<p>I have’nt watched Downton this season, the facebook updates keep me informed.
However, I do have a question. O’Brien & Thomas were often in cahooots especially during the first few seasons, but I don’t remember there ever being an explanation or backstory for that.
Was there?
Most unsatisfying.</p>
<p>I think they just became allies because they were both not very well liked and were both sort of different from the others. They then found they could help us other with sneaky plots until they “fell out,” as they say on DA.</p>
<p>Which reminds me of Daisy’s wonderful line last Sunday about Ivy: “Well, we can’t fall out, because we never fell in!”</p>
<p>What did happen to Obrien that she is no longer on the show? I missed that.</p>
<p>I really enjoyed the beach scene. It’s as if my grandmothers photo book came alive.</p>
<p>O’Brian went to work for Rose’s mother. </p>
<p>^^^in India.</p>
<p>oh, that’s right!</p>
<p>I can’t tell if Lord Grantham is perturbed by Thomas or not. He looked at him after Thomas tattled on Branson and definitely registered the remark. He later briefly touched on it with Branson but not necessarily in a bad way.</p>
<p>It was a fun episode. I love the relationship developing between Mrs. Patmore and Daisy.</p>
<p>
Perhaps. But if that were so, why did Robert question Edith about being down, or what she was thinking? Surely that would have simply been avoided in true English fashion!</p>
<p>I don’t think Edith is Rosamund’s, but I do think there is more to Rosamund than we have yet seen. And Isobel doesn’t “hang around” with Rosamund because Rosamund lives in London and Isobel is in York. So she deals with Violet because of proximity, not because of the generation. And Cora is too insipid for Isobel.</p>
<p>I am a bit lost. What are the relationships between Isobel, Rosamund and Violet? </p>
<p>Speaking of Cora. I read where this actress was engaged to Sean Penn at the tender age of 23.</p>
<p>FB Update!
<a href=“http://happyplace.someecards.com/29572/downton-abbey-season-4-episode-8-finale-the-london-season-2013-christmas-special-bbc-pbs-recap”>http://happyplace.someecards.com/29572/downton-abbey-season-4-episode-8-finale-the-london-season-2013-christmas-special-bbc-pbs-recap</a></p>
<p>
Violet is Rosamund and Robert’s mother, and Mary’s grandmother. Isobel is Matthew’s mother, and therefore the mother of Violet’s grandson-in-law. </p>
<p>I wonder if there might be any awkwardness between Isobel and Cora, too, because Isobel’s son was going to take Cora’s fortune away from Cora’s children. Obviously any such drama is long since passed, but I wonder if they got off on the wrong foot from the beginning and as a result Isobel bonded with Violet instead. It was very awkward when Isobel first came to Downton. She and Violet didn’t start out as buds either, in fact I think they have become friends because they have so much fun antagonizing each other. They are also both a part of Downton without actually living at the house, and they do have some things in common even if they don’t like to admit it!</p>
<p>That is HILARIOUS…and long! I am only about half way …where Mary changed her alignment from Lawful Good to Neutral Good (which is a D&D thing)… </p>
<p>the schoolteacher reminds me of Braithwaite…</p>
<p>Brathwaite was a schemer, but the schoolteacher (what is her name?) is just brash. I like her better than I ever liked Sybil.</p>
<p>It’s interesting, however, how much Tom has changed due to The Family. I’m not convinced he could make a go of it with Miss Bunting. I think he’s changed too much. I anticipate a relationship for a while, but ultimately I don’t think it will last.</p>
<p><<i can’t="" tell="" if="" lord="" grantham="" is="" perturbed="" by="" thomas="" or="" not="">>
I remembered when LG got clued in about Thomas. It was way back when Thomas tried to make it look like Bates stole LG’s snuff box. I don’t think LG knew all the details, but he is loyal to Bates from the war, and he recognized that Thomas was making trouble. He took Thomas back on staff after the war only reluctantly.</i></p><i can’t="" tell="" if="" lord="" grantham="" is="" perturbed="" by="" thomas="" or="" not="">
<p>RE the other Tom, I hope he doesn’t take up with the schoolteacher. As someone said, she’s pushy.</p>
</i>
<p>OMG, Cardinal Fang! How can you say that! I loved Sybil. 
</p>
<p>What’s-Her-Name is Sarah Bunting. I like her because I married someone a lot like her. I don’t think she’s pushy; I think she’s challenging. She’s exactly the kind of person Tom Branson could make a life with – educated, intelligent, engaged (not to be married, of course), probably capable of being extremely polite if she wants to be, middle-class, probably extremely loving and loyal and protective. A mother for Sybbie the Crawleys could accept, not some Irish farm girl. And she would be nice enough to them and keep them a bit at bay. She and Tom wouldn’t live in the Big House, of course, they would get a cottage somewhere, or a house in the village.</p>
<p>Not as luscious as Sybil/Jessica Brown-Findlay, of course, but who is? Anyway, she left Tom for a sexier, more famous dark Irishman, Colin Farrell. Clearly, she has a thing for Irish men.</p>
<p>I suspect that the divergent attitudes about Sarah Bunting here reflect one of those deep cultural divides that occasionally split us badly here on CC. </p>
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<p>I agree. Cardinal has SOME nerve! [-X </p>
<p>:)</p>