<p>[q]ooooooo…I could easily see that happening. Then the task of producing the heir to Downton Abbey would fall to Edith![/q]</p>
<p>Only if she happened to marry the fifth-cousin-twice-removed (or whatever) who would be next-in-line after Matthew. Maybe they’ll start an extensive search for the next-in-line-heir and discover it to be . . . Who? Branson? Carson? Bates? Could be anyone, really.</p>
<p>EDIT: why didn’t my quote work?</p>
<p>@Bookworm I totally agree about Maggie Smith’s performance! I also loved that little moment she had talking to Carson about what they’d both been through. So human.</p>
<p>nottelling, you have to use the whole word ‘quote’ in the brackets, rather than just the ‘q’.</p>
<p>I commented on why the docs did nothing when she started to seize. I wondered also why they didnt take her blood pressure, I saw Dr Clarkson use the cuff.<br>
Interesting how Cora wanted them to go “an hour ago” but couldnt say. But as the housekeeper said until things change and we live in this world…her name is escaping me</p>
<p>I think Mary is the part of people of her time and status, she wants to preserve the history and ways of Downton and she is very strong minded. However she and mathew have zero chemistry. They hardly even show affection. Before they got married and he made some comment about the wedding night, I was like ewwww I actually like Coras performance Love maggie Smith such a wonderful actress.
I never saw that episode on ER, although didnt he get sued in later episodes.? I stopped watching consistently when they showed an episode about a talk show,and the family on the talk show made up a lie so they could be on the show, ended up in the ER andthen the victim of the lie jumpedoff the roof of the hospital. I was done.
I saw the episode on Call the Midwife, scary, they did more with it on the show than the book</p>
<p>OK, I’ve got it: Matthew turns out to be infertile, so a major search is undertaken to find the next heir in line in the hopes of snagging him as a husband for Edith. The result of the search reveals that the next heir is none other than . . . Thomas! Lord Grantham, upon hearing the news, has a massive heart attack and dies, and, Thomas manages to poison Matthew with whatever was in that sauce that was almost delivered to the dining room in the first season. Whereupon, Thomas assumes his rightful role as the new Earl of Grantham, and after booting all of the remaining crawleys and granthams out, moves into Cora’s old bedroom with the cute new footman. The End.</p>
<p>Have you seen any of the online interviews with the guy who plays Thomas? He’s a fine looking man when he’s not being the arch villian!</p>
<p>I saw him interviewed with a few other cast member last fall when the new season was starting in England. I literally did not recognize him even though he was standing there with Daisy and Mr. Carson! He is very handsome and pleasant and well-spoken when he doesn’t have the Thomas sneer on his face!</p>
<p>^^^^^Yes, he’s quite handsome!</p>
<p>[Downton</a> Abbey’s Thomas to reveal ‘vulnerable’ side | The List](<a href=“http://www.list.co.uk/article/37605-downton-abbeys-thomas-to-reveal-vulnerable-side/]Downton”>http://www.list.co.uk/article/37605-downton-abbeys-thomas-to-reveal-vulnerable-side/)</p>
<p>He is an attractive guy IRL, and is married with kids.</p>
<p>Jeepers! He’s an attractive guy on Downton Abbey, too, which is why the running joke is the kitchen maids falling for him.</p>
<p>I understand (and agree) that the fact that he’s evil makes Thomas unattractive, but it doesn’t make him physically unattractive.</p>
<p>Maggie Smith arriving in the Abbey entrance: magnificent acting.the way she walked leaning heavily on her cane.The way she interacted with Carson.the way she hesitated and leaned on the pillar.</p>
<p>Cathymee, I noticed the same thing about the dowager leaning on her cane and almost falling down with the weight of her grief. The first time she really looked “old.” I said to H, “Carson is going to have to help her or she’s going to fall down!” But she straightened up when facing the rest of the family. Just marvelous acting and direction.</p>
<p>What bothered me about “Love’s Labor Lost” was that the whole thing occurred in the ER, with a resident - a non-OB resident, Dr Greene - in charge. I don’t care HOW full the OB floor was, once that delivery started going bad that woman would have been taken to the OB floor and a qualified OB would have found the pre-eclampsia and treated it, and left some uncomplicated delivery to the ER physicians. I never could believe an ER resident would end up in that situation. Maybe I’m naive though… It was incredibly well acted. I seem to recall there were no commercials during the second half, because it was so intense.</p>
