RedHawk

I imagine that he has a very competent manager in place. He didn't expect Edith to take over for him while he was in Germany, did he? So there must have been someone else who he thought could run the business properly during that time. This fellow must still be in charge, perhaps the Editor who came to tell Edith the news? Usually publications have a business manager. Edith might now function as the chairwoman and have to make some decisions, but no, she's not been expected to run the day-to-day business these past two years. Perhaps she will take an interest and try to learn. So far she seems pretty bright and willing to learn, think of how she learned to drive a car, etc. Mrs. Drewe's feelings? I care not a whit. Mr. Drewe also made some stupid decisions there. Edith did not force him to take Marigold. He could have talked to her anywhere along the way and said he felt he must tell his wife the truth. Marigold? [shrug] Lots of kids have worse things happen in childhood. Wealthy children in those days were often raised by and very attached to Nanny, and as we've seen, only saw Mummy and Daddy an hour or so a day, so I guess all three Downton babies are destined to have attachment issues -- or not. It looks like Marigold is going to have a more stable and secure situation with Mommy Edith now, so she probably has as much chance of being a well-adjusted adult as most people of that era. Good for you, SailorGirl, for forging your own path! I like your insights into Edith's situation and "role" in the family. I also learned long ago that it was either do things on my own or not do them. The way I read the final scene was that Edith made her bold move and now wants to celebrate. As she said, where they are now is "not ideal, but at least we're together". She knows she has a long road ahead of her and after the rush of making her break, she's not at all sure that she can handle what will come next. I didn't see it as sad, just as emotionally true. She's happy, proud of herself, and yet scared because it's of course not over, not by a long shot. I also like her parting words to Tom. He clearly heard what she was saying about "Don't let them flatten you." He seemed to be musing about that as she left.

On re-watch I noticed an establishing scene just before we see Edith and Marigold enter the hotel room in London. It shows a double-decker bus, which is a number 13, and one of the listed stops is Piccadilly Circus. Could this be a sighting of the Bus of Justice?!

I think they were letting her go on and on so that they could casually look around the bar while it seemed like they were listening to the waitress. Yes, it did give them a chance to glance around, but also it was a great callback to the days when a waitress would reel off a long list of those sad choices "Bud, Bud Lite, Coors, Coors Lite, Miller, Miller Lite, Becks, Yuengling..." and usually people would order one of the first few anyway. It was indeed comedy.

Which reminds me, at Downton they are only now, in 1924 beginning to have drinks before dinner, right? Did they only begin drinking after sitting down to dinner before? There's a whole thing about "cocktails" and Carson not approving and Robert pouring his own drink -- and one for Tom -- before dinner (which appeared to be straight scotch or something). I don't quite get all that and how it's part of the changing times. I got that last week it was all newfangled and trendy that the Grantham's gave a "cocktail party" rather than a formal dinner. This slays me every time. I re-watched the scene today and even Bates has a short pause while he realizes that, yes, there are two people his wife thinks he might have murdered. Sigh. Ok, no not her, him. ROFL! JF does have a dark sense of humor. The entire police procedural in "Gosford Park" is a riot.

Which is why she will hire a nanny. She's not some destitute, uneducated single mother like the housemaid who got seduced by the Major. She's a woman with money of her own and now she's inherited a business. I'm sure Edith doesn't intend to spend every waking minute caring for her child in some tiny flat, she simply wants to have her daughter with her and to be a mother to her. Edited to add: And to give her child everything she is entitled to as Edith and Gregson's daughter.

He was not prosecuted for being a homosexual, under questioning he admitted to engaging in a homosexual relationship. There is a difference. I took Dr. Clarkson's advice to be more or less: Accept what you are yet do not act on those impulses. Find a why to make some life for yourself while denying these urges. So I felt Dr. C was being understanding yet keeping with the thoughts of the times about homosexuality. Yes, now I remember that. Was Pamuk traveling with the Duke whose letters Thomas had or was that an earlier, different situation? Was the mysterious Evelyn Napier involved?

