And the Season 5 Premiere was tonight. First question: why does Thomas have it in so bad for Mr. Bates again? His one gambit failed in this episode, but then he ingratiated himself with his employers by pure dumb luck of being in the right place at the right time and doing what any semi-decent person would have done.
I can’t remember why anyone does anything in this show from season to season, it’s all just so silly, but I enjoy watching it with a regular gang of friends on Sunday nights. Thomas is just a cartoon villain, who cares? Cora’s the worst judge of character on the planet, who cares?
IIRC, Thomas has it in for Mr. Bates because when Bates appeared on the scene with his personal ties to Lord Grantham (something to do with the Boer War?*), he scuppered Thomas’s chance of moving up the estate’s employment ladder to become Lord Grantham’s valet and a “Mister” in his own right. Also, Bates sees Thomas for what he is—and possibly vice versa.
Same. Watching with a group of people, with everyone yelling at the various characters for being dunderheads, is half the fun.
Last night’s season 5 premier was entertaining, but it rushed. I hope they slow the pace a bit.
*There was scandal involved there, too, of course. Someone stole the regimental silver, and Bates took the fall? God knows…
I think every “good” character on the show has some past crime or indiscretion that hasn’t caused nearly the problems that all their shame and secrecy about it has.
I’m pretty sure it isn’t specific to Bates. Barrow brought Baxter in, knowing he had leverage on her, and expected her to be his spy on everyone, not just Bates. Barrow’s a habitual blackmailer, and he wanted more dirt, he didn’t care against whom. Baxter decided she wasn’t going to play that game. Barrow was angry not because he wanted dirt on Bates specifically, but because Baxter was defying him.
I agree that almost everyone seems to have a skeleton or two, most of which are trivial. Who cares if Carson has a history in Vaudeville? Baxter’s story, however, is the first one that really is incriminating. Literally, since it’s grand larceny. There’s no way in hell Cora would have hired her if she had known. While I expect they’ll keep Baxter, particularly since Molesley wants into her pants so badly, a “realistic” treatment would have Cora firing her immediately, heartfelt confession or not.
The Downton Abbey silliness in that particular exchange is that Baxter very clearly had extenuating circumstances, which she refused to related to Lady Grantham in a bit of idiotic pride. After the face saving “no excuses” she should have spilled whatever-it-was when Cora pressed again. I fully expect it’ll be that she pawned the jewelry to pay for a sick Aunt’s doctor or something like that.
HOW IN THE FUCK IS THAT DOG STILL ALIVE!?!
He is like 1000 in dog years.
You made me look it up. According to the Wiki the 1st season is starts in 1912 and this current season starts in 1924. That’s 12 years. That’s not that uncommon for a dog to live that long.
If that dog was born in 1912.
The dog in the first season is clearly full sized and an adult. Probably about 1-2 years.
The lifespan of most labrador retrievers, is 11.
Isis is pushing 14 and remarkably healthy for a dog in the human equivalency of 100 years old.
Lord Grantham complaining to Lady Blakeney Grantham about the Pimpernel flirting with “another man’s dog” was cute. I was wondering if they’d bring Richard E. Grant on board, and I hope the writers can have some fun with him.
Yes, but 14 isn’t really crazy old. I had a golden retriever growing up and he lived to be 15. It may be an outlier age but it’s not preposterous.
Yeah, old Lord Grantham is pretty oblivious, isn’t he? The guy is just stopping short of making out with Cora and he makes that comment, which obviously doesn’t sit well with her.
BTW, why are you referring to him as the Pimpernel? Did he play that character at some point?
I think Grantham might actually have noticed what was happening, but couldn’t bring himself to say it outright. More coming, I’m sure.
BTW, why are you referring to him as the Pimpernel? Did he play that character at some point?
Yeah, this was a reunion of sorts. Grant played the Pimpernel, opposite Elizabeth McGovern as Lady Blakeney, in a BBC/A&E series back in 1999. The first 2 hour episode, which is a self-contained telling of the original Pimpernel story, is not bad. (It’s available on Netflix streaming for the next few weeks.)
