Downton Abbey continued

[AndHarry]

Following on from the first thread...

It took me ages to get to sleep last night. I'm not particularly maudlin in general but that was shocking.

Predictions: Isabel and Mosley die.

[Bubbles1066]

Why do they say they are 'going up to London? They live in Yorkshire. They're going down to London. They also seem to be able to get to London and back in about 30 minutes. Even at today's train times you'd only get a few hours there before you'd have to come home again for a day trip.

[limitedperiodonly]

And Rose's mother stole O'Brien which was a beastly thing to do to Cora. I feel sure Lady Mary would rat on Rose in revenge.

[Mollydoggerson]

Yes they are all a little too forgiving of each other. Surely Edith would be tearing her hair out with anxiety and as jealous of hell of Mary, with her child and her busful of suitors.

[eddiemairswife]

I thought Edith's dresses looked slightly looser, but maybe that's my imagination! I wonder how long it took to London by train. Would they travel from York?

[limitedperiodonly]

They were loose around the waist so you could get away with that as it's a first pregnancy and she might be really small. It's just that her breasts didn't look pregnant and her dresses were silky and would have shown that up.

I know this is just a show . And despite everything I like it.

Another clothes thing - when Branson turned his back to the camera to work on the teacher's car his bum looked massive.

I'm sure the high-waisted trousers are authentic but they're really unflattering.

Isobel looked nice though when she was walking with her peer admirer. She had a cream suit. It's the first time I've ever thought that. They usually make her so drab and frumpy.

[limitedperiodonly]

Don't know about York but I went to Thirsk once and I seem to remember the station is in the middle of nowhere. The person I was meeting said racing was so important to the town they built the line well away from the track so as not to frighten the horses.

Is that true, or was he pulling my leg? I can't really remember much except that Thirsk was very nice. I'm not sure what I was expecting, just not for it to be as handsome as it was.

[LittleBearPad]

You go up to London and down to the country. It doesn't matter what compass direction you travel in. I don't think trains in the 20s were much slower than now either.

[diddl]

So Mary "isn't ready yet"??!!-so why is she encouraging Blake?

Perhaps for the Christmas spesh Gregson & Edith will meet up & she'll return to Downton married.

Unless she bumps into Strallen there!

[EirikurNoromaour]

I thought the same about Branson limited - he's either gained a lot of weight or those trousers are horribly unflattering! Women still wore girdles and bodices in those days so Edith's belly could have been flattened quite successfully.

[thelittlemothersucker]

How come Isobel was in that cream suit? Surely if Mary's still in mourning isobel would be too? It was a year of black for close family members if I remember rightly, then mauves and gradual adoption of normal colours. George def not a year old yet.

[BeCoolFucker]

Haven't read whole thread - I just can't move on from the thought that Bates is a serial killer. His first wife and Green and there will be earlier murders too of people who crossed/displeased him - he just calmly dispatches those who cross him.

Anna will be in danger next series.

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

Daisy's hat was awful.

Why can't Edith go off on her jaunt with Auntie and return with a baby she adopted from a Swiss couple who were going to abandon her/him? It's not like anybody suspects she's pregnant, they didn't really know about her and Michael, and the trip didn't come from her.

[Clawdy]

Don't particularly like him but there's no way Bates is a natural killer. Anything he does will be for Anna's sake.

[BeCoolFucker]

But that's not true at all - Anna couldn't confide in him when she needed him most, as she knew what his reaction would be. It's not about Anna and what she needs/wants at all (though he pretends it is) - its all about him.

Anna didn't need Bates to take revenge - she needed his love and support, for him to stand by her. Because Anna knew he would have a murderous intent she had to keep it to herself and she suffered greatly for it.

[anonacfr]

Bates is very sinister. He hit his first wife and called her a bitch and didn't he do something to a guy in prison as well?

[tribpot]

Surely JF's not been working up to 'Bates the serial killer' over the course of five seasons? The world's longest and poshest remake of Psycho?!

I agree about the level of drama in this one, plot either unengaging or horrible.

Using good old Wiki it looks like in the 1920s the journey time between Edinburgh and London was about 8hours, thus York to London about 3.5 hours. Bates could just about have done it in a day but pretty bloody implausible.

I would have preferred a nice dramatic death scene for Green, make sure he was properly dead.

I think the introduction of the first black character into Downton was handled really poorly - poor bloke was little more than a cipher for the dreadful Rose. One dimensional even by the standards of Downton.

All in all a bit meh, and I do think it's a shame that they don't take Downton over to the States. It would make a nice Christmas special if they didn't have so many loose ends to tie up back home.

[Davros]

I thought Pickle's arse was as big as a small country

[lovelychops]

Well said Davros, I noticed that too!

(Was that a Divine Comedy quote btw?)

[diddl]

Violet knows that Edith is pregnant, doesn't she?

Shame she can't just have it.

Still, she'd be an outcast & how would she support herself & baby?

Is it unrealistic that Branson has been so accepted?

Afterall, him & Sybil were shooed away to Ireland.

[tribpot]

It must have happened. She could give up her place in society and live quietly on the estate, funded by Lord and Lady 6.

[Bakingnovice]

This series has been terrible. Mary more wooden than a bar stool, growling deeply does not equate to grief lady Mary! The portrayal of the black character was very poor. The writing and plots were rubbish. the dowager didn't get one smile out of me when usually she has the best one liners.

[diddl]

I find the Dowager irritating for the most part tbh.

I guess it was all different then, but why she still seems so hostile to Isobel is beyond me.

[Animation]

If Bates gets away with this and the story line makes someone else the murderer I won't believe it.

I remember the way he called his (now deceased) wife a 'bitch'. Thought at the time that there was no need for that tone of voice .. not very nice!

And yes I agree that it doesn't seem to take them very long to keep going up and down to London

[ChaffinchOfDoom]

I quite like their relationship, the irritation comes from competitiveness and also Violet annoyed isobel nursed her so well; the peer interested in Isobel will be funny come christmas