Downton Abbey’s penultimate episode of the season saw the consequences of Edith’s actions find the light of day — and another terrible plan put into motion.
The truth will out
To her daughter’s surprise, the Dowager Countess meets Rosamund at the station. Violet believes they should tell Cora the truth about Marigold, because as a mother she deserves to know. When Rosamund questions Robert’s right to know, Violet says, “He’s a man. Men don’t have rights.” Despite their best intentions Mrs. Drewe beats them to the punch.
She’s understandably upset about being denied access to her grandchild, and when Cora confronts the Dowager Countess and Rosamund, she puts forth the only sensible plan we’ve heard throughout this whole storyline so far — asking Edith what she wants.
Also at Downton are Lord Gillingham, Charles Blake, and Mabel Lane Fox. When Mabel returns to the house to get ready for dinner, Charles attempts to sway Gillingham away from Mary once more. Gillingham stands his ground, wanting to do the honourable thing by Lady Mary — though he may not be as taken with Mary as we previously assumed.
After Anna’s appeal to Mrs. Hughes last week about the lost train ticket, Mrs. Hughes goes to Lady Mary to see if she still has the stub in her possession. She explains that the ticket will irrefutably prove Mr. Bates’ innocence in the death of Mr. Green. Mary confesses that she burned it. We get the sinking feeling that this is going to come back and cause problems. This ticket has been a talking point all season.
At dinner it is painfully obvious that Lady Rose and Atticus are smitten with each other. There’s approval all around, except from Atticus’ father. He believes the difference in religion will cause issues, and would prefer his son to marry someone of the same faith. Love and marriage is a theme of the evening, as Mabel implores Gillingham to allow them to be happy together and Isobel announces her engagement to Lord Merton — much to everyone’s delight.
To the future
Back at their home, Anna and Mr. Bates discuss their future prospects. Mr. Bates is considering selling the London house, so they can invest the funds in another property. Either something to rent, or a hotel. Which sounds similar to the plans of another married couple we know.
Following Atticus’ suggestion that the publishing house might know where Edith is, Cora heads to London with Rosamund to visit in person. Edith, after the receptionist tries in vain to have them leave, makes herself known. Edith thought about taking Marigold and heading to America to start over, as no one would know her there, but couldn’t bring herself to leave — she wants Marigold to grow up English.
Whilst her mother is away in London, Lady Mary visits Violet. She noticed her grandmother’s downcast look at dinner, and lectures her a little about her reactions to Isobel’s upcoming marriage to Lord Merton. The Dowager Countess quickly puts her granddaughter in her place. Far from being upset about Isobel’s rise in station, she’s upset about being lonely and losing her friend and companion.
Branson, who seems to have made up his mind about America, takes Sybbie to play sticks over a bridge. He asks her how she would feel about moving away, and all she can ask is “why?” Tom doesn’t have any good answers for his little girl, and only hopes that he’s doing the right thing.
Planning and plotting
Cora continues the trend of terrible plans when it comes to Edith and Marigold by suggesting that Edith comes home — and that they concoct the story that the Drewes can’t afford to keep the child. The solution? They raise her at the nursery with Sybbie and George, as Edith is so taken with her. Rosamund thinks it’s ludicrous, and we couldn’t agree more. But Edith is swayed by the plan, and agrees to return to Downton with her mother.
When they reach the platform, Mary is there to catch a train into London to meet Mr. Blake — and they’re almost found out. Mr. Drewe gets into the carriage and takes Marigold one stop further along, and will return with the little girl later. That was close!
Back in London, Charles puts the final part of his plan to separate Mary and Gillingham into motion. He kisses her, knowing that Lord Gillingham and Mabel will discover them locking lips. It seems to do the trick, and Mabel and Gillingham leave together. Mr. Blake, meanwhile, is going away, and Mary doesn’t seem happy about it. He says by the time he returns she’ll probably be married. The look on her face says otherwise — will she wait for him? Mary is famously stubborn!
All comes crashing down
After some not-so-subtle hinting that Isis may be departing the show for good, the axe finally fell on the adorable pooch. Isis has cancer, and it’s unlikely she’ll make it to the next episode. We definitely got choked up thinking this will be the last time we’ll see her.
The dinner to introduce Isobel to Lord Merton’s sons is a disaster. Larry is rude about almost every guest at the table, and slanders the memory of Matthew in front of his mother and widow. Branson, who has an unfortunate history with Larry from when Sybil was still alive, curses him out and tells him to leave. He does, but Lord Merton’s other son also doesn’t look favourably on the match. We hope this won’t mean that Isobel will back out of the marriage now — we think she’d make a fabulous Lady Merton, and be happy with her new husband. She deserves some happiness after losing her son so suddenly.
It’s not all doom and gloom, however. Atticus proposes to Rose, so we’ll definitely be hearing at least one set of wedding bells come Christmas.