{"id":29861,"date":"2016-01-18T07:59:11","date_gmt":"2016-01-18T12:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/?p=29861"},"modified":"2016-01-18T07:59:11","modified_gmt":"2016-01-18T12:59:11","slug":"downton-abbey-the-comeuppance-of-mary-crawley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/?p=29861","title":{"rendered":"Downton Abbey: The Comeuppance of Mary Crawley"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s taken five years, but someone is <i>finally<\/i> calling Lady Mary out on her shit.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Yes! Mary is called out by her mother for being a bully! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DowntonAbbey?src=hash\">#DowntonAbbey<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/allyngibson\/status\/688907227990601728\">January 18, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The proximate cause?  The wedding of Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes.<\/p>\n<p>Last week&#8217;s drama revolved, in part, over where their long-awaited nuptials would take place.  Mrs. Hughes wanted the wedding reception held at the school.  Mr. Carson wanted it held at the Abbey; the servant&#8217;s hall, as suggested by Lord Grantham, was fine by him.  Lady Mary, busybody that she is, insisted on the Abbey&#8217;s main hall.<\/p>\n<p>Cora, who occasionally isn&#8217;t vapid, recognized that her eldest daughter was railroading Mrs. Hughes on her special day and, in front of everyone is the sitting room, asked Mrs. Hughes what she wanted, which she forthrightly explained with occasional &#8220;shush&#8221;es from Cora when someone, like Mr. Carson or Mary, attempted to interrupt.<\/p>\n<p>Then, after Mrs. Hughes departed, Mary attempted to swing things back to her view.<\/p>\n<p>And <i>BOOOOM!<\/i>  Cora drops the hammer.  Mary&#8217;s perpetually arched eyebrow has no place to go.<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t think that Mary learned a lesson from this, because she didn&#8217;t, and her failure to learn a lesson ends up blowing up spectacularly late in the episode.  There was an issue with Mrs. Hughes&#8217; wedding outfit, and Mary&#8217;s solution was to borrow a coat from Cora&#8217;s wardrobe.  Cora finds the staff trying on coats in her room, she blows up at them and all but accuses them of stealing from her, their protestations that Lady Mary approved this fell on deaf ears, and things did not look good for the wedding.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, Mary <i>does<\/i> calm the waters, and the wedding goes off without a hitch.<\/p>\n<p>And then, at the reception, the long-awaited return of Tom Branson!<\/p>\n<p>Tom and his daughter Sybbie had moved to Boston after last year&#8217;s Christmas special.  At the beginning of this episode, Mary received a letter from Tom that, to be frank, was florid and overwrought.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Much as I like Tom, that letter doesn&#39;t sound authentic <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DowntonAbbey?src=hash\">#DowntonAbbey<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/allyngibson\/status\/688905880851607552\">January 18, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Then, at the reception, he&#8217;s suddenly <i>there<\/i>.  He says he had to go all the way across the Atlantic to realize that his home was at Downton Abbey.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m skeptical.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">That is really unconvincing, Tom <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DowntonAbbey?src=hash\">#DowntonAbbey<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/allyngibson\/status\/688916580118433793\">January 18, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I wouldn&#8217;t be surprised if he lost most of his money in the car business, and he and Sybbie were able to get some money from Cora&#8217;s brother or mother to sail back to Britain.  Maybe that will be a secret that drives the rest of the season.<\/p>\n<p>In the episode&#8217;s other major development, Edith publishes a magazine!<\/p>\n<p>In London because the magazine is due to go to press that day, Edith has an encounter on the street with Bertie Pelham, the agent at Brancaster Castle.  They have a brief and awkward conversation, he asks her to meet him for tea, she says it has to be at seven (because of deadlines).<\/p>\n<p>Then Edith sacks her editor after one tirade too many, and she has to edit the magazine herself.  Burying herself in her work, she soon realizes it&#8217;s seven o&#8217;clock, she promised Bertie she would meet him, and she does the responsible thing &mdash; she rushes to the restaurant to tell Bertie that she can&#8217;t meet him for tea because of work.  <\/p>\n<p>To her surprise, Bertie offers to help in any way he can.  He can make coffee.  He can fetch sandwiches.  He can even write some copy!<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I work in publishing, and it&#39;s still like that <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DowntonAbbey?src=hash\">#DowntonAbbey<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/allyngibson\/status\/688911265067102208\">January 18, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Will Edith make her 4 am deadline?