Good morning, Cat!

For the second time this season, you and I find ourselves unable to do our customary chat, and I confess I find myself a bit bereft. Whatever shall I do without your witticisms? But like Downton without Robert, who’s gone away on a mysterious errand to America, I’ll soldier on the best I can.

There were plenty of delightful storylines this week—including Isobel nursing a delirious (and deliriously funny) Dowager back to health after a bout of bronchitis, and Lady Mary romping in the mud with her latest love interest—but I want to talk about one of the serious ones first: Lady Edith’s almost-abortion.

Last week, we learned that Edith’s beau Michael Gregson had gone missing in Munich. Even worse, Edith is pregnant after a one-night stand with Michael. In this week’s episode, we find Edith planning to quietly terminate the pregnancy during a discreet visit to London. It’s not long before Aunt Rosamund finds out and insists on going with her niece. Ultimately, Edith backs down and decides to have the baby.

Any plotline having to do with abortion is bound to get scrutiny from both sides of the issue, and I’ve heard secondhand that some pro-life viewers are viewing the story development as affirmation of their view that abortion is never the right choice under any circumstances. It’s possible they’re right—it wouldn’t be the first time Downton Abbey evinced a conservative streak—but I just don’t see it that way. Yes, it’s true that Lady Edith ultimately decided not to terminate her pregnancy, but everything up to that point leaned more toward the pro-choice side of the argument: Rosamund’s pointing out that abortion at the time was both illegal and dangerous was a reminder of why safe and legal abortion is important, and Edith’s struggle over the right way forward shows just how agonizing such decisions can be in societies that give women few options—even women of some means, like Edith. Ultimately, of course, Edith’s decision not to have an abortion was just that, a choice. Isn’t that the point?

Moving on to somewhat lighter fare, while Edith was suffering with a difficult decision, Rose was blithely enjoying time with her secret sweetheart, the bandleader Jack. I call this storyline light, but that’s just because both Jack and Rose (apparently Julian Fellowes has never seen Titanic) are such effervescent characters—yet in spite of their cheeriness, their love story has the potential to turn dark, and quick. When they went on a boat ride and traded kisses under the bridge, I was reminded that in America at this same time, a black man kissing a white woman brought with it the danger of racist violence. Was it the same way in England? Perhaps we’ll find out—but allow me to hope that there’s no such peril in the episodes that lay ahead, and that these two lovebirds can find their way to a happy ending.

Speaking of romance, Mary’s suddenly got some prospects again—there’s Evelyn Napier, who seems interested, and Tony Gillingham, who didn’t much seem to want to talk about his betrothed. (Or is he married already? I can never keep track of these things.) But most of the heat this episode came from Charles Blake, with whom Mary previously traded barbs. Now, called into action to save some pigs from dehydration, the two of them get wet and muddy—and no, sadly, none of that previous sentence was double entendre. But it was nice to see Mary let her hair down, and even nicer to see her playfully smear mud all over Blake’s face. Her belly laugh when she saw how silly Blake looked was the happiest I’ve seen her in ages. Followed by scrambled eggs and wine in the kitchen? You can make your own choices, Mary, but I’m just saying—that would be a great story to tell the grandkids.

Moving once again to a darker storyline, Tony Gillingham’s presence at Downton means that someone else is back: his valet, and Anna’s rapist, Green. God, I hate this guy. When Mrs. Hughes confronted him and he claimed, as so many rapists do, that it was partly his victim’s fault for having too much to drink—well, forget Bates for a second, I would’ve loved to see Mrs. Hughes murder him on the spot. But Downton Abbey has other plans, I suppose—as much as Julian Fellowes likes to torture his characters, he likes to torture us, the audience, even more. The episode closed with a shot of Bates glowering at Green, seemingly putting things together at last. If so, the next couple episodes could be very interesting indeed.

Alas, I haven’t even touched on Isobel and the Dowager, Daisy and Ivy’s continued fighting over Alfred, or the lovely lady Tom ran into at that political meeting! This is hard work! I find myself feeling a bit like Blake, trying to carry all those buckets of water by himself—this really is a job for two! Here’s hoping that this time next week we’ll be back to mucking about in the myriad plotlines of Downton Abbey together.

In the meantime—where is that pig man?

Cheers,

Andrew