S03.E02: A Tale of Two Stanbury's

[OnceSane]

Quote

Caroline and Sophie battle it out over family loyalties; Julie seeks to makes big changes at the family estate, but she doubts herself as an American; Marissa welcomes her new baby; Caroline Fleming makes the ultimate red carpet slip-up.

[Frost]

Here's my question, why does Caroline S have any friends?  She was amusing and snarky during the first season, but she's gone completely overboard and is now just pure bully.  Blurting out Sophie's divorce with her children nearby is 1,000 times worse than Sophie passing on a nasty comment Caroline made.  Caroline S really is an ass.

Juliet's dress at the Elle party was nice but her hair still looks limp and badly colored.  It's such a flat, muddy brown. 

[Pickles]

Caroline Fleming is really so full of herself. Very dramatic. Why was she sharing a bed with Juliet?? She has buckets of money. Why didn't they have separate rooms or at least separate beds? Juliet is looking so washed out this season and her clothes are awful. In the preview, she looks like she is wearing a little house on the prairie dress.

I agree, Caroline S is a bully. Sophie has gorgeous hair, but her face looks drawn. 

Julie looks much better this season. Mapperton would be overwhelming. 

[HunterHunted]

I get that there's a legacy to live up to, but you would think after years of marriage that Julie wouldn't be so close to tears as soon as someone starts vocalizing Mapperton. Also that plywood shack isn't a gift shop.

Stanbury is such an asshole. I can't believe that Caroline shares DNA with her sister. We barely saw her sister and I'm positive that she's normal and down to earth.

I keep thinking that CarFlem invited Juliet along because Juliet is such a kiss ass to people of higher status and Juliet is a disaster  who is likely to cause an incident that will distract from a CarFlem fuck up.

[crgirl412]

Stanbury seems like she is such an unhappy woman.  I wonder what her deal really is since something just isn't right in her head.  Frost is right in that she is now in bully territory now and on WWHL she said that she is on an island by herself but that she kind of likes it.  I wonder how the British expats in Dubai are liking her!! 

I love that Adela and her SIL are going to stand up to her.  Go girls!!  

I really like Fleming.  I think she's very real and far more open about her life and feelings in general than any of the other LoL and HW.

Not a huge fan of Julie's and Mapperton and the crying. 

Juliette is too old to pull off what ever look she's going for.  Get yourself together woman!  You have money so you are without excuse!!  

Poor Marissa!  I feel badly for she & Matt and Sadie but overall I think she's boring too. 

[TexasGal]

Why were Tori and Dean attending an Elle event in Flemingland?  Weird.  Also weird - Tori's puffy face.  Weird cubed - Caroline F's sheet obsession.

[princelina]

Get ready for an unpopular opinion - I am totally Team Stanbury on this one.  I can't stand Julie either, and Sophie totally started everything by telling Julie what CS said, which should have been kept to herself, then calling CS to whine and moan about Julie before her lunch party.  On the plus side for Sophie, she does look much better this year!  Juliet is even more stringy-haired and horribly dressed this season, although she gave me a laugh at the expression on her face when Caroline Fleming was moaning about life's complications in their hotel room.  That they were sharing.  Including the bed.  WTF?  I do like Marissa and enjoyed seeing her little baby.

[biakbiak]

Caroline F annoys me so fucking much! Reporters: You're here for the weekend how is it going? CarolineF: blab on about how it's so hard because her dad is sick, etc. Reporters seem surprised that he is sick ask basic followup questions and than TH:I wasn't prepared for the questions, our family is private etc. Than simply say when someone asks you about your trip that it's short and you are thrilled to be at the event in question and don't bring up your dad. She has been in the game too long to not know exactly what she is doing. 

I know this isn't true but everytime that Caroline F speaks Danish it sounds like she doesn't know it and is just reading phonetically from a script, she just has such an odd speaking style for a native speaker.

[NutMeg]

Not the best episode. But Marissa's baby is awfully cute :)

[Linny]

I liked learning a bit more about Caroline Stanbury's family. I didn't realize she had so many siblings. It's interesting that her sister seems so normal, while Caroline and Alex live more of the fast paced, party lifestyle. I wonder if we'll get to meet her parents at some point. How long will Caroline be in Dubai? The furnishings she picked out for their new home were so extravagant.