Thanks, I didn't remember those incidents. So he has had some sexual experiences. And yes, made an advance on Pamuk. I always thought Pamuk reeled toward Mary for that very reason, that the encounter with Thomas had shaken him. However, simply being a gay man -- having sexual desire for another man -- did not mean you could be prosecuted. You had to DO something that was considered a crime, such as engaging in a homosexual act with another man. Or at least let her have a meal with the rest of the staff! Funny that we see several unknown (to us) household servants milling around in the background at times, but when they sit down to dinner "Madge" is nowhere to be seen.

Was simply being gay a crime, or was it committing or attempting to commit the act? Huge difference. Aside from the attempted kiss with Jimmy, have we seen Thomas doing anything sexual with another man? Yes, Jimmy could have pressed charges and clearly Thomas feared that he would. However, if Thomas keeps himself to himself he will not be arrested for simply being homosexual.

Why would they ask questions? I assume Edith left Downton with at least one suitcase so she's wouldn't look particularly suspicious checking into a hotel. And yes, sending someone out to buy a few diapers and supplies for a child would be something a hotel concierge would do for her. She can handle it, it simply isn't that hard AND she has money.

I like that Cora allowed Robert to give her his silent treatment for a couple of days and then laid it on the line for him. He then had to get his huffy ass back into their shared bed. She's not such a blank or a fool as she sometimes appears. And she did admit that the thing with Bricker was a flirtation that got a little out of control. Wealthy people in big houses did a lot of flirting in those days, sometimes just all in good fun. Some also had outright affairs. There wasn't a lot else to amuse the idle, long-married rich. The husband so obviously going away for a night in some houses was a signal to the visiting male guest that he could indeed approach the wife he had been openly flirting with. I'm not saying Bricker assumed this, just that some husbands turned their heads because the wife had long turned hers, or at least not demanded a divorce. Cora didn't know about Robert's kiss with Jane the housemaid but I'll bet Robert has once in a while flirted with an attractive female dinner guest right in front of Cora. She knew the odds were that his attentions had once in a while strayed from her.

I thought so, and remember thinking it was weird and inappropriate for a guy to give a woman who was marrying another man a photo of himself with her even if it was when they were children. That's more of a birthday gift than something to give for a wedding! But it did start her thinking about Andy and their future(?) relationship and how her being in the past might affect it.

She's in a hotel room that looks basically child-proof. There's not much there that a toddler could get into, and I don't think Edith is going to pass out or be inebriated after one glass of champagne. She has visited Marigold often and thus is familiar to her and with her. Surely Edith can manage to care for her own child by herself for a day or two while she decides on her next move.

I honestly think that Fellowes believes that in Edith he is giving us a character who is breaking out of the mold and at last making her own decisions. I can see that he's writing it that way and yet also see that he's failing miserably to write so that viewers care about Edith and her situation. I DO. I like her and I like that she took control at last. However, I can also see why so many find her annoying, selfish, and tiresome.

I used the Soup Dragons as an example because in recent years I looked for their song "I'm Free" a few times and it wasn't available. Once I heard it on the show I assumed it was, and it is. (Although I haven't bothered buying it, for some reason.)

Maggie Smith's comic timing is perfect. Her silent facial reaction to having Isobel witness her domestic drama with the servants was hilarious. Those two could have a conversation about paint drying and I'd tune in. And by the way, "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" will be out in a few weeks and again pairs these two fine actresses so they can spar with each in the current century (in India!).

I don't remember, what did Andy give her and Sean at the wedding?

Or it might be called "free advertising". Sure, they must pay something to use the songs, but for example, not a lot of people are buying Soup Dragons songs on iTunes every day. Playing one song on the show could lead to who knows how many folks saying, "Oh, I loved that song, need to get it!" and buying it 2 minutes later.

They hadn't quite gotten to that point though. So now if someone asks about that little farmer's girl Edith was interested in it will be, from Robert most likely, "See, I told you she would get bored and forget all about that poor child. Oh well, I'm sure she's fine with the Drewes." That's my snark but who knows what will happen next? Sometimes story lines drag on forever only to suddenly rocket into hyper-speed. I have a feeling Edith and Marigold won't long be undiscovered, because yes, someone will put together that Marigold has also disappeared. Will it be that Mrs. Drewe goes to Cora? At this point my mind is open to anything.

