S04.E09: The London Season (Christmas Special)

[David T. Cole]

The US season ends with the UK Christmas special. Welcome to 1923.

 

It is summer and debutante Rose is to be presented at Buckingham Palace. The family are at Grantham House, their London home, preparing for the busy social programme. Never one to miss out on such a grand occasion, Martha Levinson sails in from New York with Cora's recently disgraced brother Harold in tow. Both outspoken and larger-than-life, they create quite an impression amongst certain members of London's high society. When the Crawleys are implicated in a scandal that threatens to engulf the monarchy, Robert goes to great lengths to protect the royal family, as well as his own.

[Tara Ariano]

This Particle is the longest thing that's ever happened! (Also it takes place in 1923.)

[Andorra]

I didn't like the Christmas Special much. It was entertaining enough to see a London season, but I hated it, that no storyline got closure. JF cheated this year and left us all hanging in the air.

Mary and her men: I don't care whom she picks. I find Mary entertaining enough, but luckily I'm not invested in her story and never have been. My personal favourite is Tony Gillingham. I think he is sweet and gentle and will bring out the softer side in Mary.

I hated it that Blake is now rich and toff like the others. Now JF made sure his Queen will get money an title no matter whom she choses. I thought that was lame. I would have preferred Mary having to make a sacrifice in marrying Blake. Now I don't see the appeal in the Blake character any more. He was only interesting while I thought he was a mere middleclass man.

I completely despise Sarah Bunting and will give up watching the show entirely if she will be Tom Branson's love interest! What an awful, ill mannered, rude, insulting, prejudiced, judgemental, insensitive shrew! And she shall follow Sybil?? No way. I won't watch any episode of season 5 until I know she is gone for good.

I think there as some foreshadowing for Rose and Tony Gillingham. I would like that. Rose is silly, but a sweet girl and he would be an indulgent and adoring husband. I can see them together.

Edith's storyline was the only storyline that left me curious for season 5.

I loved Madeline Allsop and her little friendship/romance with Harold. What a lovely character she was! I hope she will come back in season 5 and I could see her as a love interest for Tom. She was lovely and gentle like Sybil, but also modern, honest and open. She is toff, but poor and she said she is not afraid to live without money and that she won't play her father's game any more. Ideal love interest for Tom and stepmother for Sybbie!

[Rhondinella]

I completely despise Sarah Bunting

 

Hey! Careful with that kind of talk around here.  (Hee!)

[Andorra]

Oh dear. Is it not allowed to dislike characters here? Because I think I'll have to leave again. I can't pretend I like Sarah Bunting. She's awful and the sooner she is off my screen the better!

[Portia]

No worries, Andorra. There's a real-life Sarah Bunting at PreviouslyTV, that's all!

[Andorra]

Oh, no offense to the real life Sarah Bunting of course! She should file a complaint against Julian Fellows for giving that awful teacher her name!

[Rhondinella]

Yeah, Andorra.  Sorry to freak you out!  I was just referring to the fact that another (much less annoying) Sarah Bunting is one of the founders of this website.  Just having a little fun.  

[annzeepark914]

I think if they had cast a better looking actor to play Cora's brother, then I could see M. Allsop's character being interested in him.  I too was disappointed when it was discovered that Blake inherited a title and estate from his uncle...it just seemed too convenient. Still don't trust Tony Gillingham's motive for going after Mary due to his dire financial situation.

[Badger]

Actually, it was a distant cousin and he hadn't inherited yet.  In a way, he was in the same position as Matthew Crawley was.

[Future Cat Lady]

Actually Charles Blake is Matthew. Middle class values. Instant dislike on Mary's part at first meeting. Heir to a long distant cousin. Julian Fellowes is not that original.

[limecoke]

Just catching up on this series.  Have to admit I'm on Team Blake.  I think it's my undying devotion to all things Julian Ovenden - I even loved him as Andrew Foyle.  But I don't think he'll be Lady Mary's final choice as Tony seems ahead of the pack.

Question.  Uncle Harold?  Was that the guy who played John Adams?  Paul SomethingOrOther.

