I disagree totally. The most recent episodes have shown Mary reflecting upon how much nicer Sybil was than she is and she admits that she feels quite ashamed about that. At her “meanest” Mary has never made any real effort to do anything mean at all to Edith; she merely has made offhand nasty remarks. For the past several seasons, Mary has been very preoccupied with her widowhood and the future of the estate. Since she and Edith were never on good terms, she simply doesn’t give her a lot of thought and really, why should she? Does Edith really care at all about Mary’s well-being?
I’m often baffled by the Edith-lovers/Mary-haters.
Wasn’t there an episode not long ago where Edith said that if Mary found out about Marigold, Mary would use the information against her (Edith)? At that point I hadn’t heard about Edith’s leaking the news about Mary and Pamuk (in season 1) but wasn’t that the start of the bad blood between Edith and Mary?
Thanks @nottelling ! I never really did understand the whole Matthew inheriting it all when he was a distant cousin. I’ll go see if I can find a family tree also!
Edith leaked the news about Mr. Pamuk to the Turkish Embassy. So Mary did something mean (I don’t remember what) so that Old Guy left Edith at the altar.
If Mary finds out about Marigold’s origins, as seems pretty certain to me, she will have the power to ruin Edith. Having a child out of wedlock in the early 1920s? Oh my. Mary would just need to let that bit of news out and the entire family would be ruined.
And don’t forget Mary’s business with What’s-His-Name, with the week at the Inn, for which she was almost blackmailed.
They’ve both got quite a bit of nasty business between them, don’t they.
“Mary would just need to let that bit of news out and the entire family would be ruined.”
And, to this point, wouldn’t Mary herself be tarnished by association along with her parents? I think Mary is too smart self-preserving to not see that.
Next Sunday, I think I will be required to watch the Stupid Bowl. We’re going to an annual thing where the game is on. And, I don’t think I really want to watch DA with a group; I’d rather watch at home, as I usually do.
No she didn’t. Mary had absolutely nothing to do with Edith being left at the altar and was sympathetic to her when it happened. What she did do (5 years earlier) was to imply to Stratten (aka Old Guy) that Edith wasn’t really into him when in fact Edith was desperate to begin a relationship with him.
And yet everyone who find’s out that Marigold is Edith’s daughter seems to be just fine with it. Neither of parents has so much as rebuked her for her folly and in fact have been loving and supportive (which doesn’t seem very realistic to me given the times, but that’s another matter) There’s no reason to think that Mary would ruin Edith by revealing her secret; why would she?
Contrast this with Edith actually trying to ruin Mary’s life by writing to the Turkish ambassador, quite stupidly since the incident would have damaged the entire family including herself. When Mary confronted her about it, Edith proudly admitted it while calling Mary a “slut”. Nice, Edith considering that Mary was actually the victim of a sexual assault before Mr. Pamuk’s untimely demise.
Well, next week should be interesting. Near the end of this episode, Mary actually says goodnight to Edith. But it ends with her staring in the mirror after having tried to get information out of Anna. Staring and plotting, I think.
I learned my lesson watching Season 1 long after everyone else did. Fighting the temptation to do any searching at all…even though I’m terribly tempted…
Well, next week should be interesting. Near the end of this episode, Mary actually says goodnight to Edith. But it ends with her staring in the mirror after having tried to get information out of Anna. Staring and plotting, I think.>>>>
But she didn’t look mean or smug. She looked shocked and sad or wistful. Maybe she really is turning over a new leaf and will be supportive.
I don’t think she was enthusiastic but if I remember it correctly, she surrendered only after Mr. Pamuk told her that her reputation would be destroyed if she screamed or made a fuss, regardless of what actually happened. Basically, he forced her to comply through blackmail. Hardly a situation we would consider consent, at least nowadays.
a few thoughts as i just watched the episode and have been saving all of these comments here to read: the robert dinner scene reminded me of the scene in Mad Men when the john deer tractor was driving through the office party. It was quick thankfully; but i knew something was coming.
and mary, who told tom she couldnt “marry down” or something like that. Her amount of ingrained nobility/pride is so much more than edith’s. was so surprised she would say something like that to Tom; i thought it was mean. Who is the older of these two, by the way?
Re post 4408: I thought Mary WAS the reason that the older gentleman that Edith was going to marry ended up leaving her. Does anyone remember? And I thought Mary was incredibly mean to Edith before Edith contacted the Turkish embassy about Pamuk (Edith was retaliating). That act of Edith’s really was terrible but Mary was mean to her sister before all of that and has been ever since. At this point, I think Mary is by far the nastier sister.
Edith wrote the country’s embassy - she WROTE - not anonymous rumor spreading but directly wrote - what would be the equivelent here? I get the whole Mary is mean to her sister and makes sure she knows daily she is ugly, stupid - that’s sisterly crap but contacting the diplomats to tattle on your sister?