Three Up, Three Down: Downton Abbey, Season 5 Episode 1

It's 1924. Who's having a good year one episode in?

Three Up

1. Lady Mary. The semi-surprise visit by Tony Gillingham leads Mary to admit that she loves him, but wants to be as happy with he second husband as she was with her first, so she wants to play it slow. In response to that, Gillingham invites her on a week away where they'll get to know each other - in every sense of the word. This appeals to Mary, who suggested such a course of action to Anna (in a theoretical sense). She agrees to their assignation, saying no one must ever know. Which means it will be common knowledge by episode 4. Still, Mary's getting what she wants here.

2. Tom Barrow. He's on thin ice with Lady Cora after Baxter spills her big secret - she's a convicted felon due to stealing jewelry from a former employer, for reasons as yet unexplained - but his role in discovering the fire and saving Lady Edith puts him back in Cora's good graces. Another one of Tom's nine lives spent, but he's going to get some mileage out of this.

3. Lady Violet. As much as she's friends with Mrs. Crawley, and as much as Mrs. Crawley denies she has any interest in Lord Merton (who is still sniffing around), the Dowager Countess arranges a luncheon where she manages to steer another dowager aristo toward Lord Merton and isolate Mrs. Crawley with Dr. Clarkson. And while two parties in one day tuckers her out, she does manage to get off a couple of witticisms during the charged conversation at Lord and Lady Grantham's anniversary dinner, which Sarah Bunting does her best to ruin with her strident opinions.

Honorable Mention: Baxter. Her secret is finally out, but she takes Molesley's advice and tells Lady Grantham before Tom can (Tom is pressuring her for dirt on Mr. Bates, related to his day out where we believe he committed murder). Lady Cora is shocked, and is frustrated that Baxter isn't sharing more background as to why she stole from her former employer, and why she was unable to return what she stole. But Lady Cora has had no beef with Baxter, and isn't prone to sacking her straight off. She may still fire Baxter - and with Tom's good fortune with the fire he may have an opening to influence things - but Baxter is safe for now, and is a freer woman to boot.

Three Down

1. Lady Edith. Michael Gregson is still missing, and their love child continues to live with a family in the village. Edith apparently spends some time with the family, doting on their youngest, leading the wife to think that Edith fancies her husband. He has figured out why Edith is so interested, and they begin to work out an arrangement whereby Edith can continue to see her daughter. Still, she's despondent over the situation, and flings a book that belonged to Gregson across her bedroom. It manages to catch on fire, which causes the blaze that is confined to her room. Whatever light may be at the end of the tunnel for Edith is still a long way off.

2. Jimmy Kent. A former employer of Jimmy's continues to write letters to him, and she gins up a reason to stop at the abbey (and even fakes car trouble so she can spend the night). She passes a note to Jimmy at dinner inviting him to her room (which Carsten sees, but Jimmy is able to dodge giving the note to Carsten with an assist from Tom). He does go to her room, and is caught there by Lord Robert as he's going door to door raising the alarm. After the fire, Lord Grantham asks Carsten to let Jimmy go, but give him a good reference to cover for how he got the sack for getting in the sack.

3. Lord Robert. The generational (and ideological) shift is giving Lord Robert trouble, from the new Labor government to Sarah Bunting nearly ruining his anniversary dinner to a group from the village choosing Carsten over him to chair a war memorial committee. Throw in the fire and discovering the help rogering a guest and it was a tough episode for Lord Grantham. The only reason he doesn't finish higher is that the committee (or Carsten) asks Lord Robert to serve as the project's patron, helping to save face. He also has a bit of a talk with Tom about Sarah and his political past which I think helps to frame their relationship a bit, even if its ending was a bit sharp.

Honorable Mention: Spratt. Lady Violet's butler doesn't like serving the common folk. He continually snubs Dr. Gregson when serving other aristocrats, and has to be put in his place by Lady Violet on more than one occasion. You would think that one talking to from her would be enough, but his prejudice is apparently a little too entrenched.