(This is a recap of Downton Abbey Episode 4 in the US, Episode 5 in the UK!)
Reunited at Last
Bates is walking alone to sad piano music. (Seriously, are we ever going to hear happy background music at the start of an episode again?) Anna stares at nothing while wringing her hands and blots make up over her fading bruises.
As Anna comes downstairs, Bates proves he’s the type of husband every girl should want when he tells her that he wants to be the first to greet her every morning, even if she’s not living with him. According to Bates, his life was perfect, and in the space of one day, it fell apart, and he’s not going to rest until he finds out why.
Later, during a conversation with Mrs, Hughes, we learn that Anna is not pregnant (oh, thank God–and you, too, Mr. Fellows, because if she had been we might really have needed to strangle you). Mrs. Hughes presses Anna to tell Bates what is going on, but she continues to refuse. Little does Anna realize that Bates meant what he said. He’s eavesdropping around the corner, and now that he knows Mrs. Hughes is in on the secret, you know he’s going to pry it out of her since he can’t get it out of his wife.
Later on, Anna leaves for the village, and Bates immediately accosts Mrs. Hughes. Mrs. Hughes agrees with him that she believes Anna should talk to him, but she won’t divulge Anna’s secret. Bates takes drastic measures and threatens to leave Downton. He says that he cannot stay here, watching the life he loved turn to ashes. (What do you think? If Mrs. Hughes hadn’t caved, do you think he really would have done it? Because while he was clearly being manipulative, I think he might have tried it, even if wasn’t planning to leave permanently.)
Mrs. Hughes believes that if Bates leaves, it would finish Anna, so she begs for God’s mercy and tells him. Bates immediately suspects Mr. Green, and Mrs. Hughes does some quick thinking and lies about who it was that raped Anna, saying that a stranger broke into the house and attacked her during the concert.
Bates leaves Mrs. Hughes office and cries as soon as he’s alone. (I might be wrong, but I don’t think they showed the poor man crying when he went to jail. Which only made my heart break for him even more.)
And then–proving that Bates truly might be one of the world’s best husbands–he finds Anna working near midnight and tells her that he knows what happened. He probes her, trying to find out if Mrs. Hughes was lying about Mr. Green’s innocence, but Anna is able to think on her feet and back up Mrs. Hughes. It’s only then that they move onto the emotional ramifications for their marriage and Anna admits that she feels spoiled for Bates. He quickly counters that he has never loved her more.
Seeing her finally fall into his arms was as much a relief as it was sweet. Bates and Anna need to stay together. We need one happy, beloved couple in this show. (Do you hear us, Mr. Fellows? DON’T KILL EITHER CHARACTER OR BREAK THEM UP! We want them together!) Anna is moving back into the cottage, and Mrs. Hughes feels as though, if she’s damned for breaking her promise and lying, at least she was damned for some purpose.
Although things look better for Anna and Bates right now, this might be short-lived. Because at the end of the episode, Bates assures Mrs Hughes that this incident is not over, no matter what he told Anna. He is going to avenge his wife’s honor. (Seriously, Mr. Fellows, don’t send Bates back to jail. You may have some crazy rabid fangirls coming to England to yell at you if you break up another couple.)
The New Lady’s Maid
Cora’s new lady’s maid, Miss Baxter, is polite, genteel, and talented…which makes Bates wonder immediately what she sees in Thomas, who got her the job. She seems to be making friends quickly. Above stairs, she wins Cora over by remembering that Americans like orange juice in the morning. Below stairs, she sets up a sewing machine in the servants’ hall, right in the thick of things where everyone can see it. Daisy thinks Miss Baxter might sew her finger to the table, but still wants to try it. Mrs. Patmore wants her to use it in the laundry room–or better still, chuck it out–but even she comes around when her apron rips and Miss Baxter fixes it for her (because, you know, heaven forbid Cora see her in a ripped apron!)
Thomas and Miss Baxter have a quick tête-à-tête toward the end of the episode and we realize why he brought her to Downton: He wants to be in on the gossip, to be able to use it to his advantage, and he realizes that no one will tell him anything because no one likes him. So he brought in Miss Baxter to rectify that problem. Miss Baxter is grateful that he got her the job, but she doesn’t appear completely on board with Thomas’s plans for her life at the Abbey.
Lady Violet and Isobel Exchange Amusing Words
Isobel and the doctor are trying to find employment for Peg, and Isobel persuades Lady Violet to take him on, making quite the case for him.
“I wonder your halo doesn’t grow heavy,” Violet says after Isobel lists Peg’s virtues, “It must be like wearing a tiara round the clock.”
Isobel: “Will you help him? His mother would be very grateful, and so would I.”