[Portia]

Yes. He's named Paul Giamatti.

[abbyzenn]

Something I missed.  If Madeline's father is Lord Whatever, why isn't she Lady Madeline?  As much as I can remember she was always introduced as "Madeline Last Name, daughter of Lord Whatever"

[helenamonster]

This was actually brought up in the episode, I think by Harold. The Allsops are of lower nobility, so Madeleine is an "Honorable," but not a Lady. I don't understand much about how British nobility works but that was the explanation given in the episode.

[Tetraneutron]

Actually Charles Blake is Matthew. Middle class values. Instant dislike on Mary's part at first meeting. Heir to a long distant cousin. Julian Fellowes is not that original.

Am I the only one who has trouble telling Mary's three suitors apart? There's the antagonist who's secretly a rich titled guy, another rich guy who fired his valet for Mary, and the third one. They're like Joey, Jeffy, and Jamie on Daria.

 

Also, if she maries one of them, how would that even work? She said, explicitly, that it's her destiny to preserve Downton for baby George. How does she do that when she's Lady Something-Not-Grantham and lives in another estate, produces another man's heirs, and has no real connection to Downton any more? For that reason, I think Fellowes will have to have her marry someone who isn't titled. But then how would he be a catch, how would the audience root for them to be together? (We've seen what a rich self-made man is like on this show with Richard Carlisle).

[ZoloftBlob]

Also, if she maries one of them, how would that even work? She said, explicitly, that it's her destiny to preserve Downton for baby George.

 

Well, really she already has. George is the heir and I am pretty sure the show runners wont kill an adorable tot simply to rehash the lack of a male heir story.

 

And no, from a realistic standpoint, it doesn't work that Mary is being chased by three similar yet subtly different suitors because Mary is not in any way a catch. She's a woman in her thirties with a child who is already an heir to a title and an estate. Only Evelyn Napier seems to have his own estate at this point and he is hardly the front runner. Gillingham lost his estate - it's a girl's school as I recall, and Blake's wealth and status is somewhat weird as well since he may be well moneyed but is unlikely to back Mary's "Downton forever!" views.

 

She has no money or status to offer because all of her money and status came from Matthew (which hee hee came from Cora) and would all pretty much go to George and I don't know many men who would enjoy being married in a household where the wife's child with the dead first husband would be the ultimate ruler.

[helenamonster]

I wouldn't even consider Evelyn Napier one of Mary's suitors anymore. They were into each other once upon a time, but then she brushed by him for Pamuk and he knew it was a lost cause. His only purpose in S4, imo, was to bring Blake onto the scene. They needed a familiar face and a reason for Mary to invite Blake to stay at the house so that they could snark together and have bonding times in the mud.

 

I just can't really be bothered with Mary, Blake, and Gillingham. I already don't like Mary, and I can't work up the energy to get invested in two grown-ass men wasting years on a woman who actually revels in the thought of the two of them duking it out for her love.

 

As for George, I think as long as Mary makes sure that Robert takes a progressive approach with the estate, there's not much else she has to do to ensure his legacy. Once Downton's safe and stable, she can go off to be Lady Whoever of Whatever, and George can go back to Downton when he's grown, or after Robert dies.

[Tetraneutron]

 

Well, really she already has. George is the heir and I am pretty sure the show runners wont kill an adorable tot simply to rehash the lack of a male heir story.

I agree with that, but the future of Downton isn't secure. There's a pretty good chance Robert will mismanage the estate, blow through all the money, and have to sell everything before George comes of age. Wasn't that her arc in season 4, that she had to stop being a useless woman and learn how to run things with Tom? That she's now invested in the hands-on details of the estate?

 

Which I suppose is the other reason, besides the ones already stated, that she can't marry: it would take her away from what she's said is her destiny. It would be interesting if the show focused on that. Why none of the top eligible men would want to marry her, and why she wouldn't want to marry anyone available either. But it doesn't look like that will happen. When the three suitors were fighting for her, none of the practicalities ever came up.

 

Maybe that's her path - marry a striving middle-class guy. Or a rich American.

