Wordy Old Men on Downton Abbey: Series Three, Episode Seven [Christmas Special - "A Journey to the Highlands"]

This is the Christmas Special following the third season. If it were formally included in the series run, this is the ninth episode if you watched as they aired or are following along on DVD or Blu-ray. Of course, we're all seeing it seven weeks later, and many have not been so fortunate as to avoid the spoilers thanks to PBS's decision to delay airing the program stateside. As it is here at Inconsiderate Prick, Wordy Ginters and Josh "Old Man" Duggan will be your guides.

Old Man Duggan: So we jump ahead a full year. Despite the fact that this Third Series didn't advance through time quite as freely as the prior two did, we find ourselves in the ninth month of 1921, a full nine years later than where things kicked off. It seems a shame that Fellowes didn't expedite the Bates absolution a bit, especially given how much it all dragged, but maybe he'll advance things a little more rapidly this next series.

Wordy Ginters: I hope so. I assume we'll get to the ending in a minute. Despite that sour note from my vantage point, the last few episodes have salvaged the season, in large part because several monotonous plot threads were unstuck and set free, which clears space for new possibilities.

OMD: The new blonde maid checking out Branson as he passed by looked suspicious from the get-go. Moving right on past the fact that her head was shaped like an alien's head, it was clear to me that she was up to no good. Edna. Every British Edna is really a man, right? I think I learned that in school.

WG: Fellowes left his poker face in his kit bag. Too many telegraphed punches. Some of these last episode of the season moves would have detonated a bigger payoff with more set-up. You knew Mr. Edna wanted in Branson's trousers from jump street.

Chev vs. Bates: The Movie We All Want To See

OMD: Every once in a while, Bates will be doing something and the look on Brendan Coyle's face will seem so severe and dour as to make me wonder whether or not he is raging on the inside. Obviously it would appear as though that is not the case, as it does not appear to make sense when looking at Bates's nature, but when he was walking out of the kitchen after detailing how his Lordship loves going to Duneagle, that scowl that I project onto him appeared and I couldn't help but think to myself how he would make a great villainous mastermind to play foil to John McClane, John Rambo, or Chev Chelios.

WG: Coyle is one of the few members of the Downton crew I'd be drawn to see in another project. Crank 3: Port of Call Ripon.

OMD: Oh, no standard opening credits sequence this week, that means we have to wait an extra week (45 in total) before we see Isis's ass again to rev us up for new Downton Abbey. Do you think they're paying Branson to dog-sit while they're away?

WG: I was hoping we'd see Branson mincing about in one of Lady Cora's gowns, locking up Isis in a shed, or using Edith's toothbrush. Something with a little character. Some flair. Some reality. I know I'd have one of those beautiful gowns on before the last suitcase was loaded. I bet they are silky smooth.

OMD: No doubt.

Mary's pregnant. Color Colour me shocked.

WG: Too obvious, right? Perhaps this is the downside of the "one year later" gambit. When you drop theoretically big plot twists out of the sky, they ring off-key. Fellowes has been building pregnancy drama for the bulk of the season. To defuse that tension by planting a baby boy in Mary's womb in the last episode cheapened it somehow. It gave the whole thing a patina of cheese. Smoked Gouda.

OMD: More so than anything else, this episode made me yearn to go back to Scotland. Both my siblings studied outside of Edinburgh for a semester, my brother returned for a semester to work with the study abroad program, and my parents and sister were each married on the Isle of Mull. If I could move anywhere in the world, weather be damned, I do believe it'd be Scotland. For those curious, the scenes at "Duneagle" were filmed at Inveraray Castle outside of Inveraray in the county of Argyll, and sits near Loch Lyne. It's haunted by the ghost of a harpist who'd been hanged after peeping at a lady of the house. The chief of Clan Campbell, the Duke of Argyll, resides there. It's also a stone's throw from Oban which sets off a Pavlovian response in my salivary glands.