Juliet didn't look terrible in Denmark, but she'll never be as effortlessly put together as Caroline Fleming. Am I really supposed to believe that someone who's been in the public eye as much as Caroline has wouldn't know how to dodge an invasive question? That drama seemed completely manufactured.

Julie has her work cut out for her with that gift shop. Who wants to buy ugly dishes out of a literal shed?

[TheFinalRose]

I'm already tired of hearing Julie say running Mapperton is terrifying. Unless she accidentally burns it to the ground the tea towels aren't going to send it into foreclosure. Maybe trust your instincts instead of needing approval from the old bitties?  And it's not exactly like she's running Chatsworth or Blenheim Palace ... no one has ever heard of Mapperton or will the textbooks (?) write anything about you. Jeez. She is so frenzied in the morning sending her kids off to school that getting on that bus must be a relief for them. 

So did Caroline F. decide that bed making was to be her storyline this year? 

Still do, and always will, love Caroline S. She's great tv in that if she doesn't care she doesn't care and she doesn't stand for silliness and weakness. I don't think it makes her unhappy; in fact, I think because she rolls that way she is happier than most. But because it's different, she has to work to explain it to everyone who doesn't get it. If Sophie doesn't keep Caroline's confidences, and then it blows up, then why does that make Caroline the bad guy? I'd be upset with Sophie too, especially if she was someone I trusted when they were a "friend of" the show, but then betrays that trust when they get elevated to a full cast member. 

Why aren't we seeing Juliet Angus' homelife? Did she downsize again and doesn't want us to know?

[PradaKitty]

I love Caroline S. I think she's amusing and that we could be great friends since I am like her in many ways.  Juliet - ugh. For someone who is supposedly "passionate" about fashion, and who has/had a fashion blog, all I can say is her taste is all in her mouth.  (My mother's line, by the way).  I have never seen so many unattractive outfits on one person - is she going for the "I'm an American tourist and running out of clean clothes" look?

[izabella]

I laughed and laughed and laughed when Caroline S. went on about how she doesn't like rules and expectations on how to live her life.  Dubai is FULL of rules about how women should live their lives and what they can and cannot wear and do, and rules about not speaking badly of the royal family, and rules about swearing in public, and rules about where you can and cannot go...

[sugarbaker design]

Wouldn't it have been awesome if Caroline had talked about rules and regulations while putting on her headscarf?

[retired watcher]

These ladies are working so hard for a storyline. Caroline talking about her father's illness? Julie complaining about everyone thinking she lives in the lap of luxury? Even her husband called her on it. Really?

[TheFinalRose]

19 minutes ago, retired watcher said:

These ladies are working so hard for a storyline. Caroline talking about her father's illness? Julie complaining about everyone thinking she lives in the lap of luxury? Even her husband called her on it. Really?

1

Oh, I beg to disagree. These ladies actually are doing real things in their lives on the show that are interesting to me, like having a rough pregnancy, taking on a family estate, moving out of the country, becoming divorced, as opposed to  staged dune buggy rides and staged fashion shows and staged bodybuilding contests. Instead of faking cancer Caroline is actually going through it real time.  This show still feels "fresher" than its American counterparts, plus the setting always is half of the fun of the show, IMO.

[pasdetrois]

Did I hear Caroline F. tell Juliet, after endlessly moaning about her father's illness and insisting that she race to Denmark, that she would not actually be visiting her father "because he was too sick?"

The only time I have ever seen the other Caroline lift herself out of her jaded torpor is when she was looking at the plans for her luxurious Dubai residence. She was like a kid in a candy store over all that opulence.

The old biddies in the gift shop are gonna give Julie a run for her money.

[Writing Wrongs]

I laugh every time Julie says something about people thinking this or that about her. That would require people having an interest in you, honey.

What happened to Annabelle?

[politichick]

5 hours ago, PradaKitty said:

I love Caroline S. I think she's amusing and that we could be great friends since I am like her in many ways.  Juliet - ugh. For someone who is supposedly "passionate" about fashion, and who has/had a fashion blog, all I can say is her taste is all in her mouth.  (My mother's line, by the way).  I have never seen so many unattractive outfits on one person - is she going for the "I'm an American tourist and running out of clean clothes" look?

