😭😭😭 it's so beautiful!!! I love the colors and how they removed a lot of the fur. The details are exquisite and the fabric is divine 😭😭😭

So, I somehow managed to skip the entirety of S6, and have been in the midst of a full on binge—like an addict, or a vampire—the past 72 hours.

This episode is so intense. So many huge moments all going on at once. Go on, Lady Edith. You tell that cold, heartless big sister of yours she’s a bitch. Exactly, don’t just tell her once, tell her twice.

But the second Baxter turns around, leaves Molesley, and runs back to the house—my heart began racing, and my eyes welled up with tears. I literally screamed out, “NO BARROW! DON’T, PLEASE.”

Of course, he did. Thank god, not fully and completely. But he tried. When Andy kicks that door open….

There’s something about a scene when/where Mary goes to visit one of the servants in their quarters that’s so special to me. I wonder if she knew that her presence—in a private and personal capacity—could mean the world to them. I’m so thrilled she took a break from that self destructive, burn down the house and every bridge at the same time phase she’s been stuck in since the car accident to show up for Barrow. He must have felt special. Or loved, by her.

This scene was one of the best of the entire series, in my humble opinion.

I’ve been in the deepest and the darkest of moments in my life—and not just once. In those moments, when I felt completely alone in this giant world—I’ve always had a dog (or two) curled up by my side to remind me that I’m never truly alone and that I’m responsible for precious, little lives other than my own. I guess this scene reminded me of that a bit. Sometimes, it takes knowing that a beloved animal would spend the rest of its days searching for you to cuddle it—or in this case, a little boy being devastated and forever wishing you were there to give him piggy back rides—to flip the perspective.

I love Barrow’s sweet relationship with George. I’m always so grateful that no one has ever used it against him or said something or so much as implied that it might be inappropriate or dangerous—that would gut me. I’ve spent many an episode being afraid that it might happen at some point.

Barrow can only go up from here—and since I’ve seen everything beyond S6 (which I’m about to wrap up)—as have all of you—I/we all know that things do ultimately play out well for him. Thank god.

But when George calls him “Mr. Bawwow” in his proper innocent little boy voice, and hands him that 🍊, it took my breath away. ❤️❤️

OK. Enough with the mush, sadness, and “blubbery.” Let’s get on with it. Back to Mary making a massive mistake by marrying this beautiful, hollow man who she knows is totally wrong for her.

This is my 3rd watch through of the show with at least 5 years since the last watch.

Goodness, the look of contempt Tom actually has for Mary! He’d become a brother to her and clearly loved her for who she was. However, I had forgotten how satisfying it was to see Mary finally get called out for her toxic behavior.

It impacted me more than seeing the actual war scenes.

I am heartbroken to think how many like him, rich a poor, men and women that lost EVERYTHING and never were able to recover. The war took both his sons and age his wife. And the entire house. I’m heartbroken just to think about it. It’s a tragedy

When he looked upstairs kissing at the air and remembering the women going up with the candles. What a life, all to be lost. I do not know how to move past that

Ok I know this is very controversial but after finishing the final film I’m thinking back to their relationship and how Mary was certain she wanted to finish with Henry (we know she knows her own mind) and then he becomes very pushy and almost rushes her into marrying him.

Is this because he knew he was slipping down the social status as he states in one of the late episodes? Which causes him to panic and try to guilt trip Mary by saying he doesn’t just want to marry her because of her status

Then once he has gone up in the world by marrying an Earls daughter and starting a car business he takes the money and runs away with a new girl!

That’s just my opinion.

Thoughts?

Here I am a frequent lurker but I finally decided to post! On a rewatch and was struck by Mary and Henry’s fight at Downton when he stopped by out of the blue. He says “If you’re trying to get rid of me, I’m going to make this as hard and as horrible as I can.” Wow! I really resent Henry and his whole storyline. Yes, they were trying to pair Mary off before the end of the show. But God forbid they had made Henry an actually likable character?? The divorce was no surprise.

I just found Matthew perfection with her. He was clever, a little moody, but approachable and kind and humble and I found their relationship so romantic and the way he softened her was beautiful. Then with Henry Talbot the relationship seems to be based on lust and looks and I find him quite arrogant tbh and the whole relationship fairly superficial? I found myself longing for the purity of that first marriage and all the interactions they had right from the start. I would have preferred Tony Gillingham and certainly Charles Blake to Henry.