WG: Absolutely beautiful. One of my favorite scenes from Trainspotting is when they take a momentary break from the drugging grind and hike out into nature. One of the characters talks about how foolish it is that they run down Scotland and spend their days blissed out on heroin when the beautiful countryside is literally outside every window. Gorgeous country. Impressive Scottish street cred you've accumulated there. I've got a sister-in-law who works in a small village between Edinburgh and Glasgow. The best thing about her infrequent visits back to the states are the countryside photos she brings with her.

OMD: The condition to all that would be, of course, that I'd want to be as far as possible from Shrimpy and his family. The marital strife and incessant bickering would be much more than I'd care to immerse myself into, no matter the cost. Susan is positively insufferable. Every moment she was on screen was a moment in which I wanted to have someone, anyone stomp on my testes, and not in a pleasurable way. I feel bad for Shrimpy being stuck in a marriage as discordant as theirs. When he says, "We don't like each other," I understand completely. I can't fucking stand Susan.

WG: Jesus, she sucked. I thought Fellowes was paying homage to Single White Female with Susan and Cora, and the dueling haircuts. I was waiting for Susan to sneak into Lord Grantham's room and give him a blackmail beej.

OMD: If he can't summon an erection, does it still count?

If I wouldn't want to be around that familial conflict, then I really want nothing to do with the nonsense going on downstairs at Duneagle. Holy shit, those Scots are serious.

WG: Carson's counterpart was terrifying.

OMD: Every time they showed him, I shat myself.

When Isobel and Branson supped, I instantaneously cringed at the inevitability of Branson and Edna getting briefly entangled, as the transvestite alien spied a possible way to jump class strata. No me gusta. When she asked if Branson was ashamed of himself or what he was, I wanted to cut out her tongue. Do not fuck with Branson, Edna. You won't like what it gets you. Of course, her ham-handed button-pushing was instantly identified by the ever empathetic Mrs. Hughes, and the fiendish Edna was sent packing. It sure as shit looks to me that toying with Branson's emotions gets your ass fired if Mrs. Hughes picks up on it.

WG: I was disappointed he played the rube. Look, we all know Branson has had a rough couple of years. A fucking whirlwind. Can't be disputed. But where is the street tough revolutionary who fire bombed the swells mansion back in Dublin? That cat is long gone. He went from The Clash to The Alarm far too quickly.

OMD: Waking every morning to the 'pipes would be abrasive. I like the bagpipes as much as the next guy, but holy hell are they loud.

WG: I enjoyed the look on the Dowager's face immensely. Reminded me of the impromptu disgust she displayed when Shirley McClain was singing to her way back when. Does anyone register the unspoken "are you shitting me?" better than the Dowager?

Tufton, ca. 1980

OMD: Doesn't it seem like Mrs. Patmore's sleezy courtier had to have been transported forward in time from the 1920s? There's no way that guy is actually alive right now, is there? He could pass for Sloth's brother. How the hell is it that Patmore's back was turned every time he skeezed on a lady.

WG: He was a combo of Mel Sharples from The Brady Bunch and Schneider from One Day at a Time. A sweaty charmer.

OMD: Servants at the county fair. The family at the Gillies' Ball. This would appear to be the party down episode. If only Party Down were catering both of the functions [he looks longingly off into the distance]. I'd like to see how many R.D.D.s and R.D.D.s those Scottish servants would register on Ron Donald's watch. Also, I don't often agree with Carson, but when he said that "[he] would sooner chew broken glass" I laughed, but most of that comes from my similar disposition when it comes to spending time with the people. Do you think the merry-go-round was the same one used at the end of Strangers on a Train? I bet it was. It's still crazy to think that Hitchcock actually had that old man crawling under that contraption, hazarding death. Jimmy/James is quite the hustler, eh? No wonder Thomas fell hard for him. I'm glad Thomas and Jimmy made amends, if only just a bit. If you told me that I'd say anything nice about Thomas a year ago, I'd have punched you in the teeth.



