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</p>
<p>Exactly what I was thinking.</p>
<p>Ohh I had that confused. Drat, I need to rewatch if I want to plot and scheme.</p>
<p>I enjoy how stodgy Carson is. He seems to care more about traditions and class-order than anyone else. His real life personality is apparently SO different.</p>
<p>I couldn’t figure out if Isabel liked her new suitor or not. One minute she’s happy to have his attention, the next she’s running away (metaphorically speaking of course).</p>
<p>As for Mary and her suitors, I wish she stopped playing games. Her evening with Blake and the pigs was so endearing, I thought (hoped) she was going to be completely changed. But after she cooked up some eggs and Ivy found them downstairs, that was that. The old proper Mary came back.</p>
<p>I’m not so keen with the possibility that the Rosamund is Edith’s biological mother. What’s the point of that? But then again, I also don’t know what excitement will happen with Edith now that she’s a mom. No, for that to happen, I think Gregson needs to come back.</p>
<p>I guess I like the teacher for Tom. She’d be a natural status: not downstairs help, but not an aristocrat either. I just wish she’d get a different hat. Her outfits are so dreadful, especially the hat.</p>
<p>I’ve been reading a lot of reviews and comments on various internet sites and there are quite a few people who think Edith is Rosamund’s daughter.</p>
<p>In addition to why Edith looks less like her parents, possibly also why she is “the odd one out” among the sisters. </p>
<p>Other interesting theories: Gregson is a German spy who was called back to Germany. Doesn’t have a wife in
England, though maybe one in Germany.
The hold that Thomas has over Baxter: she is gay or she is Jewish. </p>
<p>Here’s my theories…</p>
<p>Baxter is from a dirt poor family that was hated in her village for some reason or other. Probably something to do with her family and she may have done something in her past such as stealing. All of her discussions with Moseley lead me to that conclusion.</p>
<p>Mary’s suitors are boring. They need to bring someone more flamboyant and interesting into the mix.</p>
<p>The school teacher isn’t pretty enough for Tom - I know I’m not supposed to say that, but she is just not appealing and her clothes are like sacks 
It would be more interesting if a young daughter of a low aristocrat who was fire and brimstone Liberal Party or something got involved with him.</p>
<p>Didn’t like Rose’s weird red dress for her ball, although I loved the Prince of Wales/mistress story line. I would have thought she should be dressed more fancy. Also, was it OK to have flapper dresses showing arms while being presented to the King and Queen??? I thought Cora’s dress didn’t seem suitable.</p>
<p>Yes, Rose’s parents most definitely should have been there for her big debut.</p>
<p>I don’t like the schoolteacher, she has a giant ‘chip on her shoulder’ and I don’t think she is a good match for Tom. I hope Tom finds someone kind like Sybil. I remember in season 1 Sybil helped one of the housemaids leave domestic service and get a job as a secretary or office assistant. </p>
<p>David - later King Edward VIII - didn’t meet Wallis Simpson until 1931. At the time of this episode, he would barely have been 19. </p>
<p>I think the Prince of Wales and Mrs Dudley Ward was historically accurate for the years 1922/1923. Here’s the info:</p>
<hr>
<p>Winifred May, Marquesa de Casa Maury (28 July 1894 – 16 March 1983), universally known by her first married name as Freda Dudley Ward, was an English socialite best known for being a mistress of the Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VIII.</p>
<p>Born Winifred May Birkin, she was the second child and eldest of three daughters[1] of Colonel Charles Wilfred Birkin (fourth son of a British textile magnate or lace king of Nottinghamshire, Sir Thomas Isaac Birkin, 1st Bt.)[2] and his American wife, the former Claire Lloyd Howe. She was the mistress of the Prince of Wales from 1918 to 1923, after which she remained his close confidante until 1934 and the beginning of his relationship with Wallis Simpson.[3]</p>
<p>*************************** about Edward…</p>
<p>Edward’s womanising and reckless behaviour during the 1920s and 1930s worried Prime Minister Baldwin, King George V, and those close to the prince. Alan Lascelles, Edward’s private secretary for eight years during this period, believed that “for some hereditary or physiological reason his normal mental development stopped dead when he reached adolescence”.[30] George V was disappointed by Edward’s failure to settle down in life, disgusted by his affairs with married women, and was reluctant to see him inherit the Crown. “After I am dead,” George said, “the boy will ruin himself in 12 months.”[31]</p>
<p>Branson was far from my favorite character in the first couple of seasons but I’ve warmed to him more since Sybil’s demise and I can’t imagine him having any romantic feelings at all for that awful schoolteacher. Are we actually meant to find her likable? She insults the Crawleys to Tom’s face on a regular basis and basically bullies him into taking her back to the house fairly late at night. I get that we’re supposed to see her as all spunky and independent and modern but there’s a difference between that and pushy. She’s pushy.</p>
<p>I remember in the episodes leading up to Sybil’s death in childbirth, her pleading with him to be more cooperative with her family (on whose mercy he was depending after another stupid escapade of his prevented them from returning to Ireland) and he turned on her and told her she was very free with her “musts”. Why on earth is he letting this charmless, plain Jane push him around? Ugh, if he marries her I can just imagine her trying to tell Sybbie that she shouldn’t think she’s so special just because her mother was a lady and insulting her grandparents, aunts and siblings.</p>