Edited August 20, 2014 by Obviously

[DeepRunner]

I agree with that, but the future of Downton isn't secure. There's a pretty good chance Robert will mismanage the estate, blow through all the money, and have to sell everything before George comes of age. Wasn't that her arc in season 4, that she had to stop being a useless woman and learn how to run things with Tom? That she's now invested in the hands-on details of the estate?

 

Which I suppose is the other reason, besides the ones already stated, that she can't marry: it would take her away from what she's said is her destiny. It would be interesting if the show focused on that. Why none of the top eligible men would want to marry her, and why she wouldn't want to marry anyone available either. But it doesn't look like that will happen. When the three suitors were fighting for her, none of the practicalities ever came up.

 

Maybe that's her path - marry a striving middle-class guy. Or a rich American.

 

 

Well, as stupid as Robert can be, even the Queen of the Hive acknowledged that her father is a good and decent man, given what he did for the Drewes.  In terms of who she ends up with, I don't want much like Blake, and Gillingham is only marginally better. Evelyn Napier is a good and decent man, although, a "dull dog." Frankly, put her with some dude from the village or London (Jack Ross?) and be done with it. Mary's character is that of the Entitled Snob, and Julian Fellowes is on record liking this creation of his. It would be true ironic justice for her to end up alone, or worse, with someone like Strallen ("dull as paint"), which would also be sticking yet one more pin in the Edith Torture Doll, which TPTB appear to have a real jones for.

[Constantinople]

She has no money or status to offer because all of her money and status came from Matthew (which hee hee came from Cora)...

 

Matthew's money came from the late Reginald Swire, the father of Matthew's dead fiancee, Lavinia.

 

I don't recall if Matthew ever had access to the estate (Cora's) money.  In any case, Lord Grantham pissed that money away investing in Canadian railroads.

[ZoloftBlob]

Matthew was the heir to Robert - granted Robert wasn't dead, but the origanal premise of the show was that all of Robert's potential heirs died and Mary was supposed to marry *Patrick* in order to keep Cora's money with the estate.

 

Yes, Robert pissed it all away and Matthew then ended up miraculously being Reginald Swire's third in line heir... but at the end of the day, *Mary* was never the heir, hence all the early angst on how douchy it was for Matthew to dare inherit.

[ZulaMay]

You guys are making me laugh.  Queen of the Hive and all the snark about Mary's boring suitors.  I mean honestly, Blake might as well just be renamed Matthew.  Tom has been reshaped in part to take Matthew's place and now Blake has.  IDK about Tony.  He's quite different, a born Toff who's nice but not too bright.  I could see his descendants sliding into "Empty Title" territory.  I don't dislike him but Blake is more equipped to deal with changing times.

 

Oh, but there is one way in which Tony resembles Matthew: he fell for Mary, then got engaged to someone else and screwed her over for Mary.  See, I like him but I thought that was rotten.  Him banging on about "we're trapped in the system" as though he weren't a grown-ass man who could make his own decisions about whom to marry.  Just because his family wanted him to marry Mabel for her money doesn't mean he had to do it.  Weak.

 

I think Gregson was a lot more interesting than either of these guys, frankly.  And only marginally less attractive.  Self-made, resourceful, intellectual, modern.  Take away the crazy wife and the propensity to confront proto-Nazis, and he's a total winner.

 

Sorry, that was OT.  But back to the CS:  yeah, the "Blake Reveal" was such a lazy plot device and I think I strained my eye-rolling mechanism.  When it comes to Mary and Men and Money, there is always a deus ex machina.  No doubt in S5 they'll make one of the guys villainous or sterile or  something to make the viewers ship her with the other.  

 

I loved the Harold/Madeline thing.  Paul Giamatti is such a gifted actor.  This was a thinly written one-episode character and by the end of the episode I was more interested in him than in most of the other main characters.  All except Tom and Edith, really.  I loved Madeline too.

Edited August 21, 2014 by ZulaMay

[ZoloftBlob]

Oh, but there is one way in which Tony resembles Matthew: he fell for Mary, then got engaged to someone else and screwed her over for Mary.  See, I like him but I thought that was rotten.

