How positively Tickety Boo! After last week’s dour doings, with the Drews and Edith and boring hospital squabbling and SO MUCH ANGST, this week was sunbeams and rainbows, just the tonic for the upcoming week. Here’s how I saw the hour unspool:
1. Mrs. Hughes, aka “Elsie,” will get her big breakfast wedding after all! Because who wants it the way posh people do it, standing about “with nibbly bits getting stuck in their teeth?”
2. Mrs. Patmore, I wish you could come and live with us here in Grand Rapids, so I could soak in your one-liners on a daily basis. “You’re not wasting money, that’s for sure,” is the absolute best and only diplomatic thing to be said in the face of Mrs. Hughes’ bleak wedding dress.
You lost me at “brown day dress,” luv. Don’t say yes to that dress!
3. Did Mrs. Hughes say she was wishing for a bit of a “hooey?”
4. Spratt’s back! I missed him last week. His voice, I realize, is about halfway to my dear, departed Alan Rickman’s low, peculiar voice. Dicey business, about hiding his fugitive kith and kin in the potting shed, though. Denker will make him–and us all–pay.
5. Outfit of the Night: Edith’s working lady ensemble, with pale and watery blues mixed with a crisp camel coat. Looking good, Edith!
6. Must be why she attracted the notice of that very nice gentleman, whatever his name was, who asked her drinks and then mucked in with her all night, pasting the magazine together. Reminds me of my college all nighters, putting the “Moody Student” to bed.
7. Really? Cora, normally grace on a PLATTER, picks that moment to snap at the help? And I named my cat after her!
8. Carson’s vows: “With my body, I thee worship…” Quite an utterance from a man who, two weeks ago, couldn’t manage a conversation about “wifely duties” without flapping his hands in terror.
9. “Mr. Carson would forgive you if you attacked him with a brick,” the new Mrs. Carson said. And of course she’s right. Mary can do no wrong in the eyes of Carson, her own Matthew Cuthbert.
10. TOM! TOM! TOM! I knew when Allen Leech was involved in Season 6 press that he would make an appearance at least! And then his sad letter to Mary, dreaming of Downton…Welcome back, Tom and Sybie! The Abbey lacked warmth and brotherly love without you there.
So, is everyone revived adequately by this gumdrop of an episode? If the nuptials weren’t enough to raise our spirits, surely the appearance of Tom and Sybie was.
What do you think about this week’s episode? Will Edith finally find happiness with her paste-up man? Will Thomas find a new position or will something shift at Downton? And will Mr. Carson and his blushing bride call each other Charles and Elsie or “Mister” and “Missus”?
Comment below with your joys and concerns. Each comment is eligible for a drawing at the end of the season for the Downton Abbey tea of your choice!
Don’t miss my recaps (and the savvy comments in the comments section!) of the last episode: Farmer Lady Mary Shows Well at the Late Pig Show Plus Lots of Angst,
and
of Episode 1: Carson and Mrs. Hughes Contemplate Knowing Each Other from a Biblical Perspective
I was enjoying Edith’s night of work as well … for me; I worked in the printing business for years and understand the all-nighters! I too adore Mrs Patmore and that comment was spot on last night. I felt sad though as they rushed us through the episode. I want this to last and I just feel like they are all so giddy to leave me. OR perhaps just full of angst themselves as some are certainly a bit out of sorts lately – first our Daisy and now Cora!
Denise, I think it’s good for Edith–not always my favorite–to apply herself to the wholesome job of putting out a magazine or newspaper. She needs to learn the benefits of hard work! 🙂 I loved her office clothes, too. They get far more dressed up for freaking DINNER than most of us ever will in our lives!
I never saw Branson coming back from America. Edith is finally coming into her own. I despaired the wedding coming off after last week but it did in fine fashion. This surely was a upbeat episode. I wonder, too, what will happen with the conniving Mr. Barrow.
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Hi Caroline, yes, BRANSON! They kept that surprise pretty well, although I WAS fairly sure he’d be back because the actor did pre-show talk shows etc. As for Mr. Barrow, I actually feel sorry for him these days. Looking for work that may not exist. No friends. No respect!
Haha, this was fun to read! At every juncture I found myself nodding and saying things like, “yes”, “spot on”, and “absolutely”. When I didn’t readily agree, it was just because I had not thought of that yet. For example, Spratt has never meant much to me but now I think back on his vocal tones and can’t wait to tune in more fully in the next episode.
I just finished a great book that I think you’d like, if you’re the Anglophile that I suspect you are. It’s called Mrs. Queen Takes the Train. Have you read it? If not, get your hands on it today. You’re welcome!
Sara, love your comment and your book recommendation! THANK YOU!
My husband and I were discussing what exactly “a bit of a hooey” consists of. Own all 6 seasons and watch them often-especially when there are Presidential debates on.