S06.E09: Christmas Day

[stillshimpy]

Like when Anna went into labor. For God's sake, just because your water breaks, doesn't mean to have to immediately take to the closest bed.

No, but maybe she knew it was going to be her only chance to rest for a bit after being on her feet all day doing chores.  I did appreciate that they bothered to throw some water on the floor for effect.

 

That's usually a completely valid point, but we have been told Anna has an incontinent cervix and had a stitch in place, etc.  So whereas they would have done well to maybe throw in a call-back to that in some form or fashion, they had written in reason that Anna could expect a rapid delivery, I suppose.  

 

But it took me a moment to remember why Mary was pretty much immediately swinging into near tourniquet levels of medical intervention in her haste to get Anna directly into a bed less than a foot away.  At first I put it down to just reminding us that Mary actually is a really good friend to Anna on a lot of levels, but then recalled the "Oh...yeah.  Okay.  Incontinent cervix."  

[kassa]

After all that Isobel has been through with you guys and you can't take her of all people into your confidence! And she is so progressive regarding women's issues! And most of the downstairs staff already knows!!! Really??!!! Shameful.

 

 

That was my initial reaction, but to be fair.. it needs to be Edith’s call.  And then, if you think of it further, she’s going to tell Lord Merton, and while he seems lovely, he’d probably clumsily tell one of his stupid sons.

 

While Carson would be horrified, I can believe that he would never breathe a word of it to Mrs. Hughes (even though we know she already knows).  I go back and forth about her telling Carson. I actually think she probably wouldn't, because it would change his perception of Edith, and she knows how much the family mean to him.

[ScoobieDoobs]

Oh man, I was gleeful for Shrimpie to back.  I mean, seriously, the character & actor couldn't possibly be more dull, but oh that name, me luvs, luvs, luvs!  Makes me wanna go to Red Lobster (well, almost).

 

Sheesh, there was soooooooooooooooo much more chemistry between Henry & Tom than Henry & Mary.  Did I see Henry & Tom making out in the corner at Edith's wedding -- or just my imagination?

 

So Mary, THE snootiest snoot whoever snooted, is deliriously happy, happy, happy with being married to first, a layabout & now a used car salesman?  OK, he's cute & hot, but c'mon, JF, FAIL on this one.

 

I would have preferred Edith to go on in London as a single career gal.  Bertie is a nice guy, but a bore.  Her London flat is so much more liveable than that museum joint.

 

This ep would have been so much better if someone (anyone) had thrown a pie or a handful of mud in Crookskank's evil mug.  I could so see Violet doing it.

 

God, Daisy, you really are a huuuuuuge PITA!

Edited March 8, 2016 by ScoobieDoobs

[dangwoodchucks]

I couldn't believe that Daisy didn't get in trouble for removing that hair dryer from Lady Mary's room!!

This. When she saw Anna in the hallway, why didn't Daisy just ask for her help? It's funny, after the blow dryer was available and more than likely being used, Mary's hair looked the same.

 

I remembered something Anna said in a previous episode that made me laugh. She had asked Molesley what he was doing and he replied that he was writing tests to check the children's comprehension.  Anna asked, "The village children?" as if she couldn't believe they would be smart enough for that. Isn't her new babe one day going to be a student at the village school?

[stillshimpy]

Their dresses were not as bad others that I have seen, but the veils were awful. I have my grandmothers veil and my mom asked me if I wanted to wear it for my wedding. Um no. But then again, I was married in the 1980s, so I have no right to judge. At least I didn't wear a knock off of Diana's dress, like many of my friends and they looked like huge cupcakes.

 

My husband now is my second husband and one of the reliefs of that very early marriage ending was that I had an excuse to never display our wedding photos ever again.  I let the bridesmaids pick out the dresses and it was roughly the same era.  It was like some terrifying version of a prom dress.  There were lace gloves involved.  Two out of the three still speak to me and everything which is a miracle and possibly related to the fact that I have photos of that I never, ever show anyone.  

 

But given the photos you posted, I really am grateful to the costume designers for that veil now.  I thought it was horrible until I saw those.  The period pictures make it look like something only the risen Miss Havisham should wear.  

 

My initial disappointment had a lot to do with how fabulous so many of the costumes looked throughout the season and a sense of letdown "ooookay, not what I was expecting" but I guess they were trying to be period appropriate without courting too much authenticity which appears to have been a very, very kind impulse. 