Dude is just into chicks that pronounce their “ur” sounds in a hilarious way.
So, what is the plot for this season? All of the other seasons have had some sort of over-arcing plot. 2 episodes in, and we are having fun, but it seems like we are just going to get a return to the plots from previous seasons, with the police showing up at the estate at the end of the last episode, it looks like our favorite couple won’t be getting to have their happy married days for much longer.
Also, congrats to Joanne Froggatt for the golden globe! She has always been one of my favorite characters, and boy did she have an eventful season last year.
I liked the stuff about the radio, that was really funny. Reminded me of trying to get my parents to get DSL back in the day. Dropping hints, well… you would be able to do XYZ if we had this? Unfortunately I didn’t have a “Kings Address” to sell my parents on. I enjoyed how they all sat around the radio as if it was a real person in the room, clapping and whatnot.
Yeah, I loved how the Dowager stood up when the King spoke, and sort of shamed everyone else into doing so.
BTW, re: Bates, who apart from Mrs. Hughes knows about his train trip to London on that fateful day?
His wife maybe? It has been a year since I have seen those episodes. I think that is it, other than the “witness” the police claim to have, as well as I am sure Thomas is going to stick his nose into things.
No, Anna may have suspicions but Bates was pretty cagey about his “day in York” when she asked him about it.
Mary knows. Mrs. Hughes came to her with the ticket, and Mary decided to burn it. Evidence destroyed.
A question and a couple of comments about tonight’s episode: first, what is Thomas Barrows’ deal now? At first when I saw the syringe I thought he had become a heroin addict or something, but then I thought, maybe he saw an ad for a snake oil treatment to “cure” his homosexuality. I sure hope the supposed cure isn’t actually heroin.
Second, Miss Bunting sure doesn’t know when to STFU. After coming out looking pretty good given Daisy’s comments she has to keep needling Robert and pretty much kills the entire party.
Finally, Tony may end up being a bigger problem than Mary bargained for.
Miss Bunting is the worst dinner guest ever. She’s a bad influence for Tom, too. Tom has a chance to help Downton transition into a new era. He can make a difference doing what he’s doing.
I agree about Tony. I suspect he may try to coerce Mary into marriage by threatening to reveal their dalliance.
I don’t know what is going on with Barrows. I hadn’t thought of the homosexuality cure angle, but that makes sense. That was an era with all kinds of miracle cures for all kinds of ailments. If he was just using heroin there was no foreshadowing of that at all.
Daisy’s kind of funny. She’s gone from wallflower to “I am woman here me roar” in no time at all.
Thomas’s “choose your path” phone call made me think he was looking for a different job, that he felt he was dead in the water in Downton. Then the syringe made me think morphine. Then Thomas getting defensive about the “choose your path” ad makes it pretty clear it’s some snake-oil cure for homosexuality. It’s the only possible thing he’d both pursue and be hyper-paranoid about. I’m guessing morphine or heroin may be involved in the “cure.”
Thomas is of course projecting his own thoughts on to Baxter. If he weren’t such a cold, vindictive ass, he’d be able to recognize genuine concern. But since he’s personally nearly completely incapable of feeling that, he can’t imagine anyone else being genuine about it.
I don’t think wanting to be straight has anything to do with approval, and I think he’s still smarting over James. Whom he lusted after.
When Bunting was first introduced, I thoroughly approved of her. Now I think she’s terrible for the reasons both of you outlined. She’s a troll. It’s not that being rude to Grantham would serve any purpose, she just enjoys pissing him off. She’s also screwing up Tom and the good he’s doing. Frankly Tom is vital, since Lord Grantham is a financial ninny. Mary has some sense, but he’s not going to listen to her.
Mary’s defining characteristic, past and present, seems to be that she can’t figure out whom she wants. Remember the endless gyrations she went through before finally marrying Matthew? By the time she did, I felt he should have run far, far away because she was so fickle.
That said, Tony was clearly a bad idea. He’s almost certainly going to try and blackmail Mary into marriage using their dalliance as leverage. Something that’s minor peccadillo for a man is social ruin for a woman. If he’s willing to go there, he was never husband material.