Downton Abbey 6:6 Review

Time for another Downton. A less bloody one for once, which means my hope for a Downton/Game of Thrones crossover have been well and truly dashed. But that’s okay. I’ll get by.

Somehow.

This week’s episode was a generally fine Downton. Nothing jaw-droppingly awesome. Nothing that I could really dig my teeth into and complain about either, but that doesn’t mean I won’t give it the ol’ college try.

• Lord Grantham got better fairly quickly. And he’s reduced to sort of chilling in his room for the whole episode, which made me realize that being sick in pre-television days would have been just about the worst fate ever. (But they didn’t have the DMV, so I suppose it’s about sixes in the end.) He’s toned down a fair bit from his earlier days, and that’s fine by me.
• Violet has a fit when she’s usurped. An interesting plot, and one the entire family saw coming. I’m a bit stumped why no one thought to just tell her what was going to happen, though I get that they’re all scared stiff of her, so they just figured they’d postpone the inevitable. I keep waiting for Violet to have a heart attack and die, and I’m not convinced she’s still safe. These writers have a tendency to kill people in rather violent fashion, after all . . .
• Mary and her suitors: okay. Honesty time here. I can’t for the  life of me tell any of them apart at all. They’re all kind of good looking, dark haired guys. They blend together, and the only way I can even have a hope of remembering who is who is by their careers. The guy who helped with the pigs. Car boy. Gillypants the gigolo. This is actually probably my main beef with Mary’s suitors storyline. There’s been nothing to really make me care about it. (Well, other than hating Gillypants, and let’s all be glad he’s gone for good.) It’s like the writers spent their best stuff on Matthew, and now they’re just going “durrrrrr” for the rest of the plot. Sigh.
• Daisy. Downton needs a “very special episode” where we lose Daisy, tragically, in a baking accident. And everybody sniffs a little and wipes at the corner of their eye, and then life continues just fine at Downton.
• Carson is a jerk. Okay, writers. We get it. He’s a complete tool when it comes to being a husband. Do we really need to be reminded of it 50 times an episode? And just how long will Mrs. Hughes put up with him? I’m wondering if this is the setup for another murder investigation . . .
• The hospital continues to be one of the most non-riveting bits of television I’ve watched. It boils down to “Violet is being snippy. Perpetually.” FINISH IT ALREADY!
• The tour of the house, on the other hand, was hilarious. So interesting to see just how clueless the Downtonites were about their own home. They had the artwork up because that’s the artwork that’s always been there. They don’t question. Don’t think. They just inherit. Loved it!
• Thomas: this is actually one of the better plots of this season. Sure, the scene with him crying himself to sleep was a bit much, but I appreciate them taking the vile Thomas and having him try to improve and be better. It’s like a real-life Grinch story, except the Whos all decided to get even with the Grinch when he turned over a new leaf. Of course, some of it only works because it’s been so long since we had really evil Thomas. I wonder if I were bingewatching the show if this new Thomas would resonate at all with me. He did a lot of nasty things earlier in his life, remember . . .

Almost to the end of the show!