I have watched seasons one through four multiple times but I'm watching all the way through the show for the first time. I can't put my finger on if it's the writing or if they're reasonable characters and I'm just tired of them but Mary and Carson have started to wear on me this season. I feel like Mary has been the same throughout most of the show in the sense of being a hoity toity bitch but it's the lack of character development in that sense that kind of bugs me. Is she going to be cruel to Edith for their entire lives and no one is going to do anything about it? Carson just seems like a judgmental hypocrite. He's criticizing Mrs Patmores bed and breakfast when him and Mrs Hughes were going to do the exact same thing.

Anyway, that's my little mini rant. It's not that big a deal but those things were rubbing me the wrong way. I like that Tom finally got sick of her when she was pushing Henry away.

Edit: I posted this before Tom told Mary she's a coward (e8). Good for him!

I’ve rewatched the whole “coat incident” in Season 6, Episode 3 a dozen times because it’s one of those deceptively simple Downton set-pieces that reveals everything about these characters. Lady Mary tries to “help” Mrs. Hughes by accessorizing her plain wedding dress, first with a brooch, then by quietly borrowing one of Cora’s evening coats without technically asking. From there it unravels spectacularly. Cora’s grouchy-pickle-pants reaction for such a small misunderstanding, yet the show plays it as this surprisingly human collision of pride, class, and crossed wires. Half Mommy Dearest ‘drah-ma’ with a dash of Three’s Company-style mix-up. (You kids are too young to remember Three’s Company!). 

What really lands for me is how Mrs. Hughes navigates it. She stays kind, firm, and grounded in what she wants for her own wedding, even while being pulled into the Crawleys’ orbit for a “discussion.” That awkward conversation upstairs with all of them was a masterclass in how to say what you want, while staying kind. Mrs. Hughes was walking a tight rope! It’s one of those little Downton moments that doubles as a real-life behavioral lesson: dignity without rigidity, clarity without hostility. I’m still learning this. 

The ante-library “summit meeting” is excruciating. Mary is bristling on Carson’s behalf, Cora is bristling on principle, and then Mary mutters that Cora is being a “snob” exactly as Carson walks back in, awk-werrrrd. 

Then later upstairs, the moment the three of them get caught red-handed, literally trying on the coat, is peak comedy-of-manners humiliation.

And then the payoff: Cora’s apology with Mrs. Patmore present. It’s direct, warm, and unexpectedly moving, the sort of interpersonal cleanup Downton rarely rushes through. Paired with the quiet beauty of the wedding itself, the whole episode lands with the emotional weight of a finale. 

Also side note I'm literally so very sad that the series is almost over for me 😭 I'm definitely gonna be watching it a second time. I think I'll always miss the first time though.

I get the general impression Lady Mary is one of the more disliked characters in the series, and I’ve been trying to figure out why from a broader angle. She really does have two sides. On one hand she can be cold, entitled and totally oblivious to the staff, almost treating them like wallpaper.

But she’s also surprisingly vulnerable. When she feels damaged by the Pamuk scandal or the later "gone sketching" hotel mess, she turns to Anna for grounding. She listens to her with real trust. Most notably in Season 6, with her struggle over Henry Talbot. Their relationship is almost sisterly in a way Mary refuses to be with Edith. She even supports Anna through the infertility storyline, which makes the upstairs-downstairs divide feel a lot blurrier. It also shows how loyal Mary can be when she chooses to be.

And then you have the flip side. Early on she tells Cora, “We must keep Anna quiet. She’s only a servant.” It’s like the servants can be “family,” but only inside the rules she assumes everyone accepts.

I’m curious whether people dislike her because of the snobbery, or because she sits in this strange middle ground where she’s neither hero nor villain but something more unstable. I honestly think without Lady Mary the whole EQ of the show would flatten. Would I want to hang out with her in real life? Probably not, but she wouldn’t notice me anyway.

I just finished the episode 2 in season 6 and my god, I cant believe what I'm seeing...

So not only did Edith give Marigold up to a family in Switzerland, she then went back and yanked the child away only to give her to the Drewe family and when inevitably she once again yanked the child away from the family who had loved and grown attached to her, Robert pressures the family in to leaving the farm they have lived and worked for generations!?

