Downton Abbey's fourth run has been the series of Big Social Themes. First there was rape, then there was race, and now comes abortion (not that, in keeping with the English tradition of linguistic whitewashing, any of those three words have yet been uttered on screen). This week saw the return of Anna's attacker, Lady Rose snogging Jack Ross on the Thames, and Lady Edith pull a Juno by fleeing the abortion clinic and deciding to continue with her socially unacceptable pregnancy. Jollying up the heaviness of all that was this week's really big news: the pigs are here! But what's this? Some of them are dying of thirst? Hey, ITV, that wasn't the deal. We wanted frolicking piglets and adorable pastoral whimsy, not an Archers Halloween special. No fear though, because Lady Mary and dashing iconoclast Charles Blake were on hand to revive the little blighters (whither the much-discussed pig-man when you need him?). We were even treated to a "saved our bacon" pun, which was evidently judged not at all infra dig for the series. Lady Mary continued to sort through her suitors like an interwar version of Blind Date. 'I once spent a night trapped under the corpse of my first lover. How would you make our first date unforgettable? That question goes to number two.' 'As a hanger-on hoping you'll eventually settle for a loveless union, I'd hang on your every word until there's nothing you love less than being apart from me!' poor Evelyn Napier might chortle, before going out to the barn to end it all with a hunting rifle. With the reappearance of the much-dishier Tony Gillingham and an about-turn performed by Blake, Evelyn's competition for Mary's affection is now stiffer than Cousin Matthew. Robert's absence was the catalyst needed to bring news of Anna's rape above stairs, as Mrs Hughes (evidently "the one for a secret" only so far as she's quick enough to divulge them) pressed Lady Mary to allow Bates leave from the overseas trip. Now that Bates has had his suspicions confirmed, reprehensible Green's days appear to be numbered. Might it be someone other than him who deals the fateful blow though? Mrs Hughes looked ready to kill in that boot room confrontation, and who'd have blamed her should one of those walking sticks have accidentally fallen on Green's skull once or ten times? Let's see Mrs Patmore chop him up for a pie Titus Andronicus-style, or Isis go for his throat to show him what the women of Downton are really made of.
Review of Episode #4.7
