Cherpumple

Well, they certainly make a husky couple! Two family episodes that irked me were more about inconsistency of story than annoying relatives. 1) The one with Rose's blind sister Lily. That episode gave me whiplash- at first Rose got mad at her because she made some mistakes while trying to be independent (and who can blame her, she was in a strange house for the first time). Then half way through Rose got mad because she was not independent enough and needed to learn how to take care of herself. Whaaa? 2) The one where Dorothy brings Angela to Miami as a surprise. First of all, the source of the fight (shenanigans at the Christmas party in 1955) could've been cleared up in about two seconds the day after the party; I mean, how could Sophia not remember the dude under the table throwing up on her shoe at the time, but she could remember it 30 years later? And second, Dorothy's mother and favourite aunt haven't spoken in 30 years, and Dorothy is completely unaware of this???? That makes no sense! 3) I think they were just completely messing with us regarding Michael's age. In at least one episode it's indicated that he is indeed the child that prompted the shotgun wedding, and not only is he nowhere close to being the 40-something he should be (38 years + years after the divorce), but when we first meet him he's 29 (pornstache Michael) and then later on when he's with Lorraine he's 22. Ridiculous! This is a hilarious name for those episodes!

M is for the Mother-Daughter beauty pageant at Shady Pines. They beat Gladys Goldfine!

D is for the Daughters of the Confederacy, who didn't take kindly to the Feldmans of Buffalo.

Z is for the zebra-striped negligee that Blanche wore at some point. New topic: since the girls were so active in various social activities, let's do a list of hobbies and interests. I have two to start. A is for the Aldo Ray fan club, Dorothy's ticket to popularity. A is for the Alpha Yams, who always have a place for girls who love their community and know how to castrate a sheep.

I just remembered something that confused me- at the end of Mary's dinner with Blake, when she's telling him that she has to break it off with Tony, he said something to her about having a way to get out of it, or something, and she has a puzzled look on her face. Does anyone know what he was implying? I thought he was suggesting that she tell Tony that she's interested in another man (and Blake was offering to pretend to be that man), but I'm not sure. I wouldn't have noticed it, except for Mary's puzzlement.

S is for the town seal of Appalappachobee, who can balance a ball on his nose if you throw him a catfish first.

I would laugh so hard if this happened. I feel bad for Edith, I really do, but it's getting to the point of absurdity that she experiences bad luck and tragedy at every turn, often to the complete unawareness of her family. I'm definitely reaching the point where I almost look forward to seeing how many more things can go wrong in her life because her storyline has basically gone from drama to farce for me. I was a little surprised that Bunting didn't leave after Robert yelled at her and kicked her out. No one jumped in to reassure her that she was still welcome (not even Tom), so why bother staying?

My thoughts exactly! I don't even remember the last time he actually sought her out or even had a conversation with her that wasn't centred around her boorish behaviour from a previous dinner at Downton. They really don't have any kind of relationship at all. They don't even seem like friends. Tony definitely upped the creep factor this episode. I was a little taken aback by how quickly he went from whiny to aggressive, and I think Mary was shocked too. I've never understood the concept of not letting someone break up with you, and I'm worried that he'll become stalkerish or something. I may be misremembering, but it seems like the family is already putting way more effort into finding the lost princess Kuragin than they did in tracking down Gregson, which makes me feel even worse for Edith. Between that, Grantham's "I told you they would get annoyed with you!", possible news of Gregson's fate, and the Drewe family pulling away from her, it's amazing that she hasn't had a complete meltdown yet. I like the dress show. Some of those outfits were gorgeous!

J is for Jake, the dog that Rose gave to the widower at the hospital to make him feel better after his wife died.

I've been a fan of Marc Pickering ever since I saw him in Sleepy Hollow (his eyes are quite mesmerizing) and think he's doing a great job as younger Nucky. If you want to hear his awesome northern accent, here's a clip of him from an X-Factor parody show from a few years ago. His chompers were quite prominent then too. My favourite exchange of the episode was George and Eli talking before dinner: George: Capone put a gun in my mouth! Eli: Well, that's just poor leadership.

Considering the shortage of eligible men after the war, Tom would be a pretty good catch for many posh women. Of course, we have to take Edith's word for it that this shortage existed, because you'd never know it by watching the queue of men waiting years and years for Mary's hand (eye roll).

I recently re-watched season 4, and could not agree with you more. She's like the allegorical embodiment of male fantasies (namely, damsel in distress) and does not resemble a real woman at all. Considering how nuanced most of the other female characters are, I found her character to be quite jarring (and boring) by comparison. I mean seriously, did we really need all those scenes of Chalky, misty-eyed and slack-jawed, just watching her sing? That being said, it would be nice for Chalky to have a fresh start (and possibly a new daughter), but I would hate for him to completely lose contact with his family.

I know! This was a ridiculous line, especially since about 10 seconds later she says that if they get engaged, "nothing will happen that isn't properly announced, organised, and executed." My favourite line of the night was Violet's reaction to Mary's sex week: "In my day a lady was incapable of feeling physical attraction until she had been instructed to do so by her ma ma." Bwah! Don't ever change Violet.

On a recent re-watch of the whole series I noticed that the dude who played Waxey Gordon (Nick Sandow) also plays Joe Caputo in Orange is the New Black. That made me smile. Also, I'm excited to see Richard Harrow (John Huston) play Charles II in an upcoming mini-series about the fire of London in 1666, airing in the UK. I always have to do a double take when I see him with a whole face.