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<p>Thomas was my Irish great-grandfather’s name. :)</p>
<p>His sons were John, James, Martin, and Patrick. Never been a Brian in the family. For than matter, I believe the name Branson is of Anglo-Saxon origin, not Irish. (With all of the usual caveats about Norman invaders and the Irish being forced to change their names to the English equivalents or phonetic spellings.)</p>
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I’m another on the female side who is annoyed by Sarah Bunting. It’s not just her rude remarks or pushiness in and of themselves, but at least so far there is nothing appealing in her personality to offset her stridency. *</p>
<p>This.^</p>
<p>Oh, I know Tom is fine as an Irish name, it’s just poor planning to have the two characters with the same name. My Irish great-grandfather was Hugh. </p>
<p>On the annoying Sarah Bunting issue, Tom seemed very drawn to the sweet and sincere nature of Sibyl. Remember that lovely thing that Mrs. Hughes said about Sibyl after her death: “she was the sweetest soul this house has ever known,” or something to that effect. Sarah is snotty, even in the way she acts when Tom keeps trying to politely introduce her to his family. I don’t see any emotional connection with her at all. </p>
<p>The similarity between Sibyl and Sarah is that both were/are pursuers. They’re the chasers, and Tom is the chased. </p>
<p>Also, they are engaged with the world beyond themselves, interested in bigger issues, intellectually curious. Someone like Mary is smart, but if it doesn’t affect her or her family today, she’s not interested. (And the same is true for Robert and Cora, except for the “smart” part.) Edith has that capacity, but she keeps it under a bushel at home. Sarah is not wrapped up in herself, she is paying attention to the world. </p>
<p>Also, like Sybil with her nursing, Sarah the teacher is engaged with helping others.</p>
<p>I think most of you have her character wrong. She is teasing toward Tom as a way of flirting, of provoking, and also possibly of taking his measure more quickly. She has never been remotely inappropriate with any of the Crawleys, nor do I think she would be. When she went to the house, I think she went not to give him a hard time but to, um, give him a good time, and was a little taken aback when he wanted to show her the drawing room more than his bedroom. Then she was trying to figure out just how short a leash he was on, and why.</p>
<p>Sometimes Tom must seem like the man of her dreams, but at other times . . . he’s a timid flunky under the spell of snotty, not-so-bright aristocrats, with a daughter and an impossibly beautiful, charismatic dead wife pretty much taking up whatever emotional capacity he has. She as much as offered herself to him on a platter, and he showed her the library, fretted about offending his absent patrons, and got bullied by the assistant butler. He’s not necessarily a great catch. Or, better, he might be great, but he’s sure to be difficult and high-risk. I don’t blame her at all for investigating what kind of man he is thoroughly.</p>
<p>Sibyl did not pursue Tom! I don’t agree with that at all. He initiated that.</p>
<p>And Sarah was inappropriate with each person Tom introduced her to. She was not very polite and glared at each one, and in return, the Crawleys were rather cool to her. And she was rude to Tom about touring the house, criticizing it. It is his home now, and he and his daughter are part of the family legacy. I don’t think she has good manners at all.</p>
<p>Example: when she saw him after several months, she said, “Have you been avoiding me?” Not “how nice to see you again,” “how have you been,” etc. She IS wrapped up in herself. </p>
<p>It didn’t occur to me that she invited herself back to the house in order to be “bedded.” I assumed she really was curious about the house.</p>
<p>We are looking at Sarah in today’s world. In those days I think the classes mistrusted each other and she would have been curious as to why Tom who came from her class could be so enraptured with the upper class. I think she is purposely pushing him further than he wants to go so as to understand where he is coming from or to make him confront the issue in his own mind.</p>
<p>I also didn’t think that Sarah was looking to seduce Tom when she pushed him into showing her the house. I think she wanted to see what the inside looked like, just how grand and how opulent it is. </p>
<p>I also suspect she may have had mixed reasons for wanting to see inside. The strident political part of her mind maybe wanted to confirm that the parasitic aristocracy were as over-the-top wasteful and useless as socialist political theory said. And at the same time, having lived and worked in the shadow of the big house for years, maybe a curious tourist and celebrity fan part of her mind just wanted to see how the grand folks live - admire the beautiful architecture, furnishings, and artwork. </p>
<p>My other theory is that all other reasons reasons are smoke screens, and she is really casing the place for a political crime of some sort - a demonstration, or vandalism, or a bomb attack. </p>
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<p>Too complicated. Maybe she’s just casing the joint because she’s a party crasher at heart out for a free meal. :D</p>
<p>coureur. goodness! what great and interesting thoughts you posted.
