He didn’t fawn tho.
He’s pretty smart. Just Mary’s type! If he fawned over her she’d dump him before he even got going.
They will have to kill that guy off of The Good Wife before he can get serious with Mary.
I enjoyed this episode as Fellowes has a way to tie up some loose ends and introduce new story lines…such as Mary and Edith’s potential new beaus and wrapping up the Isabel/Lord Merton story line. It was a shame that it could not work out but this way we have a whole new season of Isabel/Violet repartee to look forward too. In yesterday’s NY Times there is an interview with Fellowes and he is not definitive about whether we’ve seen the last of Tom Branson. So with his leaving for Boston and Atticus and Rose to NY, might there be a U.S trip next year?
I loved the Carson/Mrs Hughes ending and it so paralleled the ending of last season. Loved the scene with Tom, Mary and Edith praying for Sybil.
The fashions were pretty spectacular. Loved Mary’s coat when she visits Anna in prison and so many of the fashions at Lord Sinderby’s shooting party.
Hope the Anna/Bates/Mr Green storyline is over… Fellowes has a way of not wrapping up all loose ends and having some plot lines entirely disappear… Maybe Anna and Bates can have a child next season.
Fellowes said in the interview that Edith and the Bates’ are those people whose bread always falls butter side down. So no, don’t have a baby Anna, no…I fear the outcome of pregnancy, childbirth and infancy in the Bates family.
The agent (Mr. Pelham) is related distantly (2nd or 3rd cousin) to the lord of the estate Sinderby rented for the hunting. Mary’s new potential is Henry Talbot who I think was just explained as a friend of a friend of the estate owner.
Or a friend of Atticus’ friend. I will have to watch again to pick up that.
The agent I understood. I thought Mary’s guy was a friend of a friend of Atticus, also.
It was the last minute expectations that they be included that annoyed Lord S.
Mary’s guy pointedly did not look back as he drove away. Good play but wondered if he was coy or just self centered…
A few thoughts: I don’t think we’ll be seeing Tom Branson or Rose again unless they make a reunion episode in several years. The actors are on to bigger and better things, like Sybil and Matthew. I doubt Atticus would think of the boy has his half brother. I think bastard children weren’t given quite that much acceptance. Marigold should be significantly younger than George and Sybie so maybe that’s why she’s less animated. I did think something was wrong with her though. Maybe whether we see more of Mary and the handsome friend of Atticus’ is whether he gets a better offer in TV, movies. Finally, I must thank you all. I never really noticed the clothes much, but I really watched them this episode after reading this thread. They are spectacular!
Well, yes there are people who manage to sprain a wrist carrying a laundry basket, break a tooth on a bone in a chicken salad sandwich, and crack the car windshield when a rock bounces up from the road, but two false murder accusations/jailings in one family? Even in a soap opera with loads of silly plotting, the whole Bates saga has been the Achilles heel of the show for ages now, and the worst part is that none of it makes a lick of sense. Someone needs to slap Fellowes upside the head and make him stop.
I can’t imagine how sports car guy would have been attracted to a supercilious witch who took it upon herself to berate someone she had just met. Run away, sports car guy!
I will miss Tom terribly. He’s one of the few characters who isn’t one-dimensional.
The dinner scene at Grantchester (sp?) was utterly spectacular. I’d be happy to watch the show with no goofy plots whatsoever–I 'm entertained more than enough by the dinner and hunting scenes, the women’s fashions, and the quips from Violet!
This has become one of my favorite storylines, so yay!
Apropos of nothing, I really like the Lady Sinderby character. She’s very nice and smart, but she doesn’t let other people run over her .
^Agree. I like her a lot, and for that reason would not like to see her be hurt by a revelation of her husband’s affair. However, she is quite sharp so perhaps she already knows about his indiscretion and has simply chosen not to make an issue of it. I thought it was odd how no one questioned why the supposed friend of Rose’s would visit with her kid in tow. Little Daniel should have been home with the nanny.
Here’s Tom and Lorenzo’s wrap up: http://tomandlorenzo.com/2015/03/downton-abbey-and-so-say-all-of-us/
Some men just love well-dressed, confident and challenging women 
I think he’ll make a point of visiting that Yorkshire aunt sooner rather than later.
The guy who needs to run away is probably estate-agent guy. I’m glad they are giving Edith another shot at a boyfriend but talk about someone whose bread always lands butter-side down…
It’s gotten to the point that every time Edith speaks i hear the 2 note Debbie Downer music: whah, whoah.
When I saw estate-agent guy, I thought: a male Edith! They seem quite a matched set. Of course, just as Edith fell into a packet (inheritance), I expect JF will make sure hapless estate-agent guy becomes his 3rd cousin’s sudden heir? Edith will have the biggest castle in the family. Grouse hunting for everyone!
Mary’s Dark Handsome Guy was the friend of Atticus’s friend (the one who had that oddly suggestive request of shooting without a woman present, alone with his loader, please!) who lived 1 hour away and was invited by Atticus. DHG happened to be visiting Alone-with-my-loader guy, so was brought along and the Sinderby’s did not object (manners!). But I think he is a good match for Mary, as they are both tall dark and handsome, and both on the chillier side of cool. Of course, he’s into cars–so that means what? His family owns the Bentley company? Race cars for everyone!
I also wondered if marigold had Down syndrome. I thought she was very non animated too. cute though. I think the new man is a match for Mary, very astute observations when they were dancing. Why does Mary hate Edith so much was that ever told? I laughed when Mary told her maid to get Barrows involved and her description of his ability to cause trouble. I had no doubt that he would accomplish his task. I don’t want Edith with that kind of guy, I want her to have someone with ambition and intelligence. I laughed when Cora asked LG not to get drunk, and he did anyway, very typical of the conversations and the result I have with my H.
I would like to see Anna get pregnant, I like them both, and wish for better story lines. I guess they will always have it hanging over them that she could be re arrested.
Lord S. seems too old for the mistress . I expected her to look more mature and not as young and innocent. I loved how it was handled with Violet and the prince. Her conversations about it being the last time she would get that kind of offer. I have to admit a visual of her in the sack with the prince made me laugh. Not just from the standpoint of her being older but just her personality and how she holds on to the old ways etc… and what is proper, I loved the way she played it.
I lov e LG relationship with Isobel and how Isabel said she was not going to spend the rest of her life being upset by his sons. showing she values herself over a “man”
I wonder if the “Marigold” thing is just a case of the child actress showing up under the weather/in a sour mood/etc? I was surprised to learn from the whole “American Sniper” fiasco with the fake baby that it’s not so easy to replace a child actor at the last minute, even if the kid is not in the best shape to perform.
OR…maybe we are looking at a disability storyline for Marigold? Maybe that sort of thing wasn’t diagnosed as early today as it was back then?
I’m sure Marigold is fine. She’s just a tired child actor who is too young to do anything else but sit in the nice lady’s (Edith’s) arms.
And usually the real-life mother is a few feet away off camera dangling a toy, which is why babies on camera are rarely actually looking at the actors playing their mothers, but instead are looking the other way.