First things first, Maggie Smith’s Best Line:
Edith! You are a lady. Not Toad of Toad Hall.
I once tweeted that I wanted to learn Final Cut Pro in order to make a Maggie Smith tribute video. The Dowager Countess would figure heavily in that clip. Oh, Downton Abbey, how I missed ye.
And DA did not waste any time. It said, “Hope you kids saw Season One and know what a Pamuk is.” Yeah, three years later and poor Mary is still haunted by the dead Turk she dragged to the Bachelor Corridor. This time in the form of EVIL Mrs. Bates. Ugh, I know! Bates tells Anna that his [EVIL] wife is back but now that he has money, he can pay her for a divorce. Let’s get married, Anna, he says. Oh Lord, Bates. Did you just hear yourself? Your EVIL wife appeared when your mother died and left you money and you think she’ll go away? You don’t think she’ll show up at DA and threaten to expose the Pamuk scandal if he doesn’t leave and stay married to EVIL her? Perhaps the Nobility Gene suppresses the Common Sense one.
Would Bates be my tear-trigger this season? No, I think it will be Mary. Seeing Mary try to be upbeat and happy for Matthew’s engagement was heartbreaking. And giving him the Good Luck Beanie Baby before he went back to war? Sniff. She can’t marry the Dude from Game of Thrones!
Love-type things are also happening for the other Grantham sisters. Awesome Sybil became a nurse and was the recipient of professions of love from Branson the chauffeur. Not Anywhere Near As Awesome Edith made out with the farmer who had dropsy last season.
Meanwhile, the men-folk are caught up in the war. Lord Grantham was disappointed to find out that he was going to the front. He was a wee bit touchy about this. When two women called out William for being a coward, LG went bazoo. Seems the reason William didn’t go to war was because Maggie Smith pulled some strings to keep him and Moseley at home. Isobel, of course, got the doctor to correct the situation, much to Moseley’s dismay. He’d rather stay around and mack on Anna. Which honestly made me say, “Step off, Mose!” Tear-triggerer Number 2: Anna telling him that she will only love Bates and then telling the new maid, Ethel, that her dreams will never come true. But my tears dry up when I start trying to imitate Anna: “Mista Behtes”.
Let’s now talk about Thomas getting his hand shot off. My favorite scene. Not because Thomas is a jerk (both he and O’Brien were downgraded from evil due to the arrival of EVIL Mrs. Bates), but because it was unbelievable and yet totally believable at the same time. He couldn’t handle being there and took matter into his own hand (get it?!?). Thomas also got a lovely scene with the blind patient, and ultimately breaking down after the patient takes his own life.
DA, you are such a rascal. You even gave O’Brien a sweet moment with the new valet, Lang, who has post-traumatic stress disorder from being in the war. Is this a new pairing? Anyone out there Team O’Brang?
What else did I learn from Downton Abbey S2, Part One? The new maid, Ethel, has some ‘tude and is easily hazed. Carson stresses out over maids in the dining room. Daisy kisses William and then wonders why he thinks they are an item. And finally, the Dowager Countess was relieved that Matthew and Mary wouldn’t be on the same train because [the Best Line Runner Up], “I hate Greek Drama when everything happens offstage.”
Part Two, this Sunday=Not soon enough.
