<p>Agree that the train ticket left in the coat was very unlikely. It was also somewhat unlikely that Mary would consider turning in Bates since she already owed Anna big time from that episode with what’s-his-name dying in her bed. But. since she ended up owing Bates for his pick-pocketing skills, at least she tossed the ticket in the fire.</p>
<p>I am so ready for Barrow to get what’s coming to him. </p>
<p>Question re: Edith’s baby - is that the tenant farmer she originally wanted to place the baby with? And apparently nothing was signed with the couple in Switzerland, so she can just go take the baby back? (And of course the baby will look just like Edith …) </p>
<p>Oh yeah, Edith’s baby living at Downton is a good idea . . . Sure it is . . . </p>
<p>What is Barrow’s problem??</p>
<p>My only question about this last episode was why in the world they invited Samson over to play cards. I know they needed to get him out of his flat, but it doesn’t make sense to me that they were knowingly going to be taken for lots of money by that swindler. Wasn’t there a better way to do it?? Or did Samson not cheat this time?</p>
<p>I thought the scene at the end with Edith was a bit confusing, like they edited out just a bit too much. Was that the tenant farmer? Where were they? The house had covers on all the furniture - was it Edith’s fiancee’s house? </p>
<p>I assumed (after a moment of confusion) that it was the tenant farmer. Maybe the covers were on since everyone else was in London??</p>
<p>He was never her fiance. But it’s interesting that it has been acknowledged that he gave her POA and that she is now an “editor.” The suggestion is that he is dead – she mentioned a fight his first night in Munich two years earlier. I’m disappointed he’s out of the show – I enjoyed his character – and I’ll be really annoyed if he turns up at some point.</p>
<p>I suspect that, perhaps like many Brits, Fellowes’s view of Yanks is a mixture of both admiration and dislike.</p>
<p>One thing that surprised me a little was all the comments about what an ogre Mrs. Levinson is toward her servants? Was she depicted as tough on servants in her first appearance? I don’t remember that. </p>
<p>Paul Giamatti is one of those actors with a voice and delivery so recognizable that they seem to me to be to always be playing themselves (Barbra Streisand is another). </p>
<ol>
<li><p>What is it with Downton Abbey and magical letters?</p></li>
<li><p>When the show introduces two new (or never before featured) characters in a single episode, it would be helpful if their looks were more different than those of Rose’s friend and the Prince of Wales’ mistress. (Plus, my wife still can’t tell the difference between Gillingham and Blake. “Is that the one from the pigs?”)</p></li>
<li><p>Yes, that was the tenant farmer/pigman agreeing to keep Edith’s secret.</p></li>
<li><p>Disappointed that Blake turns out to be a toff, and that Mary obviously cares. Disappointed with her “Let the contest commence” or whatever the line actually was. She’s always been a self-centered princess, but I thought she had grown out of rubbing everyone’s face in it.</p></li>
<li><p>In eight+ months, Branson hasn’t gotten around to actually dating Socialist Schoolteacher yet? And she’s still free on a moment’s notice? He’s not friendzoned? Granted, England was short of 20-something men in the 1920s, but not that short.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>JHS, I agree on too much similarity! We have the same conversations here! And doesn’t Isobel’s new love interest remind you of the doctor who proposed last season (although I can tell the difference in that case, the similarity is still there) I noticed doc hasn’t been around much. Re Branson and the SS - she may be a socialist, but she sure was eager to see the mansion! Maybe an aristocrat is worth waiting around for, even if it compromises your ideals! $-) </p>
<p>Exactly! And regarding the anti-American stuff: as someone who is half-English, I have dealt with that my whole life (even from my blood relatives in the UK). They love to make fun of Americans’ manners/mannerisms/commercial culture–even though they love coming over once a year to enjoy it. :)</p>
<p>I forgot to mention earlier that I really do not like the teacher who has her sights set on Thomas. She is no Sybil, for sure.</p>
<p>Also, I have been curious about one thing that could become a plot line going forward (if the series continues that long). Cora obviously has a Jewish maiden name, although in reading the background it sounds as though the story is that her mother was not Jewish and raised her in the Episcopal church in the U.S. With everything that is starting up in Germany (I’m sure everyone caught the reference to “brownshirts”) I wonder if this will somehow become a storyline in future episodes.</p>
<p>I don’t think Julian Fellowes is anti American but I do think he is accurately portraying the upper classes’ view of them in those days…and maybe to a lesser extent even now i.e uncouth, uncivilized, socially boorish. Class distinctions and snobbery was very much alive then and is somewhat present still.</p>
<p>I also didn’t like Mary’s “let the contest commence” line. Found that a strange thing for her to say since the contest concerns her. It would make sense if Blake said that to Gillingham or vice versa…not her. Sounds very business like coming from her.</p>
<p>I just re-watched last night’s episode on-line. A few observations:</p>
<p>How lucky for everyone that Samson didn’t keep the Prince’s letter on his person!!</p>
<p>Did Lord Grantham and Tom have a satisfactory conversation regarding the schoolteacher? Did Tom assure the Lord that there was no hanky-panky, or has Barrow in fact planted seeds of doubt?</p>
<p>And what could possibly be in Baxter’s background? Surely she wasn’t a prostitute. Maybe she was fired from a previous position?? How does Barrow know her? He is the one who recommended her for the Downton position. </p>
<p>I really hope we’ve seen the last of Shirley Maclaine. It was really uncomfortable to watch Harold Levinson flirt with that young girl – who, I believe, is only interested in him for his money.</p>
<p>How did the Levinsons get their money? Anyone know??</p>
<p>While I still didn’t care for the Mrs. Levinson character, I thought Harold Levinson was O.K., even though in the prior episode Lord Grantham spoke about him as though he was a crook. And I don’t agree that Paul Giamatti is unconvincing or doesn’t have any dramatic range. See his performance with Edward Norton in “The Illusionist.”</p>
<p>I really liked the historical hints that were dropped, even though they were just drips rather than leaks; the Brownshirts trouble in Germany and the impulsive and unwise skirt-chasing of the Prince of Wales. Will we see Wallice Simpson at Downton next season? Also, we’re definitely going to see some background on Aunt Rosamund regarding why she is childless. I think we know what’s coming in that regard.</p>
<p>Finally, boy was I also confused by the IDENTICAL appearance of Rose’s friend and the Prince’s mistress.</p>
<p>We had another question - are debutantes (or whatever they call the coming-outers) still presented to the royal family that way? Or is that a thing of the past?</p>
<p>Presentation of debutantes to the King and/or Queen was discontinued in the mid-50s as being out of keeping with the times.
