I too like Violet having a past (and liked how granny handled the butler) but thought the Russian fan-giver too pat.
Maybe all that Russian art wasn’t gifts? Maybe it had been stolen and bought by the family.
I liked that scene, too, but in general, I found watching the Cora plot in the most recent episode to be painful. She’s so underappreciated at Downton, and Robert’s attitude toward her could use some adjustment.
Having a laugh about all the predictions! H & I watched DA last night – couldn’t watch Sunday due to the football game …
Of course someone was going to see Mary in Liverpool! I do love Violet and her quick wit/comebacks. Her butler/footman (I can’t keep the various servants’ titles straight) is such a pill! And I was sure someone would ask about Mary’s sketches, which Edith did – but then the whole subject was dropped. Boo!!
As with many of the rest of you, I’m back to disliking Sarah Bunting. So obnoxious! And I wasn’t entirely a fan of Carson this week, either. I know many of my opinions are colored by my looking at situations through my American-made 2015 glasses – perhaps I would have felt differently if I actually lived through those times/events?? Not sure.
And Edith – what is there to say? Enough already!! What has happened to the paper/magazine she was writing for and running? Clearly the beans are going to get spilled and someone will find out Marigold is her baby.
How could I have forgotten about Mary’s reason for the trip?
Edith signs her up for National Portfolio Day and all hell breaks loose…
The Edith storyline is getting old and dragging. I love that Violet may have had some sort of scandalous past, even a private one,…perhaps that’s why she’s been so understanding about Mary and Edith.
Maybe LG is the Russian’s son! (just kidding)
Now THAT is a plot twist!
Just enough. It doesn’t change that much. Violet is still mom after all. But it certainly changes things up!
I thought the Russian’s reaction to Miss Bunting’s mild comment that some of the “Czar’s polices were misguided” was rather over the top. It made me wonder whether she said something far more inflammatory earlier in the conversation that we didn’t overhear. If that’s not the case I’d say that Miss Bunting was making an effort to be measured and polite in her criticism of the Czar but still managed to offend the very thin-skinned Russian arsitocrat.
I think that Edith will end up somehow “adopting” Marigold.
Adopting Marigold would be lovely. I just wish we’d get on with it. Right now, it’s stupid, and mopey, and Mr. Drewes speaks to her in a way no real farmer would (IMO), and Mrs. Drewes needs to get a spine and say something directly to Edith herself. Like, “I appreciate your interest but I don’t want Marigold to prefer you to me.” Really. What’s so hard about that??
^ That is in today’s terms. Mrs. Drewes is a tenant on Edith’s father’s land; it would be unlikely that she would be confrontational with Edith.
Then why is Mr. Drewes so direct with her?
I suspect he knows he can get away with it, because basically he knows he could blackmail Edith.
Someone (Lady Mary?) made a comment during the Russians scene that it’s a good thing LG and Rosamund were already born when Violet met Prince Karagin, or that might have made for interesting speculation. So, Fellowes did make the timeline clear on that score.
I’m assuming the Prince was related to the Czar. That families execution was tragic, and just a few years earlier. If my family were murdered and someone was so crass as to say anything offending, I would want to leave also.
I really thought it was unrealistic that Violet’s butler would have said he’d seen Mary in London. Aren’t servants supposed to use discretion and not mention anything untoward like that? Although I loved Violet’s quick thinking reply!
I’m also really surprised that Mary can’t find 10 square inches in all of that PALACE to hid her birth control and instead asks Anna to take it to her little shanty or wherever she lives 
Again, even if a servant found it, wouldn’t they have to stay quiet and discreet?
^^^ Well, Mary could put it under her pillow, but we saw what that got Edith!
AND where is that photograph of lil Marigold???
Actually, the Russian aristocrat’s reaction to such an understated comment isn’t as over-the-top as it might seem considering the worldview and attitudes among the more conservative Russian aristocracy.
Part of the reaction is also because of Bunting’s commoner status in relation to the offended’s aristocratic status and the idea aristocrats must always take precedence and be perceived as correct…even if their arguments/ideas/facts are objectively problematic or flat-out wrong from a factual or historical standpoint.
It’s a reaction borne of tribalism, denial, and feeling one is persecuted…whether real and/or imagined. It’s also not limited to Russian aristocrats pining for a czarist restoration. I’ve engendered the same reactions from Stalinist/Maoist apologists, monarchists of various kinds including those from my family’s culture of origin, American anti-Darwinian creationists/IDers, and more.
Possible, but not necessarily. There were princes in Russia and other monarchies who were elevated as such in their own right for past/recent service provided by the family in question to the royal family/kingdom/empire concerned.
They didn’t seem to clarify whether the Prince is a royal prince or not.
Spratt’s employer is Violet, not Mary. For that reason along with the fact Violet is senior to Mary in the family not only in age, but also aristocratic rank, Spratt is beholden to Violet, Countess Dowager, not Mary. Even so, he was a bit forward and Violet put him in his place to an extent as a consequence.
Also, wasn’t Mary and Spratt in Liverpool?
Anna found the picture of Marigold under Edith’s pillow and gave it to Mrs. Hughes as they were cleaning the room after the fire. AFAIK, Mrs. Hughes has the picture and the look on her face made me think she is putting two and two together.