For those viewers distressed by the downbeat tone of Downton Abbey’s final regular episode (happiness snatched from Lady Edith’s grasp yet again!), fear not: the series bows out with this plot-packed two-hour special that ties up all the loose ends in a great big Christmas bow (it was aired over the holiday period in the UK), with four budding romances, three new jobs, two engagements, and a birth in Lady Mary’s bed. I felt it was right to finish on her“, he said. Edith tells her family that she has more or less resigned to the life of a spinster. Well, except for Mr. Carson who has come down with a bad case of the shakes and will have to turn over his head butler duties to Thomas. Thomas finally got a new job and left Downton Abbey, but he was super bored. I admit I was anxious once Carson’s hand started shaking. Hugh Bonneville will also be in the miniseries The Hollow Crown.
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Not all of the beats were wholly convincing, such as the contortions involving Daisy (Sophie McShera), or the flirtation somewhat abruptly created for Mrs. Padmore (Lesley Nicol). Daisy also chose to move to her father-in-law Mr. Mason’s farm.
“Even good things come to an end”, Barrow said upon his departure, one of several lines tinged with a knowing sense of both hope and melancholy, from the final chorus of “Auld Lang Syne” to the last word (spoken, appropriately, by Maggie Smith’s Dowager).
DEGGANS: Every time I hear it, (imitating British accent) I want to talk in an English accent. As Edith praises him for his marriage and fashion advice, Miss Denker (Sue Johnston) listens at the door. “And my entertaining”, Violet told Spratt. Later on in London, Edith recieves an invitation for dinner at the Ritz from Rosamund. And that is true, but Mary still hatches a plan to reunite Edith and Bertie. Everyone is fine keeping this from Bertie’s judgmental mother.
Perennially always-a-bridesmaid, Edith got her grand and glorious wedding day. It’s no spoiler to note that the story of Robert James-Collier’s underbutler Thomas Barrow has arced from scheming antagonist to wounded victim over the show’s run. I leave as a man. Robert eventually decides to bring Barrow back as butler, and suggests that Carson continue to reside at Downton.
For Edith, it was finally the time for her to be happy after a series of unfortunate events.
Will Isobel punch Lord Merton’s terrible daughter-in-law Amelia in the face (or get some similarly satisfying revenge)? But Isobel and Violet rescue him.
Mary’s former mother-in-law, Mrs. Crawley, made the decision to marry Lord Merton, a family acquaintance, and Mary’s husband, Henry, and her brother-in-law, Tom, chose to start a business for used cars. He’s made even more happy by the news that Mary is pregnant with their child. Though initially he resented it, now he realizes how lucky he is to have such a woman for a wife.
Plus, Tom Branson seemed rather taken with Laura Edmunds, the editor of Lady Edith’s magazine. Mr. Molesley, the other footman turned-school teacher, received an offer to teach full time and resigned from service at Downton Abbey.
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Their brushes with the law behind them, Anna Bates (Joanne Froggatt) and John Bates (Brendan Coyle) welcomed a son on New Year’s Eve, delivering in the very bedroom where Anna spent so many years fixing Lady Mary’s hair. “But in principle, those of us who have given many years of our lives over to the show would be keen to do it if we could make it work”, Neame said.