Riiiight! Edith Crawley, child-napper! Of course it's all going to come out when someone in the family finally notices, and yet the Abbey (upstairs, I mean) is full of dim bulbs and self-absorbed ninnies who don't seem to know or care how many children Drewe has, so it will likely take a while before anyone other than Violet (and Tom) get a clue. The Drewes will have a handy lie spread all over the county by that time.

That it so soap opera that I won't blink an eye if it happens! There was that moment at Rosamund's when she seemed to nearly confess to Edith that something similar had happened to her. Always leaving the door open... This after Tony had quickly trotted Mabel to the altar, Blake had made a hasty departure to Ireland, and Tom had stepped in to nurse her and reveal his undying love, "I always wanted you more, dear Mary. Sybil was just a distraction because I never imagined a woman of your station, beauty, intelligence, charm, kindness, etc. could be mine." "Oh Tom, I knew you secretly longed to be an aristocrat. Who doesn't?" Lavish wedding, everyone happy, funny quip from Violet, close curtains.

To which Violet replies that folks today do entirely too much thinking. "Before 1914 no one ever thought about anything at all!" (One of the best of the night, however, did anyone think they'd heard it from Violet before? Maybe it was in the preseason sneak trailers.) Speaking of, is there going to be some sort of funeral or memorial service now that he's been legally declared dead? (I mean, he must have been if Edith is going to inherit.) Guess no one will bother turning up for it since Edith naturally won't inform them, and then she'll be all, "You never came to his memorial service!" when she does finally resurface at Downton.

I was the one who said that. Here's my dialogue: Tony to Mabel: "I like your way of being fast more than hers. Thank god you didn't hack off your lovely hair. She looks like a bald monkey!" (TM fake-French hairdresser) Mabel to Tony: "Ah, at last you appreciate me more than her. You may re-engage me now." Although if we want to continue keeping this lovely couple apart: Tony: "Also, her morning breath is terrible and she snores." Mabel: "Whaaaa?"

Haha! Plenty of people did back then, and even more recently. Attitudes toward drinking have changed a great deal in the past 30 years. Women drank alcohol while breastfeeding for centuries. The human race goes on... And Edith DID spend a couple of months with Marigold breastfeeding her before she let her be adopted by the Swiss couple. I wouldn't say she had "no childcare experience" whatsoever.

True, and who is this "Matthew" some speak of as having known about it? Oh, yes, that fellow who's been dead donk's ages. Did he know Gregson and Edith wanted to marry but that Gregson was already married to an wife who was in an asylum? What had Edith told him? I also imagine that Edith's month's-long trip to Switzerland "to improve her French" (and all refusals to let her father get someone else involved in investigations) gave the family the impression that although she was concerned about Gregson's disappearance she was not deeply worried about it. They perhaps have characterized the relationship as one in its early stages and thus not as meaningful as it actually was to Edith, thus they can't understand her pain after nearly two years with no communication from him. (Although most of us still would have given her far more sympathy than most of them do.) I agree that she should have confided in at least one person, Tom perhaps, the depths of her feelings and how far the relationship had gone. He then likely would have guessed about Marigold, though I was sure he already had. I liked Cora's response to finding out that Edith had inherited the newspaper publishing firm: "Oh, how generous of him." That at least should have tipped her off that the guy had some real feelings for her daughter and perhaps intended to marry her. Cora is so Lady Bertram.

Oh yes, my mother showed me my grandmother's sidesaddle and said she only ever rode sidesaddle, which indicated her gentility. (Grandma died in her late 40s in 1928.) On the other side of the family, my mother's first cousin was born in 1934, and as a child her father only allowed her to ride sidesaddle. Mabel Lane Fox riding astride was not quite as thrillingly shocking as Mary's new bob, but it was a "fast" thing for an unmarried young woman to do. That little bit with Robert was absolutely adorable. He was just every doting grampa ever. And yet he still has that little resigned grimace to show he's not exactly pleased with his moniker. He's hasn't quite given in to it. Love it!