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New Show Recap: Downton Abbey, Episode 5×03

Hey there, cats and kittens! Time for another recap of Downton Abbey. Hopefully you have your cup of tea and your helping of spotted dick ready for this one.

Mary and Lord Gilliam wake up in bed after a night of passion at the hotel in Liverpool, and they seem to be happy with the time they’ve spent together. They have breakfast together and Tony acts like a pickup artist. There is something more to this guy than he’s letting on. He keeps talking about getting married, and she lays down the law with him that nothing is going to happen until everything is properly announced.

Mrs. Patmore is sad because Daisy found out she’s good at math, and it could mean something good for Daisy. Thomas makes a telephone call to answer an advertisement in a magazine. Rose is in York with the Russian emigres and expects to return to Downton Abbey soon. Miss Bunting has tea with Branson and states that she feels Daisy ought to take the national exams so she can make something of her life regardless of whether it interferes with her work at Downton Abbey.

The constable comes to discuss his investigaton further with Carson, and it turns out that a young woman who had gone to meet her lover in the square had seen Mr. Green right before the accident. She claims she heard Green ask someone, “Why have you come?” She did not bring it up until now because she had dismissed his death as an accident, but she had been unable to forget it. Green had also complained of a quarrel while he was at Downton and told Lord Gilliam’s other servants about it. Carson said Green was kind of a jerk during his stay and that he took huge issue with it. Mrs. Hughes does not remember anyone giving Mr. Green an issue, either.

Mary returns to Downton Abbey. Just as Cora and Edith are asking her about her trip and her sketches, Branson comes to the rescue with a proposal from a buyer who wants to purchase a section of land and build a residential neighborhood called Pip’s Corner and widen the road so that drivers would have better access to the village. Robert is against it, but Branson points out that they would get a cut from the sale of the houses. The nanny brings George and Sibby in to see Mary and Branson, and Edith seems really bummed that her niece and nephew can spend time with the family in person and that she has to keep Marigold a secret.

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Rose is in York with the Russian emigres, and she enters into a conversation with a Mr. Koragin. She asks him about his past in Russia, which he is dismissive of, since that life is done and he is a florist now. It’s a very sad scene, and you feel sorry for the former Russian nobles.

Mrs. Patmore approaches Mrs. Hughes about having her nephew, Archie, included in the village war memorial. Mrs. Hughes promises to speak to Carson about it, since Archie was shot for cowardice during the war. Carson is unable to persuade the committee to allow this, though he sympathizes with her. Carson isn’t encouraging of Daisy’s endeavors, but Mrs. Hughes tells her to see where they will take her.

Lady Mary’s secret is out! Spratt, Lady Violet’s butler, was in Liverpool and saw Mary there with Lord Gilliam. Violet covers for Mary and says that they had attended a conference for landowners of the northen part of England, and Gilliam had thought the conference would help Mary. Nice save, Violet! But Violet knows exactly what happened, and when Mary visits her for tea, she lays into her and demands why she allowed Lord Gilliam to seduce her, but Mary insists that she had been a willing participant and that they were careful to prevent a pregnancy. Mary assures Lady Violet that while she wants to marry Lord Gilliam, she wants to make sure she is making the right choice.

Mrs. Hughes and Anna meet privately, and Mrs. Hughes tells Anna about what the constable had discovered. Anna freaks, since they never told Bates that Green was the one who had raped Anna. Anna thinks that Bates could be indicted for murder again, and she is also scared that the truth about the rape will come out. I think she’s more scared of Bates than anyone else.

Rose and Isobel make plans to take the Russians to the Bronte house in Howarth and to invite them to visit Downton. Robert mentions that they ought to get out the souvenirs his parents got when they went to see the Prince of Wales marry the Russian grand duchess in 1874. Cora has plans to go to London to see more of the della Francesca paintings with Mr. Bricker and to also take care of business, and Robert can’t go. Edith is watching Marigold again, and Cora remarks about it.