I am totally Team Stansbury, too. And we know from last year, so Sophie should, too, that as Caroline put it that Julie is the village foghorn and cannot keep a confidence to save her life or Mapperton, the latter of which I'm so tired of hearing her whinge about. Not a fan of Sophie, either. Or Juliet. Do you remember how big a deal she made of Thanksgiving and her birthday and family last year and then after all the fuss, were her children and husband even at the dinner at Caroline's? Her husband was more likely in whatever country he works in during the week and the children in bed because it was a school night. What a wanker. I'm on the fence about Marrissa, but hope her new baby will be healthy and strong. Like Fleming and enjoy a lot of her wardrobe, too.

[HunterHunted]

I love the irony of ironies that Caroline Stanbury's failed business', Gift Library, sole premise was that it was an online shopping site where you could buy the most stylish and cool items because it was a collection curated by stylish Caroline Stanbury and Adela saying that Caroline had terrible style and copied everyone.

If only Adela had run One Kings Lane (though that site had its own problems), Gift Library might have lasted longer.

Didn't Juliet's husband, Gregor, get some job in another country last season? Maybe the kids are there with him and Juliet is LuAnning (crashing with one of the women) or renting a flat during filming.

[LilaFowler]

Juliet was such a huge part of the show for the first two seasons and she's basically a Friend of this year.  Not that I'm complaining.

Loved seeing Marissa's baby, who really does look like Matt.  They are a sweet family, I like them.

If I did a shot every time Julie said the word "Mapperton," I would need 911.  My god, can we not have a single episode of this show without her going into hysterics and tears over this estate?  Honey, no one thinks that you live in a fairy tale life, or in the lap of luxury.  Caroline Stanbury swanning around London in her chauffeured car and picking out furnishings for her Dubai estate? Luxury.  Frantically biking around London selling homemade balls? Not posh.

Edited December 7, 2016 by LilaFowler

[Texasmom1970]

the most annoying thing in this episode to me was not the whining, spoiled women it was the music. It was like every two minutes the had a quick montage with hideous pop music.

[AuntDahlia]

Julie needs to learn that the more you complain, the less people sympathize.  I liked her previously, but I can't take the endless whimpering.  Her breathless explanation of her busy morning - that did not seem challenging except for the part that is every mom's nightmare of getting kids on the bus to school.  We all deal with it girl, get over it.  

[tenativelyyours]

The weird thing for me is that Mapperton is still a thing on this show.  Plotwise that is.  From what I know, Julie's brother-in-law is using a professional management service.  Mapperton is all well and good despite the handwringing.

Julie has been spending the last year and a half trying to brand herself outside of Mapperton with the show as a launching point.  And seems to actually be doing okay.  I'm not sure why we are not getting that solely as her storyline this season. Especially since her husband is actually been pushed into a rocking chair in front of the gas fire with a throw rug over his lap and told to sit quietly (with good reason -- the damage he did with drugs seems to have been the nail in a coffin of a life or really bad choices and self-absorbed behavior).  I think the marriage is the true burden and that is not going to play in camera.  And I suspect that a lot of tears are the by  product of the private life that the whole Mapperton angst is still expected to distract from while creating drama.

If Stansbury actually was the woman she claims to be, I could get on board with her snark and cutting approach to things.   When she undercut Caprice's bullshit the first season, I had hopes even with warning lights here and there even back then..  But this is a woman that over and over again is desperate and shows it hard and then tries to act like she is above it all.  She juggles that horribly.  She cares so much about how others see her it is not funny.  She has moments when she cuts through bullshit like laughing at Phlegm's gushing about her cock toy.  But mostly she is putting others down to raise herself up and in terms of wit, humor and interest she has no upper body strength.

Phlegm is annoying.  She is will do anything to be in the media, and her desperation makes her do, well desperate things. Even when they are little.  And then tries to make herself a victim or blame someone else (her families issues with her fuckbuddy she called the tabloids about had nothing to do with Marissa but the fact that she thought a young curved to the left dick indicated a deep soul and the perfect tabloid headline) or act like she is just so under siege by a constantly demanding public that is desperate to know her every move.

Juliet.  I wonder if she took a pay cut to stay on the show?  She has definitely been demoted and has an even more desperate air of being up for anything as long as it keeps her on the show and in the good graces of the ones she deems the power set of the show.  I think the finances of her and the hubby have taken a big dive and she doesn't have the means to keep up in terms of providing anything interesting as a main cast member, other than sycophant and bag carrier to the likes of Phlegm. 

Edited December 7, 2016 by tenativelyyours

[AuntDahlia]

I love how Caroline speaks of her sister - "she cooks, she's outdoorsy"  Such people mystify me as well!