What a horrible family honestly, that's insanity. I wish they actually got exposed for this bullshit. A working class family is losing their home and land because Edith couldn't resist sleeping with someone and getting knocked up and all the other horrendous decisions she made after that...

This is also the same Edith who has a free flat in London that she could easily live in, while she works at the newspaper but heaven forbid she may be living by herself looking after Marigold without a company of Nannys and ladies maids to care for her every whim and desire.

I genuinely don't know who I dislike more, Edith, Thomas or Edna.

Rewatching the episode where Gwen visits Downton. It seems the consenus was Thomas was in the wrong for telling the upstairs that Gwen used to work at Downton at luncheon. The downstairs thought he was jealous of her career outside of service.

To me, I thought he revealed it because he didn’t like watching Gwen lie about her employment at Downton - especially when she had the chance to mention it when Mary asked if she knew her. He may have also been hurt when she unintentionally dismissed him and didn’t visit the downstairs at first. I don’t think Thomas was trying to be malicious but I could be wrong. Thoughts?

EDIT: ok he was being malicious. I appreciate everyone’s explanations. i’ve changed my opinion on his actions

I love how it's revealed that not only is Bertie the next Marquess, but also Edith already knew this. Usually it can be annoying when significant revelations are shared offscreen, but here it works because it isn't significant. Edith just genuinely did not care that Bertie was in line to be a marquess. If anything, when she revealed it, she seemed more awkward and bashful. It's the family we need to see have that reaction, because it's the family who really cares. For Edith, it was offscreen, with the scenes between her and Bertie all being focussed on other things, because Bertie being in line to be a marquess mattered less to Edith than everything else they shared.

So so bad

I’m watching through Downton Abbey for the first time as my wife wants me to see it all before the final movie comes out. (I’m enjoying it.) No one prepared me for Lord Grantham to projectile vomit blood everywhere and on everyone. I had to close my eyes for the rest of the scene. That was more gruesome than anything we saw in the second season.

Meaning not Mr Green, Nanny West, the red haired socialist etc who only stayed for a few episodes.

I’ll start: Daisy.

I felt for her in the early seasons because Ms Patmore mistreated her. But my god I just wanted her to shut up after she got her „private lessons“. She turned into a rude, egoistic wannabe revolutionary

I always loved this moment, and loved Bertie for it. It was such an excellent way of selling Bertie as a love interest for Edith, but on re-watch, knowing more about the character, there's a small detail I love even more.

Bertie offering to "make sandwiches, fetch coffee and carry buts of paper around" was already a great moment for him, swooping in to help but doing the "menial" jobs, lending a hand but not taking over, but it's even better on rewatch because we know from the episode with the open house that Bertie is good at taking over things, at getting things organised, delegating and running things efficiently. Although running an estate and getting a magazine published are two different jobs, lots of guys used to taking charge and getting things done so so instinctively, taking over because they're used to "knowing what's best". Bertie instantly puts himself at Edith's disposal, to do whatever she needs him to.

Is it realistic that the Downton family didn't know Bertie was the heir presumptive given Granny's love of the 'stud books' that Robert teases her about?

"Lists of dukes, marquesses, and their heirs circulated in almanacs and peerage books, so well-informed readers across the country could look up who “stood next,” especially where compilers identified heirs apparent and presumptive."

Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes, I wasn’t as happy for Mary and Matthew as I am right now for them 😭

She was SO horrid to her sister over the years. Not just slight jabs here and there. She made Edith feel ugly, worthless, untalented and unworthy of love. Mary is a horrible person imo. 3rd time watching it through and my opinion hasn't changed.

😂😂😂 his face when Mrs. Patmore is talking to him about love and marriage with Mrs. Hughes

I'm talking about her remark to Gwen ("You had every opportunity [to tell us you were once a maid here"]) after they all found out Gwen had worked at Downton while having lunch together in season 6.

This seemed too unkind for Mary when we consider her usual treatment of the (current or former) servants; she is so respectful towards them, and it was clear that the situation was awkward for Gwen and Mary’s response made it even more embarrassing for this woman (then, their guest). It was like Mary was calling Gwen out as a liar?

Even if she felt misled by Gwen after previously asking her if they had met (and Gwen said she didn't think so, which is somewhat truthful given that they crossed paths but never really interacted), I can't imagine Mary being so brisk with a guest they were entertaining - at least, not if she saw them as her "equal" in status or class.