Downton Abbey recap: series five, episode six – grand passion for the Dowager Countess
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Version 0 of 1. SPOILER ALERT: This blog is for people watching Downton Abbey series five. Don’t read on if you haven’t seen series five, episode six. Read Viv Groskop’s episode five blog here. This was a good episode. Maybe it was even a very good episode. Let’s call room service. Champagne and ice cream all round. “I’m sorry, Mr Aldridge, but you might as well know what we’re like.” What are they like? Usually they’re mad. But now and again, they just about pull it off. This outing worked brilliantly because finally some of the plot points reached fever pitch and nudged towards resolution. This gave rise to some mighty fine acting and the opportunity to see the real nature of the relationships between the characters. The bitching between Edith and Mary. The trust (misplaced?) between Anna and Bates. The deeply concealed passion between Dame Maggie and the Russian Silver Fox. The reluctant friendship between Cousin Violet and Cousin Isobel. The “I saw him first” rivalry between Lady Mary and the Lane-Fox woman. The prospect of Mrs Hughes and Mr Carson “investing in a property together” (code for getting married). There was a lot to get excited about here. I loved Sue Johnston as the new housemaid Denker: fantastic. Even if she was only on screen for about seven seconds. I loved Molesley as the new shining light in Daisy’s educational development. She’ll be climbing onto the kitchen table and shouting “Captain, my captain” before this series is out. And I adored the evil-henchman-Yorkshire-Frenchman-hairdresser: “At least she can carry it off. Most of them look like bald monkeys.” Well done to Dame Maggie and the Russian Silver Fox for their beautiful scene. “I wanted you from the moment I first saw you. More than any mortal man ever wanted a woman.” Blimey. We like the Russian way. Don’t sit on the fence. “You think to be unhappy in a marriage is ill-bred.” I’ll say this about Igor: his English is excellent. This was a poignant scene and a superb idea: let’s see what happens to Dame Maggie when she is exposed to grand passion. Almost impossible to act because of course, yes, Violet would be too repressed to react to the Russian (and in real life, she would not have gone to his horrible rooms and drunk his horrible tea). But wonderfully done. And too short. Likewise the Bates and Anne denouement. I was shouting at the screen, “Do not let him search for the button box! He will find the ill-defined contraceptive device!” And sure enough, Bates is convinced that Marie has put a Stopes to any baby Bates. (Sorry.) But then it all came out about the ticket stub and they both melted and ... well, it was spectacularly acted. I can’t remember now what happened to the ticket. Didn’t Mrs Hughes burn it? Anyway. Wonderfully done. Too short. Bit of a pattern emerging here. Let us not forget the most important thing that happened all episode, however. ISIS IS LISTLESS. Has she eaten a dead squirrel? Did Richard E Grant kick her on his way out? Or have her voyeuristic ways finally caused her moral turpitude to poison her from within? I sense an impending case of canine calamity. Random subplot alert And, at last, we know the truth about Thomas. He has been injecting saline solution into his hindquarters. I worried about Thomas letting Dr Death near his injury (remember what happened to Sybil?). But Dr Death was on his side. “The purpose of which was?” “To change me. To make me more like other people. Other men.” “I’ll not be coy and pretend I don’t understand ...” Dr Death says Thomas must accept his burden. We still don’t know why he needed the soup spoon. Surprise character development At last, Edith actually does something. I actually gasped when Mrs Drewe ripped up the birth certificate. Excellence from Mrs Drewe (Emma Lowndes). But I don’t think Mrs Drewe would have accepted Marigold being taken away. She would have punched Edith. Leaving that aside, this was a great scene. Although I am slightly worried about how Edith is going to be the new Robert Maxwell and run her newspaper empire if she has to be in hiding with an ice-cream-addicted impostor child. Details, details. I’m sure Uncle Julian will work it out. He has a whole two more episodes in which to do this. Golden eyebrow of the week award It’s an easy one this week. The award goes to Dame Maggie for her reaction to the hideous Russian tea. She could hardly bear to look at the glass, let alone hold it, let alone drink it. A secondary award for the Best Combination of Eyebrow and Gulping goes to Edith for her performance at the breakfast table, digesting her unfortunate telegram. A special nod goes to Spratt and his mention of “the smaller items” and “refusing to wash your ... things.” It was like he was being castrated. Which, considering he is Dame Maggie’s butler, is probably apt. Excuse me, could you just repeat that awkward line of dialogue? • It’s a Cousin Violet special this week: “Oh, it is you. I thought it was a man wearing your clothes.” Dame Maggie is not a fan of the handiwork of the Yorkshire Frenchman. • “I always feel more comfortable leaving the past in the past.” If this were true, then why visit the Russian Silver Fox in his dodgy digs? I have a feeling Cousin Violet may yet yield to the temptations of the flesh. Provided Denker washes her smalls in time. • “I blame the war. Before 1914, no one thought about anything at all.” Thinking is indeed overrated. Which is why, until tonight’s episode, no one had put much of it into this series at all. Still, better late than never. Next week There’s love in the air! Atticus is holding Rose’s hand under the table. Cousin Isobel is finally ready to declare her engagement to Lord Merton. And Mary is being forced to kiss one of her ill-defined suitors in front of Granny. I think it was Charles Blake. But it could so easily have been the other one. Christmas episode prediction: four weddings and a dog funeral. |