JudyObscure

That's got me wondering if this was Mary's way of letting Blake know he was back in the running. Possibly Blake will take it that way whether intended to or not. We can't have Mary without a string of ardent suitors with Valentine's Day coming up.

Looks like Rose is going to star in Disney's latest, Cinderella and Daisy will be one of her mean stepsisters. I can't picture that last part.

 If I remember correctly Isobel was one of the first to notice something was off with Bad Nanny, the one who Cora fired for neglecting "the Irish servant's child," in favor of the heir to Downton. Isobel had gone to Downton early, specifically to see the babies, and Bad Nanny stopped her on the stairs and refused to let her in the nursery with some lame excuse. Isobel acted as though it wasn't the first time she had been blocked. I thought that gave the impression that Isobel does slip over at odd hours to see them.

How about Jackie on her Rodeo Drive, "Pretty Woman," date? Didn't she get to keep something?

He probably tells himself not to discuss these things at home because it might worry Cora's pretty little head. What seems inconsistent to me is that while he's so chauvinistic he thinks Cora isn't capable of understanding these thin, he allows Mary to correct him in front of others. As for the idea that Edith writes columns for the newspaper and no one reads them -- totally unbelievable. If she's, say, writing that men who were shot for treason should be listed on their village memorials, then that would be something the entire family would be talking about. Lord Grantham and the Dowager would probably think everything she writes reflects on the family so they would be keeping anxious track.

A great big disgusted UGH if Chris and his friends describe "good sport," this way. A girl who's a good sport will watch football once in a while instead of going to the mall or laugh when a car goes by and splatters her clothes. "Good sport," for sex stuff is what fraternity boys try to sell when attempting to get their dates to do dangerous stuff at parties. It's a bogus, sleazy thing to tell a girl to try and get her to lift her shirt on spring break or take it all off at the lake. If a grown man thinks that's cool and encourages it then he's a creep in my book. It's one thing to laugh and shake your head over Kaitlyn's antics but it's another thing to praise her for it. I was giving Chris the benefit of the doubt and thinking he gave Kaitlyn the rose for her humor but if the rose was a "good sport" award for stripping, then I'm starting to think Britt had a good point. (Not that she was smart to tell him about it.)

A man with any one of his dead wife's sisters will always seem faintly incestuous to me. Even Tom and Rose makes me a bit uncomfortable, maybe because they've all been living in the same house together for quite a while. Mable Fox Whatsit?

Ashley was right about one thing, she does have great Disney potential -- she already has Walt Disney's number one characteristic to determine femininity -- huge eyelashes. It's how we can tell Daisy from Donald, Minnie from Mickey and Clarabelle from Goofy.

Yes, it's the accent! To me everything she says sounds like a softly tuned radio being turned rapidly up and down...or maybe like she's talking through the hiccups. I don't have trouble with most British accents and I've lived in England for three years but Anna's is a new one for me. Crossposted -- I like Thomas, too. For me he's like Mad Men's Pete, I forgive everything he does and I hate myself for it.

You're a brave woman, Andorra. I'm kind of neutral about her because I never understood a word she said.

I didn't like either Britt or Chris in that confrontation. There's something about Britt I don't like and maybe it's her assumption that she's a front runner or simply the clash of yellow skin and maroon lipstick, but it isn't her place to question another girl's rose. I wouldn't be surprised if Chris was influenced by the sight of Kaitlyn's bare behind, but it could also be that he really likes her fun loving personality. When Britt got the first impression rose nobody complained to Chris about his rewarding her behavior of overly long hugs and making out at the very first opportunity. On the other hand Chris should have been able to articulate some of that. It's not that hard to say, "You're wrong. I wasn't judging anyone's behavior for good or bad, I just appreciated how Kaitlyn's upbeat personality made what could have been a long afternoon a little more fun." Chris just doesn't have the charm, chat or cuteness for this part. This is the third bad pick in a row for "The Bachelor" lead. Heads should roll.

JudyObscure Stella MD I understand that interpretation and it may well be the correct one but somehow, probably because he clearly still wants to marry her, I think he still believes she's his idea of a "lady" in every sense of the word. I thought he seemed angry and frustrated but not more than might be expected to find out that everything he's been dreaming of for a few years might be over. He's not saying you're not what I thought you were, he's saying, I know I'm right about the sort of lady you are so I know you must love me. All the test drive ideas were Mary's. Tony was certain in his mind that they would be good together in bed and a marriage would follow.

That was Nikki (in the red shirt) who has only said two words. Two more words than Samantha who I'm beginning to think doesn't speak English. Unlike Jillian who can talk for hours without taking a breath. I hope she learned some things from being on the show. Like men don't want to hear your work out details and women don't want to feel your butt. Britt to Chris: "I heard Kaitlyn took off her clothes at the lake and you gave her a rose thereby validating her bad behavior!" Chris: "Er, uhh, werp, er humph, er, she was, uh, not that, integr, hum." "I'm glad we had this conversation." The sisters were sweet. I might have picked Jade, too. I'm just glad they didn't pick Ashley so we got to see the meltdown of jealousy. I thought one looked just like Whitney. I loved Ashley's virginity reveal. After weeks of acting like it was the biggest news ever, Becca casually says, "Oh yeah, me too." Hah!