LV: “Yes, but your gratitude never seems to last. I’ve no sooner said ‘yes’ than you come back with another request.”
Unfortunately, Lady Violet soon finds an expensive knife missing, so things may not go well for young Peg, despite Isobel’s faith in him.
“Nobody cares about anything as much as you do” Lady Violet tells Isobel tiredly.
Alfred Wants to Put on the Ritz and Moseley Doesn’t Want to be on a Downward Path
Daisy is teaching Alfred to cook, and it’s hard for her. She feels like she’s helping her to leave them, but Mrs. Patmore assures her that this is how it should be.
Between the music and the Frenchman at the Ritz, you would think that Alfred is being taught to be a criminal, not a cook. But as the sous chef says, he’ll know his fate in a couple of days. (And as I watched this subplot, I thought that if Matt Milne wants to leave the show, could we all take a minute to yell at Julian Fellows that Alfred got a better write-off than Matthew?)
Mr. Carson wants to hire Mr. Moseley to replace Alfred, but when he offers the job, Moseley has to “think about it.” He feels that as a trained valet–a trained butler–taking a permanent position as a footman would mean accepting a “downward path.” Necessity seems to overrule his scruples, but he accepts the job just a bit too late. Alfred gets a rejection letter from the Ritz (so it looks like we’ll be seeing more of him). Carson tells Moseley that had he accepted the position straightaway, they would have been “stuck with him” despite Alfred’s rejection. Now that Alfred isn’t going anywhere, however, Moseley has missed his chance. (Seriously, is anything ever going to go well for his character? It’s depressing!)
Tenant Farmers, Socialism, and…Emigration?
A tenant farmer at Downton has died. Branson and Mary want to foreclose on the lease (due to the large amount of back rent owed them) and take over the farming of the land themselves. Lord Grantham is reluctant to begin with and unwilling once he learns that the farmer’s son wants to assume the tenancy. After all, the Drew family has farmed there since the Napoleonic wars. Mr. Drew makes his case, and Lord Grantham wants Mary and Branson to agree, so he lends the farmer the last 50 pounds he needs to finish paying the back rent.
Mary finds out about the loan when she tells Mr. Drew that they have decided to allow him to stay at the farm. She tells Branson that she knows her father is a very decent man, and it’s nice to see a father-daughter moment between them, even if they weren’t onscreen together. They’ve been at each other’s throats a lot this season.
Branson, through all the talk of the tenant farmer that he agreed they should champion, tells the family that he doesn’t really know what he believes anymore (can he call himself a socialist while he manages an earl’s estate?). Still, he knows he doesn’t really fit in as a Crawley, either. He floats the idea of moving to America, and while the family protests, I’m not sure their arguments will be enough to deter him. Quick, let’s find him a love interest!
Lady Mary Has a Transition Episode
Although Mary was in a large number of scenes in this episode, it was clear to me that a lot of them were setting her up for what’s to come this season now that they haven’t quickly affianced her to Tony Gillingham.
In a cute nursery scene, Mary discusses with Branson whether or not their children are having a good childhood and whether they’re doing their best for them. I had to wonder–do you think we’re supposed to assume that the two of them spend more time with their children off-screen than they do on-screen? Because while Downton has done a fantastic job of not letting these babies make the show boring (as babies so often do on TV), if Mary and Branson are as involved as they appear, I’m not sure I’d call that doing your best by your children. (Ok, no one yell at me in the comments about being anti-feminist. I’m not anti-daycare/baby-sitters/nannies for working moms. I’m just pointing out that it’s almost like Sybbie and George DON’T EXIST on this show most of the time.)
When she’s not questioning her parenting or discussing the state of Yew Tree Farm, Mary does a credible job of acting like she does not care that Tony Gillignham’s engagement has been announced. But, of course, she does. She waits until her back is to her father before she lets her face fall and doesn’t let her mother see that she’s crying as she writes him a letter of congratulations.
Now, they can’t leave Mary without a suitor for long. So Evelyn Napier returns. (Remember him from season 1? No? Well, he brought Theo James to Downton so he could deflower Mary before dying in her bed.) Anyway, he stops in at the Abbey and lets them know that he’s investigating estates in Yorkshire to see if they are going to survive. Mary wants Evelyn to give his thoughts about Downton. Lord Grantham isn’t as thrilled with the idea. Cora and Mary ignore him, inviting Evelyn and his boss, Charles Blake, to stay with them while they’re in Yorkshire.
The Scandal We Can All See Coming
Edith is hoping for a letter from Michael Gregson, but she doesn’t hear from him at all this episode. And then, when she is supposedly going to stop by his office in London, she sneaks off to a doctor. Hmm, I wonder why she needs to see one of those?
So what did you think of episode 5? Any characters you want to kill? Hug? Marry?