Edited March 7, 2016 by stillshimpy

[Avaleigh]

I kind of felt sorry for Marigold, going from the (relatively) cozy Downton Abby with her cousins (and more to come) to that cold, forbidding pile where she will be all alone, except for a nanny. (and her obsessed Mother) Even if Edith and Bertie got right to work on producing heirs, it would still be a few years before Marigold had any real companionship. It's not like there are kids in the neighborhood.

I thought about this too. I also wonder if there will be any issues of jealousy since she'll be the only one of Edith's children who doesn't have a title. Bertie's mother also won't be granny for her like she will be with any other potential children and I'm certainly not counting on her to be especially sensitive to Marigold. 

[marceline]

Well at least we got closure on the big story of whether or not Baxter was going to visit Coyle in prison.

Edited March 7, 2016 by marceline

[TomServo]

That's usually a completely valid point, but we have been told Anna has an incontinent cervix and had a stitch in place, etc.  So whereas they would have done well to maybe throw in a call-back to that in some form or fashion, they had written in reason that Anna could expect a rapid delivery, I suppose.  

 

Anna was past 37 weeks, so likely the stitch had already been taken out.

[pbutler111]

Here's the thing that pisses me off the most about the ending:

 

The show's premise to start with was the entail. It brought Matthew and Isobel into the family and set up the most interesting aspect of this family estate problems, that the family wasn't in control of it, not really.

 

So when does Fellowes choose to end the show? At the very moment, and I mean moment, that entail was made illegal and the family could do with their property what ever they wanted. The Law of Property Act went into effect on January 1st, 1926, the very moment the servants downstairs began to sing Auld Langes Syne.

 

And Fellowes NEVER mentions it.  

 

Was he being ironic? Or did he not do his research? Because Merton didn't have to leave his house to his ungrateful horror of a son. He could leave it to who ever he liked. The title would go to the son but he could have left the house to Isobel. I like to think he eventually did.

 

I think Merton's point was that neither he nor Isabel gave a damn about the house, so Larry and his bitch wife could keep it and choke on it.  And I don't think there's much that Julian Fellowes doesn't know about this sort of thing.  It's just that the show was ending, so there was really no point in going into it.

[generate789]

Is it very wrong that I was kind of hoping that Bertie would leave Edith at the altar so that he could run away with Barrow to Tangiers?

[Crs97]

At the reception, they showed Bertie's mom with the children, especially paying attention to Marigold.  I didn't really buy it, but I assume we were supposed to see that and breathe a big sigh of relief that she likes Marigold and they will all be one big, happy family.

 

If y'all could have seen my husband during Edith and Bertie's dinner, you would still be chuckling about it.  There was a loud snort when Edith said she didn't blame Bertie, he tried a couple of times but couldn't finish a coherent sentence when she complained that Bertie hadn't spoken to her, and then he looked at me and exclaimed, "What the hell?" when she angrily said Bertie broke her heart.  I just smiled and said, "Welcome to my world."

 

Tom was criminally under-used this season.

 

Did Shrimpie give the toasts because he was of same rank?  That seemed weird that he was the spokesman when he knew the least about the couple.

 

I was surprised that Edith and Bertie got married at Downton and assume it was just a way to include all the servants.  IRL I would assume the wedding would take place at the castle, especially when they could treat it as one of his first public acts as the new Marchioness.

[stillshimpy]

Anna was past 37 weeks, so likely the stitch had already been taken out.

 

Right, but that's actually why she'd deliver more quickly.  

 

 

 

There was a loud snort when Edith said she didn't blame Bertie, he tried a couple of times but couldn't finish a coherent sentence when she complained that Bertie hadn't spoken to her, and then he looked at me and exclaimed, "What the hell?" when she angrily said Bertie broke her heart.  I just smiled and said, "Welcome to my world."

 

Ha!  Well whereas I feel you on that to an extent, Fellowes apparently really took fan reactions to heart when it came to Edith, to the extent that he couldn't just have her being in the wrong....even in part....but on that one, I think he just tried to imply something that didn't quite work:  When Bertie left he told her that it was that she hadn't trusted him about Marigold, not that she had had Marigold that was the thing that kept them apart.  

 

That was sort of a low blow, because particularly given his mother, who we met in all her 'morality! shame-shame-shame!' posing in this episode he really should have been able to understand the "...but I can see why you were terrified that I'd reject you, because even good people can be jackasses about that stuff and you must have been scared spitless! Onward to the altar!'  , he really didn't need to tell her that it was her handling of this secret, of which she was ashamed for understandable societal reasons, etc. etc. rather than the secret itself.   He really kind of did break her heart more there.  