The Levinsons made their money in dry goods - apparently Cora’s father was a department store mogul.
As for Barrow and the lady’s maid, my guess is, she’s gay. Remember, Barrow is and this is the pre “out and proud” era. He knows her secret and it could destroy her. All the more reason for her to buddy up with Molesly as a cover. I hope this isn’t true, though. He 's been through a lot and he deserves a break. I loved that moment last week when he managed to ring the bell at the bazaar and Jimmy didn’t. Sometimes those little moments are all you have to keep you going. </p>
<p>I’m in the minority here, but I liked Maclaine in this episode. I loved how she played the aristocrat who wanted her only for her money (which we now know is merely a life estate anyway). He assumed that every American wants to have a title, and she took him down a peg. But then offered the “other widows” who might in fact want it. You could see him considering it. And she took Violet down a peg, too - and with Maggie Smith’s amazing face, you could see that she hit home.</p>
<p>I also don’t think Paul Giamatti always “plays himself”. While yes, the voice and the look is the same, I see a big difference between Harold Livingston and the driver in “Saving Mr. Banks.”</p>
<p>I was hoping we’d finally find out what Barrow had on Baxter! At this point, Cora likes her enough that it would have to be extremely serious for her to be fired.</p>
<p>How could Edith inherit from her lost bf? She might receive some small amount, but he still has a wife in a mental institution. Would he really leave her with nothing for her continued care? </p>
<p>I wish Daisy had gone to America. I’m tired of her and her sullenness. I’m also tired of Barrow. I really like Mr. Levinson’s man. A breath of fresh air downstairs. </p>
<p>Edith didn’t say she had inherited. She said that he had given her power of attorney. Rosamund suggested that she look at the will as a way to discern what Gregson would have wanted her to do.</p>
<p>I’m not surprised by Violet; she’s more down to earth and practical than she may want you to believe. I am surprised at Robert. Everyone understood (or should have), even then, why a young woman would spend several months “on the Continent”, and it sure as heck wasn’t to practice her French! How dense can he be?</p>
<p>I’m not sure that they know Edith as well as we do. I’m not sure they’d think her capable of getting into such trouble. Do they know about how she betrayed Mary, or about her adventure with the farmer? It’s naive, yes, but parents in real life are naive about their children, too…</p>
<ol>
<li>Gregson certainly would not have disinherited his invalid wife completely, nor would the law likely have allowed him to do that. (In the U.S., in most jurisdictions, if a widow is not satisfied with her deceased husband’s will, she can “elect against the will” and receive a statutory 1/3 share of the estate. I am sure there is or was some equivalent in England.) But he seems to have had considerable means, and he would not have been required to leave them all to his wife, nor would they all have been necessary to support her in an institution. </li>
</ol>
<p>So, while Rosamund merely suggested that Edith look at the will for guidance, Edith openly speculated that Gregson might have left her some significant portion of his estate (and thought that his daughter should have an interest in that). And Rosamund was probably suggesting the same thing, in a veiled manner, when she asked about the will. After all, in a situation like this with no clear proof but death ever more the likely state of affairs, Edith would exercise her power of attorney quite differently depending on whether she or Mrs. Gregson was the residual beneficiary of the estate.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How dense can Robert be? Based on all the evidence, pretty dense.</p></li>
<li><p>Daisy sullen? Once upon a time, maybe, but that was weeks ago. As the season progressed she blossomed into the most admirable, well-balanced character on the show (beating out Mrs. Hughes by a nose). She was anything but sullen in this episode, reveling in the attention she was getting from Mr. Don’t-Call-Me-Levinson, triumphing in the kitchen, giving Ivy a helping hand, while remaining completely true to herself. </p></li>
</ol>