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I've been amazed how no one had figured out what Edith was up to in Switzerland other than Violet, but I guess I was wrong. Both Anna and Mrs. Hughes have witnessed clues about Edith's connection to the Drewes' baby. They must have figured it out, but the servants' code requires them to keep it to themselves and not to gossip. I would expect more people to figure it out now that Marigold is at Downton, and some of these people will not be held back by the servants' code.
I think everyone will figure it out, except Mary, who's too self-absorbed to even wonder why Edith wanted the kid in the house.
It actually crossed my mind that they didn't want a 'character' named ISIS, but quickly rejected that possibility as too absurd.
It crossed my mind too. If it were an American show, I'd believe that was the cause. But British shows actually have more faith in the intelligence of their audience.
The only problem (and it is a meaningless one) with having the dog die in you bed is that their bladder releases. That is what happened when our last dog died in bed with us........
I'm sure they would be unaware of that, but even if they were aware they have servants. Life sure is different when you have an army of servants to take care of every little thing in your life. I would have probably made a bed on the couch with my doggie because it's not cloth and easily cleanable. Come to think of it, when my kids were little with stomach viruses, I still laid them down in bed with me with a nice big towel underneath so I imagine I'd do the same with my dog if she was that ill.
Edith is unloved, unwanted, and has no friends at Downton. She tells Tom that he is the person she'd most likely tell her story to, but they aren't confidants like Tom is with Mary. (Her maid Madge might provide support like Anna does for Mary, but we've hardly ever seen Madge.)
Meanwhile, she owns a publishing company in London. It makes sense for her to take Marigold to London and run the business. She can have fulfillment and have the possibility of making new literary friends who would appreciate her.
She should be able to afford a house with servants and a nanny. (Or she could live at Grantham House, the palatial house the family owns in London that was only shown on the show during Rose's season. You have to wonder why they have that house, especially since they all stay at Rosamond's when they go to London.)
But if Edith went to London, she would be forgotten at Downton, and that would reduce the subject matter for dramatic stories for the series. For the benefit of the TV show, she has to stay at Downton.
I thought it was pretty lame they decided they had to kill off the dog just because it was named Isis. Granted, I haven't seen every episode and less of the early ones, but Lord Grantham's preoccupation with the dog seemed sudden especially since she was rarely seen before( to me anyway).
Also, the staff does seem to be fairly well off owning personal homes they rent out or plan to buy. This season just seems kind of forced. The bit with the Russian prince, the kitchen maid's sudden interest in education. There's still enough there to keep me somewhat interested. The Dowager, her friend Isobel, and Molesley. Edith's predicament and her struggle is also interesting to watch. Poor Lord Grantham, he has no luck with daughters. His grandkids seem to have turned out okay so maybe its skips a generation.
I'd have paid good money to see Miss Bunting and Branson take on the Abominable Young Mertons together at that dinner (on condition that Robert would not be present; the poor man would have apoplexy). Violet could be scorekeeper.
Little Marigold should have been left with the Drews; where she would have never felt out of place or unloved. I think the secret will become more and more widespread; I don't think Mrs. Drew is going to stay quiet unless someone pays her (or kills her). Another alternative would have been for Edith to take Marigold and move to the states and start a new life there. It might have worked. What the heck is Edith going to do at Downton - rusticate? Die of boredom? She can't run the paper from there. She should leave the kid there and return on weekends; or have Marigold with her in the city, with a nanny to care for her most of the time (kid might be better off at Downton, at least for a few years). Edith can't reveal that Marigold is her out of wedlock child; she'd be ruined and Marigold too. Edith would not be able to run the newspaper; would probably have to sell it; and she wouldn't be received anywhere, I don't think. Except by Rosalind. And people would point at Marigold, snicker at her, and whisper behind her back. Maybe Mrs. Drew will drink herself to death (what she's been through might drive anyone to drink) and the secret will wither away.
From the point of view of a really narrow-minded pig-headed type of British Aristocrat (and some were open-minded and tolerant than others), the Granthams have downgraded socially - Cora could scrape by because she was pretty and well-mannered and the daughter of a Jew rather than a Jew herself (and had tons of money). Isobel could scrape by as the mother of the Grantham's middle-classish heir because Isobel was bright, energetic, and involved in many worthy causes, and because Matthew became the Earl's son-in-law as well as his heir (and Robert's coming to actually love Matthew as the son he never had helped too). But Sybil's marrying the family chauffeur was a huge social faux-pas. I give both Robert and Cora kudos for not encouraging Tom to take the baby and go to America after the funeral; they wanted to help raise their grand-daughter and did their best to make Tom a part of the family. But some other old British aristocratic families would have a dim view of the Granthams because of the marriage of Sybil and Tom. And then there's Rose, a Grantham protegee, becoming seriously involved with a Jew.
The Granthams are probably lucky that they haven't been socially cut to a greater degree; but they mostly stick to the country, where they are an old and well-established family, perhaps that helps.
Merton Senior should have told his sons to leave his home and not return until they could speak civilly and courteously to their future stepmother. If I were Isobel, I would feel very uncomfortable marrying into that family; Merton Senior is not too bad (and good-looking), but those sons of his are poisonous. The minute Dicky bites the dust, they'll have Isobel either framed for plotting his death, or out on the street and any provisions Dicky makes for her will be ruled invalid. Also, I'm not sure that Isobel would be comfortable in the role of a social leader of the county; she's much more interested in making social progress by doing good works; and doesn't want to fuss with ladies maids and teas, etc. I wish she'd have married the nice family doctor.
^^^ - all of the above.
Except I don't see how you can possibly live that life with the clothes and whatnot, without a ladies' maid and other household help How does Isobel manage - even in her reduced state? She surely isn't doing her own laundry or mending her own clothes.
I've always been particularly disturbed at the Sybil/Tom marriage. Tom has come a long way since those days and I like his current character a whole lot better than the original - BUT marriage to a chauffeur just was not done. Normally, the daughter/offspring would be banished. Now you have Mary with Panuk/Tony, Edith with an illegitimate child. Ye gads. The entire family is in decline.
And, then you have the extended family. Rose has got along by the skin of her teeth. The dalliances with the married man and then the black jazz singer were beyond the pale. Of course, her family has no money any longer, either, so as Robert was required to do - she needs to marry for money. She brings the lineage (of a sort), her in-laws the money - as their lineage is brand new - and they are Jewish, after all.
Merton sons clearly have no respect for their father - learned at the hands of their mother. I'd like to think if those were Shrimpie's sons he would have flattened them. He showed some good stuff when he still was Lord of the Manor back in Scotland.
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