Julian Fellowes could have given Tom a fabulous story line after Sybils death but he chose not to because he is obsessed with the aristocracy and Mary who is based on his wife. Us Tom fans have suffered because of this but it is not too late for Fellowes to give him a decent storyline and keep him at Downton. He is the conscience of that bloody family for God sake! And Sybbie - everybody just adores her!
The only way Tom will return is if he has failed; we ALL know this.
Agree Toms story has sucked since Sybil died. His only purpose has been to show the aristos in a good light. Such a shame because he was one of the genuinely interesting characters on the show. Fellowes just blew it!
I liked him better too when he was courting Sybil. I'd have thought he'd risen in Irish politics, and might've become an ambassador to England for the new government.
I too hope he does not fail in America, that his relatives aren't involved in the Irish mob of south Boston. Certainly, I believe he would be more careful after having been exiled from his homeland and now having a child to look after.
A quick question for American viewers - is Boston anywhere near Newport? I ask because it sets up potential future storylines involving the Crawleys visiting Martha and tom
Today it is about a 90 minute drive , traffic permitting. They are about 70 miles apart, roughly the same distance the real Highclere Castle in Berkshire is from London. However, in the 1920s, there was no interstate highway system, in fact the first turnpike would not open until 1940. So it would certainly be a more ambitious undertaking in the 1920s than it is today. There certainly would be train service between the two locations, although I do not have any specifics on that.
They would just have to plan far in advance, that way they could each leave their respective homes in England and Boston and all arive in Newport around the same time.
Toms story has just been awful - waste of a talented actor and waste of a good character. No-one would think from watching Downton that the working man was in the ascendancy then. All Tom has been since Sybil died is a device to make the aristocracy look good by taking him in and making him more sympathetic to their way of life. That is not the social history of Britain in the 1920s. Fellowes has told the social history of this period very badly in my opinion. He could have done so much more with Tom to really illustrate the change he's always on about.
I quite agree with the comment above. Tom had the potential to be a real character of change, not just someone who talked about it. His storyline has been abysmal which is a shame as he is one of my favourites on the show and I dont want to see him leave the cast. He has been ruined by poor writing!
The Newport "cottages" of the 1920s were primarily houses (BIG estates) meant for summer and weekend use by New Yorkers, Philadelphians, and yes, Bostonians, although more of them stayed north. Martha has a mansion in Newport, but is it her residence or only for the "Season?" I assumed that Harold lives in NYC or Long Island so he can be near Wall Street, but Martha could have real estate almost anywhere...in town, a suburban estate, or even Boston.