pbutler111

If she does that, then she'll just have to go through the ordeal of buying another one should Mary decide to resume auditions. My guess would be no, because Cora is both American and nouveau riche.

I've loved all of Julian Fellowes' books (by the way, the unabridged audio of Snobs is worth checking out; the reader does it full justice], and I've also loved all of the movies he's written, particularly Gosford Park and Separate Lies, which I've probably seen half a dozen times. Fellowes is also a terrific actor -- a real all-arounder! So maybe I'm more forgiving when Downton Abbey gets sudsy and improbable, because I'm also considering his overall body of work. On the other hand, Downton probably wouldn't be the big hit it is (and we probably wouldn't be here discussing it) without all the froth.

I have to say, Julian Fellowes is one of my favorite writers. I've read and re-read his book "Snobs" until it's just about falling apart. The characters in it are extremely well drawn; Fellowes shows an incredible empathy and insight. He may have to jack things up a bit for the sake of popular TV, but the man knows how to create a character and make it live for the reader.

Does anyone (everyone?) else do an Upstairs, Downstairs/Downton Abbey cross-check in their head every now and then? It's rather remarkable how easy it is to match up the character and storyline templates. The character comparisons are especially easy -- it's nearly a one-to-one match. But there are storyline overlaps as well. (Remember Lady Bellamy's affair? Alfred, the convict footman? The various affairs and indiscretions of James and Elizabeth? Hell, they even had a young niece [cousin?] come live with them.) If you haven't tried it, it's kind of entertaining.

I don't think we've been shown anything that would suggest that Cora's stupid. I think the whole point of this storyline is that she does have a brain but she's never called upon to use it, which is why she's so nostalgic for the war, when she actually had a purpose. She's spent years discussing nothing but the children and the household with her husband, who doesn't seek her opinions or advice outside of those subjects. It has to be incredibly refreshing for Cora to suddenly have a man who's not only interested in her opinion, but assumes she actually has one.

My assumption on this has been that Drewe knows his wife, and therefore knows that confiding Edith's secret in her would be unwise, either because the wife would have an issue with it on moral grounds, or because he knows his wife would never be able to keep her gob shut about it.

I said the same thing to my husband when we were watching it! Edith's family OWNS THE ENTIRE TOWN, including the farm on which little Marigold lives. What's Edith going to do -- have the Abbey moved to an undisclosed location and force all her family members to wear fake mustaches in order to throw folks off her trail? Have you noticed that Lord Grantham is only a dick when it's convenient for some storyline? He'll sail along being a grand and reasonable guy until the storyline calls for Cora to feel alienated, or Tom to be provoked, or some other plot device, and then suddenly he's a callous, insensitive jerk.

Couldn't she just backtrack by saying she meant a cock ring? Seems reasonable to me.

Ditto! My husband's mother had a high school diploma when she got married and started having babies. When she was 42 she went to college. She ended up with a PhD and a successful career as a child psychologist. Too bad she didn't think about just blaming her mother -- think how much time she would've saved!

Did Edith name the baby? Or did the adoptive mother? I believe flower names (Daisy, Petunia, Hyacinth, etc.) were popular among the lower/middle classes, but I don't think it's something a member of the aristocracy would name their child, unless it was something perceived to convey a bit more dignity, like Violet or Rose. I just assumed the adoptive mother named the girl Marigold.

Is there any chance whatsoever that Thomas won't at some point plant something valuable of Cora's/the household in Baxter's room? Any chance at all? I actually don't understand Mary's animosity toward Edith. I could understand it in season one when Edith was being such a see-you-next-Tuesday all the time, but now? What basis does she have for constantly riding Edith's jock now? You'd think, having been through such a tragedy as her husband's death, and the shared tragedy of Sybil's death, she'd have grown and mellowed enough to have bit of sympathy for Edith, who hasn't been horrid for quite a long time, and who's had her own challenges, both known and unknown. I think this non-stop petty meanness toward her only living sister makes Mary seem incredibly immature.

This doesn't seem likely to me. I think Baxter was at Downton when Green was. But, regardless, the reason Baxter went to prison is because she'd already given these valuable jewels to this footman. It seems unlikely that this same guy would still be working in service amongst the aristocracy in the same area.

I'm really impressed by Mary's thoroughness in vetting a potential husband to make sure that they're sexually compatible. Couldn't help but notice, though, that, so far, she's not even shown the most fleeting look of mild concern over whether or not this guy might get along with her son. Love her priorities!

