Downton Abbey - Recap: Mud Is Thicker Than Water
This is a review of the American airing of Downton Abbey – Season 4, Episode 6. There will be slight differences from the original UK airing, necessitating a different approach. However, reviews for the original episodes can be found by clicking the “Downton Abbey” tag. Episodes from UK airings are tagged as “Series 4,” while American airings will be listed as “Season 4.”
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It's an incredibly busy week for Downton Abbey, as the show builds tension in surprisingly cohesive fashion. This isn't to say that the show hasn't built tension cohesively before, but rather that it's rare for the show to juggle this many plotlines as effectively as it does here. In no short order we have: Mary (Michelle Dockery) suddenly growing closer with Charles Blake (Julian Ovenden) after the Downton pigs take ill, and just as Anthony Gillingham (Tom Cullen) returns; we have Violet (Maggie Smith) fighting for her life after coming down with a case bronchitis that could easily develop into pneumonia; and we even have the return of the monstrous Green (Nigel Harman), who makes his presence felt just as Anna (Joanne Froggatt) and Bates (Brendan Coyle) are finally getting back to a sense of normalcy. And these are hardly the only plotlines the show has to juggle, as there are no less than two other stories of genuine interest that command viewers' attentions. This is one of the strongest episodes of the season, thanks in no small part to the elegant way in which the stories build, taking a natural approach that doesn't feel like the interference of the writer's hand.
Credit: Carnival/Masterpiece
So the seemingly-interminable story of the estate's development continues here, but for once, it actually feels purposeful. While Charles generally continues to give Mary a hard time, the two develop something of a friendship when they go to the farm to inspect the newly-arrived pigs, only to find that the pigs have knocked over their water trough and are slowly dying of thirst. Given the importance of the pigs to the financial health of the estate, this plotline takes on an unexpectedly high-stakes sensibility, and the actions of the characters go a long way in matching that sense of purpose, as Mary and Charles climb into the mud to save the day. If you had told me a year ago we'd see Mary Crawley in the mud with pigs, watering them and nursing them back to health before retiring to the kitchen to make scrambled eggs and crack jokes about how Charles literally saved their bacon, I'd have laughed you off entirely. Yet this is precisely what happens, and these scenes represent Michelle Dockery at her liveliest and most endearing, as she shows an ease around Charles that is reminiscent of her spirits with the late Matthew. In fact, Charles and Mary's chemistry is far more potent than her chemistry with Gillingham, yet the show seems to want us to be rooting for Mary and the former Tony Foyle. It's actually somewhat confounding, as Gillingham returns to visit Mary, yet spends a fair share of the episode doing pretty much nothing. The deficiencies of the script are not really Tom Cullen's fault, nor is the fact that his character isn't as good a match for Mary as Charles Blake. Cullen does a perfectly serviceable job in the role, and he's a perfectly handsome chap in his own right, but if this is meant to be a love triangle, I see Mary and Charles as having the stronger connection, due in large part to the superior chemistry Dockery has with Ovenden.
Of course, with the return of Gillingham comes the resurfacing Mr. Green, who receives a warm welcome from most of the downstairs staff, owing to their lack of awareness concerning what he's done to Anna. But Hughes (Phyllis Logan) wastes no time in pulling Green aside and giving him a piece of her mind, in one of the best scenes of the episode. Hughes warns that while everyone else may be blind to his treachery, she knows all too well about the darkness lurking within. Proving himself as detestable as ever, Green defends himself by trying to claim he and Anna had consensual sex, owing to all the drinking they'd been doing on the night of the Nellie Melba concert.
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This assertion sends Hughes into a fresh outrage, warning him that if he values his life, he'll keep to the shadows. Have I mentioned how much I love Phyllis Logan? Hughes is right up there with the Dowager Countess as the best character on this show, a woman of incorruptible goodness, and possessed of an incredible determination. She even does what she can to prevent Anna and Bates from being separated: as it turns out, Robert (Hugh Bonneville) must travel to America to help Cora's brother with his financial difficulties. With Robert departing, his valet must accompany him, meaning Bates will be traveling to America for several weeks. But Hughes feels it's a terrible time to split up Anna and Bates, and so she confesses the truth of Anna's rape to Mary, in the hope of convincing her to talk Robert into taking Thomas (Rob James-Collier) instead. Mary succeeds in convincing Robert, although she keeps Bates's reasons for staying hidden. I appreciated the ingenuity of the storyline in finding ways to let other people in on Anna's secret without allowing the story to devolve into a matter of gossip, where secrets are overheard from the shadows and used as leverage for some terrible enterprise. This storyline has shown remarkable restraint in recent weeks, and has been far less tawdry than one might have expected from the salacious nature of its beginning. But while it'd be great if Hughes would be the one to kill Green, Julian Fellowes is making sure to put all the heat on Bates, who overhears Green at the dinner table going on about how he decided to leave the Nellie Melba concert in order to come downstairs for a bit of quiet. And it's in this moment that Bates has the identity of Anna's attacker pretty much confirmed: Green just admitted to being downstairs at around the same time as Anna was attacked. And the plot thickens.
