Downton Abbey (TV Series) Episode #1.3 (2010) User Reviews

Death does not take a holiday.

[mark.waltz · 8/10 · 23 September 2019]

The focus here is on single episode guest star Theo James as a dashing Turkish visitor who attempts to seduce Lady Mary and pays for it in the ultimate way. He utilizes the enamored Thomas whose unsuccessful pass at him results in blackmail. Bates deals with an attempt to fix his limp that could have had a nasty affect on his legs and confides in Mrs. Hughes about it. Brendan Patricks also guest stars as another attempted match for Mary (before the bloom goes off the Rose) and realizes how he is being used to ensure her future. Rose Leslie's maid Gwen shows an ambition to be something more than just a servant which brings out staff resentment, especially O'Brien's, while Joanne Froggatt (as Anna) offers her full support, giving youngest Crawley daughter Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay) something more to do than in the first episode but be window dressing. It sets up her character's future romantic storyline as she is revealed to be something more than just another mindless young heiress and makes her completely endearing.

It's interesting to note that even with her witticism's, Lady Violet (Maggie Smith) is not always the brightest feather on her hat when it comes to common sense, and while she is always funny irregardless of what she says, her comments on the ending for Pamuk make her dim witted even when sly in her cynicism. As far as the continued rivalry between sisters Edith and Mary are concerned, I find that Edith is far more worldly than her family gives her credit for, and with every insult that Mary has towards the middle sibling, I come to dislike Mary even more. Even with her situation concerning the good looking but lecherous Pamuk, I looked forward to her getting her comeuppance, and hoped that Edith would have a part in that. Then there's the angry Mrs. Pathmore whose constant snarking at Daisy indicates a motherly feeling that she hasn't yet been able to vocalize or show without words. Watching these play out gives hearts to a good majority of the characters even though certain ones remain totally despicable.

Right Turn

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 29 July 2020]

This episode features the Turkish Duke who is after Mary (an not in a nice way). What happens keeps people speculating. Anyway, some would find this quite comedic. Mr. Bates continues to develop as a character, and his attraction to Anna is continued. We are made privy to more of Thomas's shenanigans. His sexual orientation is out there right at the beginning. I had forgotten this the first time around.

Kemal Pamuk, a turkish diplomat :)

[CursedChico · 8/10 · 15 February 2021]

Kemal Pamuk, a turkish diplomat :)

There is no surname at that time.

And they call it turkey and istanbul. It is interesting. Turkey was found at 1923 with name of turkey republic. Before, it was ottoman empire until 1922. But geographically, that part is turkey for a long time.

Ottoman lost lots of lands at those years but their diplomats can go for such things to london :)

And i suspect maybe william did something so that he died.

It was really different.

A Scandalous Affair

[jpismyname · 10/10 · 17 December 2017]

Below stairs, the housemaid Gwen dreams of leaving service to become a secretary. Meanwhile upstairs, the family is visited by a handsome and charming Turkish man, much more to the delight of Lady Mary.

I am really impressed by this series. Michelle Dockery here is simply outstanding. That scene is really shocking.

This is a real show, PBS can make a hit show

[moviesfilmsreviewsinc · 10/10 · 14 May 2022]

