That Donk is a wet blanket, isn’t he? I guess Lord Grantham means Lord Grump. Let’s take a quick look at what’s got Donk’s goat:
- Rose wants a wireless. Donk is opposed: “…sitting around a box…It’s a fad. It won’t last.” (I like to think Julian Fellowes is throwing some shade on his viewers.)
- The Memorial Committee including Carson wants the memorial to be place on the cricket pitch. Donk is all like put it in the village, what about cricket? Yeah, good question. What is it about cricket? I don’t get it.
- Donk thinks Sarah Bunting is going to take Tom away from them and in turn, take Sybbie away. Donk calls Bunting a “tinpot Rosa Luxemburg”. To which Cora graciously explains to Rose and us that Luxemburg was a German communist that was shot and thrown in a canal. “We wouldn’t wish that on Miss Bunting,” she says. Donk shrugs. That some cold shit, Donk.
- And what is really making Donk grouchy? Richard Grant flirting with Isis.
Would you call paying attention to a dog, flirting? If so, then I am a damn floozy. But really Donk will lose his mind when he realizes that Simon Bricker (Grant) was really making eyes at Cora over some painting.
Who is Bricker and why are his eyes in Isis’s Cora’s direction? Well, he’s at Downton Abbey as an excuse for Charles Blake to visit. Blake tells Mary, “I guess I came in second, huh?” (paraphrase). Later he tells her “please be absolutely sure before you decide.” “I’m not an overheated housemaid fawning over a picture of Douglas Fairbanks,” Mary counters. Blake kind of gives her a “sure OK” (paraphrase).
Later, Mary gets the “are you sure?” from Anna. Mary says it’s not like it used to be. She’s got to be damn sure that Lord Gillingham is the one. This convo takes place while Mary is preparing for a “sketching trip” with a friend of hers. When actually she is going to get her sketch on, if you know what I mean. “Sketching” as in meeting Gilly in Liverpool with a pair of connecting rooms. How does one prepare to go on a sketchy-sketch? Well, if you are Mary, you ignore the fact that Anna won a Golden Globe Sunday Night and send her to the pharmacy for some uh…art supplies. She gives Anna a book with the proper…art eraser? to buy for her weekend away. At the store, the Lady Shop Person gives Anna a hard time about her purchase. Anna tells her she’s married and needs the birth control for health issues. Dear Lady Shop Person, enjoy Women’s Lib!
Barrow alerts Carson that there is a policeman to see him. “Thank you, Thomas. Your scaremongering was unsuccessful” (My personal quote of the week). The officer informs Hughes and him that there was a witness to Mr. Green’s accident. Uh oh. Anna better put a bowler hat on that Golden Globe since Bates may be headed back to the clink.
Speaking of Anna, she has a lovely scene with Barrow, saying she’s sorry Jimmy had to go. Barrow admits to wanting to fit in sometimes. Aw. Yeah, Jimmy did indeed leave. He and Thomas say their goodbyes. “I’m sad to see the back of you,” says Jimmy. I swear he did! I giggled.
Don’t feel too bad for Barrow yet because he still gives Baxter tons of grief. He gets revenge by telling Moseley that she is a thief. “She must have a reason.” Yeah, ask Cora about that. Cora once again asks Baxter for the full story and Baxter still says nothing. “Am I fired?” Cora tells her she’s still thinking about it. I’m hoping for a scene like this every episode where Cora slowly goes insane asking different ways what really happened? “PRETEND THAT ISIS IS THE LADY OF THE HOUSE…”
Let’s take a moment to address Lady Edith directly: this godmother to Marigold plan is not going over well with Mrs. Drewe. You are in for a fight. See? I told you kids were bad luck in the Crawley household. You are lucky you aren’t dead. In fact, Donk, are you sure you don’t want Tom to take Sybbie away?
Speaking of Donk, let’s check in on his grievances:
- Once he heard the King was speaking on the wireless, Donk bought one.
- Carson’s mind is changed about the memorial placement when he and Donk conveniently meet a woman who tells them their son likes to pay his respects to his dad while on the way to the post office. The Village placement wins! I half expected a scene where Donk pays the lady off.
- Sarah Bunting is teaching Daisy how to do math. So she’ll be hanging out a lot, Donk. Filling Tom’s head with ideas that he already had.
- Keep thinking that Bricker is all about the dog, Donk.
What else did I learn from Ep 2? Hughes and Anna find a picture of baby Marigold when cleaning up Edith’s burnt room. The Dowager Countess and Isobel Crawley need to have a spin off. But more pertinent to the episode, the ladies first have tea with the Doc where DC tells him that Dicky Merton is “frisking about [Isobel’s] skirts”. Later the two dine at Dicky the Frisker’s place. He not so subtly tells them that the room they are in needs a woman’s presence. I guess if you frisk, you don’t mince words. Speaking of frisky, next week’s previews contain the line, “Granny has a past!”
YES.