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But there are storylines of sufficient interest that have nothing to do with Mary or the unpleasantness with Green, as Edith (Laura Carmichael) has decided what to do about her pregnancy. She confides in Lady Rosamund (Samantha Bond) that she plans on getting an abortion, an action which Rosamund strongly advises against, since she could find a way to make single motherhood work. This, of course, is an utterly laughable notion to Edith, who notes that she wouldn't be welcome in her aunt's drawing room if she had Michael Gregson's bastard. It's a terrific scene for Carmichael, and for Bond, two actresses who are given far too little to do in the series. And it's a scene that builds into the climax of the storyline, as Rosamund accompanies Edith to London for her abortion. Edith explains that while she could have loved Gregson's baby, she's in a completely untenable situation since there's been no word of him in weeks. Should he returns, Edith indicates she likely wouldn't tell Gregson about the abortion, and this prompts Rosamund to warn Edith against building a marriage on a lie, in one of the more poignant moments of the episode. Everything is set to go, until Edith hears the plaintive cries of one of the other patients and decides she's made a huge mistake in coming. Edith retreats, deciding to keep the baby instead of getting the abortion, though the decision is every bit as compelled by fear as by a determination to hold onto what little she has left of Michael. The storyline is a showcase for Carmichael, and I think she made a great case for why the show should give her a lot more to do. Ditto Samantha Bond, who is such a wonderful utility player for the show.
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However, that wasn't even my favorite storyline of the week. That honor goes to the story between Isobel (Penelope Wilton) and Violet, who takes ill and spends pretty much the entire episode laid up in bed. Yet while the Dowager Countess is confined to bed, she's not exactly sidelined, as her back-and-forth with Isobel remains as potent as ever. When Dr. Clarkson stops by to assess her health, Violet tells him to have her "nurse" taken away, not recognizing that the nurse in question is Isobel. "Take that mad woman with you," she weakly barks at Clarkson, adding, "Get me another nurse. This one talks too much, like a drunken vicar." Smith is fantastic here, and Wilton is every bit her equal, illustrating the maturation of their relationship through Isobel's decision to wait on Violet, hand-and-foot. It isn't simply that this is Isobel's natural inclination, given her history in the medical profession, but rather that she's grown to care quite deeply for Violet. When Clarkson reveals to Violet that it's been Isobel who has been tending to her this entire time, never once leaving her bedside throughout the entirety of her illness, you can sense the change in the Dowager Countess, as Violet begins to view her cousin in an entirely different light. When we next see the women playing gin together, it's a remarkably endearing moment, illustrating that the two women have found friendship beyond the bonds of blood they share. It might not have any bearing on the overarching story of the season, but I found this to be a wonderful little storyline.
Unfortunately, I couldn't say the same for the renewed love triangle between Alfred (Matt Milne), Ivy (Cara Theobold), and Daisy (Sophie McShera). Alfred returns from the cookery course at The Ritz to visit, sending Carson (Jim Carter) and Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol) into a fit over how his arrival will reignite the tensions between Daisy and Ivy. Naturally, Alfred arrives and Ivy immediately gets to flirting with him, annoying not only Daisy but also Jimmy (Ed Speelers), who considers his flirtations with Ivy to be "a waste of money and effort." It's an incredibly perfunctory storyline that keeps Daisy's wheels spinning. Really, it feels like she should be progressing and not regressing, which is all that ever seems to happen when she's around Alfred. In the show's chronology, it's been well over ten years since we've met Daisy, and she should be much farther away from the giddiness of her girlhood than she is. But I suppose that could simply be the intention of the character, that Daisy isn't really someone who's acclimated to adulthood terribly well at all. And even if that's not the point, there is something to be said for how heartache makes adolescents of the best of us.
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This is pretty much the strongest episode of Downton Abbey so far this season, from a purely structural perspective. Other episodes have had more interesting stories, but I'm not sure any of them were put together this well, telling purposeful tales. Even the brief sojourn with Jack (Gary Carr) and Rose (Lily James) feels significant, as Rose answers Jack's concerns about how badly this is going to end for both of them by encouraging him to just live in the moment. It serves as a thesis for the episode at large: whether it's Anna wanting to move on from the Green business, Mary deciding to get into the mud with Charles, Isobel deciding to stand by her cousin Violet no matter what, or Edith saying "to Hell with convention" and deciding to keep her baby, these characters are choosing to live in the moment. And the episode is much better for that choice.