WG: Exactly. Despite the fumbled footwork on some ends, Fellowes still comes through by making the unsympathetic sympathetic. I thought that merry-go-round came straight from the set of The Crush.

OMD: Fucking Lady Rose. The instant she returned to the screen there was one thing that I was certain of: she's replacing Sybil. Fuck me. The "mommy won't let me tart it up in the city" woe is me bullshit is not endearing her to me at all. Furthermore, I just don't see how Fellowes will be able to make her interesting. Surprise me, Julian. Please.

WG: Would it be possible to link her romantically with Branson? How about Carson? How about Edith?

OMD: My hope is that Carson finds love, even if it's not with Mrs. Hughes.

Clarkson and Isobel? What the fuck is going on here? Are we watching some weird, between war game show called Coupling Up? Are the hosts Ivor Novello and Lillian Gish? Clarkson gets himself a bit of the old liquid courage, musters up the gumption to ask her to think on marrying him, only to have her seemingly misunderstand what he was getting at while telling him she was afraid of change/remarriage.

WG: Did she know what was going on? I think she was completely daft. She's too busy working on the social safety net to be concerned about a crazy little thing like love.

OMD: I think she was completely oblivious.

Edith and Gregson. He loves her, obviously, but it wouldn't be an Edith love interest without an impassable hurdle. Of all of her prospective beaus, I actually like Gregson the most, but mostly because Strallan was disturbingly old. I'll never forget how Strallan had Branson's back after he was dosed, though. I love you, Sir Anthony.

WG: It will be interesting to see who Fellowes degrades more next season, Bates or Edith. With relatively bright skies shining over Bates and Anna, they would appear to be doomed. I can only assume that Gregson will be killed in a car accident.

OMD: Yeah, the family Bates is fucked.

So I happened across a headline on the front page of IMDb on what couldn't have been later than December 27th talking about what was next for Downton Abbey without Dan Stevens. I was fucking livid. This is the second time in three years that I've had a character's death spoiled in a fucking headline within a day or two of the episode airing. Have some fucking class, internet. Basically, I spent the entire episode waiting for the shoe to drop. Does he do something stupid to wrong Mary or does he just die? When does he die? How does he die? The whole fucking episode I just sat there guessing. Hunting accident? Shoe-horned affair? Hit by a stray shot as Susan attempts to kill Shrimpy? Death by food allergy while eating exotic food Scottish fare in the highlands? Turns out it was death by lorry while delivering news of a baby boy to the family at Downton. His death was presaged, of course, by two events in the first two episodes of this Third Series. The first shot of the second episode was Mary and Matthew in the death trap convertible talking about how shocked they Grantham household would be. More importantly, though, Mary sealed Matthew's fate when they were making up through the door the night before their wedding. When they kissed, she opened her eyes to look upon him. She fucking cursed their marriage and cemented Matthew's future in the form of a tombstone.

WG: I knew from the moment I (repeatedly) saw dark clouds hovering over the impossibly beautiful fields of Scottish heather that something dark was going down. When Matthew seemed so ridiculously and over the top happy and care free in his car, my suspicions were further affirmed. Reminded me of Ben Gazzarra swerving from side of the highway and nearly picking off the Swayze in Road House. Too much too soon. I like that Fellowes is shaking things up, and willing to kill off favorites. But too melodramatic. Would you be surprised if Season 4 opened and Young Mr. Sybil is 5 years old (they are naming the boy Sybil, right?), and Matthew's death was just a dream that he was having?

OMD: Yeah. Stevens has a life outside of acting. He publishes a literary journal and has been on the judge on the Man Booker Prize panel. Stevens's was apparently not going to come back for a fourth season from the onset of the series. He was out so it just was down to how he was leaving.

So Mary and Matthew had to have dabbled in F2FA, right? I've said it once, and I'll say it again: Lady Mary Crawley's anus is a deathtrap.