I do not like Sarah. I trust my intuition. That said, I have not figured out where her position is going.
You are spot on, something political in the future that is ove</p>
<p>Sarah is rude, annoying and completely unappealing.
^I also believe that Tom pursued Sibyl.</p>
<p>I was the one who said it was Sibyl pursuing Tom. I now realize my memory was faulty on that point.</p>
<p>But I still like Sarah. Hey, I’m from New Jersey, we don’t do subtle and demure. And I think she just wanted to see the inside of Downton. Wouldn’t you?</p>
<p>Didn’t watch Downton during the Olympics, so last night H and I had a Downton marathon and finished the season. My thoughts:</p>
<p>When Edith said, “Sometimes I think God doesn’t want me to be happy” I thought, “In your case, God is Julian Fellowes and you’re right, he seems to hate you!” I wonder what happened to Michael - did the actor just not renew his contract and this is how they’re getting rid of him? Somehow I feel like we haven’t seen the last of him…</p>
<p>I’ve also been wondering what Baxter’s secret is. Good to know that no one else knows either - I thought I had somehow missed it. I with they’d just fire Barrows already. No one likes him, including the Earl. And shouldn’t his hand be too disfigured to work as a footman, after he shot himself during the war?</p>
<p>I don’t like Sarah Bunting. She’s pushy and rude. Refused to acknowledge Violet even when Violet said hello, and pushed Tom into going upstairs in the house when he didn’t want to. </p>
<p>I thought Mary went to warn off Mr. Ross about Rose for his sake more than Rose’s. She knew Rose was bored, seeking excitement and a way to get back at her parents, and really didn’t care very much about Ross at all. (Besides, who wants to end up with a married name of Rose Ross?)</p>
<p>No doubt in my mind that Bates “did it.” I didn’t believe the plot line that had Mary contemplating turning Bates in. A train ticket proves nothing, and she would have had to expose Anna’s “shame” to explain Bates’ motive, as well as breaking Anna’s heart when Bates would get arrested again. Mary wouldn’t do that to Anna. </p>
<p>BTW - the actor who played Mr. Pamuk will soon appear as Four in the upcoming move Divergent. Mr. Pamuk was clearly in his 20’s a few years ago, and now the same actor is supposed to play an 18 year old? </p>
<p>They’re not going to fire Thomas. He has to stick around so we can all hate him.</p>
<p>I wonder how so many people can dislike Sarah, yet like Mary. Mary is a vile person. She ruined her sister’s marriage, she’s a terrible snob, she jerked both Matthew and Carlisle around, she ignores her child, and she delights in setting her suitors against each other.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say she is vile, but she is quite cold and I don’t like her. People remember Edith betraying her but they don’t remember Mary telling that local man (who had been interested in Edith) that she was not interested in him. That led to Edith’s betrayal. </p>
<p>Also, there was some before-the-scenes suggestion that the young man who died on the Titanic preferred Edith but was pushed towards Mary because she was the eldest. </p>
<p>Yea, I had forgotten about Barrow’s hand. He is officially the “under-butler” now, I think he serves as footman from time to time.</p>
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<p>I could have sworn that it was the other way round and Mary torpedoed Edith’s relationship in revenge for her betrayal. Will have t check into it. In any case, it was clear from the get go that Mary and Edith were not fond of each other.</p>
<p>First came the man on the Titanic. Edith loved him, but Mary, who didn’t care, got him. So Edith was sour about that. So Edith betrays Mary about Pamuk. Then Mary spoils it for Edith with they guy she tried to marry (I can’t remember his name right now.) But, we get the sense that, as sisters, they’ve been at it for years!</p>
<p>I like Mary. Remember that Mary grew up knowing she had to marry that guy who went down on the Titanic. Then she ‘had’ to marry Matthew. Fortunately, she loved him. Then after just a year or two, when she could expect some happiness, he is killed. Now she has to do what she has to do to save Downton for George. In other words, she has little free choice in her life. No wonder she is sometimes short, caustic with her words and probably envies Edith her relative freedom. </p>