Avaleigh, as you know we're on opposite sides of the ring over Edith and Mary (although I think Mary is beautiful) so I'm happy to find we agree on 1,2,3,4, and 6! Probably my most unpopular opinion is that I'm never very fond of Isobel. She has a way of barking her lines while vibrating her head that works well when she's angry but when she's just doing something like "insisting," that Tom invite Bunting to dinner it comes across as nervous and bossy to me.

No Tony didn't use the word "whore." On the contrary, he said that he thought so much of Mary he couldn't accept the idea that she would sleep with someone if she didn't love him and plan to marry him. Sort of the opposite of whore to my way of thinking. He thinks she loves him and something else is wrong that can be fixed. While Mary made it clear to Anna that this was a test drive to her, I didn't get the impression that Tony saw it as anything but a consummation of their love.

I'm thinking part of the reason for Baxter's kindness to Barrows is that she has been forgiven for her own past and understands that people can change. After all the little mean moments in this episode I was glad to see it. Even the usually kind Mrs. Hughes was a little bit nasty to Mosely, which made no sense to me, she and Carson are quite proud of their titles of Housekeeper and Butler, I'm sure they wouldn't like to be demoted to Servants of all Work just because the times, they are a changing. Even Daisy felt free to tell Mosely to get on with his work. Violet snapped at Edith, "You don't know anything about it!" after Edith's gentle remark hoping Granny would see the prince again. When Violet was talking about hope, trying to make the prince feel better, Isobel barks out, "You only say that to sound clever!" The sort of thing a jealous kid might say. Edith sadly admits she was getting under foot at the Drewes and Robert just has to rub it in with, "I knew that would happen." And of course there is Mary, telling Tony it was over. Where was the gentle way of turning him down that Blake had mentioned? I don't know how else she could have said it but I don't blame him for his reaction. If someone had been telling me he wanted to marry me and then, after our first night together, said he had changed his mind, I would be hurt and angry, too. I might even raise my voice. The Bunting doesn't even understand civil much less kind. Baxter may be my new favorite.

I found myself watching for Dickens the whole way through and then totally missed him, my husband told me where he was. For those others who didn't see him, he was held in the arms of Johnny when he, the sister, the housekeeper and the curate (must learn names) were standing together singing "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow." I'm betting he was supposed to be in the kitchen during the cake for the archbishop scene or with Sidney while he was listening to sad records but unruly puppies are such wild, method actors it probably wasn't working out until someone said, "Just hold him." I'm sure I'm over thinking it. I was just as distracted by the dogs in, "Doc Martin."

I just saw the preview for Season 3, beginning March 29, 2015. ( I think. It went by in a hurry.) I'm surprised at how excited I am!

That's all far too entertaining and intriguing for this show, Constantinople! Besides it would take longer to present than Fellowes thinks our attention span could tolerate. I just re-watched and counted fifty separate scenes for a 48 minute episode.

I would like to see Daisy's magical history book. Before she picked it up she was so shy she couldn't look a footman in the eye and thought herself too stupid for farming. After a few chapters she was being condescending to Mrs. Patmore about being a cook, "Not that there's anything wrong with that." Another chapter and she was giving orders to Mr. Mosely, and now she's ready to give impromptu empowerment speeches to the titled folk upstairs. Amazing. Unfortunately I watch "The Bachelor," so I couldn't help but hear Tony's reaction to Mary as Nick's speech to Andi after she chose another man. Nick couldn't believe that she was rejecting him after she had done, "fiancee things," in the Fantasy Suite. Why do people keep inviting Miss Bunting "for" Tom? If he's really one of them then why does he need a lower class person to talk to over dinner? I really wish he would say, "No thank you, I've already invited Lady Daffodil from Nettleweed Manor."

Thanks for the storyline breakdown, Zahdi! If some of the clips I've seen are from the movie, and meant to be a parody, then it makes much more sense.

Yes, I would have been terrified of Josh's sports obsessed family that goes to every single one of the little brother's football games. Devoting your life to team booster-club activity is fine if that's what you're into, but it shouldn't be mandatory for anyone else. Added to that, I always expected that Josh wasn't as unconcerned as he acted about Andi and Nick doing "fiancé things" in the fantasy suite.

I've never watched an episode of "The Brady Bunch," but if Marcia was as obnoxious as she seems from all the mentions she's had on the DA forums then I just don't get it. Of course I don't "get," Mary either so maybe that's the point.

Thanks for the clip, Firefoxy. Chris and Des are my favorite B&B's. They bring the pretty for my taste. Chris Soules and Whitney -- not so much. That reminds me, Whitney kept saying Chris's name so that it sounded like "Crystals," to me.

I think the mystery of Jillian's black boxed butt goes back to the first episode when one of the women interviewed that Jillian was constantly sticking it in people's faces, saying, "Feel my butt! Go ahead! Feel how hard it is!" I think if this was going on all the time, the editors might have finally thought, okay, if you can't quit talking about it and you're insisting on making it the center of attention, then how about we just don't show it at all.