Isis is listless. THERE BETTER NOT BE ANYTHING WRONG WITH HER. You hear me, Julian Fellowes? We’ll have words. Either I see cute lab puppies or get the hell out.
I mean it’s not like Isis is Lady Edith’s dog. Because if that were the case then I would understand why she is listless: Lady Edith can’t have nice things. Gregson is confirmed dead. “Was it this Herr Hitler?” Cora asks. Yes, it was. Gregson disappeared about a year ago so everyone else is like, “No surprise there” but Edith is always on the verge of vomiting. Or at least it looks like it. Especially when the others are chatting about the Point-To-Point race or when Mary debuts a new hairstyle. Ultimately, Edith is like, to hell with this nonsense and takes off. But not before she swings by a certain farm, produces a birth certificate and grabs Marigold. Mrs. Drewe loses her shit, of course, but then impressively relents and gives her former daughter a tearful goodbye. The episode ends with Edith and Marigold in a hotel where the Lady suggests to the toddler they order ice cream and champagne. I’m going to need lots of ice cream and champagne to drown my sorrows if Isis is ill.
How’s my other puppy dog? Bates is innocent! Again! His confession to Anna comes about because he found Lady Mary’s book and “equipment” in his wife’s things. He thinks she doesn’t want to have his baby because he believes Anna thinks he’s a murderer. Anna confesses that she didn’t want to believe it could be him that pushed her rapist to his death. Well, she was right not to be able to believe it because Bates will always be Noble Bates. He wanted to kill Mr. Green and even bought a return ticket to London. But he never got on the train. He kept the untorn ticket in his pocket as his alibi but Anna donated the coat last year. “I gave it away,” she tells Mrs. Hughes, “I gave away the proof of my husband’s innocence.” Kind of. Mrs. Hughes had given the ticket to Mary who threw it into a fire. Thanks for helping, Mary.
Scotland Yard gets a letter saying that Baxter has news about Mr. Green’s death. Baxter tells them that she can say that something happened while Green was here and there was a return ticket to London but can’t swear by any of it. The questioning was short and sweet but was enough to reveal Baxter’s prison past in front of Mrs. Hughes. As long as Cora is OK with it then Mrs. Hughes will let it go. She’s good like that.
You can guess who sent the letter to Scotland Yard. I’ll give you a hint: he looks awful. Barrow feels so bad that he drops his drawers to Baxter to reveal a nasty infection. In spite of his pimping her out to Scotland Yard, she insists they go to see Doctor Clarkson. The doc asks why Barrow was injecting himself over and over again. To make him more like other men, Barrow tells him. The doc tells him that no drugs can do that. He should just make the best of it. “Remember: harsh reality is always better than false hope.” Aw, Doc. I’m now shipping you and Isobel even though it is way too late for that.
Yes, Isobel accepts Dickie’s proposal. The Dowager Countess claims she’ll say no more about it. Anyway, DC has bigger fish to fry. She’s got a new lady’s maid named Denker who is not getting along well with her butler, Spratt. She is taken back when she hears that Atticus Aldridge who is wooing Rose is Jewish. She’s not a fan of Mary’s new do (“Oh. It is you. I thought it was a man wearing your clothes.”) She visits Prince Kuragin to give him news about his wife but instead gets majorly hit on. “I loved you more than I loved her.” Dang, Kuragin. You hear that your wife may be alive so you tell another woman that you still want to run away with her? Well, it is Maggie Smith after all. I get it.
What else did I learn from Episode 6? I just want to state for the record that I’m still not happy at even the suggestion that something might be wrong with Isis. FELLOWES, YOU’RE ON NOTICE. On the brighter side, Sybbie calls Lord Grantham “Donk” again. Moseley offers to help Daisy continue her studies. She’s thinking about it. Mrs. Patmore shows Hughes and Carson the cottage she is going to buy. This gets Carson thinking about retirement. He asks Hughes to consider purchasing a property together to earn money for their old age. This makes Hughes blush. The Point-to-Point race happens and participants include the Love Quadrangle AKA Mary and Charles and Mabel and Tony. The first two are conspiring to get the last two back together. Also, Mabel calls Lady Mary “a cross between a vogue fashion plate and a case of dynamite” and I want to be described that way. The Crawleys meet Rose’s new friend Atticus Aldridge’s parents. Of course, they are invited to dinner. I hate to break it to the Aldridges but they are not special. Everyone is invited to dinner. Just ask Miss Bunting. No wait, you can’t! Yay!
