Ok...so what is the deal with Edith that she can't find an eligible bachelor who is interested in her? Why must everyone have these other "things?" In this case a madwoman in the closet...how very Jane Eyre! But here she is...and we know what she will do because it is a breathing man giving her attention. Ugh....give yourself more credit Edith. But I think she will romanticize this just like she did the Patrick impostor. But to her credit there is a kindness there that draws these people to her. She has really shown a more accepting and gentler side.
Ethel: How fortunate her turn of events were. I am happy for her, she gets to occasionally see Charlie and I really like Mrs. Bryant.
James: Isn't it funny when he was left to his own devices James was willing to forgive and forget what had happened with Thomas until the spider started making her web around him? Then he grew indignant and surly and completely unforgiving, because his "conscience" couldn't be ignored. How funny that his conscience was clean until someone walked through and mucked it all up. He was behaving in a more Christian manner before he was encouraged to behave in a Christian manner. He just got more and more disturbing to me...but in the meantime...after all the gyrations that O'Brien made, he becomes first footman and Thomas becomes the under-butler. The irony for Bates...he can't win. But Thomas already admitted to envying him so...he does win. And Bates didn't even know that it was O'Brien that he had to thank for his wife returning the second time and he was still able to exact a karmic reward for her. So in the end, Bates does win.
There was a lot of circling around sin and the inability to be in the room with it in this episode. No one could be seen with Ethel because of her prostitution (still galls me!!) and Thomas is "twisted by nature" because he is gay. In the meantime, the only person who can see as she enters the room that the sin is in the casting out of these people is Mrs. Hughes (yes, cousin Isobelle but a lot of that self-righteous indignation too). I decided last night that I would want to be her if I had to choose my lot in that house. She is the epitome of decency. When she mothered Thomas last night, after all he had done, and when her shock about his homosexuality was non-existent (that was funny....everyone knowing but Carson) it occurred to me that she is not only the glue downstairs but the goodness. There is nothing ever in her actions for her...just the knowledge that she was able to help somehow. Even when she is horribly uncomfortable with what she is doing, compassion wins out.
Notable moment: Carson and Alfred are together in his room talking about Thomas and he says to Alfred, " The world can be a shocking place Alfred but you're a man now and you must learn to take it on the chin." It just made me laugh.
So that leaves us with Mosley....poor Mosley, "He talks a good game of cricket but that is about it."
And who got a chuckle out of the Ponzi scheme reference?
Ethel: How fortunate her turn of events were. I am happy for her, she gets to occasionally see Charlie and I really like Mrs. Bryant.
James: Isn't it funny when he was left to his own devices James was willing to forgive and forget what had happened with Thomas until the spider started making her web around him? Then he grew indignant and surly and completely unforgiving, because his "conscience" couldn't be ignored. How funny that his conscience was clean until someone walked through and mucked it all up. He was behaving in a more Christian manner before he was encouraged to behave in a Christian manner. He just got more and more disturbing to me...but in the meantime...after all the gyrations that O'Brien made, he becomes first footman and Thomas becomes the under-butler. The irony for Bates...he can't win. But Thomas already admitted to envying him so...he does win. And Bates didn't even know that it was O'Brien that he had to thank for his wife returning the second time and he was still able to exact a karmic reward for her. So in the end, Bates does win.
There was a lot of circling around sin and the inability to be in the room with it in this episode. No one could be seen with Ethel because of her prostitution (still galls me!!) and Thomas is "twisted by nature" because he is gay. In the meantime, the only person who can see as she enters the room that the sin is in the casting out of these people is Mrs. Hughes (yes, cousin Isobelle but a lot of that self-righteous indignation too). I decided last night that I would want to be her if I had to choose my lot in that house. She is the epitome of decency. When she mothered Thomas last night, after all he had done, and when her shock about his homosexuality was non-existent (that was funny....everyone knowing but Carson) it occurred to me that she is not only the glue downstairs but the goodness. There is nothing ever in her actions for her...just the knowledge that she was able to help somehow. Even when she is horribly uncomfortable with what she is doing, compassion wins out.
Notable moment: Carson and Alfred are together in his room talking about Thomas and he says to Alfred, " The world can be a shocking place Alfred but you're a man now and you must learn to take it on the chin." It just made me laugh.
So that leaves us with Mosley....poor Mosley, "He talks a good game of cricket but that is about it."
And who got a chuckle out of the Ponzi scheme reference?
Spider! I love that POV about O'Brien!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fascinating episode. There were so many stories going on, woven together and tangled in that great spider web called O'Brien. She is such a nasty woman, undermining people at every turn. And Cora is dedicated to her, which makes me wonder why she can see other things clearly, but not her scheming maid.
ReplyDeleteI too love Mrs. Hughes. She handles the people downstairs with dignity, integrity and warmth - and keeps Carson in line too!
Edith...I knew he would be a married man. She is destined to be forever unhappy in love, it seems. Mary and Matthew...I was worried about them, but their relationship seems strong and loving now. Tom's role in convincing Lord Grantham and the whole cricket match scene just made me puddle up. The clothes, the setting, the atmosphere, the complicated relationships...incredible.
I could go on and on but it's midnight. So I shall to sleep and perchance to dream...
Cathy