Cat: Good morning, Stephanie! This episode felt like a set-up episode to me. Jimmy got carted off so it’s likely a new servant character will be introduced soon, a witness to Green’s murder has popped up, and best of all, Cora has an admirer. It’s like the chess pieces are carefully being laid out and soon everyone will be rolling in high drama. I’m looking forward to this. At its best, Downton is poignant; at its worst, silly. And speaking of Downton at it’s best, the actress who plays Anna Bates won for best supporting actress at the Golden Globes last night. She did a wonderful job playing a battered and traumatized Anna last season.

Stephanie: I agree, the episode definitely had a transitional feel. I’m a little sad to see Jimmy go. The downstairs staff seems to be shifting quite a bit, though that mirrors the larger cultural changes of the times. I had to laugh that sad sack Molesley didn’t get the chance to enjoy his footman’s promotion (albeit by default of Jimmy leaving) since Mrs. Hughes and Carson all but told him footmen are a dying breed who may not survive the shifting aristocracy. He is now every footman, not simply first footman! As for Cora and her admirer, I’d noticed earlier in the episode how gracefully Cora diffused the feisty dinner conversation. She is such a pro, and often does not get recognition from her family for how well she manages social situations. I was also excited to see Anna in modern dress at the Globes! Very cool that she won, though a bit of a surprise given how many people viewed last season as problematic.

Cat: I was surprised she won too. In terms of only Downton and its cast, I’ve enjoyed her performances every time. She’s an actress with a talent for drawing on an audience’s empathy. I’ve been feeling that way about Laura Carmichael’s performances too. She plays Edith and it’ll be interesting to see what happens as Edith tries to involve herself in her daughter’s life. The outlook for that isn’t so hot and if things go south with the jealous foster mother, Edith may get even more desperate. And desperate characters make for deeply interesting ones. One of my favorite parts in this episode was Carson tutting about the wireless radio. He, like Lord Grantham, dreads modernization but it’s so much more easier to sympathize with him than Grantham. Perhaps it’s easier with Carson because he knows he’s fighting a losing battle- “life is not permanence but flux” he said in the last episode and that sentence sums up Downton’s entirety. Everyone is facing what modernity means and they’ve been forced to do since day one.

Stephanie: Yes, Carson and Lord Grantham’s differing responses to the dread of changing times is noteworthy. Carson seems much more adaptable, probably because of his position. He isn’t used to a leadership role beyond organizing the house staff, as evidenced by his bewildered reaction to being asked to head the memorial committee. Grantham literally lords over the town. Of course he fears change. Last week’s documentary on manners which aired post-Downton expressed how the aristocracy thrived on their traditions in a way to stay relevant. You can see Grantham hanging on for dear life through his spite at any hint of change. So funny when they all stood during the King’s speech over the radio. I also enjoyed how Carson reaffirmed to Mrs. Hughes he did not like when they disagreed. The second time he said it, after his opinion had changed to align with hers about the best place for the war memorial, his tone was far more affectionate, though still typically Carson. Mrs. Hughes was blushing! A very sweet moment, especially since the downstairs staff isn’t afforded many chances for those moments. And forget any chance for a romantic getaway a la Mary.

Cat: I think that we’re all hoping that Carson and Hughes will pursue a romance this season. Though how that would look, I don’t know. Perhaps we’re seeing it now- gentle phrases and Mrs. Hughes blushing. It was very sweet. And speaking of romances, it’s hilarious that Isobel is visiting her suitor, Lord Merton with the Dowager Duchess in tow! I still have hopes that Isobel will get together with the Doctor but they seem more like friends then possible lovers. I do wonder how it’ll play out in Merton’s pretty house with Violet eyeing people and spitting out lines at the couple. That would put a damper on any romance. And Mary’s romance has begun. Or has it? Blake popping up and saying Mary was smarter than Tony sowed some confusion for Mary. Way to undercut a rival. I bet Mary will start noticing she is smarter and she won’t be able to shake it no matter how hot the sex is. Poor Anna having to buy what I can only guess is a diaphragm. And running off before she can get directions! Let’s assume Mary knows what to do. ahem. I wasn’t so sure about Mary saying she’ll have to live closer with Tony then her grandparents had to live with one another. It’s not like Mary would move into a flat when she married Tony. I’m assuming she’d live pretty much like she’s been accustomed to with a big house and big rooms. No working class life for her. She may not have as many servants but having to live in close quarters? I don’t see it happening.

Stephanie: Mary is on to something with her observation about living in closer proximity to her husband, though it’s impossible for her to fully grasp just how much the times will change since she’s living in those times. Her physical space may stay the same if she continues at Downton, but the relationships between men and women are beginning to shift. Perhaps this is a bit of author intrusion on the writers part to have Mary speculate to this level on something I’m not sure she would be aware of. I think Mary wants the benefits of the aristocracy along with emerging freedoms. She might have turned her nose up at these things when Sybil was around, but Mary doesn’t exactly change on a whim. Poor Anna when Mary asked her to fetch her contraceptives. I assume it was a condom, since I find it unlikely a small village shop would carry a diaphragm, which even now are fitted by doctors. Still, Anna asking, “What if I’m recognized?” Oh, Anna. Mary doesn’t care. You’re married so it’s OK! Plus, she’s T-minus 12 hours until her sex trip, so chop-chop.