 

Well, I will defend Matthew a little in that Mary pretty royally fucked him over after he fell for her and she decides she needs to know who will inherit before she commits to him. And Matthew at least was willing to not screw Lavinia over by dumping her... heck wasn't he at one point standing on Lavinia's grave declaring how he could never be happy because Lavinia chose to die so he could be free.... Despite Lavinia seeming like  a woman he chose at random so he could check the box on "having moved on"....

 

Anyway, in comparison Tony comes off like a bit of a needy sexual predator. I mean, didn't Mary basically tell him she was still grieving and he dumped his fiance regardless? I mean, I don't feel strongly on Mary's suitors (and agree completely that Tom has been reworked into Matthew's role) but Gillingham, with no estate, no discernable prospects, and lots of creepy boundary issues seems a helluva lot more sociopathic than poor possibly gay Matthew ;)

[helenamonster]

Yeah, Gillingham does come off as a wee bit overzealous regarding Mary. I mean, he was planning on firing his freaking valet only because Mary asked him to, and it was with very little resistance (although I can't remember if he got a chance to actually fire him before the BoJ struck him down; I feel like that's important). Sure, he'd mentioned on a couple occasions that he wasn't too fond of him, but that's such a drastic measure to take when you only have someone's word that he's bad news, and you don't even know what that bad news is. And that someone was Mary, who had never interacted personally with Green at all. Yeah, we the audience knew Green was a filthy piece of shit, but Gillingham didn't. He was all ready to ruin that guy's life just because Mary asked him to. Hella creepy if you ask me. And so unbelievably desperate.

 

He and Blake both lose serious points in my book for wasting years of their adult life fighting over a widowed mother whose main priority for the foreseeable future is her son's inheritance. Not saying that George shouldn't be her priority, but I can't think of many men who would want to be second to that. At least Matthew made a point of moving on after Mary had yanked his chain one too many times (though he did eventually come crawling back).

[Andorra]

Well, Mary did ask to fire him, but not to "ruin his life". He would have given him a reference and that would have not ruined him. He would just have moved to another job (and found other victims).

 

BTW someone said Gillingham "lost his estate". That is not true. He still has his estate, he just leased the big house to girlschool. It makes him actually a good candidate for marrying Mary, because he could move to Downton with her and manage his estate from there.

[helenamonster]

Even with a good reference, there's no guarantee Green would have found another job. Look at Molesley...a trained valet and butler and reduced to a footman when he couldn't find work even six months after Matthew's death. Gillingham had no way of knowing that Green would be able to find another job. He was only firing him because Mary said so, which I think was supposed to be taken as romantic but I see it as rather skeevy, especially coupled with the fact that he left his fiance when Mary was still saying she wasn't ready to move on from Matthew.

 

Again, obviously, Green deserved to starve in the streets, but Gillingham didn't know what he'd done. Unless it's revealed this season that he did know of Green's behavior, and read between the lines of what Mary was asking him. But up until now it just looks, to me, like an extremely drastic measure for a woman who might not even choose him.

 

To get back on topic of the CS, I'm generally predisposed to detest love triangles, and I really hate that Blake/Mary/Gillingham has officially been turned into one. Like, Mary literally said, "Let battle commence." It's just so very middle school. I can't think of one triangle in any work of fiction that I've even remotely enjoyed, and I doubt this one will be any different, especially because it involves Her Majesty.

[DeepRunner]

 

Even with a good reference, there's no guarantee Green would have found another job. Look at Molesley...a trained valet and butler and reduced to a footman when he couldn't find work even six months after Matthew's death. Gillingham had no way of knowing that Green would be able to find another job. He was only firing him because Mary said so, which I think was supposed to be taken as romantic but I see it as rather skeevy, especially coupled with the fact that he left his fiance when Mary was still saying she wasn't ready to move on from Matthew.

Again, obviously, Green deserved to starve in the streets, but Gillingham didn't know what he'd done. Unless it's revealed this season that he did know of Green's behavior, and read between the lines of what Mary was asking him. But up until now it just looks, to me, like an extremely drastic measure for a woman who might not even choose him.