 

"Oh yes, that thing that the entire world has told you you ought to be ashamed of unto actual death?  The sort of things mumsie herself would shame you for to your face?  That I could forgive.  Here's the kicker though, that you could not psychically intuit that from the set of my jaw, or something, that's the reason I'm leaving.  I'm outie!"  

 

So whereas I also had a moment of "Wait, what?" I did get the "oooh, okay, maybe. Plus she's rattled, let's put it down to that."  He did sort of twist a knife on his way to the car on his initial departure.  

Edited March 7, 2016 by stillshimpy

[AndySmith]

Is it very wrong that I was kind of hoping that Bertie would leave Edith at the altar so that he could run away with Barrow to Tangiers?

 

Ha!

 

I was surprised that Edith and Bertie got married at Downton and assume it was just a way to include all the servants. IRL I would assume the wedding would take place at the castle, especially when they could treat it as one of his first public acts as the new Marchioness

 

I thought so too, but, final episode + JF not caring + other plot stuff that needed to take place at DA = wedding at DA.

[Spunkygal]

Heck, if three ladies can drag Pamuk all the way to the other end of the abbey, I bet a couple of guys could carry Anna across the hall into another bedroom before she delivers.

[MrsR]

 

so there was really no point in going into it.

Gee, I don't know about that.  So much of this show and it's last episode was about characters picking their own destiny. What can you do within the laws and social mores of the times, what choices can you make. Here's the key moment when it all changes and it goes unmentioned by Fellowes.

 

This law was put into effect partly and purposely to break up the large estates. To collect taxes and put more property in the hands of the common people. 

 

And here's the thing, I think with this particular group of characters that the Downton estate would remain intact to modern times.  Robert is the last of the dilettante estate holders. He's not a bounder but he was a bit of a dilettante. Mary, Henry and Tom represent the upper, middle and lower classes who would combine traditional agriculture and more modern entrepreneur spirits to find a way to maintain the estate using it's assets within and income from without.

 

I just wish Fellowes tied it all in more to modern times. But then he didn't give the estate and title an interesting historical backstory either. 

[Llywela]

"will they tell her"   They meant Marigold and probably meant in a few years when she is older.  They were wondering when and if Edith and Bertie would tell Marigold that her father was Gregson and not Bertie.

No, Marigold will grow up knowing that Bertie is not her father. The official story will remain that she is Edith's ward, not her daughter - and they will certainly not try to pass her off as a child of the marriage. She will always know that she is not Bertie's child - and may never know that she actually is Edith's.

 

Here's the thing that pisses me off the most about the ending:

 

The show's premise to start with was the entail. It brought Matthew and Isobel into the family and set up the most interesting aspect of this family estate problems, that the family wasn't in control of it, not really.

 

So when does Fellowes choose to end the show? At the very moment, and I mean moment, that entail was made illegal and the family could do with their property what ever they wanted. The Law of Property Act went into effect on January 1st, 1926, the very moment the servants downstairs began to sing Auld Langes Syne.

Fellowes didn't go back to the subject of the entail because it was never intended to be a central theme of the show that needed resolution, it was merely the mechanism used to get the plot ball rolling. I mean, we could probably make an argument that devising a dramatic reason to return to the subject and get the entail broken might have made for a more interesting or satisfying story in these last seasons, but we could probably also argue that it would have been repetitive (although granted not more repetitive than the show's actual plots) and at the end of the day the story as told didn't need to bring the entail discussion full circle - as far as Fellowes is concerned, the problem of the entail was resolved with the birth of George.

 

While Carson would be horrified, I can believe that he would never breathe a word of it to Mrs. Hughes (even though we know she already knows).  I go back and forth about her telling Carson. I actually think she probably wouldn't, because it would change his perception of Edith, and she knows how much the family mean to him.

We already know that Mrs Hughes wouldn't tell Carson about Marigold, because she pretty much knows the truth and hasn't told him!

Edited March 7, 2016 by Llywela

[MakeMeLaugh]

At the reception, they showed Bertie's mom with the children, especially paying attention to Marigold.  I didn't really buy it, but I assume we were supposed to see that and breathe a big sigh of relief that she likes Marigold and they will all be one big, happy family... .

Having way too much time on my hands, I googled "Marigold Downton" and found under the images link a lovely post-show photo of Laura Carmichael kneeling down with the twin actresses who played Marigold, and also searched "Bertie Downton" for images. Marigold looks so much like him imo--coloring, hair, forehead--that Bertie's mom would have to fall in love with her. Edith and Bertie could easily let people think she was Bertie's child by just not explaining who she really is with the ward of the Crawley family cover story.