Cat: It’s funny they never actually say what form the birth control is. Do they even say the term “birth control”? It’s all “I have a book” and “here’s a picture” and everyone thinks about it and then looks stricken. That’s probably how it was too. You gotta wonder who was more open about family planning- upper class or the working class. Certainly the working class paid a heavy price in having child after child due to limited resources. Did you notice how no one is afraid of STDs on the show? And yet those times were rife with them as every time has been. And of course, any time there’s an allusion to Mary’s sex life, the shade of Mr. Pamuk floats into the room. Have she and Anna ever spoken about dragging that dead man out together? I wish! In my alternative universe for Downton, they have. But moving along, I was impressed by Mr. Baxter and Cora’s chemistry. The air fairly vibrates when they’re together. I didn’t know Cora had it in her. I also think those two have to the best chemistry of anyone on the show. Which really REALLY took me by surprise. It was completely unexpected. Who knew you could look at someone’s art in a sexually suggestive manner? And yet there it is.

Stephanie: As for other goings-on, I liked the moment between Anna and Thomas when she chatted to him about Jimmy leaving. Anna spoke to Thomas like a real person, and sympathized with his loss of a friend. We don’t often see the staff engaging Thomas beyond a defensive one-liner, mainly his own doing since he’s usually working some kind of hustle. It gives me hope we might see more of Thomas this season beyond his schemes. Getting back to Edith, I have to think the fostering mother of Edith’s child will call her out. It would be interesting if the family ends up using the child’s identity as leverage for something, and that’s how the truth comes out. While I get that secret babies have a very real history (leading to a legacy of romance novel plots), it’s heartbreaking that Edith’s own family does not know Marigold, and does not even know Edith had a pregnancy (other than the Dowager and her aunt). How sad that the family name is put above the needs of a child to be with her own family. I also hope we’ll get to see more of Edith’s complexity, and maybe even an attempted interest in her writing again, which seems to have dropped off since the scandalous baby drama.

Cat: I’d love to see Edith doing some writing too. I was disappointed when that disappeared last season. She does mention the wages she gets from writing in this episode but we never see her writing or working with the newspaper. The one person in the house making strides to better themselves is, oddly enough, Daisy. It was a touching moment with Mrs. Patmore stepping in and asking Miss Bunting to help teach Daisy. At this point in the show, I’d like to see Downton turn into the Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Patmore Show. Certainly Mrs. Hughes could run the whole house from a chair in front of the fire with Mr. Carson as her grumbling consort. Mrs. P would run the kitchen, make food and squashing (though ultimately mothering) the kitchen staff. I might be the only person amused by this but I stand by it. But besides Daisy, there is one upstairs person trying to be better and that’s Rose. She aiding immigrants in between schemes for a radio and she’s starting to feel more like Sybil.

Stephanie: Remember how insufferable Mrs. Patmore was in the early seasons? It’s sweet to see the care she has for Daisy, which is shown much more overtly now. I love how Daisy is taking on her own education. The support from Mrs. P and Mrs. Hughes is especially touching when earlier seasons showed them both as far more strict. They see the potential opportunities for Daisy, and I think they want her to have more, perhaps because that’s not the path for them. Though I’d argue they are all clever women, just limited with formal education. And Rose. Her well-meaning comment about how the Russians were shopping and partying with friends, only to be thrown in the jungle was very reflective of her position in life. But her heart is in the right place, and she’s questioning in a way that’s totally appropriate for her age. Very Sybil-like. Though the Dowager typically has my favorite lines, for this episode my favorite came from Carson. After Thomas rudely announced the cops had arrived, Carson deftly deals with the situation, noting to Thomas in a grumble, “Your scaremongering has not succeeded.” Ha!

Cat: That was a wonderful moment when Carson put Thomas in his place and then continued on with the cop. I hope we see more of Thomas as a human this season, like that moment you mentioned between him and Anna. There’s a lot of potential and we saw it the moment between them. Overall, this was a decent transitional episode and I look forward to what the season has in store, good or bad. So let’s hope Mary can manage a condom without a manual and that Grantham realizes Baxter is interested in his wife and not his dog. Till next time!

Catherine Eaton is a contributor to The Stake. Catherine is a writer living in a western suburb of Chicago. She blogs over at sparrowpost.com and enjoys foraging around the neighborhood in her spare time.

Stephanie Scott is a Young Adult writer living in the western Chicago suburbs. Library superfan, award-winning TV-binger, and she just might be your cat’s new best friend. She tweets at @StephScottYA.

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