Thomas tells Carson that his father is ill and that he is going to visit him. Bates and Anna discuss going away together, and Anna wonders if he wants to leave and start over somewhere else, which he finds to be odd. Baxter tells Cora about the details of the theft of the jewelry. A footman by the name of Coyle coerced Baxter into stealing the jewels. Coyle took the jewels and disappeared, leaving Baxter to take the blame.

Anna and Mary discuss the trip to Liverpool, and Mary asks Anna to hide the cervical cap and the book in the cottage so no one in the house will find it. Anna feels uncomfortable about it, but does so anyhow. Anna and Mary also discuss the constable’s visit. Mary assures her there can’t be any evidence against Bates since she burned it during the last Christmas episode. Bates asks Anna about what she’s carrying in the bag, and Anna replies it’s a private affair of Mary’s that she’s keeping for her. Bates interprets this as Anna putting him off, but it’s clear that Anna is preoccupied with the details of the constable’s visit and what Bates might have done. The constable interviews Bates and Bates has an alibi for the murder, though the police need to follow up. Mary and Mrs. Hughes are concerned that the constable might find out what they know: that there’s still a way Bates could have killed Green.

Cora and Sumner Bricker visit the art museum to see more della Francesca paintings, and Bricker is intrigued by how Cora seems to really understand the paintings. It seems that Cora may have had a passion for art history all along and she’s finally around someone who shares her interests. She has dinner with Bricker and she tells him about her youth and the first time she came to London as an American debutante. Bricker seems to be enchanted by Cora, and invites her to spend the day with him again. Cora arrives back at Rosamond’s house to find Robert there waiting for her; his meeting had been cancelled and he had thought to go to London to surprise her and take her out. Robert is furious and jealous of the time Cora spent with Bricker, but Cora stands up to him and tells him that Bricker is interested in her opinions about the paintings. Like Robert wasn’t when she asked him about the Pip’s Corner land deal and he basically foisted her off of the subject by telling her not to concern herself with it. Robert thinks he’s entitled to be cross about the whole thing, but Cora points out that he was unfair by basically telling her that she was stupid and that her ideas and opinions didn’t matter.

Edith’s visit with Marigold does not go so well, and Mrs. Drew is tired of Edith coming around and spending so much time with Marigold. Tim tells her that she’s being ridiculous, but he knows he will need to yield to his wife eventually. A few days later, Mr. Drew tells Edith that they must respect his wife’s wishes and that she must stop coming around to see Marigold so much. Edith rushes upstairs, heartbroken and in tears.

Branson and Mary discuss how Edith has been distracted, and they begin to talk about how they’ve both been preoccupied, too. Mary tells Branson about the time she spent with Tony and that she really isn’t that into him. The subject is avoided, but it seems Tony was a lousy lay. Mary tells Branson she supports his decision to go to America, though she does not like Miss Bunting.

The day of Rose’s tea for the Russians arrives, and Rose is very excited. Tony arrives unannounced and joins the tea. Mary takes a chance to talk to Violet so she can get away from Tony, but she tells Violet she’ll do things on her own terms when it comes to Tony. Rose mistakenly invites Miss Bunting to tea with the Russian emigres, which is a horrible idea. Miss Bunting gets into it with the Russian emigres about how the czar was misguided in his policies, and the emigres are upset. Cora comes to the rescue with mention of the mementoes from the wedding they attended in Russia. Violet sees the fan among the items and begins to tell the story of the night she received it from a Russian prince, Prince Keragin, who is now Mr. Keragin. Violet almost tears up when she meets him and makes the introductions. Mary and Violet discuss it, and now that Mary knows about Keragin, she knows that her grandmother understands her predicament more than she lets on. When they get into the car, Isobel teasingly asks Violet when she’s going to see her admirer again. Violet doesn’t answer, but it’s clear that we’re going to be seeing more of Prince Keragin.

And that’s it for this week, folks! Episode 4 is next week, so stay tuned!

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