Badger

I don't think Julian Fellowes has the power to tell anyone involved with the show what they can and can't do regarding the show. He doesn't own the show. I do think he was a bit annoyed that Dan wouldn't agree to come back to do a scene in the opening episode of the fourth season. I think he would have preferred to have Matthew killed off then and not have to do it in the Christmas special. I also think Dan was right to want to have Matthew's death shown and not just be someone receiving a telegram or something. I remember going through Dan's tumblr tag after the Season 3 Christmas special and man, there were a lot of very angry former Dan Stevens fans on there.

If you only watch the voting rounds, you don't get the full experience of the show. Like sometimes someone will be incredible in their original audition but ends up imploding in Hollywood. Or vice versa. Or sometimes you'll find someone you think could make it all the way and it's fun to see how their journey goes.

I don't see any evidence of JF being angry at Dan Stevens for leaving the show. I think that's only put out there by the same people who claim JF "worships" the aristocracy.

I knew it was coming but I didn't see the scene of them walking into the water hand in hand as romantic at all. I just thought it was him not wanting to go in and her taking his hand to encourage him. The thing that's always made me think they'd eventually marry is that for all intents and purposes they're already mom and dad downstairs anyway. And they're obviously very fond of each other in an old married couple kind of way.

There was a wedding in the Season 5 finale: Rose and Atticus. Don't forget that in the UK, episode 8 was the season finale, not Episode 9 which was their Christmas episode. I predicted Hughes and Carson getting married years ago so that didn't surprise me at all. It'll be interesting to see if Season 6 starts with them already married or if a wedding will be part of the next season. The proposal was very very sweet though. ITA that Miss Baxter wrote the note. As for Anna and Mr. Bates, the witness had second thoughts about seeing her so my guess is the case is closed once again. Hopefully. ETA: I think you mean Thomas, Helenamonster. Tom and Thomas are two completely different characters. I'm pretty sure Andy the footman is there for Daisy. Also, I'm thinking that the guy Edith was interested in will turn out also to be a "Marigold." Like maybe he's the illegitimate son of the guy the Sinderbys were renting Brancaster Castle from My take on Green is that he ran into one of his victims who reacted pretty much the way you would expect her to react. Anyway, he was so flustered, that he wasn't paying attention and tripped into the street and got runover.

She was also "Katharine of Aragon" in "The Tudors" and "Vera Bates" in "Downton Abbey."

She would be an outcast because she married someone Jewish. Also, the Flintshires had a son named James and a married daughter named Annabelle. Shrimpy said in the Season 3 Christmas episode that James "went away" but I'm not sure what he meant. It could mean he died or that he is choosing to live away until he inherits. They did have a casting call out for someone to play Annabelle and her husband but I think they ended up being extras. Susan would probably be living in the family's London townhouse. They lost their country estate but they still have the other place. Obviously, she won't be living in as grand a scale though. I was wondering if "ask your Uncle Thomas" thing was meant to be some kind of code but I couldn't find anything.

I don't think Denker had any cougar-y intentions towards Andy. I think she had some kind of deal with the club owner where, in exchange for free drinks, she would bring in easy marks to lose at the card tables.

But Mary never said or even implied that was the reason she didn't want to marry him. She said it was because the more time they spent together, the less she realized th caney had in common. And Mabel did love him even if she did resent him dumping her for Mary but she got over that. It's like the line in "The Women" "No pride at all." "That's a luxury a woman in love can't afford." Wth the exception of the tiresome Anna gets arrested nonsense, I really liked this episode. My take on Daisy is that she actually really likes her job but she's realized that there's a big world out there that she's missed out on because she thought art et al were only for the upper classes and not for working stiffs.

I think it's because she got married in a registry office so it was probably considered best to wear a suit and a hat and save the pretty dress for the blessing. She was a lovely bride.