<p>I don’t care what happened. The costuming was amazing! And the set designs! </p>
<p>The whole thing with Blake was right out of a romance novel. Please, it was so silly. </p>
<p>I thought different of the exchange between Edith and Rosamund. I thought it was cruel, thoughtless, and another self centered comment from Edith. Ask anyone who has suffered with infertility and see how they would react when someone told them they couldn’t understand because they never had any children. Very hurtful and not out of character for Edith. </p>
<p>I find it strange that Edith was encouraged to nurse her child. Wet nursing was very common in those days:</p>
<p><a href=“Wet nurse - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet_nurse</a></p>
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<p>Did Fellowes really plan this plot twist that far in advance? I think Laura Carmichael was cast in the role of Edith to look different from the other two sisters, to be convincing as the homely and unloved middle sister, not to fit the story of having different parents. </p>
<p>Her different look certainly fits with the “Rosamund is her real mother theory,” but she must have been cast in the role at least 6 years ago. I’d be surprised that the current story line was that well-developed that long ago.</p>
<p>I found the schoolteacher’s taunting of Tom that resulted in her being taken up to house very unpleasant and uncouth. Would she demand that some other man take her on a sight-seeing trip to his family house at night to prove that he “could”? It was in very poor taste to treat the Crawleys’–and Tom’s–home like a tourist spot, mansion or not. This was not a great house open for viewing, it was someone’s home. I think that is why Tom felt instinctively uncomfortable with it. She seems determined to emphasize to him that he “doesn’t belong” rather than embracing him for who he is, which is considerably more nuanced that her hackneyed class-warfare script.</p>
<p>As for Mary and Blake, I think she is strongly attracted to him for many reasons, not the least of which is his character and strong-mindedness and forward-looking mindset. Mary is determined to put her shoulder to the wheel and keep Downton going. She is looking to the future, while also valuing the past. Finding out about Blake’s family did not reassure her for reasons of snobbery. She wants a partner who will pull in harness with her, and her issue with Blake was that she was afraid he would really be dedicated to bringing the Downtons of the world down, rather than helping bring them into the modern age. She was reassured that he really did understand, and that he may share her goals.</p>
<p>Tony Gillingham is like an old shoe. He is a nice guy, but he is not the man to challenge Mary, as Matthew was. Blake is her man. (Also, I think he is extremely attractive. :x )</p>
<p>Happy to be getting rid of Ivy, who has become a PITA. Although I liked the young valet from America very much. BTW, I also loved Harold’s character, and I think that Rose’s friend and he have developed a genuine relationship, thanks to his honesty and hers.</p>
<p>I think that’s a good summation of Mary’s position, Consolation. She’s had her one true love, and now she’s focused on the future of Downton. As DD said when Mary shrugged off her mourning clothes and came down to the tenant farmers’ meeting, “Look at her, getting her s**t together!” That’s exactly what she’s been doing - acting like a grownup! I like “she wants a partner who will pull in harness with her,” and Blake showed his willingness to do that in the pig pen. I’m afraid he’s looking like the better match, because I like Tony’s smile. I like his sweetness, and the fact that they were childhood friends.</p>
<p>“The first one you marry for love, the next one you marry for money.”</p>
<p>As for Cora and Robert not knowing the real reason why Edith went to the Continent with Rosamund, my guess is, they suspect but prefer not to know. Denial wasn’t just a river in Egypt in 1923, either. If Rosamund is going to step up to the plate, they’re content to let her handle it and not delve too deeply in order to preserve their opinion of their daughter. I am a Baby Scoop Era adoptee myself and a lot from this storyline rings very true - even the speculation about whether Rosamund is really Edith’s mother. In fact, I’ve been told that my birth grandfather traveled for buisness, wasn’t home much, and swallowed my birthmother’s cover story hook, line and sinker. They probably just don’t want to know.
ETA: I am soooo over Mary and her “suitors.” In fact, I’m soooo over Mary, period. She’s an “uppity minx,” as Mrs. Hughes once called her, and as mercenary as they come. She’ll go to the highest bidder but IMHO she’s no prize. </p>
<p>I agree with Consolation and JoBlue on the school teacher being no likeable/pushy not in a good way (Although I find her attractive and her clothes are simply of the time…ALL the women look vaguely preganant to my body con eye). I actually think/hope a woman like this will push him towards embracing the Granthams. </p>
<p>Am I wrong to want a spinoff in Newport with the American relatives? </p>
<p>RE Mary and Blake, it is disappointing she cares about his position but a leopard doesn’t change its spots overnight. Tony was smart to bring it up. It could well be a think Blake and Mary have on going disputes about once married. </p>
<p>Didn’t Edith have an affair with a married farmer a couple seasons ago? Is the farmer that is going to help Edith with her daughter the same guy?</p>
<p>We didn’t see Edith having an affair with a married farmer. We saw her flirting with a married farmer.</p>
<p>This farmer is not the same guy. This is the guy that Lord Grantham lent money to, and that subsequently took over the pigs.</p>