<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I wasn&#39;t sure about Bertie Pelham when we first met him, but he&#39;s already awesome <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DowntonAbbey?src=hash\">#DowntonAbbey<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/allyngibson\/status\/688910103446183936\">January 18, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Deadline made!  Pages are mocked up, photos are selected, the pages are sent off to the printer.  An exhausted Edith and Bertie sit on the sofa in the editor&#8217;s office.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Shag him right now, Edith! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DowntonAbbey?src=hash\">#DowntonAbbey<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/allyngibson\/status\/688911460697788416\">January 18, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Nothing like that happens, of course, but you can tell he&#8217;s smitten by her and she sees he has more depths than just a mere estate agent.<\/p>\n<p>Back at the Abbey, Edith shows off her work to her father and sister.  Robert is suitably impressed.  Mary is bored out of her skull.  My thought &mdash; Edith did more in one day than Mary has ever done.<\/p>\n<p>Called out by her mother, eclipsed by her sister, Mary is not having a good episode. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>In our recurring plotlines, the fight over the hospital continues, and Cora has decided to get involved.  She&#8217;s chosen a side &mdash; merge with the royal hospital in York &mdash; and the Dowager Countess is <i>not<\/i> pleased.  She&#8217;s alone on an island with Dr. Clarkson, protesting for the independence of their hospital, and matters are just going to explode.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas continues his job search.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This &quot;Thomas job search&quot; plotline is tiresome <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DowntonAbbey?src=hash\">#DowntonAbbey<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/allyngibson\/status\/688906403679997952\">January 18, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He lands an interview at another estate, discovers that it&#8217;s rundown and its owner is half-mad, and walks out of the interview.  He sulks the rest of the episode.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Of course Barrow is &quot;disenchanted with life,&quot; Mr. Carson; you&#39;re being a ginormous dickhole to him these days <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DowntonAbbey?src=hash\">#DowntonAbbey<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/allyngibson\/status\/688914231924801537\">January 18, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And Daisy remains hopelessly naive.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Daisy still has the emotional maturity of a ten year-old <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DowntonAbbey?src=hash\">#DowntonAbbey<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/allyngibson\/status\/688912215517298688\">January 18, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Is she right that Cora&#8217;s unvoiced plan is to have Robert offer Mr. Mason a tenancy at Yew Tree Farm when the Drewes vacate?  Quite possibly.  But she could also be very <i>wrong<\/i>, and giddily telling people that Mr. Mason&#8217;s situation is solved could very easily backfire on her.<\/p>\n<p>Plus, there&#8217;s a light comedy plot with Spratt and Denker, who squabble like an old married couple, and Molesley may have <i>finally<\/i> found his calling &mdash; teaching.<\/p>\n<p>In short, it was a decent episode.  We need more conflict in the hospital plot, such as someone taking a drastic action to defend what they see as their turf.  We also need some resolution to this Barrow nonsense; three weeks of it, and I&#8217;m ready for it to be <i>over<\/i>.  We need to see Edith grow in confidence and move to London entirely.  And we need to find out why Tom returned to Downton Abbey and what role he&#8217;ll take now that he&#8217;s back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s taken five years, but someone is finally calling Lady Mary out on her shit. Yes! Mary is called out by her mother for being a bully! #DowntonAbbey &mdash; Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) January 18, 2016 The proximate cause? The wedding of Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes. Last week&#8217;s drama revolved, in part, over where their<a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/?p=29861\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">&#8220;Downton Abbey: The Comeuppance of Mary Crawley&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[131],"tags":[130,4386,4387,4392],"class_list":["post-29861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television","tag-downton-abbey","tag-edith-crawley","tag-mary-crawley","tag-tom-branson","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}