Downton Abbey (TV Series) Episode #5.4 (2014) User Reviews

Past Collides

[jpismyname · 9/10 · 7 January 2018]

The Dowager Countess finally reveals a part of her colorful past, when she almost ran away with a dashing prince. I really love Maggie Smith, such a very talented actress. Just a simple body language and it has so many meanings, she's really great.

Dr. Merton finally proposes to Isobel Crawley. Will she accept?

Anyway, Cora goes out to see beautiful paintings with Simon the artist in London. We also know more about Cora here as she gives tidbits of detaila of her life before marrying Robert. Robert is jealous of Simon. Has he the right to be jealous? I remember that he made out with a maid!

So Baxter reveals more about why she stole those jewelries, all because of a condescending handsome footman, whom I can imagine is another exact version of Barrow, who forced her to commit theft and give all the things to him. Cora, a very classy and understanding and probably one of the kindest human beings on Earth, decides that she wants to keep Baxter as her lady's maid after all.

Lady Mary decides not to marry Tony after all, and she tells him face-to-face. Am I the only one who dislikes Lady Mary since the beginning of the show? Well, maybe.

Your old beau, Prince Thig a ma Jig.

[mark.waltz · 10/10 · 3 February 2022]

There's a great confrontation between Robert and Miss bunting when she is invited to dinner and precedes to create trouble at dinner, using her socialist views to confront him over her educating of Daisy in the kitchen. It's an awkward scene when Daisy and Mrs. Patmore have to come up and explain what's going on. Daisy's motivations in wanting to become educated maybe great, but the way it's written is rather annoying. This visit occurs while Rose's father, "Shrimpy", is there, having announced that he's divorcing Susan, Rose's harpy of a mother. Then there's Lady Violet, dealing with the appearance of an old acquaintance, a Russian prince she apparently considered running away with. She tells Isabel the truth, further cementing their friendship and becoming important do to Isabel's growing romance with Lord Merton.

I don't think a great estate it is the place for a stranger to confront the owner over his old-fashioned beliefs while promoting socialism. Miss Bunting obviously wasn't destined to last for a long time, and she doesn't really have any chemistry with Tom Branson in the first place. There's a difference in attitude between Thomas Barrow and Miss Baxter, mainly because she can sense because of his mood swings that something physically is wrong with him and wants to help. He's very flip about it, but it's obvious that he will eventually have to confide in her the truth.

Cousin Rosamund appears briefly, escorting Mary to a fashion show, and there's a conversation between them for her what's going on between Edith and the young little girl, something that perplexes Mary. All the gradients are flowing together in Mrs. Patmore's stew of plots going on in the great house, and threatened to boil over imminently. Unfortunately, there's really not much revelation about the real secrets of Lady Violet and the Russian prince, frustrating for those who were intrigued at the end of the previous episode. It's a very good episode highlighted by the confrontation at dinner, even though the character of Miss Bunting is one of my least favorites of the series. The most touching element of the episode is Mrs. Patmore pleading for understanding in regards to her late nephew who was executed for desertion, hoping that Robert will honor him by putting him on the Memorial Wall going up soon.

Grannie and the Russians

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 28 August 2020]

Violet meets a Russian man with whom she had an affair in her younger days. He was once a powerful prince but now is a victim of the revolution. Mary has an uncomfortable encounter with Gilllingham. Edith is internally hemorrhaging over her little child and things are very uncomfortable. That sleazy art historian is putting the moves on Cora and she is clueless. Once again, Robert has a serious clash with Miss Bunting who continues to stir things up, especially at the banquet table. Meanwhile, Anna is under surveillance as Bates is still under suspicion. Lots to digest.

Russians???

[moviesfilmsreviewsinc · 10/10 · 14 May 2022]

Edith is at least 50 years too early to be slapped with a restraining order for stalking her daughter, but she got as close as she could and will now belabor the ordeal for the rest of this season and into the next. Oh and Shrimpy is visiting. Because why the hell not. In the world of Downton Abbey, marriages are often strategic, not romantic. Throughout the series, many couples came together because they made a good, proper match. In some cases, love grew-but not always. This episode explores that fragility in relationships, but it also looks ahead, optimistically. Much of season 5 has been about changing times, and you can bet your bottom quid that that translates to the world of love and marriage.

Hugh "Shrimpy" MacClare, Rose's father and Robert's cousin-in-law, visits Downton to tell his family that he and his wife, Susan, are getting divorced. And, you know, in 1924 Edwardian society, divorce is kind of a big freaking deal. Rose takes the news as a valuable learning lesson and tells her father that she won't be bullied into a suitable marriage. (Basically, she doesn't want to end up like her parents.) Rather, she only wants to marry if she's totally, absolutely in love. It seems Mary is in this camp as well. Just a couple episodes back, she thought Tony could be the one. She even decided to go on a romantic rendezvous with him, risking her reputation to explore her feelings. The trip made her sure all right-sure that he's not the one. This episode, Mary headed to London to attend a dress show with Rosamund. While in town, she met with Tony to call things off, and he doesn't take it well at all. He thinks Mary's trying to tell him he's bad in the sack, but it's quite the opposite. Mary doesn't think he's a bad lover. Instead, she thinks that there isn't much there between them aside from sex-they just don't have enough in common. Not to mention, he's too vanilla, too nice, until he isn't. "I refuse to believe that a woman like you, a lady, would give herself to a man without first being certain that he's the one," Tony says, shocked by the blow. He declares that they'll just have to work through it. And the discussion ends there, but odds are this can't, and won't, be resolved.