Three Up, Three Down: Downton Abbey, Season 5 Episode 6

Three Up

1. Lady Mary. Mary kind of hits the trifecta in this episode, as she adopts a controversial new haircut (a bob), gets to flaunt it (and her riding prowess) in front of Gillingham and Blake, and gets to be annoying about Edith finally learning that Gregson is dead. Almost a perfect episode for her.

2. Mrs. Hughes. She and Carson go with Mrs. Patmore for the final walk-through of the cottage she's buying with the money she inherited, which leads Carson to talk with Mrs. Hughes about buying a place for them to make rental income and eventually retire to. It's not clear if that's meant to be a personal proposal or strictly business, but it's the closest Mrs. Hughes has come in years to seeing her unrequited feelings for Carson be reciprocated, so let's take it.

3. Joseph Molesley. With Miss Bunting gone, Daisy is on the fence about continuing her studies. Molesley won't let her quit, and loans her a history book so she can continue. Molesley had designs on becoming a teacher but couldn't due to financial issues, so it's good to see him get a shot to live this out in some respect.

Honorable Mention: Prince Kuragin. He shares a moment with Lady Violet when she visits him to tell him that his wife is still alive. He talks about how much he wanted Lady Violet from the moment they first met, which might be an unusual topic of conversation given the news about his wife, but it's good to see him energized about something. That it may put Lady Violet in a bit of a state is a bonus.

Three Down

1. Thomas Barrow. His health continues to decline, so Baxter forces him to see Dr. Gregson, which means the doctor has joined the circle of people who know about Thomas's tastes. Anyway, it turns out that the anti-gay cure was simply saline, with the source of Thomas's illness an infection from the unclean needle used for the injections. On top of this, the investigation into Green's death reaches Baxter thanks to a letter Thomas wrote to Scotland Yard saying that Baxter has knowledge about his death. So he's been a total jerk and yet still gets kindness from Baxter, which just makes him more miserable.

2. Lady Edith. Finally learning of Gregson's death pushes Edith over the edge, as after a period of mourning she gets Marigold from the Drewes and takes off, only saying goodbye to Branson. We have no idea where she's heading, but at least she can finally be with her daughter.

3. Lord Robert. He continues to keep Cora at length given the whole Simon Bricker issue, and he's pretty much as insufferable as he's been all season. The issue with Cora gets resolved when she tells him to move back into their bedroom, unless he can say that he's never misled a woman about his intentions. He remembers his kissyface with one of the maids, and moves back into the bedroom. Also, Isis continues to be listless, which can't help his disposition.

Honorable Mention Anna Bates. Bates discovers Lady Mary's diaphragm stashed in the drawer that Anna hid it in so it wouldn't be found in the big house. This leads Bates to think that Anna is using it to avoid being impregnated by a murderer. This leads to a lengthy discussion about the device, and Anna swearing that it's not hers. He eventually says he believes her (not sure that's 100 percent true), but as a bonus we learn that Bates thought about killing Green, and even bought a ticket to London to confront him, but he didn't go. Which means Lady Mary burning the ticket actually destroyed the evidence of his innocence. So maybe Lady Mary isn't the big winner this episode?

Three Up, Three Down: Downton Abbey, Season 5 Episode 5

Three Up

1. Lady Rose. Struggling to get from a shop to the church that's hosting the Russian refugees, Rose is assisted by Atticus Aldridge, a young lawyer whose family emigrated from Russia in earlier times. She eventually learns from the refugees that Atticus' family emigrated during the pogroms. That Atticus is Jewish doesn't seem to faze Rose at all, and it's clear that the two of them are hitting it off, which is nice to see for once.


2. Tom Branson. While he's sad to see Sarah Bunting leave the village (she's taken another job, though her rough relations with the local gentry can't have helped), he is happy that she's reminded him of who he is. It's good to see Tom gaining some direction, even if it means he's going to move to America.

3. Baxter. She finally tells Molesley about her past, and he's as understanding as you might expect. It also helps Baxter continue to get out from under Thomas's influence, so a win-win for Baxter.

Honorable Mention: Charles Blake. He apparently has a plan for getting Tony Gillingham to finally give up on Lady Mary. And if it means he gets a shot with her, so much the better.

Three Down

1. Lady Edith. Things continued to deteriorate with the Drewes, and the situation is made worse when Lady Rosamund visits and learns that Marygold is no longer in Switzerland. And then the dowager countess learns of her secret great granddaughter, which just turns things up to 11. But we may finally learn that Gregson is dead, which is... good news?

2. Lady Cora. The inevitable advance by Simon Bricker comes to pass when he comes back to Downton to finish his work on that painting. Making it worse is that Robert, who has returned early from a dinner, catches Cora and Bricker in their bedroom. Cora wanted no part of Bricker's plan, and even to the extent that she can get Robert to believe that he still blames her for what's happened and being too blind to see it. There's a modicum of truth in that - Bricker's been walking the line of being appropriate with a married woman for quite a while - but she's taking too much of the blame, I think.

3. Tom Barrow. His anti-gay treatments aren't going well, and everyone at Downton is noticing that he's in a bad way. He continues to say he's fine, but that's obviously untrue. Whether or not he'll admit to feeling poorly before he collapses is to be seen.

Honorable Mention: Isis. Random mention of how she's feeling poorly. Hopeful that it's puppies, but concerned it's something worse.