Dishing on Downton, Week 5

Warning, as usual, if you haven't seen this week's episode, don't read on.
I had to see the first half of this episode this morning on DVD as the superbowl was still on when Downton started last night and it was too exciting to leave. (sorry the Niners just lost).

I thought this was a very real episode, when all that veneer of stiff upper lips crumbles all around. Robert desperately trying to hold on to his position of undisputed head of household, Cora hurting so much that she just wants to punish, even the dowager showing some cracks in her composure and Mary finally being so nice and kind all around. Nice scene with Matthew and Mary.

And have we finally got the Bates drama sewn up? I'd like to know how a prison warder and a convict could influence a woman far away in London. If Bates could threaten the other con and make him do what he wants, why did he not do it sooner??

Finally the thing that bugs me most. It takes two to tango. Ethel is the fallen woman who had no choice but to resort to prostitution to feed her child and yet nobody mentions that it was a young upper class officer, a man who should know better, according to their rules, who got her pregnant in the first place. Nobody blames him or seems to think that he did anything wrong.

This is particularly interesting to me as it's the theme of my new Molly Murphy book that comes out in four weeks from today. It's called The Family Way and it examines the moral issues and treatment of women who find themselves pregnant.

So what do you reckon? Branson will take over one of the farms and live nearby with the baby at Downton?  Matthew and Mary can't have children and adopt baby Sibyl? And when will O'Brien and Thomas stop being so naively trusting of each other. They both know the other is a bad lot and yet they go on believing each other!  Only two episodes to go, aren't there? How will we survive?

Dishing on Downton,Week 2

Sorry I've been silent during the week. We were moving back from California to Arizona after the Christmas break and we'll be here for three months, meaning a lot of organization required, then two days of driving, sore back muscles afterward etc.

However great weekend--49rs won, we celebrated Three Kings a week late with our Arizona family and we watched Downton, episode 2 together.

Please do not read on if you didn't watch last night's episode and plan to.

Things I liked about it: new clues on Mrs. Bates being poisoned. We now know two things, I believe--that she planned to poison Bates when he came to tea that night. The mystery writer in me has figured it out. She put arsenic in a pie, AND she had already been poisoned herself. The neighbor talks of seeing an aura around her, glowing in the drizzle--classic symptom of arsenic poisoning! So this is what I suspect--she planned to poison Bates by putting arsenic in a pie. She planned to make herself immune to poisoning by gradually building up her tolerance to arsenic by having a little at a time. (This has been done many times). She took too much. Finally killed her.

We'll see if I'm right. And will Bates be released before he does something bad to his cell mate or the cell mate does something bad to him?  What else did I like? Great lines from Maggie Smith, as usual. Mr. Carson's revealing how much he cares about Mrs. Hughes. That whole storyline handled nicely. I like the way Daisy is developing into a more confident young woman and the hint of future romance with Alfred.
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Several things I didn't like: Sir Anthony walking out at the wedding. He struck me as an honorable man. He'd have come to see Edith before to tell her he couldn't go through with it, not left her like that.
The letter from Lavinia giving her blessing to the money so that Downton can be saved. A little too pat, don't you think?
Ethel having turned into something out of Les Miserables. I'm sure she could have found some honest laundry, ironing, mending work.
Thomas becoming too outrageously evil.

So what did you think? As good as previous seasons or not?

Downton, episode 3. Who killed Mrs. Bates?

I'm feeling powerful. I ended my last post by saying someone should kill Mrs. Bates and they listenSed to me. So whodunit? My guess is Bates didn't do it but he'll be arrested for murder and they'll come up with the real murderer at the last minute. What do you think?

And what about Patrick's reappearance? Is it really him or his friend Peter Gordon who gleaned all the info on the family from him? Several things that were no realistic on this--if he'd been fished from the ocean after Titanic, he'd have been speaking with an upper class British accent. People would know immediately that he was not a Canadian and be able to trace him fairly easily. As to the Canadian accent now--you do not change your accent so completely once you're an adult. I've lived in California for years and still sound completely British.

And another thing: I come from an old family and I wear the family crest on my signet ring. So do all the other family members. Patrick would have worn a similar ring, I'm sure. So unless it slipped from his finger in the cold water, they'd have identified him by his crest instantly.

So sorry, Patrick, you're an imposter. (and if he's not, then it's bad writing)

Loved Maggie Smith being able to trick Matthew's mum into leaving Downton alone. The middle class just don't get the whole stately home thing, I'm afraid.
I've decided I have to have a delicious dowager in my next Georgie book!

So what do you think about Patrick and Mrs. Bates?