This episode was all about social changes with many characters pushing and pulling at their station, or each other. One would think that of all the social classes in the Edwardian-era, that aristocrats know their place and what is destined for their lives. The working class can move up if they can, but a family born into a peerage has pretty much made it. This may apply to the men folk, but certainly not for the ladies unless they marry up. I was moved by Lady Mary's plight. She has come to the grim realization that she is powerless. A pariah. Her conversation with her cousin Matthew says it all. "Women like me don't have a life. We choose clothes and pay calls and work for charity and do the season, but really we're stuck in a waiting room until we marry." Lady Mary knows that her mother and grandmother's efforts to smash the entail are futile. Her father, Lord Grantham, has accepted the inevitable. She will not inherit nor be an heiress. She is frustrated and angry. Cousin Matthew has been accepted as the heir and is now the son that her father never had. "Matthew, Matthew, Matthew." (Shades of Jan Brady in the 1970's sitcom The Brady Bunch, whining "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.") Her mother isn't much help either. She thinks her daughter is a lost soul, and she is right. Mary took a lover with no thought of marriage. She is a ruined woman if it is made public. Ironically, I was reminded of a great quote from Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice by Mary Bennet. Set one hundred years prior to events in Downton Abbey, not much has changed in regard to woman's worth and reputations. Reputations are still brittle, as Lady Mary well knows, and her sister Lady Edith even more so. She will use Mary indiscretion against her for revenge. There is nothing more painful than sibling-icide. It's as old as Cain and Able, and just as ugly.

Funny yet dark

[darkdementress · 8/10 · 5 March 2021]

Ok i laughed when they were all moving the body.. i bet the actresses had a hard time not laughing too. But it sort of also brings up how people just limited their own lives.Imposing on woman. Treating 30-year-old women like slave children who can't make their own decisions and would be ruined if they had sex with someone..having to live at home until some man takes them off their parents' hands. Just pathetic I can't believe people ever lived like that!!

pure T. V. gold !

[robfollower · 10/10 · 5 April 2022]

Fellowes gives you smartly written characters Downton was lighting in a bottle ( Mr. Pamuk dying of a heart attack in series one in Lady Mary's bed) that was pure T. V. gold !

Big mistake about Turk

[NecipFazil · 1/10 · 15 August 2013]

At the time, was mentioned in this show, Turkish people had no surname in their full name. You can check Surname Law (Turkey)from From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia with referenced information. So, Kemal PAMUK is the perfectly wrong chosen as Turkish name for that period of time. I guess the name of Kemal was chosen because of Mustafa KEMAL Atatürk, the founder of Turkey, the leader of Turkish War of Independence and a commander at Gallipoli Campaign. Also the surname is also very famous for foreign people because Orhan PAMUK had been awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. PS The prize was very political and interesting prize for him after he said "One million Armenians and 30 thousand Kurds murdered by Turks".

Theo James

[vivianla · 3 January 2023]

Mary is put into a corset by Anna as her sister watches. Cora pops her head in. Two men and a Turkish man brought by one of the two come on their horses. Mary is dressed in her riding clothes and goes with them. Later when they are back for a meal, Mary is obviously charmed by the Turkish man played by Theo James. Theo later passionately kisses Mary in a room next to the bustling party and she is shocked. She tells him she will pretend his words were unsaid and that she will go be with her mother and sisters.

The gay man who helps Theo get dressed mistakes signs that he is invited to make a move. Theo is repulsed and tells the dresser to help him with the geography of the house or else he will tell the father of the daughters.

The gay man shows Theo to Mary's room where he goes in. Theo goes to Mary and embraces her while kissing her. He goes on top and she cannot resist his touch. Theo tells her not to worry - she will still be a virgin before marriage. She asks if he is proposing to her and he replies he is not as their families would not be happy. She asks if it will hurt and that she has never done anything before. Theo replies he knew she was a virgin just by looking at her in a seductive voice and proceeds to kiss her.

Mary wakes up Anna to tell her that Theo came into her room and he is now dead for some unknown reason. Anna says Bates cannot help lift Theo out of her room. They name some other people but know they are unreliable in keeping secrets. They decide to tell another person who has just as much to lose with the information. At first Mary thinks Anna means her father. Anna says no. They go to her shocked mother. The three of them carry Theo from Mary's room to his room. The kitchen maid sees them carrying Theo back to his room.

The staff are shocked that Theo passed away. They comment how you must live every day like it is your last. The gay man comments Theo really lived every day like it was his last and the women want to know what he means. The gay man tells the woman who helps Cora get dressed that he led Theo to Mary's room.