Wow, I take it back. While I did receive two copies of the same nutrition info, I now see that the nutrition info I received is for one bagel that's included in the pack sent to me, and two bagels I didn't receive. So, actually, the nutrition info I received is even more useless than I first thought. That said, the info for these three only varies a little bit from each other. The Hot Pretzel (the only one of these three I actually received) is 76 calories per bite, 29 of those from fat. Total fat: 3.2g; Saturated fat: 1.9g; Trans fat: 0g; Cholesterol: 10mg; Sodium: 105 mg (the highest of the three, by 10-20mg); Total carb: 9.4g; Sugars: 0.4g; Dietery Fiber: 0.4g; Protein 2.3g.

So, my Bantam Bagels arrived Friday, right on time. The packaging was good, and the bagels were still frozen. One minor thing about packaging: The Shark Tank variety pack includes 6 each of 6 different varieties of bagels, each set in their own resealable plastic bag. Unfortunately, the cold makes the labels on the bags fall off, so you do have to do a little guesswork as to which is which. Also, the ingredients and nutrition issue are included in the box on two loose sheets, info for three varieties on each sheet. Unfortunately, ours came with the same page included twice, so we have three varieties with no ingredient or nutrition listing, and that information is not offered on their website; if I want to know, I'll have to contact them and ask. As for the bagels themselves, the Shark Tank pack includes French Toast (cinnamonn nutmeg egg bagel filled with mapel syrup cream cheese); Grandma JoJo (Italian seasoned bagel filled with pesto cream cheese); The Classic (plain bagel filled with plain whipped cream cheese); Cookies & Milk (brown sugar walnut bagel filled with chocolate chip cream cheese); Hot Pretzel (pretzel salt bagel filled with cheddar dijon cream cheese); and Everybody's Favorite (everything bagel filled with veggie cream cheese). This last one -- Everybody's Favorite -- is the only one I've tried so far. The reheating instructions are included and easy to follow. After 20 seconds in the microwave to defrost, I popped the bagel onto a cookie sheet and into the toaster oven, preheated to 400 degrees, for 6 minutes. (Kind of a lot of effort, by the way, for a bagel bite, especially preheating the oven to 400, and more effort than you might want to make for a quick snack.) I like cold cream cheese, so I was afraid that this process would make the cream cheese center rather like molten lava. But I was pleased to find that the outside of the bagel was nicely crisp, the inside soft and chewy, and the cream cheese core, miraculously. creamy and just the right temperature. Overall, it was quite good, and certainly a lot less devestating to the diet than an entire bagel with cream cheese. On the other hand, is it worth the money? Meh. Maybe if you could actually choose the varieties that make up your 36 pack, but you can't. Of the Shark Tank pack I received, 4 of the flavors sound okay to me, but I really have no interest in the two sweet varieties, so would rather have doubled up on a couple of the savory options. And while the price with shipping works out to be slightly less per bagel bite than if you purchased them in their Brooklyn store, the people who go into the store have a really large selection of varieties to choose from, while the home buyer can basically get either the pre-selected Shark Tank pack, or go to QVC and get the pre-selected QVC pack -- not really any options at all. If they change their mail order service to allow customers to make their own selection of a wider variety of flavors, I might consider purchasing again. But, otherwise -- probably not.

My Bantam bagels arrive tomorrow!

I couldn't order those Bantam Bagels fast enough. Even with shipping, their "Shark Tank" sampler bag of 3 dozen actually works out cheaper per piece than the in-store price. They're shipping in dry ice and will arrive frozen, so I imagine we can just keep them in the freezer and pull them out as wanted. Can't wait until they arrive! (And I love the name and the logo. Both Lori's and Barbara's name change suggestions were idiotic, though certainly continue their running theme of underestimating the intelligence of the average consumer.)

I think you got the situation with Edith and Drewe backwards. Edith asked Drewe if he'd come up with any ideas, and it's Drewe who said that Edith would start showing an interest in Marigold. Right?

I didn't think Nene's Beatles wig was the problem so much as the makeup she had going on with it. Sometimes she has this makeup look that gives her big light colored circles around her eyes, super dark nose, cheeks and chin, and then this really, really unflattering matte light pink lipstick. If she'd worn that wig with the makeup look she had on HSN, I think she probably would've looked kind of kicky.

"Charming, I wondered at Cynthia's shading Phaedra. That was so random. Cynthia is really trying to hold on to that peach." I wondered about this, too. Cynthia's been really obnoxious this season. Her comment about Phaedra was weird and nasty. And what's up with her constantly going on about how gorgeous and sexy she is? If you have to keep telling people you're gorgeous and sexy, maybe you aren't so much. P.S. Amarism???

It's a great show, and its cancelation is sort of ridiculous. If you'd like to let ABC know you'd be interested in seeing more of the show, you can sign the petition at change.org: https://www.change.org/p/abc-please-renew-selfie-for-a-second-season?utm_campaign=new_signature&utm_medium=email&utm_source=signature_receipt#share