[HunterHunted]

1 hour ago, LilaFowler said:

If I did a shot every time Julie said the word "Mapperton," I would need 911.  My god, can we not have a single episode of this show without her going into hysterics and tears over this estate?  Honey, no one thinks that you live in a fairy tale life, or in the lap of luxury.  Caroline Stanbury swanning around London in her chauffeured car and picking out furnishings for her Dubai estate? Luxury.  Frantically biking around London selling homemade balls? Not posh.

Even Luke thought it was completely ridiculous when Julie was claiming that the ladies think she lives in the lap of luxury. It was so silly that it made me wonder if Julie has ever seen the show because I can most assuredly say that none of the women think Julie is living some posh pampered life. Julie:

• Bikes everywhere
• Borrows dresses from Annabelle
• Teaches yoga and makes organic protein balls for money

Compare and contrast with the others. Marissa helps run their restaurants and lounges. Caprice is a model. Noelle is a tv personality and fashion blogger. Annabelle is a children's book author, muse, and model. CarFlem is a tv host and model. Juliet is a " stylist " and fashion blogger. Sophie runs an interior design business. Caroline Stanbury used to run an online shopping website that she drove into the ground, but now she's a professional rich lady. Caroline Stanbury:

• Is driven everywhere
• Gets IVs to help with hangovers
• Brings her makeup artist where ever she goes
• Had a Swarovski crystal telephone in her office

None of these women are envious or clueless about Julie's life.

44 minutes ago, AuntDahlia said:

Julie needs to learn that the more you complain, the less people sympathize.  I liked her previously, but I can't take the endless whimpering.  Her breathless explanation of her busy morning - that did not seem challenging except for the part that is every mom's nightmare of getting kids on the bus to school.  We all deal with it girl, get over it.  

I kept laughing at Julie describing her busy morning. If you highlight every minute step, then everything sounds like work. The woman would make eating sound like work. This morning, I:

• Woke up
• Turned off my alarm
• Got out of bed
• Went to the bathroom
• Flushed the toilet
• Washed my hands
• Dried my hands
• Took out my toothbrush 
• Put tooth paste on my toothbrush
• Brushed my teeth
• Rinsed my toothbrush

She actually included waiting for her train as one of the active steps in her busy morning.

If Julie and Luke want to keep their kids from getting into anything the least bit risky or dangerous, have Julie describe it to them. I'm sure she'll have 500 intermediate steps between picking up the drugs/booze and finally feeling high/drunk. Lord knows how she would describe sex. It would probably sound like 5 hours of arduous movement before you got to an orgasm. Julie Eeyores Everything!

Edited December 8, 2016 by HunterHunted

[izabella]

32 minutes ago, HunterHunted said:

Even Luke thought it was completely ridiculous when Julie was claiming that the ladies think she lives in the lap of luxury. It was so silly that it made me wonder if Julie has ever seen the show because I can most assuredly say that none of the women think Julie is living some posh pampered life.

I wonder if Julie means "people back home in the Midwest" and "family I left behind in the Midwest" and that's why she's fretting and so frantic about it.  I have no doubt that people back home in the Midwest think she lives in the lap of luxury, no doubt.

[NutMeg]

I wish there was less focus on Julie, she's exhausting and I liked her much more when we saw her in small doses. Plus she keeps repeating the same things over and over and over.

2 hours ago, Texasmom1970 said:

the most annoying thing in this episode to me was not the whining, spoiled women it was the music. It was like every two minutes the had a quick montage with hideous pop music.

I liked the music and was thinking that it would work for me at the gym.

1 hour ago, HunterHunted said:

Julie Eeyores Everything!

Brilliantly said!

[kassa]

I enjoy CarFlem because she's deliciously transparent but thinks she's an excellent actor, thus giving us the amazing humblebrags of her therapy sessions (last season) and now a scene in which we watch her lay out the bait for the reporters with all the subtlety of a jackhammer ("oh, my family is going through such a haaaaaard time right now") followed by performing a scene with Juliet in which she explains how completely off guard she was caught by the intrusive reporters.  Kudos to the editors for including Juliet's seasick looking reaction shots - she knew the score.

[bichonblitz]

21 hours ago, TexasGal said:

Why were Tori and Dean attending an Elle event in Flemingland?

Really, WHY? CarFlem has some explaining to do! I want to know how those two bottom feeders wound up there. 

