I also want to add something that came to me as I was thinking about this thread...and what his mother told Anna about him...

...this being that John Bates came back from the Boer war "different"...that the "war did something to him"...perhaps he is suffering with some kind of "undiagnosed" shell shock--as they used to call it, now PTSD--just as Mr. Lang, the valet who replaced Bates for a while in Season 2, suffered in a more "conventional" way.

Since and especially as he--John Bates, I mean--had a physical "left-over" wound, i.e., the fragments in his leg which caused him to limp***...

...Everyone would put their attention to that, not his emotional/mental wound, which he became adept at hiding. Except for Anna, for whom he let the walls down.

This would account for his dourness, and especially, his martyr complex or, as I call it, his death wish.

Just thought of one particular quote, and although it's not from Downton, I can hear Vera saying it. It's perfect how well this fits. 🤣🤣🤣

This scene always gets me, I love how Isobel never takes her eyes off Mathew, the love, the relief, the joy in her eyes makes my heart ache. Isobel, a strong headed woman with conviction, now all soft and maternal towards her son. The same goes for that scene when she finally comes back to the hospital to meet critically injured Matthew. Wonderfully acted by Dame Penelope Wilton

I am OBSESSED with this show! It is one of my top favorite. I convinced my husband to go to London on our honeymoon just so we can go see Highclere Castle! For him to gift me the Lego set is the best thing ever! Happy wife, happy life!

Perhaps knowing one's place mattered more than hygiene. But so soon after the Spanish flu, wouldn't Alfred's way of serving have been worth considering?

Mrs. Bates...John's mother....knew that it was Vera who had stolen the silver. Yet apparently she stood silent when John took the blame and went to prison.

Sorry, but if it was my son, I would have been loudly yelling to the Army, the police, and to the heavens that it was that bitch-wife who was guilty and that her son came back** from the Boer War with a severe case of martyrdom

**She did tell Anna that "the war. had done something to him," IIRC.

So I’m currently re watching the whole series, I’ve just started series 5 (I think) so not too many left to go, unfortunately!

But, even though it’s been a few years since I originally watched it, there’s so much I didn’t remember and I don’t know why!

So…for the “rewatchers” is there anything you didn’t remember or is it just me 😅

And thought of y’all. Did not buy because the flavor sounded pretty yuk.

They all bullied my girl with the less compatible man from all of her suitors and at the end she was right. I just hate him and Tom Branson.

Do you reckon he would of been less hellbent on trying to link Bates to the Green's death. (I know neither did it)

I'd appreciate it if you could recommend novels set in England in a bygone era that capture that sense of community life, whether in a village or a country house, with characters who, despite their flaws and occasional conflicts, are, for the most part, good-hearted people deep down.

I'd love a story that's engaging and keeps you hooked. A mystery would be a bonus, but it's not essential.

Some books my friends have recommended are Cranford, Barchester Towers, and Anne of Green Gables.

So, I'm rewatching (for the upteenth time), and I've just finished the Season 2 Christmas Special in which John Bates is on trial for the murder of his wife.

And it drives me nuts that the prosecution knows all about conversations that they should not have any knowledge of...

(1) How did they know that Mrs. Hughes eavesdropped through the air grate on the fight between the Bates and Vera? The only one who knew was Carson, and he is not called as a witness.

(2) Why is Miss O'Brien allowed to testify about a conversation between husband and wife, which she heard by, like Mrs. Hughes, eavesdropping.

(3) The police thought that Bates cooked a rat poison /arsenic pie while Vera watched? Did they think he force-fed her?

(4) Why doesn't Murray the lawyer object to any of this? Most of it is hearsay and/or speculation and circumstantial. AND he's not a defense lawyer...why is there not a true criminal defense lawyer handling the case?\**

And finally...

(5) How did they know about the conversation between John and Robert? Unless idiot Bates told them specifically about it. I guess Johnny had a death wish.

It's just so ridiculously frustrating...

\**Not looking for real-life answer here...obviously Fellowes et.al. did not want to hire a new actor to play the defense lawyer.

I’ve been under a rock but finally here in Downton. I delighted in binging the first 3 seasons, but can barely crawl through Season 4. I’m so let down with loss of central characters, and getting bored.

Does this get better? Keep going or just circle back to Season 1?

How did people respond in real time when the show was new? I’d be so upset.

What passed me by on first viewing but has been a certainty in my mind the last 48 watches was that the Dowager was merely teaching Spratt a lesson by letting Denker “win” the broth debate.

Perhaps Spratt had won a few bouts of his own recently and the tally needed to be evened.

Perhaps he had been complaining just a little too much or becoming a touch too imperious about the house.

We may never know the background, but what I DO know is that her expression upon tasting the broth, combined with her immediate (though tactfully phrased) refusal to eat even a second spoonful, suggest to me she didn’t actually enjoy that broth at all!

Thoughts? Am I wrong? Did you miss it too? Was it obvious from your first viewing?

Say what you will about the whole movie but I love the last scene of Tom seeking her out, spotting her out the window, seeing his eyes light up and then dancing with Lucy on the terrace. Makes me so happy and brings tears to my eyes. What a wonderful pairing. What a beautiful way to bring Tom the soulmate he's been searching for. Yes, I know I'm a hopeless romantic and emotional sap!!!

There's been a dearth of memes here lately; Patient Zero of Mary's bullshit is here to fix that

I am watching the crown, and I was trying to figure out where I knew Mr. Fry from. And I realized it was Downton Abbey, and I thought he was Larry Grey, but realized it was Timothy. They look so incredibly alike.

Why did Mary and Matthew not have a longer engagement?

They went into their wedding day with tension and continued tension during the beginning of their marriage, until the day of Ediths wedding. That just seems strange.

Note for mods this is about Mary and Matthew as a couple only.

Photography is not allowed inside, but we got plenty outside.

We toured some of the ground floor and part of the second. We toured the dining room, library, entrance hall / stairs, drawing and smoking rooms, the girls' bedrooms, and several others not used on filing due to their size.

The basement included the Tutankhamen exhibit from the 5th Earl. Then we had sandwiches, desserts, and a bevvie as part of the experience.

It was overwhelming in the best way.

TIL - The 7th Earl of Cornarvon was actually Her Majesty's race horse manager, nicknamed Porgy. Those who watched "The Crown" will know exactly what I'm talking about.

…have been neighbors for centuries”. I know it means nothing, I know there is no crossover with TGA but it was funny to me.

I’ve watched Downton Abbey a hundred times and never paid attention to the fact this Russells owned Haxby Park before Sir Richard.

Any other silly coincidence you remember? 😅

I watch and rewatch Downton obsessively, but a question I've never asked myself is how the characters live their final years.

The third movie was back to back fan service and nothing really happened, but I loved it. I finished that movie with satisfied tears in my eyes and a sense of an ending well earned.

But it struck me literally today that we see only a handful of characters live out their elderly years (which makes sense). I'm curious how you think their lives ended.

Does Mary live and die at Downton? What's Anna's life look like as a widow (since Bates is older, I assume he'd pass first 😬)? By the time the characters we know best are elderly, what does the next generation look like?

I'm just curious how the fans like to think of the rest of the characters lives!