[Llywela]

Having way too much time on my hands, I googled "Marigold Downton" and found under the images link a lovely post-show photo of Laura Carmichael kneeling down with the twin actresses who played Marigold, and also searched "Bertie Downton" for images. Marigold looks so much like him imo--coloring, hair, forehead--that Bertie's mom would have to fall in love with her. Edith and Bertie could easily let people think she was Bertie's child by just not explaining who she really is with the ward of the Crawley family cover story.

In the closed circle that was the aristocracy of the 1920s, there's no way they could pass off Edith's illegitimate daughter as the child of a marriage that took place two or three years after her birth. They also would never even try, for all kinds of reasons. They already have a cover story in place - trying to change that story now would be social suicide.

[proserpina65]

Yes, my grandmother and great aunt were both married in 1924. Their dresses were not as bad others that I have seen, but the veils were awful. I have my grandmothers veil and my mom asked me if I wanted to wear it for my wedding. Um no. But then again, I was married in the 1980s, so I have no right to judge. At least I didn't wear a knock off of Diana's dress, like many of my friends and they looked like huge cupcakes.

Was yours Jessica McClintock or Gunne Sacks?  ;-)

 

I thought Edith's wedding dress was lovely on her - much better than Mary's second wedding dress - but that veil looked like some just tore down a curtain somewhere.

[stillshimpy]

In the closed circle that was the aristocracy of the 1920s, there's no way they could pass off Edith's illegitimate daughter as the child of a marriage that took place two or three years after her birth

 

No, but they can actually legally adopt her now that they are married.  That's why Marigold had to be a 'ward' of Edith's, she was a single woman, she couldn't adopt her.  Now that Edith's married, she and Bertie can adopt her.  

[AndySmith]

But then how would they get past having to present Marigold's birth certificate with Edith's name on it? Actually...whose names are on the birth certificate?

 

Even if she is adopted by Bertie, Marigold still wouldn't be a Lady, since you only get that from your bio-dad or your husband.

[lucindabelle]

I couldn't believe that Daisy didn't get in trouble for removing that hair dryer from Lady Mary's room!!

Right? And the caper music underneath... When what she is doing is a firable offense, as we know full well from Cora seeing mrs patmore and mrs Hughes in her rooms, what in the ever loving...?

I have to say I was surprised to see a blow dryer. Hair dryers right up through the fifties were usually these bowl things women wore over theirheads,with curlers in... Which you still sit under in salons. I never saw a blow dryer until 1977 (cough. I was in preschool and just really precocious!)

  

I believe they are referring to the Social Season, which, (I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong) usually began when the theatres opened in London and everyone returns to their town homes for "the season", closing their country estates  and leaving a skeleton crew of servants to maintain them.

Oh me! I know I know! I dramaturged a production of "an ideal husband" once. The season corresponds to the season in parliament... The lords would all go up to London, and since the estates were essentially worlds unto themselves, that's when the girls got a chance to "come out" and meet people. The boys knew one another from boarding school but country girls had few friends. Girls were expected to be engaged at the end of a season, if not er first, usually their second.

What church did edith get married in? That huge cathedral is not the same place where Strallen dumped her.

So everybody's paired off but clarkson. Aww.

How Denker who was luring andy to gambling dens still has a job eludes me. Maybe Violet enjoys the game of it.

I understand roses reluctance. Three months is very young for a transatlantic trip by ocean.

I thought Baxter was about to propose to Molesly. She was even acting so widely when he got the cottage offer. Seal the deal you two!

[Llywela]

No, but they can actually legally adopt her now that they are married.  That's why Marigold had to be a 'ward' of Edith's, she was a single woman, she couldn't adopt her.  Now that Edith's married, she and Bertie can adopt her.  

They could, but I really doubt that they would. Aristocratic folk tended not to adopt - they were all about bloodline. If they took in children, they were taken on as wards, so that there was no confusion about their status within the household. Marigold's position is already tricky and potentially dangerous, because Edith has kept her so close - taking further action would only draw attention to the set-up, cause comment and questions, which is exactly what Edith doesn't want or she'd have acknowledged the child from the start. Far more likely that they would continue the polite fiction as it stands and avoid unnecessary attention.

 

Which of course is fine until Marigold starts asking questions - but not everyone in her situation did.

[proserpina65]

I was surprised that Edith and Bertie got married at Downton and assume it was just a way to include all the servants.

 

I'll confess to not being up on wedding conventions of the aristocracy in the twenties, but wouldn't a bride be married from her home, not her intended's?

[lucindabelle]

Yes, but what was that cathedral?

