then it would have been completely implausible.

Yes, it was all happening - and Lord G saved the day!! Who would have thought. As did Bates - no fooling him, he was straight on to Miss O'Brien.

Hope Thomas finds love now in the Christmas episode - maybe with James. There was one shot on the Cricket pitch where James was looking over at Thomas' fabulous batting - was that that a look of love?

Dapplegrey - I know doesn't it sound awful though - and I thought it still felt bit derogatory to me to refer to your your wife as completely mad. There was room for tact and kindness I thought - presumimg she does have severe mental health illness, and he's not driven her to the asylum - as some men did in those days.

MorrisZapp

I agree with you Hazel, Rose was gahhh. What was she wearing fgs?! Can't believe that sailor outfit with the bunched up tiered skirt and the scraggly hairdo.

I liked the cricket scene, especially all the white floaty dresses. It feels pretty tied up now, doesn't it? Mary and Matthew will have a baby soon, Ethel will be near Charlie slowly being accepted by Mrs Bryant, the estate is sorted, Tom and GBS are sorted, Thomas has a better job, no conviction, Jimmy has been promoted and Edith is back on track for spinsterhood.

I don't think there's any point speculating the nature of Mary's gynaecological problems. This is JF, we're talking about, I'm sure he didn't have an actual condition in mind. With one whoosh of his pen it means just one day trip to London all is healed and she'll be pregnant in 6 months!

Similar medical wizadry as brought on Cousin Matthew's tingles.

But how are they going to write Cousin Matthew out of the story? Dan Stevens has dropped heavy hints that he'd like to scarper.

has to die I suppose, falls off a horse maybe hunting or is overseeing work on the estate and has a fatal accident such as a building collapsing on him.

car crash?

No he needs to die in a really mundane way

Heart attack brought on by a sneeze
Tureen of soup falls on his head

Or he could go the way of Pamuk. Lady Mary and her Killer Vagina.

If Alfred is holding it, the tureen is falling from a great height. Perhaps that is why the were so aghast at having a tall footman. Dangerous

The 3 men together bit at the end did rather remind me of this:

'I am Lord G and I know all about responsibility for I am upper class. I wouldn't be seen dead knowing about trade (shudder) but I am very egalitarian when it comes to cricket, assuming you're on my team of course'.

'I am Matthew and I know all about business and the law for I am middle class. I'm very frustrated by the stuck in the mud upper classes, but would really rather my working class chum conformed and didn't make a scene'.

'I am Pickle and I am a hard worker and know a bit about planting things for I am working class. I know my place (despite having been an activist type three minutes ago).'

But we all come together for the good of the massive dead posh house. Hurrah!

God, I love Downton...

cricket the great leveller. It was a good episode this one. I liked it.

Maybe Matthew will die a hero's death. Runs into a burning building to save a tenant's child and dies in the process, something like that. Could get himself a plane and go down in it. I like Matthew and Pickles as a team, they're a better team than M & M IMO. I think we will miss Matthew if he goes

Matthew will die in WW2, leaving downton to his Son Mary will be pregnant with at Christmas.

He'll be too old to serve in WW2, so unless Downton becomes so successful under his geeenius business plans that the Germans decide to bomb it like the docks and heavy industry, I can't see him being killed really. Also, I don't think that they will jump to WW2 with the same actors- they'd have to have them all in stupid ageing make-up.

They have jumped 10 -15 years already.

But if the actor leaves, and they don't kill him there'll be a lot of 'Oh you just missed Matthew', 'oh Matthew's working late tonight' for the next 3 series.

I like the idea of ridiculously tall ginger footman clobbering him with a serving implement and Matthew face down, dead, in his consommé.

So what could happen in the next series? It will be the twenties and maybe thirties. Um general strike? I don't know what happened of great importance then. Or will it focus more on the estate and family.
Off the top of my head (are you taking note JF?):
Matthew will go great guns with the estate through struggles with the economic climate.
Mary will produce an heir and then have an affair. Matthew will be horribly upset but then have a fling himself in his turmoil. They will then reconcile and produce another child.
Edith will become a groundbreaking journalist, clashing with Lord G and Matthew over the plight of the working man. She will go to jazz clubs, have some romantic encounters but no marriage yet. The editors wife will however die and then he and Edith will finally get together.
Lord G will sink into a brandy and cigar induced stupor and spend most his day in an armchair in the library.

i too wondered whether editor bloke had placed his wife in the asylum. reading Jennifer Worth's books at the mo and she alludes to that.

limited i did at your mothers take on fertility in the early 20th century. My nan also goes all Cissy and Ada (my late nan was called Ada and was just like her too!)

"infertility is a modern invention" would have been a great comfort to Anne Boleyn!

Did anyone else notice that the women were not wearing dark clothes at the cricket match? Surely they should be in mourning for a year after Sybil's death, no?