After that Robert had no money to invest. It was first Matthew's money and then Mary's money. And after Robert became ill in S6, Mary decided not to bother his father with any problems but manage the estate by herself with the help of Tom.
It might not be entirely implausible that the Crawleys, or Robert specifically, would want a better education as well for Bates and Anna's son. I seem to remember something similar mentioned in Pride and Prejudice, or at least in the famous television version where Mr Darcy's father was mentioned as being fond of Mr Wickham, who was the son of his steward. In the TV version Mr Darcy mentions his father supported Wickham in school and both young men attended Cambridge.
Yes, but a steward and a valet are different things entirely.
All parents in lower classes didn't even want their children to have education because then they would become socially and culturally higher than them and they wouldn't have nothing in common.
In the mid-season, sometime in 1927, Lord Merton suddenly dies from complications surrounding his anemia. As his will was read, everyone finds out that he has changed his will and broke the entail of his country house. He appoints Isobel as his sole heir, to her bewilderment. Unsurprisingly angry Larry and Amelia takes Isobel to court to challenge the new will, only to have the judge affirmed the will, saying that as the entail law has been changed the previous year (1925) allowing owners of the entailed estates to break the will of their inheritances and allow them to will them to anyone they choose instead. A shocked but now happy Isobel then turns her late husband's estate as the new location for the Downton's hospital.
If Lord Merton leaves his estate to Isobel, it means that she must pay the heritage tax, which in turn means that she can donate the hospital much less.
Did Lord Merton really live in Downton village? Then his estate is very small. If he did, the location of the new hospital is too far frtom people?
Rose and Atticus arrives from the US with their daughter Victoria and new baby son Daniel.
It isn't a Jewish custom to give a child the same name as a living family member.
Besides, Rose knows well, although Attacus doesn't, that Lord Sinderby's illegitiate son is already Daniel (which shows that her mother isn't a Jew).
There were problems between Mary and Edith although they were siblings and had the same status.
All is well between George and Sybbie so long they are small. But once they realize that their status is and always will be different, it may change things and cause envy. It depends on their character but also how they are treated.
Luckily, unlike Edith who was ignored by both parents, Sybbie is loved by her father. She is also clearly Robert's favorite both as his first grandchild and because Sybil died.
However, Mary's children by Talbot will probably always have the second place in everybody's eyes but their father's. Mary will always love George best, but also demand most from him, both as an heir and "Saint Matthew's" son.
Thinking back, I find the plot quite implausibe. What motive Larry and Amelia had to keep Lord Merton virtually as a prisoner? Fear of losing heritage could be a motive, but after Lord Merton gave them his manor, they still didn't want him to marry Isobel. And in any case the estate was probably entailed.
Most of all, Lord Morton was the master in his own house and although he was sick of body, he had sound mind, so it was his orders that the servants would have followed, not those of his son and his daughter-in-law.
If the aristocrats did that, they would loose the servants of the next generation. However kind people like Crawleys may seem, their whole world view is based on the belief that they are born to rule and others are born to serve them.
Mr Molesley is a much better option. He teaches children that their life must not necesssarily be the same as that of their parents who are servants.
Yes. And Bertie had to show that he could stand by her against her.
But also Brancaster scenes were too rushed.
Fellowes should have given Edith and Bertie more scenes in the finale and leave some of other scenes out and/or handled them earlier.
TeamLadyMary wrote:
First, there is Downton and while Mary tried her best to improve the revenues from the estate's farms, I doubt whether this would have been enough to preserve the way of life they had and even keeping the big house. She's practical of course, so she would try to find a way, but we must remember that she was not given any particular education on the subject.
Downton would lost already when Robert lost Cora's money unless Matthew had inherited his ex-fiancee's father.
That shows clearly that Fellowes was not keen on history but made "luck" always save his characers, most of all Lady Mary.
At bottom DA was a fairy tale where only the manor and dresses were historically acurate.
I agree. Anna and Bates should buy an inn or something like that.
Before, I thought also that it wasn't good to Sybbie to grow up in an aristocratic milieu as his father couldn't be a part of it. Instead, her father should have stayed in America where Sybbie could be a modern woman. But now I guess that Tom will marry Laura and they and Sybbie will have a home of their own.
Yes, Cora promised to bring Marigold to Brancaster before Edith and Bertie return from their honeymoon. So she isn't waiting there alone but comes only a day or two before with her grandmother.
Ins't it also likely that she has already visited Brancaster with Edith during the months she was engaged?
Yes, Mary wasn't needed at all as a mediator. Fellowes tried to "redeem" Mary but didn't succeed well IMO.
If a character on purpose hurts somebody, her redemption is not shown with a nice deed that costs her nothing. Instead, it must be that she wants to do bad but wins her urge and does good.
