Breaking News: Giddy, Blushy Dowager Countess Just As Awesome As Withering Look Dowager Countess.
More on that later.
Things kick off with Mary and Lord Gillingham basking in the afterglow of their…Conference of Northern Landowners. The Dowager Countess’ persnickety butler Spratt spotted the two of them walking out of the Grand Hotel Liverpool. Obviously his mind went right to something unsavory (and true!). He hems and haws when DC asks about his trip. Spill it, she says in so many words. He tells her of seeing the two of them and DC covers for her granddaughter with the conference story. She then “serves” her butler by reprimanding him for thinking it was anything other than on the level. Later, DC confronts Mary. Mary tells her, Gram, you are sooo old fashioned. “Don’t let us hide behind the changing times, my dear.” Mary assures her that an engagement is forthcoming and that there won’t be an “unwanted epilogue”. Spratt asks her how the conference was. “I learned a great deal I never knew before.” Awwww hell yeah, Mary.
Speaking of that “unwanted epilogue”, Mary gives Anna the “thing” to hide at the Bates’ cottage. Anna worries about aiding and abetting Mary’s adventures, to which Mary quickly changes the subject to something fun. Like Sgt. Willis asking around about Mr. Green’s claims that he quarreled with someone at Downton. A valet.
Later Willis gets a statement from Bates about what he was doing on the day Mr. Green was killed. “Well, I had coffee at this specific place. Then much later I had dinner at this specific hotel.” “And in between?” “Lunch at some pub that I can’t think of a name of right now and then I walked around a bit.” “OK!” [Paraphrase.]
Shout out to Mrs. Hughes for being a much better detective than Willis. She figured out that Bates had time to get from York to London and back.
In other crime news, there is more to the Baxter story! Cora told her lady’s maid that enough is enough, tell me everything when we get to London. Well, the story is this: Baxter fell for a footman named Coyle who was no good. “He was nasty and he made me nasty.” He was let go so she stole the jewels to give to him. He took them, took off and she took the fall. This satisfies Cora and Baxter can stay!
During the London trip, Cora and Simon Bricker tour the National Gallery and then have a lovely dinner where he flirts and she says, “Thanks for that.” She comes back to Rosamund’s to find a Wet Blanket: Lord “Donk” Grantham. Donk came to surprise her. He then insults her by mocking her assertion that Bricker just wanted to hear her thoughts on art. Good job, Donk.
Donk has competition for Wet Blanket title from his nemesis, Sarah Bunting. She once again gets politely invited to something, this time it is Rose’s Russian Aristocrat Tea. And she goes! That’s what baffles me. She doesn’t like the Russian elites that were driven out by the Revolution so don’t attend a tea that they are at. It’s like she can’t help it. Of course, she offends one of the Russians. He wants to leave but Cora convinces him to check out the cool Rich Russian stuff that they have at Downton. One of the items is a fan. The Dowager Countess sees it and says, “That was given to me”. “By me!” says Mr. Kuragin, a “florist in York”. She blushes and giggles (as much as she can) and they briefly reminisce. This prompts the “Granny has a past” from Mary. DC tells Mary to hush it; it was all very innocent. Mary responds with “I know now that you understand my predicament far better than you let on.” Awwwww hell yeah, DC.
Meanwhile downstairs, Barrow calls about an ad for “Choose Your Own Path”. He then makes up a story that his dad is on death’s door. So Carson lets him go. Oh, Thomas, what are you up to now?
What else did I learn from Episode 3? Daisy wants to sit some exams. A developer wants to build fifty houses on Downton land. Carson won’t lobby for Mrs. Patmore’s war deserter nephew to go on the village’s memorial. Mr. Drewe has to tell Edith to stay away awhile. Seems Mrs. Drewe is through. She tells her husband that it is obvious that Lady Edith wants a child “but she can’t have ours and that’s flat!”
Homework for this week: use “and that’s flat!” in a sentence.
