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Happy New Year and welcome to the sixth and final season of Downton Abbey. I’m Little Lisa, semi-Anglophile and lover of early 20th century outfits and Dowager Countess bon mots. The entire season has aired in the UK but I will be watching and recapping new (to me) episodes so no spoilers please.
Let’s catch up on the cast: the Crawley family (“upstairs crew”) live in the Downton estate home/castle, which is also the name of the village so I will refer to the house as DA. The family consists of patriarch Robert Crawley (also known as “His Lordship”, “The Earl of Grantham” and “Donk” by his granddaughter Sybil), American heiress wife Cora, and daughters: eldest Lady Mary, who has an icy demeanor to everyone except her lady’s maid Anna and her son George with late hubby Matthew; Lady Edith, who is overlooked by her family and has secret out-of-wedlock daughter Marigold with the deceased Mr. Gregson; and the late Lady Sybil, who married the chauffeur Tom Branson and had daughter Sybil. Tom and Sybie moved to Boston at the end of last season but hopefully they come back for a visit or better yet are visited by the Crawleys – I’d love to see their voyage to America and Boston in the 20’s.
Living nearby is Robert’s mother the Dowager Countess (DC) Violet Grantham, who is played to perfection by the amazing Maggie Smith. Also nearby is Cousin Isobel, mother to the late Matthew and foil for the DC. Rosamund is Robert’s sister/the DC’s daughter and is a sassy, single ginger living in London. The Crawleys also have a niece, Rose, who is in NY honeymooning with her Jewish husband Atticus.
Keeping DA running is the staff (“downstairs crew”): Mr. Carson, the butler 1st in command; Mrs. Hughes*, the housekeeper 2nd in command; head cook Mrs. Patmore* and her assistant Daisy; handsome homosexual footman Thomas Barrow, who is usually a douche; Anna Bates, lady’s maid to Mary, married to John Bates, valet (and old military buddy) to Robert; Baxter, lady’s maid to Cora who has a lame past involving prison; and Mosely, the footman who hilariously put black shoe polish on his graying hair to look younger (I’ve used mascara). There are others who aren’t really seen and a new footman named Andrew. Though the staff is fewer than in the past, Robert thinks it may be time to downgrade, since few in 1925 have staffed castle homes anymore.
*Despite the “Mrs.”, these women are unmarried virgins. They should be on The Bachelor. Or Clueless.
A huge theme throughout the entire series has been how the times, they are a changin’. Life is different since the war and the working class is on the rise. Someone who is changing with the times is Mary, who last season cut her hair into a bob and attended a fashion show where the women wore (gasp) pants! Then she spent a week “testing out the merchandise” at a Liverpool hotel with Tony Gillingham before rejecting his marriage proposal – scandalous! With Tom in America, she is helping her father run their lands while continuing to be a biatch to her seemingly spinster sister Edith. Mary is the only one in the immediate family who doesn’t know Marigold is Edith’s child and seems too think she is the only Crawley daughter who can do illicit things. Though I do love the headpieces and flapper-esque fashion her and Edith are sporting these days.
Robert is hosting a hunt and some of the townsfolk have come out, including a woman we’ve never seen before. She catches the eye of Lady Mary enough to startle her off the horse she is riding, um, regular style? Whatever non side-saddle is (papa does not approve). Seems this stranger witnessed Mary and Tony leaving the hotel and unsuccessfully attempts to blackmail her Ladyship for £1,000.
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Mosley serves pre-hunting drinks while the villagers plot extortion
A large hospital in York wants to buy the small Downton hospital. At the board meeting, president DC and Dr. Clarkson (ha – also a DC) are against the sale, wanting to retain control while hospital HBIC Isobel and former paramour Lord Merton are all for it as it means new equipment and better care for the patients. So it’s the DC versus Isobel and these 2 characters play off each other so well. Hospitalgate 1925 continues over dinner (one of the best parts of this show, I love the whole pomp-and-circumstance) and then again at the DC’s house when she drops this barb on Isobel: “Does it ever get cold on your moral high ground?” Hee.
