Our Downton Abbey season 4, episode 5 recap looks back at the events of tonight’s episode in which a birthday party was held for Robert.
Downton Abbey season 4, episode 5 kicked off with Lady Mary offering viewers and Anna a bit of a recap: Mr. Napier and Mr. Blake are coming to Downton after receiving an invite so they can offer some tips about estate management. They’ll be in town to write a report on estates gone wrong, but don’t worry! Downton isn’t one of the ones suffering.
It isn’t until much later in the episode that they make their actual arrival at the home, and Mary quickly grows disappointed because their business in the area isn’t quite what she expects. This sets off tension between them.
Party time. Rose tells Cora the plan for Robert’s birthday surprise is ready. What is it? A band is coming to Downton. She doesn’t fill Cora in on the secret, but does ask permission to receive help from Mrs. Hughes.
The party goes off without a hitch, and Robert is pleasantly surprised by what Rose drew up and tells Mary that he’d like to pay the band (Rose was going to otherwise). That night, Mary goes downstairs to talk to Jack about the pay, and she sees him and Rose making out. It’s the start of something that will develop in future episodes.
Violet the liar. Lady Violet is still after her missing, valuable paperknife. She decides to fire young Peg, which enrages Isobel because there’s no evidence he is a thief. She confronts Violet about it, and while they’re talking, her assistant comes in with one of the missing items. It looks like Violet has been hiding the trinkets herself so she could prove herself right about Peg. This theory of Isobel’s is proven later when she enters Violet’s residence while she’s away, feels along the edges of her chair, and pulls out the missing knife.
Realizing her mistake (and caught red handed), Violet apologizes to Peg and gives him his job back.
Missing Michael. Edith thinks that Michael has “vanished into thin air” and is visibly upset. No one has seen or heard from him. Robert tries to offer a little help in terms of investigating what happened, but a tearful Edith is concerned that – for all they know – he’s dead.
Alfred gets the gig. A job opens up for Alfred at the Ritz cookery course he applied for, which upsets Daisy because she had just thought he was staying. By extension, this opens up a new job at the Abbey, and despite Mrs. Hughes’ request, Carson does not want to ask Molesley again because he’s ungrateful.
Alfred’s last day at Downton rolls around and there’s a touching moment between him and Daisy. She wishes him a fond farewell, which means a lot to him.
Molesley sees Alfred heading out of town for good and heads over to Downton to ask Carson for the job. He reminds the wanna-be job taker about his previous comments and insists he cannot come back.
Mrs. Hughes, always looking to help others, helps Molesley get his job back by having him over during the night of Robert’s party to serve the servants tea. This shocks Carson, but he quickly realizes he can’t fight every battle, so he decides to re-hire him.
Not soon after, Rose comes downstairs and tells everyone about the band coming to play for Robert. The band’s leader – Jack Ross – then enters, and the fact that he’s African American and a band leader for a London club shocks Carson, who’s not one to embrace changing times.
Elsewhere in the episode…
– Bates and Anna decide to go out on a dinner date. The latter still struggles to move on from what happened to her.
– Mary asks Tom if he is still interested in moving to America with Sybbie, and he says he won’t do it sooner than when the pig farm gets put together. Mary isn’t thrilled but says they can offer him connections.
The best quote of the episode…
Isobel: “How you hate to be wrong.”
Violet: “I wouldn’t know. I’m not familiar with the sensation.”