To get back on topic of the CS, I'm generally predisposed to detest love triangles, and I really hate that Blake/Mary/Gillingham has officially been turned into one. Like, Mary literally said, "Let battle commence." It's just so very middle school. I can't think of one triangle in any work of fiction that I've even remotely enjoyed, and I doubt this one will be any different, especially because it involves Her Majesty.

 

 

I agree that it would likely not have been easy for The Green Monster to find a job, although I think the Molesley comparison is not necessarily the best one. Mostly because Molesley has been "Edith without the charm" for most of the series. His misfortunes have been well-chronicled, have often been of his own making, and have made him quite cartoonish. But, as it pertains Green, I think that he would have found a job, although Gillingham looks like a prime candidate as Green's escort to the fabled Bus O' Justice.

 

Re: Love Triangles, they often ARE lazy and are used as plot devices. Indeed, "Evelyn Napier" is French for, "How can we find Mary another man?" OTOH, done right, a triangle can provide interesting possibilities. Having Mary say, "Let battle commence," even if only in response to The Ulster Toff posing it as a question, has all the appeal of her saying, "I AM The Prize." A more apt statement for Mary, Mary would be, "May God have mercy on you, because I never will."

[Llywela]

Also, I think part of the reason Molesley found it hard to find work was because he was reluctant to move away from the area and leave his elderly father behind. He'd probably have had more luck if he'd been willing to look further afield.

[Andorra]

Exactly, Mosely didn't find a job, because he wanted to stay near Downton. There're only so many families in need of a valet in a small country area. In London chances for employment would be much better. Gillingham even said to Mary that he doesn't like Green, but it's difficult to find good servants these days. So Greene probably wouldn't have that many problems to find a new employer.

[ZulaMay]

I agree with helenamonster re:  firing Greene.   We know what he did, but Gillingham had no clue.  Mary said he did "something horrible" and he took her at her word, but that was a vague statement in the context.  We're talking about a system in which a servant could be sacked (without proof) for stealing a letter opener.  To a bred-in-the-bone Toff like Tony, "something horrible" could have meant stealing a piece of prized regimental silver or having a consensual makeout sesh with a kitchen maid.  The Crawleys let their servants get away with murder, but most Toffs were offended if they set one foot out of line.

 

Tony didn't like Greene, but he acknowledged the guy "took good care of him."  Still, one word from Mary and it was done.  It would have been one thing if he hesitated or asked a few more questions before agreeing to fire a loyal and highly competent employee, but he didn't.  He granted her request like a yes-man.  I didn't find it skeevy, but he came across as weak and desperate to score points with her.  That's my problem with Tony.  His handling of the Mabel situation and the Greene situation mark him as a weak-willed man who is perfectly wiling to treat others unfairly to win the prize.

 

Back to the CS and the love triangle? I think this one might be fun to watch in a sit back and get out the popcorn kind of way.  It's like observing some sort of fascinating mating dance.  I won't be analyzing who is truly right for her, because frankly I don't give a damn.  There are so many characters on this show more deserving of happiness who have been screwed (Sybil, Tom, Isobel, Edith, Anna, Lavinia.....) that I can't be arsed to care about Queen Bee.  And Mary is not a happy person by nature anyway: she's a glass-half-empty cynic. 

 

But I can enjoy watching them duke it out for her.  How far will they go and how low will they sink to win?  Who will sacrifice the most, including his dignity?  Who will Mary drop and then regret dropping?  Will she go for the money or the title?  The sex or the status and position?  What will Fellowes to do to make one of them hateful so her choice is easy?  What deus ex machina will Fellowes find this time to dispose of any potential rivals and make sure she gets the whole package in the end?  

 

​I won't angst over it, God knows.  But there will be plenty of fodder for snark and speculation.  And I like the challenge of predicting what might happen next.   Maybe he'll surprise us, who knows.  But given we've already seen a broken engagement with Tony and the Blake Reveal (he's a Toff after all!) I don't think so.

Edited August 22, 2014 by ZulaMay