Three Up, Three Down: Downton Abbey, Season 5 Episode 4

Three Up

1. Lady Violet. The dowager manages to stick her oar in for pretty much every story line, between needling Isobel about Lord Merton's proposal, commiserating with Edith about her troubles, trying to keep Robert from getting too worked up over Sarah Bunting, and helping to find the Princess Kuragin (she's apparently in Hong Kong).

2. Daisy Mason. She's moved from math on to history, and while that causes a slight hiccup in the kitchen it does seem that Daisy is quite inspired by her studies, and is effusive with praise for Miss Bunting when called upstairs to answer if her studies are causing problems (for the most part they aren't). Her increased confidence leads her to write a letter on behalf of Mrs. Patmore to get her nephew included in a war memorial, and as much as Daisy says she may be a cook for the rest of her life that's looking increasingly unlikely.

3. Isobel Crawley. Lord Merton finally makes his intentions known and pops the question to Isobel, stating that his motivation is romantic rather than pragmatic. He asks Isobel to think about it rather than answer immediately, and she accepts (and is clearly moved by his admission of love). Otherwise, Isobel hasn't changed much, vocally supporting Daisy's new-found confidence through education (and, by extension, supporting Miss Bunting and Tom). The liberal streak still lives in the future Lady Merton.

Honorable Mention: Simon Bricker. The art critic returns to Downton to further study the painting he came to see the first time, and is even more effusive in his praise for Lady Cora. He is a shameless flirt with her, and when he almost gets caught manages to save things by directing his comments towards the painting. He's walking an even thinner line than previously, but is getting to further both this career and his personal interest in Lady Cora, which he's clearly enjoying.

Three Down

1. Lady Edith. On the good side, we learn that we're closer than ever in learning what happened to Michael Gregson. On the bad side, it's clearer now than before that he got mixed up with some brownshirts, to a possibly permanent end. Edith doesn't really want to know what happened, as she feels that not knowing allows her to keep him alive by thinking he is only missing. On the daughter front, Mrs. Drewe strongly rebuffs a visit, with Mr. Drewe following up to tell Edith that his wife thinks Edith is unsettling Marigold. So Edith is even further separated from those she loves, and the advice from her grandmother to learn how to put things behind her doesn't help.

2. Tom Barrow. Tom returns to Downton saying his father has rebounded, but it becomes clear that Tom's time away wasn't related to his father at all. Baxter, hearing distress, finds Tom with a syringe, and based on what Baxter later sees in a magazine Tom dropped in a hallway, he's taking some sort of treatment (guessing that he's trying to "curse" his attraction to men). Tom's clearly in a difficult place, and is refusing to take help from the one person who seems sympathetic to his plight.

3. Sarah Bunting. For all of the success she's having downstairs she's flaming out upstairs, as her every utterance rubs Sir Robert the wrong way And in this episode she does seem to be taking pointed shots at Lord Grantham, questioning his feelings towards the servants and even if he knows Daisy's name. This eventually causes Robert to explode, saying he wishes that she never returns to Downton just before he storms out of dinner. For whatever good she may be for Daisy (and for Tom), you have to think Miss Bunting will be keeping to the village for a while.

Honorable Mention:  Joseph Molesley. There are plenty of contenders here (from Tony Gillingham for his refusal to believe Mary is rejecting him to his former fiancee, Mable Lane-Fox, encountering Mary at a fashion show), but the honors here goes to Molesley, who finds that being first footman isn't everything it's cracked up to be when he gets tasked with every bit of extra work that seems to crop up. He eventually asks to not hold the title, to which Carsten agrees. And he seems to take some added pleasure at that, which kind of annoys me. Molesley brings a lot of this on himself, but it does seem like Carsten takes a little too much joy out of knocking him down.