<p>I hope Tom wouldn’t agree to marry Edith. So unfair to both of them.</p>
<p>Yes, that thought occurred to me as well. I can’t fathom it happening, though. Or, maybe I can. </p>
<p>Here it is: To spare Edith and the rest of the family shame, Tom does the upright thing and marries her, after Lord Grantham promises him various goodies for doing so. Then, after the wedding and after the child is born, Gregson shows up, and Edith doesn’t know what to do.</p>
<p>And I do like the idea of Rose in a convent. </p>
<p>Tom’s waffling is beginning to get on my nerves. It’s the “I don’t know how to play cricket” thing all over again. Rose is a loaded firecracker.</p>
<p>I keep wondering what purpose Molesley serves toward the plot development. He’s been hanging around for several seasons now doing nothing except being an object of near-universal scorn. If this were a Dickens story we’d know that he was going emerge to play some key role in the future story. But this isn’t Dickens and Moleseley just keeps stumbling from one unfortunate but unimportant situation to the next.</p>
<p>I think he’s just comic relief. And he gives Carson someone to be scornful of. (As if Carson needed any more people to be scornful of.)</p>
<p>And where is Gregson? Why is he unreachable? Even his office has sent a detective to find him, with no luck. (And what papers did Edith sign?)</p>
<p>I think I might need to get a life.</p>
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<p>I doubt Lord Grantham in his most anti-Tom moments earlier in the previous series would consider that not only out of snobby pride, but also because he’s not THAT cruel. :)</p>
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<p>She seems much more likely to head off to America at this point than Tom. :)</p>
<p>Now as I watch, I can’t help but imagine how each scene will be portrayed on the facebook thread 
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<p>Sounds like it’s time for Julian Fellowes to explore the issue of illegal abortion during the Roaring 20s. I guess it would be just too melodramatic for her to die of complications. But maybe poor Edith will lose the ability to have children?</p>
<p>It appears Cora’s brother is embroiled in the Teapot Dome scandal–there was a mention of oil leases and if, I’m not mistaken, the name Fall, the US Secretary of the Interior at the time.</p>
<p>I have the obvious solution for Tom’s discomfort (one that will keep him in the show, since he’s one of my favorite characters). Tom needs to move into his own home with Sybbie and live off the salary he earns as estate manager. When he’s working, Sybbie can be cared for by Nanny, and the two of them can take occasional dinners at Downton, so the family bonds are kept intact. Sybbie will then have the more intense relationship with her father that can’t happen in an aristocratic household (where kids never even take meals with their parents), but still enjoy the periodic attentions and material offerings of her grandparents. Tom will feel less like a parasite, which I think is half his problem. Meanwhile, he can find that nice Irish girl, the one who could never be brought to Downton, one who will eventually marry him and take over Sybbie’s care. How’s that sound?</p>
<p>MommaJ, maybe that can happen next season, when they can cast an older actress to play Sybbie. It doesn’t seem like the little girl they have has a very strong rapor with the cast…she always seems to be frowning, with a dull affect.</p>
<p>They could do a lot with a Nanny character.</p>
<p>It is a soap opera, so everyone will continue to make the wrong decisions. I never liked Gregson; I felt all along he would have had no interest in Edith but for her money.</p>
<p>On a totally different theme, I find myself questioning some of the avatars we picked. Coureur’s is fine, but Marge S? Missypie’s is right out of the 50s; these make me chuckleI, but the posts are so intelligent. Is mine just as distracting? </p>
<p>MommaJ, I like how you think. Having Tom move away but having him remain near would be a great compromise. </p>
<p>And missypie, I totally agree with you about the child Sybbie. She’s not particularly engaging, is she. </p>
<p>Yes, yes, the Facebook version. Can’t wait to see what they do with Rose and the bandleader!</p>
<p>I’m not sure about all the latest plot developments… but I do know that when Shirley McLaine reappears this season, Cora’s brother who has troubles and yes, does sound like Teapot Dome scandal… is going to be played by Paul Giametti… </p>
<p>Actually, didn’t the letter say that her “signs and symptoms are consistant with those of a first trimester pregnancy”?
Not necessarily a resounding positive.</p>
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<p>Out of curiosity, how much money could Gregson get from Edith considering the inheritance laws favored males…especially first-born or oldest next-of-kin male cousins? Especially considering she has one older widowed sister and a widower brother-in-law with children and the Grantham estate is facing serious difficulties from the British tax agency? </p>
<p>My thought is that Edith is going to do something drastic like marry someone quickly to make the baby legitimate and then she’ll have a miscarriage and/or Grayson will show up. </p>
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<p>Before the “Rabbit test” there was no way to know for sure, early on, so that’s probably the most accurate wording a doctor could use. But you’re right that it could be a false alarm.</p>
<p>She also had signs of morning sickness at breakfast.</p>
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<p>Yes, and “rabbit test” (which actually usually used rats rather than rabbits) was not developed until 1927. And it did not become widely used until even later. And even then it was pretty crude. </p>
<p>In 1922 the wording of any letter diagnosing early pregnancy probably should be vague, since the diagnosis then was based largely on a collection of subtle, variable, and subjective symptoms and observations that could easily turn out to be a false alarm.</p>
<p>I guess I see something different for Tom and Mary. That scene in the kids’ room with them and Isobel was sweet. I thought, “Why don’t those two get together?”</p>
<p>Does Isobel save the life of the Countess in the next episode. </p>