And i think the principal reason of why he ignored the doubts in Edith was because he was seeing her in rose tinted glasses, plus he has a lot in his plate, the death of his beloved cousin and knowing that he was going to be in parade 24/7 as the new marquess. And in comparison with Robert, Henry, Bates, Carson, Gregson was a lot more empathetic with Edith.
That's my interpretation, too. He regarded her as an ideal woman without any fault. He supposed that she *knew* what kind of man he was: that he could be trusted and it wouldn't make any difference to his feelings and intentions if she told about Marigold.
On the basis of common sense, how on earth could Edith know that Bertie was different from other men? You can't know beforehand 100-% sure whom you can trust, you can know it only afterwards. It was no wonder that Edith was afraid.
However, the Ritz scene ignored also *why* Edith did wrong. She thought only about her own happiness. If she had thought about Bertie's happiness, she had told him straigthaway because she couldn't betray him.
It's always been like that for these two. Carson is traditional and problematic and a curmudgeon, but the holy Elsie comes and shows him with love and patiente how it is done. And he loves her so much! He called her beautiful and fair and said he hoped a delicious meal from her because he truly believes she can do it. He didn't have a good time cooking but didn't complain because he knew she couldn't do it, etc etc. His love for this woman is incomparable, and thank the Heavens she knows it.
To me love isn't a feeling or saying a compliment. It's to the deeds you do for your beloved. If he really loved her, he wouldn't complain for the food.
OK, Carson is an old-fashioned man to whom it's natural that the wife does everything whereas he sit and waits in peace after they had both worked the whole day. But at least he could have been pretend to be pleased with the food and tactfully suggest that they would continue to eat in Downton.
I think the scene was a lackluster.
Fellowes completely ignored the issue of trust which had caused Bertie to part from Edith. Because Edith hadn't told him, so he couln't trust her.
He should have explained what had made him change his mind and trust her again. F.ex. that he had came to understand that Edith had tried to collect her courage tell him in the corridor but he didn't give her a chance ("I take it yes").
Most of all, it should have been Bertie who wanted to meet Edith and who then contacted Rosamund to arrange the meeting.
Mary wasn't needed at all. How could she persue him in the telephone when teh telephones were situated in the places where anybody could hear calls?
I disagree. Bertie's proposal on the sofa was very sweet. He was humble (he hadn't much to offer in the worlduy terms, only much love). He showed empathy both giving Edith time to consider and promising straightawy that she can bring Marigold.
When he came to Downton as a Marquess, he was in a state of shock: he mourned his beloved cousin and doubted his abilities to fulfill his new duties. In the situation his plea "I need you" was deeply moving as it showed his admiration and trust in Edith.
It's true that he didn't notice the warning signs, but it's usual in conversations. If a man is deeply in love, he thinks that his beloved is without faults, not suspects her of dark secrets.
If one compares Bertie's behavior with that of Henry, one notices that it was the latter who wanted it his way.
One didn't know the child pyschology then as we do. Even during the WW2 children were sent faraway fro their mothers to safety, sometimes even to foreign counties. The families were told by the authorities that it was for the best. Nowadays we know that the children can cope with the worst circumstances if they are in company of the mother and she stays calm.
We must remember that in the period of DA the upper class children were mainly in the care of their nannies. Especially the boys were sent to the school in a very early age.
As for Marigold, we have shown already earlier that Edith can't part from her daughter. Whatever her future children with Bertie, she will always love Marigold best. That she even earlier thought about her daughter's education, promises a much better future to her than a mere title. Unfortunately, many of her possible partners can fall during the WW2.
Also in Brancaster only the eldest son will inherit the title and estate. He will probably be too young to fight in WW2 (unlike George). But the post-war time will be very hard to aristocracy.
Downton's table could include diplomats from Spain, Japan, and even Nazi Germany. The latter would be one that no one wants but cannot escape if it happened. The Sinderbys, if they were there, would be horrified. Imagine if the Nazi diplomat turned out to be directly responsible for Gregson's death!
I doubt this. The only time Downton had a foreign diplomat as a guest was when Napier brought Napier with him. Ceawleys simply aren't a politically influental family, unlike Cavendishes or Cecils irl.
Gregson's death was described so badly (the Beer Hall Putsch was actually a year later when he disappeared in Munich) that how could anybody find out years later who killed him when it was a cold case at the time?
Edith and Bertie would have a son and heir. Edith would think of Gregson no doubt and having Marigold while pregnant, and Bertie seeing this once the boy is born suggests his name be Michael. Edith would then select Peter for a middle name, in honor of Bertie's cousin.
Why on earth would any happily married couple name their son after the dead lover of the wife? If he had been the best friend of the husband, then maybe, but Bertie never knew Gregson.
Edith knows that Bertie wants that his son is Peter and she wants it also to please him.
It's true that Mary isn't an opern person, but that was no problem with Matthew.
If there is a real chemistry, a couple can talk even about telephone catalogue, and still the audience understands what is underneath. Good actors can make it clear only with their eyes.