[fishcakes]

What a ludicrous finale.  I know Fellowes wanted to tie everything up with a tidy bow, but he seems to have forgotten that we've been watching these characters for six seasons, so he can't just have them do whatever suits his tortured narrative.

 

Thomas: I'm going to be nice!

Mr. Bates: Let's be friends, then!

Mary: I couldn't be more proud that my husband will be selling used cars!

Edith: I've never once told the truth about Marigold unless forced to, but I'll do it now even though it means I might not get to marry the Marquess of Mayonnaise!

 

At least Daisy was as bitchy as usual, so that's ... good. I guess. I had to laugh at Andy's last conversation with her where he said something like, "If you don't know what I mean, then let's just leave it, but if you do know what I mean, then let's be on the same page from now on." Well, that certainly clears things up.

 

And after they went to all the trouble to pair everyone off, all Molesley and Baxter get is a conversation that they'll still keep in touch after he leaves service? Come on, show. They were the best couple of the entire series, so that was some bullshit.

[proserpina65]

I have to say I was surprised to see a blow dryer. Hair dryers right up through the fifties were usually these bowl things women wore over theirheads,with curlers in... Which you still sit under in salons. I never saw a blow dryer until 1977 (cough. I was in preschool and just really precocious!)

 

According to Wikipedia, the first blow dryer was patented in 1911, and the handheld form began to be available to the public in 1915.  Who knew?

Edited March 7, 2016 by proserpina65

[AndySmith]

Marigold's position is already tricky and potentially dangerous, because Edith has kept her so close - taking further action would only draw attention to the set-up, cause comment and questions, which is exactly what Edith doesn't want or she'd have acknowledged the child from the start

 

And don't forget, this is Edith we're talking about...

 

Edited March 7, 2016 by AndySmith

[JudyObscure]

I feel like I've read fifty books about Marigold, most of them by Victoria Holt.  "My first memory is of the castle.  I grew up there as a ward of the Marquess  along with his five children and, while his wife was always particularly kind to me, I never really felt that I completely belonged.  That all changed  one summer day when I was eighteen and  fell   hopelessly in  love  with their dashing cousin from Downton Abbey."  

 

I wasn't really "feeling,"  all the happy endings as they rushed by -- too fast -- but I'm still glad they happened, particualrly Edith getting love and a real copper-bottom Marquess at the same time.

Isobel is such a wonderful actress that I  actually did get the feels with her, particularly when they got the news that it was only regular old anemia and were the most joyous wedding guests ever.

Thank God Thomas didn't have to be the most lonely servant in the world at that other stuffy place, I just wish we had been given a hint of a love interest for him along with everyone else.

Robert being proud of his wife's management skills seemed rather unlike him but he's been forgiven all his faults for finally noticing his middle daughter and loving his dog so much.  His acting can bring a scene to life almost as much as Maggie Smith's -- loved her contagious laughter over Spratt's advice column. "Salome dancing around his Herod," so funny.

Daisy's new hairdos, even the one she gave herself,  were 100% improvements.  No wonder she was such a pill for so long with that cap and that forehead.

I accidentally predicted Talbot's car dealership as a joke, hope no one thought it was a spoiler, I had no idea.  Mary may not be proud now but wait till the money starts rolling in, it will make tours of the Abbey seem like a sad joke.

 

I'm ready for the sequel Uncle Jullian, sorry about all the complaining -- not really I loved the complaining, as well as the Edith/Mary  arguments on the forum.  I miss them already.

[AndySmith]

"My first memory is of the castle.  I grew up there as a ward of the Marquess  along with his five children and, while his wife was always particularly kind to me, I never really felt that I completely belonged.  That all changed  one summer day when I was eighteen and  fell   hopelessly in  love  with their dashing cousin from Downton Abbey."

 

Ok, this made me laugh out loud.

[iMonrey]

 

The Earl of Grantham's estate could only pass to a male heir because it was entailed that way

 

For the record, the entail had nothing to do with the estate itself, it had to do with Cora's fortune. It tied her fortune to whoever inherited the title, which at the time of signing would presumably be her son. Without the entail the title and estate would have still gone to a mail heir (Patrick, and then Matthew), but they could have left Cora's money to Mary, which would have meant Matthew would inherit the title without any money and have to sell the estate.

 

 

 

So when does Fellowes choose to end the show? At the very moment, and I mean moment, that entail was made illegal and the family could do with their property what ever they wanted. The Law of Property Act went into effect on January 1st, 1926, the very moment the servants downstairs began to sing Auld Langes Syne.