Mrs. Drewe's objection is because she thinks Edith is only interested in Marigold as something to keep herself amused and occupied until she has a husband and babies of her own. She doesn't want to see Marigold hurt because the nice lady from the big house who used to come by to see her has forgotten about her. Despite her shenanigans with a married man back in Season 3, I think Rose is still a virgin, if only technically. Regarding the "Upstairs Downstairs" reboot, they did have two characters who were Nazi sympathizers although one stopped. The other, who was probably based on Unity Mitford, became a Nazi spy.

I don't see any of the Crawleys being cruel to Marigold on account of the circumstances of her birth. The outside world could be a different story. It seems to be a good rule of thumb that anytime a virgin in a period drama has sex with her boyfriend the night before he leaves for war or for an extended journey of some kind, he will die and she will end up pregnant.

Don't forget he and Baxter have known each other since they were children.

I think Mary was just feeling frumpy after seeing the uberstylish Miss Lane Fox.

I was wondering about that too. ITA it probably meant she was part of the "Marlborough Set" when Edward VII was Prince of Wales. I'm also guessing her husband was a rather serious passionless type. Back in Season 2, she told Lord Hepworth, the golddigger who was after Lady Rosamund (and having an affair with her maid) that she remembered being chased around Balmoral by his father in the 1860's so we know her family knew the Royal Family.

Regarding Thomas and the Duke, I think he kept the letters because he was in love with the Duke. I don't think the idea of blackmail entered his mind until the Duke gave him the brushoff. And if you watch when he leaves the room, Thomas is crying. Apparently in the audiocommentary for Season 1, someone says it's the only time we see that Thomas has a heart. Also, JF says that the scenes between Pamuk and Thomas were meant to suggest that Pamuk was kind of leading Thomas on a bit if inadvertently. I wonder if Marigold is potty trained since I didn't notice a nappy bag anywhere. Also, regarding Edith, I don't believe she is Rosamund's daughter. I think they are close at least in part because neither one was a social success when they came out unlike Violet, Cora, Mary and Sybil.

Actually, by that time, the medical profession no longer thought of homosexuality as a disease or pathological condition but more as a kind of sexual immaturity or lack of development.

Thomas would have been still on the boat back to America or at the very most in Liverpool arranging for Robert's and his return home. So, no, it wasn't him. I don't see anything ahistorical at all about Dr. Clarkson's attitude towards Thomas. While homosexuality was a crime, there was nothing that said you were obligated to turn someone in to the police if you learned they were gay. Also, the idea that being gay wasn't something you chose, but rather something that you were born with was also not unknown back then. Certainly an educated man and a doctor like Clarkson would have known that. He still referred to it as being a "burden" so it wasn't like he was waving a rainbow flag. Regarding sidesaddle, that was the way a lady was supposed to ride. In fact, Queen Elizabeth II rides sidesaddle at The Trooping of the Colours. At least she used to.

It's Richard. His nickname is "Dickie."

ITA about the wife. I don't think she quite grasped what was going to happen to her husband. I think she thought the treatment would render him unable to father any more children, not that it would make him unable to have sex at all.

According to the books, Sister Evangeline came from a very poor background herself. Not quite in the workhouse, but close to it. Sister Monica Joan, OTOH, came from a wealthy family.

They've always been available for new projects after the latest season finishes filming.

FWIW, there were people back then who did believe that the treatment of Germany after the War was not a good thing. One of them was British journalist Charles Edward Montague who referred to it as "a shabby epidemic of spite." Having said that, he was a liberal and a pacifist who opposed the war but nevertheless lied about his age to enlist. After this was discovered, he ended up with the generals and commanders behind the lines and in relative safety. He had nothing good to say about them and their conduct of the war. So there were people who thought that way back then. I'm not sure Robert would have been one of them though. But maybe enough time had passed that it was no longer something only liberals and/or socialists believed.

Downton Abbey won the "Best Drama" award at the National Television Awards this past Wednesday. It's a bit ironic considering that it's an award based on fan voting and the show had its lowest viewership during this season.