<p>So what’s the significance of the phrase "Her Ladyship’s soap . . . "?? Was there an incident I’m not aware of (I’m a newbie this season), or is this to remain a mystery for a while?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I think the ‘female problem’ is the author saying “I have no idea what the female problem was that was fixed with a simple procedure, so I won’t say and the audience won’t care”. </p></li>
<li><p>I did like the final shot. Tom looked happy (after having caught the ball). I liked the three cricketeers, Tom, Lord Grantham and Mathew, all standing arm in arm, getting along.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>VH, I can’t recall why O’Brien did it, but Lady Grantham fell getting out of the bathtub when she stepped on a bar of soap that O’Brien had placed there. As a result, she lost a pregnancy.</p>
<p>I happened to catch a PBS program aired just before Downton last night. Highclare is the house used as “Downton Abbey”. It is owned by Lord Carnarvon, who happens to be a friend of Julian Fellowes. </p>
<p>Lord Carnarvon is a descendant of the famous Lord Carnarvon who financed Howard Carter’s Egyptian excavations which located the tomb of King Tut. I imagine the dogs names, Pharaoh and Isis, are the author’s nod to this.</p>
<p>That same Lord Carnarvon married the illegitimate daughter of Alfred de Rothschild, the extremely wealthy and Jewish banker, who like the fictional Lord Grantham, was in financail straits and needed to marry for money and married a Jewish Levinson.</p>
<p>O’Brien did it because she thought she was getting sacked. It was a mix-up. The dowager was looking for a new ladies’ maid, not Lady Grantham.</p>
<p>Thanks, TatinG!</p>
<p>Did anyone else hear that next week is the season finale? Doesn’t it seem like a short season this year?</p>
<p>I loaned out my season 3 discs, but if I remember correctly, there is just one more (long) episode. It skips ahead quite a bit too - it’s almost jarring. And the season is definitely too short!</p>
<p>
I think he will. Thomas absolutely has his faults, but one thing I’ve noticed about him is that he learns from his mistakes. He went on and on about how he wasn’t in service anymore, but when circumstances led him back to it, he settled in, got over himself, and did his job well. One of the things I like best about Downton Abbey is that all sides of a character are shown - even O’Brien has her kind moments, as shown when she comforted the valet with shell shock. I still think she’s in for it, though.</p>
<p>So let me get this straight – </p>
<p>O’Brian purposely left a bar of soap on the floor, and when Cora stepped out of her bath, she slipped on it and miscarried. And Cora doesn’t know that, basically, the miscarriage was O’Brian’s fault. </p>
<p>So Bates’ whispering it to her is a threat that if she doesn’t lay off, he will disclose it to M’Lady.</p>
<p>And it was Carson who told Bates what to whisper to O’Brian – right??</p>
<p>No. It was Thomas who told Bates. Thomas and O’Brien used to be co-conspirators, whispering together in the corridors. O’ Brien had confessed about the soap to Thomas a long time ago.</p>
<p>I hope someone who has watched the unedited original version of Season 3 will fill us in on the little details that we’ve missed, especially last night. For example, there’s a reference to Mary’s previous visit to London, which we knew nothing about, and it made no sense. I’m sure there’s more. </p>
<p>And what about poor Molesley? I really wanted him to score at least one run! Heck, I was hoping he’d be the hero :)</p>
<p>Actually, Cora dropped the soap outside of the tub. The soap broke into two pieces, and when O’Brien picked it up, she gave Cora half and told her that the other half had slid under the tub, when in fact, she used her foot to shove the soap where Cora would slip on it. In a later episode, when Cora seemed to be dying of Spanish flu, O’Brien tried to confess but Cora was too feverish to understand. So she still doesn’t know. But Thomas knew, and he told Bates to use it to threaten O’Brien. </p>
<p>O’Brien actually felt pretty remorseful over that soap, so she should simmer down for a while.</p>
<p>(Sorry - didn’t see Tatin’s reply ahead of me!)</p>
<p>Yes, poor Molesly! He always seems to be one step behind, always putting his foot in his mouth, or getting left out. I wanted him to be the hero too!</p>
<p>I opted for the costume drama on CBS last night, with Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z, and Beyonce looking super-businesslike and grown up, and someone named Kimba wearing the moral equivalent of a few flower petals and a tutu. But I’m looking forward to Downton Abbey this evening.</p>
<p>We never heard O’Brien confess to Thomas, did we? He comes back to Downton and is mystified by her sudden protectiveness of Cora, but she just tells him to MYOB. If someone remembers her spilling those particular beans later on, please remind me!</p>
<p>I enjoyed this episode of happy endings as a counterpoint to the recent doom and gloom. We Abbeyists deserved that. </p>
<p>I think the key to the tolerance of Thomas’ homosexuality is not only tolerance but Carson’s and Crawley’s abhorrence of scandal–no difference from the coverup of Mary and Mr. Pamuk, which could still still be a factor down the road. </p>
<p>That said, the statistical breakdown of sexual orientation was likely no different than it is today–but obviously much more closeted. After all Crawley talked about the number of times they tried to kiss him at Eton. (Who knows? Maybe some of those kisses were requited in the spirit of adolescent play.) I recall in the film REDS, there were interviews with various people alive in the 19-teens, and the writer, Henry Miller said, “There was as much f-ing back then as there is today, we just didn’t talk about it.”</p>
<p>And I predict that Edith along with Rose will do Jazz Age stuff. </p>
<p>It was certainly a jolt when the scene opened with that jazz band wailing indicating with a bang, “We’re not in Kansas anymore.”</p>
<p>Btw, I’ve been surprised there wasn’t much notice of the post-war flu pandemic, which had more fatalities than the war itself.</p>
<p>There definitely was notice of the Spanish Flu! Matthew’s fiance Lavinia was killed by it, and Cora nearly died of it too. </p>
<p>I have to admit that I find Lady Rose intensely irritating though, utterly vacuous in her delivery of the lines.</p>
<p>I stand corrected (senior moment?) on the flu mentions, although I still feel there wasn’t a sense of how pervasive the loss was–far greater than the number of war casualties: 50 million versus 16 million. Cora and Livinia make it seem isolated. </p>
<p>[The</a> Influenza Epidemic of 1918](<a href=“http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/influenza-epidemic/]The”>The Influenza Epidemic of 1918)</p>
<p>In the UK: [Flu:</a> how Britain coped in the 1918 epidemic - Health News - Health & Families - The Independent](<a href=“http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/flu-how-britain-coped-in-the-1918-epidemic-511987.html]Flu:”>http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/flu-how-britain-coped-in-the-1918-epidemic-511987.html)</p>
<p>Not a fan of Rose, either, although I can’t put my finger on why I dislike her so much. Of course she’s a bratty teenager who’s making all kinds of bad decisions for herself, but it’s more than that. I did like Matthew’s no nonsense approach: “Let’s dance!” and then he tells her how it’s going to be! I was also struck by the contrast between Rose’s scheming and sneaking and Ivy’s response as to why she couldn’t go to the movies alone with Alfred, “My mum wouldn’t like it!” Ah - isn’t that the girl we all want?</p>