WG: Even light can't escape it.

Wordy Old Men on Downton Abbey: Series Two, Episode Six

We're back, much less late than the last installment. Progress. Once again, your sherpas for Wordy Old Men on Downton Abbey are Wordy Ginters and Josh "Old Man" Duggan. Tell your friends, family, and even foes--nevermind, fuck your foes--that they need to get their fool asses up in this joint. Once again, you can buy the second series on Blu-ray and on DVD. They're the original versions as aired in the U.K. (Series One available here on DVD and Blu-ray.) Why the British versions? Because they're unabridged, unlike what aired in the U.S. Do it (but follow those links if you do).

The antepenultimate episode of the proper Second Series kicks off with Mary pushing Matthew around the estate while Sir Richard Carlisle looks on and rhetorically asks Lord Grantham if he has reason to be jealous. Carlisle eyes a nearby manor owned by a family that has fallen on hard times. A horribly burned soldier by the name of Patrick Gordon asks to be transferred to Downton to convalesce. Isobel has her sights set on continuing on in using Downton for a recovery center. Carlisle asks Mr. Carson to come work for him at Haxby Park. Mrs. Patmore turns Thomas onto the idea of hoarding rations for the coming hard times. While eating alone for lunch, Lord Grantham engages the new housemaid, Jane, in conversation about her son. Patrick Gordon picks Edith to pitch a tale about him being Patrick Crawley, the heir who perished in the sinking of the Titanic but suffered from amnesia, which prevented him from remembering who he was until the memories were jarred back with the explosion that burned his face to the point of being unrecognizable. Carlisle and Cora conspire to bring Lavinia back into Matthew's life. Sybil tells Branson that she'll have an answer for him at the conclusion of the war. The Dowager Countess turns Cousin Isobel onto the notion of helping refugees. When the family is faced with the news of Patrick's alleged return, the Crawley's are all suspicious of his claim except for Lady Edith. The supreme fuckwad Major Bryant is discovered to have died in the Battle of Vittoria Veneto, leaving his bastard child with Ethel a fatherless one. Armistice is announced to be happening on 11/11 at 11:00 AM. Bates heads to London to deal with his wife, who has managed to get their divorce stricken again. He returns as says things went horribly. A lawyer can neither verify nor nullify Patrick's story, but Patrick leaves as it seems clear that the family will not buy what he's peddling. As Mary's affection for Matthew becomes increasingly obvious and Lavinia returns to pledge her undying dedication to Matthew, Carlisle threatens Mary with the prospect of being ruined by release of the tale of her night of Turkish anal pleasure should she jilt him and then, like a stone-cold killer, kisses her straight on the mouth. Armistice is officially signed. Matthew gets a tingle when Bates takes him by the wheelchair. Carson prepares to leave Downton. Bates receives word by way of telegram that his wife was found dead.

Wordy Ginters: Do we need to address the Laura Linney intro? I’m assuming you are blessed with it? I’m streaming my Downton via Amazon, and I’m always put into that special Downton mood by Laura’s plucky and strangely knowing intro to each episode of Masterpiece Theatre. The barely contained emotion and flaming eyes make me wonder what in the fuck is going through her pretty little mind. Would you?

Old Man Duggan: I am actually not seeing Laura Linney at the beginning of every episode. On the UK Edition discs, she does an intro to the season but it is left at that. I did watch the last few as recorded from PBS originally, so I have seen them. Laura Linney is weird to me. There are certain roles where I don't think too much about her, at least in a lusty way. Then there are others (You Can Count On Me comes to mind) where I find her extremely appealing. Her clear, dirty love of Downton Abbey is certainly good for some points in the Would You column.

The real Jack Johnson

WG: I liked the Jack Johnson reference when Mary was pushing Matthew across the lawn. Jack Johnson should be in this series. I imagine him having F2FA with the Dowager. Flouting conventions and race cars and operas and all that. Stomping across the landscape. Boxing.