<p>My pre-eclampsia came on fast and out of nowhere. I was 34 weeks, and on Monday I had a routine dr appt. H had never met my OB, so he took a personal day, and we not only went to my dr appt but we also went to the lawyer’s office to sign the wills that we’d had drawn up earlier in my pregnancy. I had no symptoms - no swelling, no headache, normal BP - but there was albumen in my urine. Dr had me repeat the urine test at the hospital, and the next morning he called and arranged for me to go to an internist that afternoon. When I got to the internist’s office the waiting room was packed, and the rude receptionist insisted I was not on the schedule and would have to make an appt and come back another day. Luckily I stood my ground, and she finally asked the dr, who told her that yes he had promised my OB he would see me. Rude Receptionist made sure I was the LAST patient in the waiting room to be seen… then had to walk into the examining room with a horrified look on her face to report, “Dr, her albumen is a 4+ !” Dr replied, “I know, that’s why she’s here.” Anyway, at that point - still no swelling, no headache - my BP was 200 over 120, and he sent me straight to the hospital. After a night on mag sulfate (during which I wondered if H was going to actually need the wills we had signed the day before, which were still in my purse) my BP hadn’t dropped signficantly, what I thought was Braxton-Hicks turned out to be early labor and my water had broken on its own, so my OB did a c-section. S weighed 4 lbs and spent 3 weeks in the hospital before he came home, which was still 3 weeks before his due date. To this day I thank God I had a routine appt scheduled that Monday. Otherwise I probably would have gone into early labor and possibly seizures, or stroked out, before there were any visible symptoms!</p>
<p>Maybe I missed it in all the discussion about Sybil, which was SO tragic–but what do you all think about O’Brien’s throwing the new footman Jimmy/James almost literally into Thomas’s arms? Wasn’t there an episode last season where he was briefly shown in a compromising position with a man–perhaps a servant of someone visiting Downton? I assume O’Brien is trying to get him fired, but her plan is especially interesting in light of his finally showing some humanity by breaking down in front of Anna after Sybil died.
'</p>
<p>lafalum,</p>
<p>I’m so sorry you had such a horrific experience, and thank goodness you and baby and husband survived. Watching the show must have brought back those memories.</p>
<p>Just came across this excellent article on CNN:</p>
<p>[Eclampsia:</a> 5 things you need to know - CNN.com](<a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/28/health/eclampsia-5-things/index.html?hpt=hp_t4]Eclampsia:”>http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/28/health/eclampsia-5-things/index.html?hpt=hp_t4)</p>
<p>Thinking back on it, I had an episode of horrible pain just below my ribcage not long before my pre-eclampsia was diagnosed. I assumed I was having indigestion after eating too much at a friend’s house and laughing really hard while playing a card game, but I remember the pain being so bad I was doing lamaze breathing to get through it. It lasted several hours.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Eclamptic hypertension was discovered in 1897, so I don’t think there’s any excuse for not checking, nottelling. They were checking the urine, so why not the blood pressure?</p>
<p>Matthew to Mary: Well, if you want to live at Downton and pass it on to our children, we have to manage it well
Mary to Matthew: (icy dagger eyes)</p>
<p>Edith to Mary: Now that our darling little sister is lying right here dead, do you think we can please please please be friends?
Mary to Edith: Don’t bet on it.</p>
<p>Cora to Mary: Tell you father to sleep in the closet.
Mary to self: Ah, so that’s how it’s done!</p>
<p>I do love Downton and everyone here who shares their opinions. :)</p>
<p>I had pre-eclampsia twice. With S1, it was discovered at a routine visit at 37 weeks. Didn’t get to go home and pack a bag – went straight on the mag sulfate and was induced. With S2, we had a little more leeway, but he was also induced at 37 weeks (and nearly 9 lbs.) when my BP, ankles and protein shot up.</p>
<p>Never saw the ER episode, but did see the case on Call the Midwife.</p>
<p>Mary’s just awful, but appreciate she’s trying to please everyone. I only saw the end of the episode, from Maggie Smith’s entrance on. I had toxemia during my second pregnancy and DH got up and turned the TV off, he couldn’t watch once it was brought up. I didn’t seize, but was put on strict bed rest and delivered 4 weeks early. And then on mag sulfate, which makes you hot and you see double! I remember squinting at the bp machine and thinking 240/130 must be some other number, it couldn’t be my bp. I had gained about 16 pounds in a span of days, and after we delivered the first sign of the dropping bp was all that fluid being unlocked, as it were. </p>
<p>Poor Branson. And I don’t blame Cora for directing her anger at Robert. Maybe this will force him to reconsider the whole way he approaches things.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Loved that. Only DA can have you weeping one minute and laughing hysterically the next.</p>