Juliet the fashion blogger. Is she barely allowed to talk this season? Her hair is looking just a ratty as Julie's. Does she ever brush it? 

[Writing Wrongs]

I thought it was weird how Julie is still upset and focused on Caroline saying she was "dangerous". She acts like Caroline meant she was gonna go out and murder someone. It was just a bad choice of word to describe what she meant. It was like the yoga thing last season.

[OnceSane]

20 minutes ago, Writing Wrongs said:

I thought it was weird how Julie is still upset and focused on Caroline saying she was "dangerous". She acts like Caroline meant she was gonna go out and murder someone. It was just a bad choice of word to describe what she meant. It was like the yoga thing last season.

Jules needs more story than being the harried, stressed & overworked woman behind Mapperton…and Caro S. provided that easily by using the word "dangerous".  Now Julie can lament how she doesn't understand why Caroline thinks she's a threat (Julie: "Threat to what?  Her safety? Her social position?  Is she jealous?"--this is coming, I'd bet).  Meanwhile, Caroline will repeat ad nauseam that Julie's loose lips are the problem & her definition of "dangerous" in this situation, but Jules will conveniently just "not get it".  I expect this schism will last most of the season as each find ways to misunderstand and misspeak.

Fleming really thinks the public doesn't know that royalty are trained from an early age on how to speak to the press.  Or maybe she figures her "quirkiness" will excuse her little oopsies when she damn well knew better.

[tenativelyyours]

Phlegm comes from a Danish baronial family. I doubt they have any such training.  Its not like she is part of some royal familial institution after all, like the Danish royal family.  And Denmark is much less rigid socially and has been long before Britain for instance when it comes to class strata.  Danish nobility never really had the cachet like some of the big German families, let alone a Danish Baron's family.  There might be the sort of upper class ideas of privacy and keeping family matters in family, but that is typical of upper classes pretty much everywhere.  Stuff that might come from boarding school. Its also a virtue instilled in all levels of society since it relies on common sense.  Something that doesn't actually run in families, let alone those with titles no matter how minor.   I mean I can see someone who actually is in the lens of the press from birth.  Like the children of any of the reigning monarchs in Europe and to a lesser degree the cadet lines.  Some of the dethroned lines too like the pretender to Hanover that married Caroline of Monaco for instance.  Or some of the bigger families that still have real money like the Thurn und Taxis did or the richer line of the Furstenburgs.  But a 'lil old Baron and his ilk in Denmark no matter how nice and old the family manse is?  Naw.  Being private and reserved is just not worth it.  You'd have to work awfully hard to get to the level of such constant public scrutiny.  Awfully hard.  And don't get me wrong.  Phlegm has worked her ass off to get that level of public scrutiny.  But other than her messy marriage, it just hasn't happened.  Nor will it unless she is caught with either a Prime minister or a real royal.  Until then she is simply struggling to be famous for being famous and hoping the trust her ex-husband forced her settlement into makes her a lot more money to spend when her boys hit their majority.  Otherwise she is left with this to try and juggle and hide the fact that every little bit of her fame came through hard hard work.  Of her own.  Not to the title that she was born to.  Except those that can name every single of Denmark's current baronial title holders.  I think there are more than forty if not up to over fifty still extant.  But by birth?  She's a slight curiosity even among those that enjoy talking about titles and aristocracy.  When it comes to titleholders, Denmark isn't exactly a mover and shaker among the bluebloods of Europe.  Let alone its lower baronial set.

[biakbiak]

Exactly @tenativelyyours, Caroline F knew exactly what she was doing with the reporters not because she was trained from birth to handle the media but because she has actively courted it for decades.

[wovenloaf]

10 hours ago, OnceSane said:

Jules needs more story than being the harried, stressed & overworked woman behind Mapperton…and Caro S. provided that easily by using the word "dangerous".  Now Julie can lament how she doesn't understand why Caroline thinks she's a threat (Julie: "Threat to what?  Her safety? Her social position?  Is she jealous?"--this is coming, I'd bet).  Meanwhile, Caroline will repeat ad nauseam that Julie's loose lips are the problem & her definition of "dangerous" in this situation, but Jules will conveniently just "not get it".  I expect this schism will last most of the season as each find ways to misunderstand and misspeak.