OMD: We can only hope that Jack Johnson makes his way to Downton. While F2FA with the Dowager Countess would be awesome, it seems as though Lady Edith would be helpless against his special brand of cocksure interracial courtship at high speeds. By the way, kids, we're not talking about that feel-good beach guitar choad that you were/are into until your 19th birthday. Get your shit together.

WG: What kind of tires are on that wheelchair anyway? They leave all kinds of hideous steep walled ruts thru the lush green turf, right? Now I know why we never see the gardener.

OMD: I think they're Turf-Killer© brand tires. Post-war, they'll likely have to hire on a new groundskeeper or just pave the entire manor--introduce a little bit of post-'Nam Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to Downton and turn it into an endless hellish pavementscape hurled right into the heart of stodgy old England. I'm sure that's the route Fellowes will take everything in Series Three, which is likely why he's laid the groundwork with all the car talk thus far.

WG: Carlisle, rocketing up the shit-heel charts at Downton, up three spots, ahead of Thomas but still behind O’Brien. First, the “ought I to be jealous?” quip to Grantham when he spied Mary and Matthew carving up the lawn. And then later, getting tough with Mary, basically telling her that she has given him the goods that he can destroy her with, and she shouldn’t get too uppity, or he will use those goods. But my favorite part of that scene is the awesome villain power move when he then leans over and plants a tender kiss on her lips. He knows his money is too new, and he’s not really accepted in those circles, so he’s a little chippy. I like it.

OMD: From the onset of the episode Carlisle shows his crass nouveau riche nature. He's like a Jay Gatsby Version Douche.0. His combination of insecurity and power is a dangerous one. Even his approach to courting Carson's employ is uncouth, showing his complete lack of refinement. The kiss was cold-blooded. I got a shiver and wanted nothing more than Matthew or more likely Carson to barrel down the hallway at Haxby to throw the brash clod into the 21st Century.

WG: Carson is definitely the man for clod clearing. Dude blocks out the fucking sun with those shoulders when he's in the frame. And the eyebrows reek of pungent virility. I'm putting my money on Carson when time comes for the Downton Abbey MMA Warrior Challenge. I'm eager to see where Fellowes takes Carlisle. He might as well be from Mars. A piranha in a goldfish tank. It doesn't appear that Lord Grantham has the same appetite, ambition, or street sense to parry effectively with shitheel Carlisle. Maybe having an ounce of humanity will balance the scales a tad.

Daisy is in a STATE… if you didn’t catch it

Hand-wringing 101

OMD: In this episode, it was clear that Sophie McShera had taken extensive courses from the Joan Fontaine School of Acting with a heavy emphasis in Relating Pensiveness with Fidgety Hands and Avoiding Eye Contact with Everyone in a Scene.

WG: What the fuck happened to Isobel this episode? She’s lost her marbles. A little bit of a stretch for me. Perhaps with Matthew virtually legless, and the ghastly experiences of the war, she’s found herself on soft ground regarding the mental faculties. The way the Dowager manipulated her into a social cause and off of Downton seemed a little convenient, and not worth Isobel’s dignity. Good for a laugh I guess. Seeing the Dowager and Isobel scrap is one of my favorite elements of the show, I hope sending Isobel to wander amongst the Fugees doesn’t mean the end of those pissing matches. I suppose she’ll have her hands more than full dealing with Lauryn Hill. Wyclef Jean is filming a remake of Woody Allen’s Bananas in Jamaica last I heard. Regardless, the Fugees and Isobel will be on the same page regarding justice that is social.