 

But by that point the entail was irrelevant. George is now the heir to the title and estate as well as Cora's fortune. Why would anyone try to change that?

 

I thought the ending was sweet but maybe a little too pat. I thought Lord Merton getting the clean bill of health from Clarkson was overkill; it should have been enough that Isobel wound up marrying him and taking care of him. In a way that sort of left their story unfinished. I also thought the implied matching up of Mrs. Patmore with Mr. Mason and Daisy with Andrew was a bit of an overkill too. I would have preferred they spent the season working on a solid relationship for Tom that concluded with a marriage rather than wasting time with Daisy, Mr. Mason, Spratt, Denker, etc.

 

My favorite part was the closing shot of Highclere covered in snow. Absolutely beautiful.

[morakot]

So is Mrs. Hughes retiring with her husband? I hope not -- she's the number 2 in the household with equivalent responsibility. The Crawleys would have to replace her too.

[CleoCaesar]

As delighted as I am that Edith finally got her happy ending - a sweet husband, her daughter, a massive fortune, and a title that has her outranking her own family - I'm puzzled. So much of the series had her moving towards being an independent, modern career woman. Awesome flat in London, head of a magazine. And then in ONE EPISODE she becomes filthy rich and gets her own massive castle and there goes the magazine, I guess? She might still be the owner but I doubt she'll be super involved with it. Odd.

 

 

I always feel a little bit sorry for the actor playing Atticus.  His shooting scripts must be a bunch of cues to smile, nod, smile some more and be enthusiastic.  Then every now and then he gets to say something exceptionally positive (with a smile).

 

HA. That actor just bugs me at this point - every episode Atticus was in, he had this really dopey grin on his face. In every single scene. Like absolutely no nuance.

 

The Law of Property Act went into effect on January 1st, 1926, the very moment the servants downstairs began to sing Auld Langes Syne. And Fellowes NEVER mentions it.

 

A hack is a hack is a hack. You're right, it was just crappy writing not to even mention it in passing. So much of the show is about modernity, the changing of the old guard so to speak, and how the new era allows for more people to control their own destiny thanks to changing laws and social mores. Real estate changing hands is a major motif throughout all six seasons so to omit even a mention of the new law was just shoddy writing.

[pbutler111]

Gee, I don't know about that.  So much of this show and it's last episode was about characters picking their own destiny. What can you do within the laws and social mores of the times, what choices can you make. Here's the key moment when it all changes and it goes unmentioned by Fellowes.

 

This law was put into effect partly and purposely to break up the large estates. To collect taxes and put more property in the hands of the common people. 

 

And here's the thing, I think with this particular group of characters that the Downton estate would remain intact to modern times.  Robert is the last of the dilettante estate holders. He's not a bounder but he was a bit of a dilettante. Mary, Henry and Tom represent the upper, middle and lower classes who would combine traditional agriculture and more modern entrepreneur spirits to find a way to maintain the estate using it's assets within and income from without.

 

I just wish Fellowes tied it all in more to modern times. But then he didn't give the estate and title an interesting historical backstory either. 

 

Okay, the show ended just after midnight on January 1, 1926.  Can you describe how Fellowes could have gracefully worked into the last episode this law that had been in effect for a matter of minutes when the curtain came down on this story?

[Llywela]

I feel like I've read fifty books about Marigold, most of them by Victoria Holt.  "My first memory is of the castle.  I grew up there as a ward of the Marquess  along with his five children and, while his wife was always particularly kind to me, I never really felt that I completely belonged.  That all changed  one summer day when I was eighteen and  fell   hopelessly in  love  with their dashing cousin from Downton Abbey."  

Mwahahah, perfect. Although...cliche or no, it can and does happen in real life. My dad has a cousin (Margaret) who was born out of wedlock in the 50s - the mother was actually married and already had a child (Michael) but had an affair and fell pregnant while hubby was overseas with the army, he took her back but wouldn't take the child, so Margaret was taken in by a childless aunt and uncle and raised as their own child, while the birth mother moved to Ireland to create some distance between them. Which was fine until birth mother and family returned to Cardiff years later, whereupon the teenage Margaret and Michael decided they were in love...and had to be told they were actually half-brother and sister and not cousins after all, which sent both spinning well and truly off the rails. It's the most soap opera my family has ever been (apart from when my aunt went into labour at her sister's funeral - that was pretty soap opera too!)

 

So now that you've suggested it, I absolutely believe that if Uncle Julian ever made a sequel to Downton, he would absolutely go there with George and Marigold. It's so soapy, how could he not?!

