Downton Abbey - Series 5 Premiere - Recap: Great Balls of Fire

Much of the episode is a long-winded way of building to a dinner gathering that goes about as well as any dinner gathering goes on Downton. Here's the cut-and-dry take: Robert (Hugh Bonneville) is considered as head of a committee overseeing the development of a war memorial, although the committee actually wants Carson (Jim Carter) for the role. However, he still has to throw a gala affair at Downton, because this is Downton Abbey so of course he does. Meanwhile, Edith (Laura Carmichael) is visiting her toddler-aged daughter, who is under the care of Downton tenants, the Drewe family. The husband has deduced that young Marigold is Edith's child, but Mrs. Drewe suspects Edith visits so often simply because she has a crush on Mr. Drewe, one of the local firemen. Gillingham (Tom Cullen) is back, and wants Mary (Michelle Dockery) to be his lover, arguing that if she won't marry him due to her own uncertainty, the least they could do is get to know each other in a "better" sense. It's reckless to the point of foolishness, but at this point, it's just as well that they do the deed and quit beating around the bush. You know, for narrative purposes. But that's not all, as there are more romance plots in the work, apparently: Violet (Maggie Smith) and Isobel (Penelope Wilton) get into a tiff over Isobel's love life, while Branson (Allen Leech) hits things off with Miss Bunting (Daisy Lewis) after sticking up for her socialist views at the dinner party. Robert is deeply offended, and the awkwardness intensifies.

Credit: Nick Briggs/ITV

Downstairs, we have some slight intrigue as Jimmy (Ed Speleers) is being pursued by Lady Anstruther (Anna Chancellor), the cougar he once worked for, with whom he had an affair many years ago. Daisy (Sophie McShera) is attempting to learn math in order to create a better future for herself, despite Daisy having rarely shown any sort of ambition to be more than a cook at the top of her profession before. Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol) doesn't really understand Daisy's motivation either, arguing to Hughes (Phyllis Logan) that her confidence is being compromised by all this self-defeating talk of being an "idiot". Later, we finally get the secret that's taken the better part of a year to come out: encouraged to come clean by Molesley (Kevin Doyle), the blackmailed Baxter (Raquel Cassidy) finally reveals to Cora that Thomas (Rob James-Collier) has been extorting her by lording her criminal past over her.

Credit: Nick Briggs/ITV

Turns out, Baxter stole some valuable items from her previous employer, which she sold for money. She spent three years in prison for the offense, and has attempted to make amends ever since. Of course, Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) is perplexed as to why Thomas would blackmail Baxter like this, since it was he who got Baxter the job in the first place. Cora even goes so far as to rip into Thomas for bringing a criminal into their home, and it has me wondering how Thomas never thought this wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass. If Baxter refused to tell him all the secrets about Anna and Bates -- which he wants to know for reasons that still aren't clear -- then Thomas would have to follow through on his threat to rat Baxter out to the Crawleys. Yet, in doing so, he'd cost himself his own job, since she only got the job because of him. It's a startlingly lousy plan for Thomas, and it makes for baffling storytelling, unless we're just meant to assume that these are the schemes of people who really aren't all that clever.

Credit: Nick Briggs/ITV

The episode comes to a head in the aftermath of the dinner party, as Edith despairs of having lost Gregson, and gets careless with the fireplace in her room. A fire breaks out, and Thomas rushes to the rescue. Robert and Branson team up to put out the fire with sand buckets, while the local firemen are called. In evacuating the house, Robert discovers Jimmy in bed with Lady Anstruther, which prompts him to order Carson to fire the lad. Meanwhile, Cora is thankful for the heroism of Thomas, and immediately forgives him for the entire Baxter fiasco. Basically, this couldn't have worked out better for Thomas unless he'd planned the damn fire himself. As for Edith, she makes an arrangement with Mr. Drewe for how she can see Marigold out in the open -- a plan that Hughes apparently catches the tail end of. Is the secret out? We all know from the Bates/Anna fiasco last season that Hughes can't exactly keep a secret if it violates the greater good. Sometimes, the truth is just plain necessary.

Of course, the fire itself is among the only interesting things to happen this week, although I'm much more optimistic about the weeks ahead. This premiere was very much a table-setting episode, and I trust that Downton Abbey will work out the kinks as the season rolls on. At least, that's my hope.