OMD: The first time I saw that turn of events it caught me off guard as well. I have to say it makes more sense upon second viewing, as the Dowager Countess has to cast out three times to find something that she'll bite on, and it has always been abundantly clear that Isobel will go for the cause that needs her most. Clearly Isoble's favorite album is The Score, and that's coloring her judgment. As for pissing matches amongst the geriatrics in the cast of Downton Abbey, I can't imagine that this extremely popular element of the show will be cast aside any time soon. The Fugees didn't stick together for long, and Isobel will only be able to help them so much. By the time, she's done with the displaced, Downton will likely have been converted back to its original use and Isobel will care only about what happens in Jamaica. It's a win-win for all involved.

WG: I love the undead Titanic heir! I’ve always thought Downton Abbey would benefit greatly from a bit of strange. Sure, the make-up job looks like chewed taffy covered in silly putty, but what the hell. The guy playing undead Titanic heir is sufficiently off-kilter as well. A spazzed out pile of soiled dressings with one great leering eyeball and the voice of an adolescent careening through puberty. Weird hand gestures and just enough stories to create some legitimacy. Of course Edith is all in. She thirsts so deeply for approval it makes her an easy mark.

OMD: Patrick Gordon/"Crawley" strangely reminded me of Bill Irwin in an episode of Northern Exposure. In the episode (Season Four, Episode Six, "On Your Own"), Irwin plays The Flying Man from the circus that rolls through Cicely. He's a mute and has eyes for Marilyn. Something about Trevor White's mannerisms as Patrick Gordon summon the image of Bill Irwin specifically in that role. No idea why. This is definitely an atypical plot device for the show. I'm not sure it works completely--one of the few times I've said this about a choice of Julian Fellowes's--but it does create some drama for the future of Downton Abbey. As for Edith, I wish someone as gullible as she with mounds and mounds of cash would happen into my path. I've got some beachfront property in the desert for sale.

WG: The Carlisle/Carson free agent negotiations apparently were filmed in the Black Lodge from Twin Peaks. The red curtains signify that Carlisle is a scheming evil toadshit. That’s what it says in my copy of TV Symbolism and You textbook from Ripon Grammar school.

OMD: I lost my copy of TV Symbolism and You. Is it back in print?

WG: Nice cinematic scene with Hughes providing graft for Ethel. Rain, darkness, and more shit end of the stick for poor Ethel and her child.

Novello is Bryant? Bryant is Novello?

OMD: The Ethel storyline is getting pretty tedious for me the second time around. There are so many other storylines that don't involve Ethel. I'd prefer that she just went away. It was impossible to give a shit about her in the first place, as she was the randiest broad in the Western Hemisphere and was so openly contemptuous of her life that I'm glad she doesn't get to live it anymore. Just sack the fuck up and go whole hog on pretending you're a war widow, Ethel. Stop bothering the saintly Mrs. Hughes with your problems. More importantly, stop bothering me with your entitlement issues and lack of personal responsibility. I do not give any fucks, Ethel. I give no fucks at all. Also fuck her ugly kid, and I'm glad that Ivor Novello-looking motherfucker Major Bryant bit it. Their offspring will surely be a horrible person regardless of upbringing.

WG: Ivor Novello? I like it when you go Welsh.

“Your lot buys it, my lot inherits it.” One of my favorite lines in the series so far.

OMD: I found it impossible not to laugh at that line even when I knew it was coming. Que delicioso.

WG: Bates. Yes, you are a stupid bastard. Did he whack his wife? Maybe I’ve been watching too much TRU TV, but that may have been the only real solution.

OMD: Having seen the show through the Christmas Special, I am reticent to dive in here. If he did, I'd be glad for him because fuck her. And regardless of how she died, I hope it was excruciatingly painful and exceedingly gruesome.

WG: “I am the cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me, I have nothing to give, and nothing to share, and if you were not engaged to be married, I wouldn’t let you anywhere near me.” Nice.