[pbutler111]

A hack is a hack is a hack. You're right, it was just crappy writing not to even mention it in passing. So much of the show is about modernity, the changing of the old guard so to speak, and how the new era allows for more people to control their own destiny thanks to changing laws and social mores. Real estate changing hands is a major motif throughout all six seasons so to omit even a mention of the new law was just shoddy writing.

 

It's really painful to hear anyone refer to Julian Fellowes as a "hack".  In addition to Downton Abbey, he's authored some of my favorite novels of all times -- smart, funny, and beautifully drawn.  This TV show might not have been high art, but that doesn't make Fellowes a hack.  He's a really fine writer.

[jschoolgirl]

I'll confess to not being up on wedding conventions of the aristocracy in the twenties, but wouldn't a bride be married from her home, not her intended's?

My guess is that it was the cathedral closest to Downton, because the staff were there and Mr. Travis officiated.

I wondered why the announcement would be at Brancaster, but I assume that was because of Bertie's higher rank.

What did Bertie's late father do? Did he precede Bertie as Brancaster's agent?

[stillshimpy]

I think if the show is willing to pretend that Edith managed to do things like take an interest in the "ward" of a local farmer, take her to live with her at the Abbey after showing way too much interest in her , causing the farmer's wife to have slow dissolution of sanity, that ended with her kidnapping the child and her husband having to give up his farm at local farmer's fete while Edith did everything but shriek "Where is the fruit of my  loins?  The former inhabitant of my womb??"  aloud for the village to see and hear,  with no one, apparently no one at all doing the math on "Hey, isn't that kid ...four....and showed up just at the time that Lady Edith came back from her six month absence abroa....HEY!"  Where her parents can both know about it, a couple of the servants and just about everyone who wasn't named Mary. 

 

Then Fellowes would bend the reality of the aristocracy enough to allow Bertie to adopt his wife's illegitimate child, that even his "Morality First!" mother was seen to be doting on, because in a world where breeding was everything, that's how that would work. 

 

So yup, Marigold.  Likely adopted in this, the world of Fellows.  AU of the real world of the aristocracy.  

 

 

 

So everybody's paired off but clarkson. Aww.

 

God and the staging on his "Surprise! You're totally gonna live!  You only have the 'take some iron pills and eat a lot of fiber!" type of anemia, not the 'get your affairs in order!' sort....which I'm telling you in a church pew, at a family wedding, so that you'll be in the right place to give thanks, after stating that I'll be moving in a moment so that I won't be the ass-awkward third 'I asked her to marry me too, you know' wheel in this scene....." was killing me. 

Edited March 7, 2016 by stillshimpy

[jschoolgirl]

Okay, the show ended just after midnight on January 1, 1926.  Can you describe how Fellowes could have gracefully worked into the last episode this law that had been in effect for a matter of minutes when the curtain came down on this story?

He could have done a lot of things if he had not wasted time with Fucking Spratt and Fucking Denker!

[Spunkygal]

Mwahahah, perfect. Although...cliche or no, it can and does happen in real life. My dad has a cousin (Margaret) who was born out of wedlock in the 50s - the mother was actually married and already had a child (Michael) but had an affair and fell pregnant while hubby was overseas with the army, he took her back but wouldn't take the child, so Margaret was taken in by a childless aunt and uncle and raised as their own child, while the birth mother moved to Ireland to create some distance between them. Which was fine until birth mother and family returned to Cardiff years later, whereupon the teenage Margaret and Michael decided they were in love...and had to be told they were actually half-brother and sister and not cousins after all, which sent both spinning well and truly off the rails. It's the most soap opera my family has ever been (apart from when my aunt went into labour at her sister's funeral - that was pretty soap opera too!)

Poor Margaret and Michael! I hope Michael's dad (the one who was in the army and refused Margaret) felt like a total shit when M&M discovered the truth.

[Kohola3]

I wanted Baxter to catch the bouquet.

[CleoCaesar]

This TV show might not have been high art, but that doesn't make Fellowes a hack.  He's a really fine writer.

 

This show was very enjoyable and had high production value, but it was ridiculously poorly written. The stuff Fellowes chose to focus on (Sprat and Denker - I barely know who they are, seeing as their scenes were that boring - the hospital drama, stuff like Mr. Mason's farm, etc.) was baffling. His characters were all over the place. He used the exact same plots over and over again (get Sybbie, George, and Marigold together in one room - all of them have had a parent die). Some of it was just bafflingly dumb (everyone being cool with the black singer pal-ing around with the aristocracy). The dialogues were just painful.

 

This is of course just a difference of opinion. But I think Downtown was a hackish soap opera. Just a fun, pretty one.

