Reviews

Downton Abbey: Season 5 Episode 7 Review

On last night's Downton Abbey, Isobel announces a proposal while Rose accepts one. Here’s our review...

By Carly Rhodes | February 16, 2015 | | 0

This review contains spoilers for Downton Abbey.

The biggest storyline of the evening might have been going to find Edith and bringing her home with Marigold, but it was so convoluted and clumsy and it was hard to watch how no one bought her story of who Marigold was and why she was moving in. Isobel’s fiancé Lord Merton invites his sons to dinner at Downton to be there for their big announcement, but they quickly overshadow that with their bad behavior.

TAKE US FROM THE TOP:

Rosamund arrives to help find Edith/hide Marigold/confuse the Drewes even more, but only after letting Cora in on the secret she should have figured out months ago. Tony Gillingham and Charles Blake discuss Lady Mary in a secluded location on the grounds. This is like the 10^th time they’ve done this, so if this were a telenovela, they would have kissed passionately and revealed they only talk about Lady Mary as an excuse to meet in secret, and they would adopt Thomas as an alternate lover and live together by the sea in France. But this is no telenovela, so instead they just hem and haw like two old biddies.

BEST SCENE OF THE NIGHT:

Enter Lord Merton’s eldest son, Larry. You may remember him as the one who drugged Tom’s drink the night before Matthew and Mary’s wedding. Well he and his bad manners that would give Miss Bunting a run for their money are back to dine at Downton again, and he creates such a scene that Tom stands up and tells him to leave while calling him a bastard. And…wait for it… LORD GRANTHAM AGRESS WITH TOM AT THE DINNER TABLE. That might be a Downton first.

BIG CLOSER:

After knowing Rose 8 or so days, Atticus proposes to Rose in a dimly lit hallway in Downton as more of an afterthought to dinner. Then I lost control of my sinuses snotting all over myself when Robert carried Isis into Cora and his bedroom announcing that he isn’t mad at Cora, just wants to sleep with Isis tonight so he will sleep in his dressing room. Cora pulls back the covers and invites them both to sleep in the marital bed and they both pet her and love on her and I might electrocute my keyboard with tears. (Is that how electricity works?) It was a very touching scene but makes me wonder why Robert isn’t capable of showing that much compassion or comfort to his daughter Edith.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS OF RANDOM MOMENTS IN THE EPISODE:

“My dear, a lack of compassion can be as vulgar as an excess of tears.” – You tell her, Lady Grantham! Lady Mary continues to roll her eyes at Edith all episode, but I feel that Lady Mary’s stink eye has softened this season into a more delicate, nuanced, stink eye that she uses in every scene she’s in. It’s my favorite thing besides the Lady Grantham’s quips.
Goodbye, Mable Lane Fox. May Tony Gillingham wow you in the bedroom in a way he did not Lady Mary
I could just tear up all over again thinking of Violet missing her newish friend Isobel and Robert missing his old friend Isis.

I give this episode of Downton Abbey 4 out of 5 stars. I loved seeing the softer sides of Robert and his mother, the Dowager Countess, admitting that she will be lonely with Isobel gets married. Once again, I can’t believe we are still toying with this Bates storyline – can’t we focus on anyone else downstairs? I want to see advances in Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes relationship, see Thomas become a nicer person or learn to love himself a little more, follow Daisy and Molesely’s storyline a bit more, anything but the Bates’ whispering about that freaking unused train ticket.