<p>^Episode 6, Season 2.</p>
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<p>Yes, but it was too soon. Mary is not ready. If he could have given her some time to think about it, maybe, but requiring a promise from her immediately - less than a year after her deeply beloved husband’s death and only a few days after they became re-acquainted - there was no way she could say yes yet. If he truly thought she was the love of his life, he should have at least given her a couple of weeks or a month. I know he has another woman in his life and he really seems like a good guy, but asking Mary to commit NOW was guaranteeing himself a no.</p>
<p>Lord what’s-his-name was Tony and I couldn’t believe the stuff he was saying! Was he for real? If so, yuck. Or is he out to get her for some rather nefarious reason. He had the rapist valet, right? </p>
<p>You just don’t convincingly fall in love with someone in a few days, especially someone so standoffish and unavailable as Lady Mary, not if you’re sane. I bet he’ll come back though, with his rapist valet and the wealthy Mabel too.</p>
<p>Bates is going to find out that the rapist was “Gillingham” and kill the wrong guy. That’s my new prediction.</p>
<p>Ooh, exciting speculation!</p>
<p>Yes, when she got in the car with Tom, she said, “I’ve just done something I may regret for a very long time.”</p>
<p>Wait a minute – I thought the rapist valet went with the card shark guy. Uh oh. If the rapist valet went with Lord Gillingham, then, Oh well. Sorry it didn’t work out for Mary, but that’s OK after all.</p>
<p>When Lord Grantham was greeting Tony, he asked if he had brought “his man.” Tony replied, “No; it’s just for one night.” I guess that could have been a tad awkward downstairs during dinner . . . .</p>
<p>^^If that actually happens, CF, it will solidify my choice to stop watching. Yeck.</p>
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<p>Umm, for a lot of men, standoffish and unavailable (and, like Lady Mary, really good looking) is precisely what they fall in love with! And it doesn’t take more than a few days to identify those qualities accurately, either! Granted, this probably helps the divorce rate stay high, but it’s not news to anyone.</p>
<p>The rapist valet is Mr “Gillingham.” I think his actual name is Mr. Green.</p>
<p>That’s why Anna was so worried when she heard that Gillingham had showed up. She was afraid he brought the rapist along. </p>
<p>But Anna should have more faith in Bates. Of course he’d kill the rapist, but he would make sure the rapist’s murder looked like an accident and couldn’t be traced back to him.</p>
<p>So Lord Gillingham’s valet is called Mr. Gillingham, even though his real name is Mr. Green?</p>
<p>^^ That was the old convention, which Carson adheres to.</p>
<p>^^^ I just re-watched a portion of the episode. The above is correct.</p>
<p>Rather than learn the visiting valet’s or lady’s maid’s name, they are just called by the name of their employer. Same thing was done in Gosford Park, also written by Fellowes</p>
<p>I read a really bad criticism of this show today. It highlighted the fact that Sybill was “punished” for marrying Branson by killing her in child birth … when the actress left the show by her choice. </p>
<p>Some people want grit and grime but this isn’t that show.</p>
<p>I think some of you are missing something…</p>
<p>Tony and Mary knew each other well as children and young adults. They drifted apart and then were reintroduced. </p>
<p>I think it’s totally believable that if someone you knew and liked as a child and young adult were to reappear in your life a lot of years later, you could fall in love with them very quickly because you in a sense already know them.</p>
<p>^^maybe that’s true, but the portrayal of that falling love in the show was completely unbelievable, at least to me. My MIL and FIL thought so too.</p>
<p>Jonri is absolutely right - don’t you all remember the last episode (I think it was), where Mary and Tony traded reminiscences about their childhood? It was obvious that the two grew up together and were at least fond of one another before all this romantic stuff occurred.</p>
<p>As my husband states, “remember there’s only about 10 episodes per season, so the storyline has to move pretty fast.” That said, historically, among gentility, there are only so many available and suitable partners, so it makes sense Tony would gravitate toward someone he already knows and who owns a significant share of Downton as someone suitable to replace Maybel.</p>
<p>IMO, Tony is after a share of the money. Wasn’t there the whole thing about him/his family having to sell their large home after his father died, (it became a girls school?) and they moved in with his grandmother? I was somewhat confused, though, by him first saying he would wait for whatever time Mary needed, and then later saying he wanted an answer right away.</p>
<p>I think he meant he would wait up to 3 years, as long as she said they would marry, but he needed to know marriage was at the end of it, in order to give up Maybel. He was willing to wait for when she was ready, but needed to know her intentions.</p>