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The Crawleys, they’re just like us
The DC’s staff includes Spratt, the weaselly but harmless butler, and Decker, the vile lady’s maid. The latter was told in confidence** that DA was cutting down on staff so of course she prances right over there to tell the downstairs crew that she feels for them, what with losing their jobs and all. She also tells Spratt his job is in danger so he starts blubbering to the DC about advanced warning on his job loss. She hilariously quips “if you were talking in Urdu I couldn’t understand you less.” Being the bestest-of-the-best she figures out what happened and hints to Decker that her own ass might not be safe.
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The greatest ever
**These women must spend so much time with their lady’s maids. Mine would be hearing drunken stories and confessions each night while she did my hair. She’d be my bestie and I’d send her to the pharmacy for my diaphragm.
Bates and Anna were one of my fave couples in earlier seasons but after all of their troubles (Bates wrongly went to jail for the murder of his ex-wife, Anna was raped by Lord Gillingham’s valet Mr. Green, who was later found dead and both Bateses are on the hook for his murder) they’re now just a couple of sad sacks. Finally the Green murder story line is resolved and both are officially innocent. Bates is relieved but Anna thinks she is barren and refuses to believe that she can ever make her husband happy. She is turning into the worst, you guys.
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England’s most depressing hairdresser
The upstairs crew heads downstairs to celebrate with champagne and the gramophone. Everyone mingles and an impromptu dance party breaks out. It’s a rare treat when the family comes downstairs (can you image never seeing your own kitchen?!?) There is a cute scene when Robert notices this new-fangled thing called a refrigerator (this show has been cool with introducing gadgets into the household). He grabs himself a snack while recalling how his childhood cook would sneak him treats in the kitchen.
Also happening is the auction of an estate home that Robert used to visit as a child. The Crawleys will attend to show support but they realize how this could easily be happening to them. Always learning from this show, I realize if someone has an oil painting of a random person, it may have come from an auction such as this one. Also in attendance is Daisy and her late husband William’s father (Daisy married footman William out of kindness after he returned from the war critically ill). She is protective of her father-in-law Mr. Mason, whose family has been farming the to-be-auctioned land for generations. The new owners haven’t decided if they will keep him as a tenant but Daisy ruins any chance he had by yelling at them in front of everyone at the auction. She almost gets canned for it but since she’s been on the show since day 1 she gets to stay.
Rosamund (love her) accompanies Edith to see the London apartment Gregson left her. He also left her a publishing company but Edith is having a hard time getting the men to take orders from her. She ponders keeping the apartment to be closer to work and be able to spend more time with Marigold.
Blackmail chick is cheeky enough to get into Mary’s bedroom then Robert’s study. But Robert ain’t no fool: he pays her only £50 and gets her to sign a document that prevents her from telling anyone about the dalliance. Robert seems more surprised by Tony’s involvement than Mary’s (I don’t remember if he knows about Pamuk from Season 1). He realizes that Mary can hold her own, so she will officially take over as Land Agent.
Finally, let’s talk about sex: Mr. Carson proposed to longtime companion Mrs. Hughes last season but she isn’t keen on setting a date. Seems she is embarrassed by him seeing her nekked and needs to know what he will expect from her once they marry. She enlists the adorable Mrs. Patmore to find out if Mr. Carson wants to have sexy times however Mrs. P cannot get herself to say anything coherent. She’s all “how it will be sharing your life after being on your own for so long?” and “do you expect to share … your way of life with her?” (WTF does that even mean? They work together all day every day so they kind of already share a life.) She wusses out but the next night he gets her to spill. And poor Mrs. P can’t even look at him while she stammers it out.
Mrs. Patmore: “[Mrs. Hughes] wonders if you would … expect … her to perform her wifely duties.”
Mr. Carson: “Don’t wives normally perform their duties? Good wives anyhow ………… Oh.”
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Asking for a friend
He tells her to tell Mrs. Hughes that he thinks she is beautiful and he wants a real marriage and everything that it involves (bow chicka bow wow). He loves her and is bursting with pride that she will marry him. It is super sweet and color me surprised as I thought he’d be ok with a “pat-a-cake” friendship (what he actually called it). When Mrs. Hughes is given the news, she asks if he was vulgar and Mrs. P says “he wouldn’t be vulgar if you put him on a seaside poster”” HA! The couple finally talk to each other instead of passing notes in the hall and they’re both happy to be getting married laid.
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Whew! Long recap but since the show hasn’t been on in a while I wanted to provide a character refresher.