We already got the "is she jealous" bit when Jules said something about how Caroline is just mad because Jules has a title but Caroline doesn't... Yeah Jules, keep telling yourself that is the reason Caroline finds you unbearably annoying. 

I really did not understand the gift shop shed segment.  Does she think she's going to save Mapperton by ordering different styles of coffee cups?  That somehow if she picks the right design, people will be flocking to the shed to scoop them up?

Edited December 8, 2016 by wovenloaf

[eurekagirl mOo]

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.....AlI I can think of...Mappleton, Mappleton, Mappleton. SHUT UP!

[HunterHunted]

4 hours ago, wovenloaf said:

We already got the "is she jealous" bit when Jules said something about how Caroline is just mad because Jules has a title but Caroline doesn't... Yeah Jules, keep telling yourself that is the reason Caroline finds you unbearably annoying. 

I really did not understand the gift shop shed segment.  Does she think she's going to save Mapperton by ordering different styles of coffee cups?  That somehow if she picks the right design, people will be flocking to the shed to scoop them up?

While I think that Caroline would like the attention that a title confers, she clearly wants none of the responsibilities. Stanbury doesn't want to have to go to children's hospitals, garden shows, women's society luncheons, memorial dedications, and everything else. She doesn't want to be tsked at for getting black out drunk and dancing in a nightclub until 4 am or wearing a dress that's too short, tight, shiny, or shows too much cleavage. Caroline wants all of the attention and notoriety of a title, but she's also aware that you basically get to that same place by being a Kardashian too.

[notnowimbusy]

I have watched enough PBS series on English estates to know they have to be very creative to keep them up.   I don't recall any of the relying on a small gift shop shed to make ends meet!  Many of them have opened guest cottages, farm to table shops, and basically run it as a business that happens to be surrounded by an estate.   I am dumbfounded by Jules stupid anxiety and her being so naive.  WTF is her husband doing to make this a serious enterprise?   Wait, he's probably doing all the right things, but is letting Jules have the shed to keep her occupied so she can't do any real damage.  Wonder if she's selling her JUB balls in the shed?

[tenativelyyours]

5 hours ago, HunterHunted said:

While I think that Caroline would like the attention that a title confers, she clearly wants none of the responsibilities. Stanbury doesn't want to have to go to children's hospitals, garden shows, women's society luncheons, memorial dedications, and everything else. She doesn't want to be tsked at for getting black out drunk and dancing in a nightclub until 4 am or wearing a dress that's too short, tight, shiny, or shows too much cleavage. Caroline wants all of the attention and notoriety of a title, but she's also aware that you basically get to that same place by being a Kardashian too.

 

Considering the number of members in British Aristocracy almost none of them are going to children's hospitals, garden shows, memorial dedications as some kind of duty forced by bearing a title.  Quite a few lords, ladies, dukes duchesses and countesses are dancing in nightclubs until 4 am or even longer.  Have you seen some of the royals in the extended family?  One works as a professional model and wears short dresses for pay.  Even Victoria and Eugenia have had some eyebrow raising looks as they got older.   Harry played pool in the nude in Vegas and did get slapped down but he wasn't waving his turtlenecked willy at some pensioner's prized rose at the Berkshire Garden Show.  See if you can find a copy of Tatler and look through the photos section the back.  Plenty of Nobs with titles making huge fools of themselves all in the name of fun.  Titles since WWI have lost much of the duty in the community and even that was never the norm.  The norm was carousing and dying of drink, the pox, gluttony or a combination of the three. when thven in Edwardian Britain, the social mores associated with the times were more due to the rise of a larger stronger and wealthier middle class.  Not the ton.  And when things did get too straight laced they found themselves a farm in Africa in Happy Valley.  Happy indeed.  Among the current title holders you have cokeheads and even a duke that died after retiring from being a binman (i.e. he picked up everyday folks trash) all his working life.  And I think there is more than one on the lame for murder and attempted murder.  Heck look at Julie's own husband.  He partied with an incredibly unsavory set (don't forget he was friends with Annabelle long before he met Julie and Annabelle ran with arms dealers, drug lords, dictators' sons and her own husband at the time, the maddest of Rothschilds who was said to love himself an underage sex slave in Morocco when he was feeling down.  And he seemed to spend years being down).  Did all kinds of drugs and finally fried a part of brain but good.