OMD: It's hard not to really like Matthew in this episode. He's walking this fine line that he never crosses wherein he never gets so self-pitying that you want him to stop. Every word that pours forth from his mouth is gold. When presented with the prospect of cousin Patrick coming back to claim Downton as his own to inherit, Matthew takes it in stride and strangely has the best interests of everyone but himself in mind. It's like he knows his being crippled will be a suck on everyone else and doesn't want to be a bother, but he's taken to this mindset with a refreshing candor and a bit of morbid humor. The exchange about jumping in the river was hilarious. Also, his comment about Carson being willing to open his veins for Mary fit the bill. Great episode for Dan Stevens's reel.

WG: With Bates getting soft and addled in his thinking, Matthew is fast becoming my favorite character. If he's able to muster wood again, its a no doubter. I'm glad you brought up the river scene. I wonder if it was improvised. Mary's laughter was genuine. For me, the Matthew/Mary plot thread is much improved by the chemistry between the two.

Two thoughts at the end of the episode. Matthew got a boner when Bates got behind him. And Bates’s wife can’t be dead--I didn’t see any evidence of salt being poured in her mouth and/or her lips being sewn shut.

OMD: I'm pretty sure The Coug sang about the feelings stirring in Matthew's nether-regions. Who could blame him? I dream about the day where Bates wheels me around in my wheelchair. As for the evil, late Mrs. Bates, perhaps she was shot with silver bullets. They kill werewolves; do they kill your run-of-the-mill hellbeast?

WG: "Little Pink Houses?"

OMD: Mmm-hmmm.

When Mrs. O'Brien excuses herself from the table to eavesdrop on Bates's phone conversation, she does so by saying, "I've got to fetch my button box." Are we to take this as yet another coy double entendre from the quiver of Julian Fellowes? It sure as shit sounds like she's about to go pleasure herself while listening to Bates's bad news. Thomas's knowing/winking glance does little to dissuade me from this assumption. Her hands are nowhere to be seen when it is revealed that she's listening in on Bates and Anna's conversation, and I can't imagine that there could ever be an expression of joy on O'Brien's face, even--hell, especially during climax.

WG: O'Brien pleasuring herself to Bates' bad news seems entirely plausible and wildly hilarious at the same time. Somehow, I missed the "button box" reference. O'Brien is almost surely a sexual scowler. Give credit to Fellowes for pushing healthy alternatives to premarital sex. After Patmore buttered her own biscuit a few episodes back, I gave up the practice myself. Temporarily of course. Respite was had.

OMD: I really liked the scene in the garage (in my head, I pronounced that as I would were I British) between Branson and the luscious Lady Sybil. The sunlight from without bleeding out the background in the garage leaving Branson and Sybil in a gauzy island of restrained lust was affected a strong bodily urge in me in the same vicinity that Matthew presumably had stoked by Bates's firm handling of his chair. It was sort of like a tasteful (and 30 second) version of Somewhere in Time. Only it was awesome and didn't suck. I guess it's not really like Somewhere in Time at all, but it is gauzy just the same.

I love that Lord Grantham's plans for his brand spanking new tuxedo are to sit around the house in it. Oh, to be ridiculously wealthy...

WG: First world problems.

OMD: I really liked the moments shared between Lord Grantham and Matthew where Robert says, "I never think about anything else" than Matthew and then just a bit later between Carson and Mrs. Hughes where Hughes intimates her deep respect for Carson in her reserved British way. Both reached a tone so touching, sincere, and knowing that it's hard to recall an episode that got two little moments so right and so meaningful in such a minute amount of time. The fact that those scenes are then followed by Cora calculatedly co-engineering Lavinia's return and Sir Richard's threat to Mary coming hot on that scene's heels is a credit to Fellowes. He really has this balancing act down. He's a deft damn storyteller.

WG: We revisit this time and again, and rightfully so, but hell yes. Is it as daring as big time cable darlings like The Wire or Deadwood? No. But as a TV drama, it's an extremely well-crafted piece of work. From the production values to the storytelling, to the characters, there are very few missteps. It's easy to take potshots at stuffy period dramas on PBS, the riffs practically write themselves. But screw that noise, this show is a gem.