Keep Calm and Marry On

Downton Abbey

Season 2 episode 8

Dearly beloved we are gathered here today to celebrate the marriage of Lavinia Swire and Matthew Crawley. Or was it supposed to be Mary and Richard or Sybil
and Branson or Anna and Bates or Robert and Jane or Thomas and O’Brien?

In the next to final episode of season 2, relationship drama fills the township in a thick fog of heartache and emotional betrayal as the show moves from wartime hardships back to its soapy roots.

Four couples enter into the Downton Wedding arena, but only one love-struck pair actually makes it down the aisle. That is before the groom is arrested for murdering his ex-wife and is sent to prison forever and ever (or at least until the Christmas Special.)

And while the majority of romantic couple this episode are otherwise engaged, the already married pair do not fair much better with a near case of sudden death not even enough to stop the wandering eye of a man in the prime of his mid-life crisis.

Yes, nothings borrowed and everyone's blue.     

For better or worse

Nothing is very rosy in the garden of the newlywed Mr and Mrs Bates. Since it has become dreadfully clear that nobody in the law enforcement agencies surrounding Downton has watched the past seven episodes as we have, assume that Bates killed his ex-wife.

They may have stuff like evidence and motive but we know the truth of his innocence right?

Anna, defender of the convicted valet and champion of being proactive, when it looks more and more likely that her fiancée will be taken away, takes charge and marries the love of her life in a hastened but romantic wedding ceremony, so that she will not be excluded from any legal decisions. Practical but charming, isn’t that the Bates way.

After only one night of wedded bliss the world once again crashes in on the loving couple as Bates is escorted to prison by two policemen in fancy hats as I contemplate whether I could survive a whole third season of sad Anna and a jailed Bates.

For richer or poorer

For all future grooms out there, barging into the sitting room of your betrothed’s family, who you are more than certain are going to disapprove and you start yelling at them, it is not a good move. While Branson and Sybil are all “but we love each other and nothing shall keep us apart” they do not find too many supporters of their union.

 It’s very lucky for the young lovers that the patriarch of the Grantham family was also only very recently making eyes and smacking lips with one of the help, that without that leg to stand on Sybil and Branson get the blessing to wed.

While they may not be my favourite romantic pairing, the star-crossed lovers are growing on me and I have high hopes that now that Sybil and Branson are married he may stop yelling at his beloved and start fighting other people. Whatever happens next, season 3 is going to be very interesting and I cannot wait for Branson’s first sit-down dinner with the new in-laws.  

In sickness or in health

The Spanish flu. The Spanish flu, you say is sweeping through the nation. What are the chances that, that virus could possibly make its way into the halls of Downton Abbey causing all sorts of chaos and health related drama for the good people upstairs and down?

Pretty good I say.

One by one numerous characters are struck down by the illness to various different degrees. Some like Carson and it seems Lavinia are only slightly unwell, but poor Cora is nearly claimed by the disease. From high fevers to nose bleeds it does not look good for our Lady of the Abbey.

Fortunately she has a legitimate medical reason for feeling sick to her stomach and unlike us doesn’t have to witness the gut curling madness that was Robert and Jane the maid making out.

Your wife is dying in the next room Robert! Dying!

Coming to his senses after a number of close calls and the realisation that Carson and Mrs Hughes probably already know (they probably even knew before it started what was happening and just forgot to warn him) Jane “leaves/is sent packing” from the grounds of Downton never to be seen from again, just in time from Cora to make a full recovery and presumably never find out what happened. Or will she? (Imagine dramatic music playing- now)

Until death do us part?

As the curtain closes on season 2 and the Christmas special right around the corner, coming into this episode you knew or at least hoped that something was going to be done about the love square that was Mary, Matthew, Richard and Lavinia, but who knew that it would involve one of the sides being removed altogether.

Firstly, Matthew can still walk and therefore procreate, and while everyone was in full swing making preparations for the Crawley-Swire wedding, we knew that all cards were now back on the table. They knew it, Violet knew it, even Isis the dog knew it (he’s just too classy to say anything.)

With Richard  becoming more and more the evilest of villains and Lavinia still the humblest of wallflowers, the sparks between Matthew and Mary had never been more evident.

The dance, the kiss, the interruption, the outbreak of a deadly pathogen.

From the moment Dr Clarkson said that Lavinia only had mild symptoms you knew that she was a goner, but it was the way she chose to leave her mark that was very impressive.

With the simple statement of “isn’t it better this way” Lavinia swiftly and brutally crushed any hopes of Matthew and Mary being together ever again in the saddest, noblest, most devastating way possible. Well played Miss Swire, you lacked fire in life, but you sure went out with a bang.

So much happened this episode, O’Brien nearly confessed to the soap incident to Cora while she was on her death bed, Moseley drank half the wine in Downton trying to impress, Violet was awesome, I nearly stood up and applauded as Thomas slowly crept his way back into employment at Downton making himself indispensable during their time of need. He may be evil, but sometimes you just have to admire his work.

With the dismantling, shattering, rebuilding and launch of so many different relationships, nobody came out of this episode unscathed.

As wedding season passes, with thoughts of veils and flowers tucked away and swapped for funeral attire, let’s hope that as we head towards Christmas that there is an abundance of Christmas cheer hidden behind a tree somewhere, waiting with good tiding and great joy for our Downton favourites.

 If anyone is going to make it to season 3 happy and healthy they are going to need it.