[springbarb]

As delighted as I am that Edith finally got her happy ending - a sweet husband, her daughter, a massive fortune, and a title that has her outranking her own family - I'm puzzled. So much of the series had her moving towards being an independent, modern career woman. Awesome flat in London, head of a magazine. And then in ONE EPISODE she becomes filthy rich and gets her own massive castle and there goes the magazine, I guess? She might still be the owner but I doubt she'll be super involved with it. Odd.

Edith never seemed really involved with the magazine to begin with, other than the one episode where she managed to put it together. I would've loved it if she had moved to London and been involved with the day-to-day operations, but she was always hands off about it. Periodic phone calls and visits, but that's about it.

[sark1624]

Marigold is to be fine there, Bertie seems to be fond of her and also his mother, for the words of Anna (who knows Edith and Mary) we can assume that someday (adolescence maybe) is going to explain her about her origins, her bio father, etc. Also Marigold is going to have 20´s in the war period, in that time all society was more worried about the war than social gossips, and also Britain is going to be far more liberal. Even with her origins, she had a mother with her own company, a father who is powerful marquess, so Marigold is going to be well connected with powerful people. 

Marigold is to be fine there, Bertie seems to be fond of her and also his mother, for the words of Anna (who knows Edith and Mary) we can assume that someday (adolescence maybe) is going to explain her about her origins, her bio father, etc. Also Marigold is going to have 20´s in the war period, in that time all society was more worried about the war than social gossips, and also Britain is going to be far more liberal. Even with her origins, she had a mother with her own company, a father who is powerful marquess, so Marigold is going to be well connected with powerful people. 

[Crs97]

God and the staging on his "Surprise! You're totally gonna live! You only have the 'take some iron pills and eat a lot of fiber!" type of anemia, not the 'get your affairs in order!' sort....which I'm telling you in a church pew, at a family wedding, so that you'll be in the right place to give thanks, after stating that I'll be moving in a moment so that I won't be the ass-awkward third 'I asked her to marry me too, you know' wheel in this scene....." was killing me.

All kinds of brilliant!!

I figured at Bertie's level the wedding would be at his site. Like Prince William didn't get married at Kate's hometown church.

[scenicbyway]

I'm so confused, did Henry have an means other than race car driving, which he gave up because of the crash vs. Mary not wanting him to drive?

 

It seemed as though everyone was leaving Downton with the exception of the Bates and Barrow.  I realize Thomas was lonely at the other house but it seemed he'd be just as lonely at Downton, it's not like he and the Bates would suddenly get along.

 

I also can't believe that Anna would be able to keep working, they'd really allow the baby in the nursery?

[MrsR]

 

Okay, the show ended just after midnight on January 1, 1926.  Can you describe how Fellowes could have gracefully worked into the last episode this law that had been in effect for a matter of minutes when the curtain came down on this story?

Well...

 

The law was passed, previously, by Parliament earlier in the year 1925. It didn't go into effect until January 1st 1926 which allowed families who did have issues with entail and the other aspects of the law, (it actually covered more issues then mere entail) the time to deal with these issue i.e.. create trusts rewrite wills, raise tax money etc. 

 

It wasn't a case of Parliament sitting on December 31st and just happening to vote on it at midnight.

 

So...

 

Fellowes had many opportunities during the last few episodes to work it in. Gracefully.

 

Now...

 

Who would have benefited from changes?  Little Sybie for one. Marigold.  Mary. Edith. Mary's unborn child. And Merton could have disinherited his rat bastard sons. Yeah, the son gets the title but none of the property. HAH!

 

And for the record here there were two entails, The first entail that dates back to the founding of the estate and tied the estate to the male heir and the title. The second entail tied Cora's money to the estate, because that was the reason she and her dowry were brought into the marriage, to ensure the survival of the estate.

Edited March 7, 2016 by MrsR

[mightycrone]

Look, as long as we're having a viral case of happy ending-itis, can we rewind and have someone introduce Dr. Clarkson to Rosamond?  

 

Choppy wrap-ups be damned, I'll still miss this beautiful mess.  

[mojito]

 

Look, as long as we're having a viral case of happy ending-itis, can we rewind and have someone introduce Dr. Clarkson to Rosamond?

And Spratt to Thomas?

[LittleIggy]

I totally forgot Patricia Hodge was in Miranda, but that's because in my mind she will always be Mary Fisher from The Live and Loves of a She-Devil (TV, not movie).

For me she will always be Phylida (sp?), the sole female barrister in the chambers, in "Rumpole of the Bailey."