Stansbury would love a title.  I think she would love simply being part of one of the major noble families like the Howards, Manners or Russells.  She is a huge snob and rather typical of a generationally-removed trade family that was titled at the turn of the previous century.  It is kind of a stereotypical joke that they finally got in the door of the exclusive club only to find it is closing the next day.  This is a woman that almost gave herself an orgasm in her talking head the first season saying how she considered several members of the royal family her close friends (she dated Prince Andrew for a hot second among a raft of upper class women after his split with Sarah to prove he was still normal and whatever rumors of him traipsing naked on the private island with underage prostitutes was nothing but hearsay.  Hearsay!  What Bill Clinton and Drumpf-ist-neu-Hitler were also there?  Oh my. 

But Stansbury has tried to use the honorific of Lady here in the US apparently and abroad and elsewhere despite being too distant Stansbury title,  to hold such.  Heck considering all her talk on camera about the right crowd and set etc. and how proper it is, the elephant in the room is her husband.  For all her bragging about being part of an exclusive tiny set, she married well outside it and for the snobs in that set put her own children outside it.  Racism is still rather strong in some of those circles.  There is a reason that a nation that only a couple of generations ago encompassed peoples of pretty much every shade can count the non-whites in their crowd with maybe more than one hand at most.  At most.  And it wasn't that long ago when Jemima Goldsmith married Imran Khan and it was considered an incredibly "exotic" match. 

[TheFinalRose]

Quote

 

The weird thing for me is that Mapperton is still a thing on this show.  Plotwise that is.  From what I know, Julie's brother-in-law is using a professional management service.  Mapperton is all well and good despite the handwringing.

 

 

 

So, tentativelyyours, are you saying that there is another Mapperton heir besides Julie's husband that is actually doing the real work of "saving Mapperton"? Did I blink and miss his appearance on the show, or has he effectively been hidden for fear of ruining Julie's storyline?

Quote

Especially since her husband is actually been pushed into a rocking chair in front of the gas fire with a throw rug over his lap and told to sit quietly (with good reason -- the damage he did with drugs seems to have been the nail in a coffin of a life or really bad choices and self-absorbed behavior).  I think the marriage is the true burden and that is not going to play in camera.  And I suspect that a lot of tears are the by  product of the private life that the whole Mapperton angst is still expected to distract from while creating drama.

 

This seems closer to the truth than anything else. 

[Maire]

Sophie! My pet peeve is people walking in off the street and holding brand new babies ( preemie even) with out washing their hands.

[NutMeg]

10 hours ago, Maire said:

Sophie! My pet peeve is people walking in off the street and holding brand new babies ( preemie even) with out washing their hands.

ha, this! When I first became a mom, I gave myself eczema with how often I scrubbed my hands before I picked my baby :) 

ETA: "I gave myself eczema", I didn't gave "smell eczema" to anyone - I hope...

Edited December 9, 2016 by NutMeg

[kassa]

I don't think Caroline is jealous of the fact that Julie has a title.  I DO think she's peeved that somebody she doesn't respect just waltzed onto the scene and is going to outrank her, however technically.  Caroline grew up in the crowd - no doubt she could have married a title for herself if she truly wanted to go after it, but she didn't.  Still, Julie will be a Countess, and Caroline won't.  And that's an irritation, because it's not a connection she will enjoy using in years to come.  If one of her partying friends were a Countess, she'd be throwing that title around just to demonstrate how meaningless it is to her -- "Sure, she's a Countess, but to ME, she's just plain Lizzie!" -- but making sure, all the same, that you knew her friend was a Countess. 

[Bugfrey Von]

 My God, Caroline Fleming loves the sound of her own voice. She loves the way her hair looks in the sun, she loves the twinkle in her eye.  She probably spends hours in front of the mirror practicing expressions and blowing kisses at herself. She would drink her own bathwater if she could. Seriously, one of the most obnoxious and self promoting douche bags in the history of reality TV. I don't think that she has any idea how she comes off, and it's mind-boggling. Although, I will say, she can party and look amazing. Juliet should take note because she look like she been run over by a semi at the end of the night while Caroline looked fresh as a daisy.  And Juliet, that fucking remora.  She would hang out with a turd if she thought it would up her status. Pathetic. 

[Neurochick]

On December 7, 2016 at 6:00 PM, LilaFowler said:

If I did a shot every time Julie said the word "Mapperton," I would need 911.  My god, can we not have a single episode of this show without her going into hysterics and tears over this estate?  Honey, no one thinks that you live in a fairy tale life, or in the lap of luxury.  Caroline Stanbury swanning around London in her chauffeured car and picking out furnishings for her Dubai estate? Luxury.  Frantically biking around London selling homemade balls? Not posh.

To me, Julie is a person who just loves to create problems.  Yes, I get it, she's busy, but she seems the type who could make the simplest task, quite exhausting.  

On December 7, 2016 at 6:13 PM, Texasmom1970 said:

the most annoying thing in this episode to me was not the whining, spoiled women it was the music. It was like every two minutes the had a quick montage with hideous pop music.

I can't stand most of that silly pop music they insist on playing.  It sounds very fake like, very Bravo-esque.

[RedheadZombie]

Marissa's doomsday scenario going into her C-section makes much more sense now that she's named her condition - Placenta Accreta.  I know she was wearing makeup, but she looked gorgeous. 

If Julie finds her morning rush too hectic, why can't her oldest supervise the short walk to the school bus?  He's 15!  I only started watching midpoint last season, so I'm not that familiar with everyone's back story.   While seeing inside Mapperton fascinates me, Julie's manic worrying doesn't.  If this mass, ancient estate can't be kept up without tacky souvenirs, they're in trouble.  I would never, ever want the responsibility of maintaining these estates.  Most of them have huge portions closed up to reduce upkeep.   And it's very expensive to keep these old estates even in a modest condition. 

And while I'm not fond of Caroline S., I don't think she's jealous of Julie's title.  It's well known that the English aristos have all the benefits of nobility, but none of the responsibilities.  Why do you think Harry's taken so long to find a bride?  His crowd are from old, wealthy families.  And they live off their trust funds quite happily, while pitying their titled friends who have to cater to the public, and their inherited responsibilities.  And it's interesting that he chose a kooky American over someone in his crowd - that group seems very tight.  It looks like he didn't marry until he was 35.  Does the grandfather taint the title, and no English aristos wanted to join the line?

It's very petty, but why name their son Nestor, when the other boys have more common names?  At least call him by his middle name.  Maybe Luke struck down the idea of naming him Romeo.  I did a brief google on Luke, and I didn't see a Nestor in his heritage.  I did find out he had a pedophilic grandfather, which was more than I was looking for.  Earl child molester who victimized his own son, and disclaimed his earldom.  But I won't go on, because I'm sure this was hashed out in the early seasons.

And I have to LOL at Julie's rolled eyes at her husband's practicality.  Oh no, that's not American optimism.  Commercializing this grand English estate by selling tacky souvenirs is American optimism?  Is she looking for a Graceland 2.0?  Well, there's no Elvis involved, so it's not going to happen.

I find Sophie so much younger looking this season.  Not necessarily prettier - she looked better with the dark hair, IMO.  So tired of every woman thinking blonder is better.  It just isn't.

[HunterHunted]

On Thursday, December 08, 2016 at 9:32 AM, eurekagirl mOo said:

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.....AlI I can think of...Mapperton, Mapperton, Mapperton. SHUT UP!

In my head, there is a song "Save Mapperton" in the vein of "Sister Suffragette" from Mary Poppins that accompanies Julie everytime she's on screen.

[Lizzing]

Love the editors of this episode!  From the snark thrown on the taciturn gift shop lady to capturing Juliet's look of incredulity and amazement at C. Flem's woe is me speech, it was just perfect.  Oh, and the pictures of the less than fabulous looks C. Stans wore years ago; that was grand.  My favorite flashback picture was of all of the Stansbury kids (when Caroline was little, not her kids) riding four wheelers out on the property.  Who knew C. Stans would have so much in common with Tammy Sue from the trailer parks of SoCal?

Legit question: Marissa said she lost 2.5 gallons of blood, which was twice her body mass.  Now, a human has about 1.5 gallons of blood.  Is the kind of surgery she went through a big blood loss/transfusion surgery that would account for her crazy numbers?  In any event, I like Marissa and her family when they're by themselves.  They're a cute unit.

[howiveaddict]

Lizzing, I figured she meant two and a half pints of blood.  Her husband does seem adoring.

[sugarbaker design]

On 12/10/2016 at 2:30 PM, RedheadZombie said:

It's very petty, but why name their son Nestor, when the other boys have more common names? 

Because common names are common, it's wonderful having a unique name.  Thank goodness Julie didn't go the American route and name him Aiden/Jaden/Kaden/Braden.