Blogging the Abbey, Episode 6

Rose Woodhouse

Elizabeth Picciuto was born and reared on Long Island, and, as was the custom for the time and place, got a PhD in philosophy. She freelances, mainly about disability, but once in a while about yeti. Mother to three children, one of whom is disabled, two of whom have brown eyes, three of whom are reasonable cute, you do not want to get her started talking about gardening.

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20 Responses

  1. I just have to say that I love how the “Blinded Trials” banner totally blocks out Evelyn Napier’s face, which is completely in keeping with the plot.Report

    • Rose Woodhouse in reply to Russell Saunders says:

      He is negated, himself something of a blinded trial to the plot.Report

      • I love how he casually mentions to Mary that it’s getting harder to compete for her affections after the flirtatious pig-mess-flinging made her like What’s-his-name. Because it charmingly implies that he thinks he’s still in the running.

        Oh, Evelyn. You’re not in the running. You were never in the running. If you had been in the running, the writers wouldn’t have named you “Evelyn.”Report

      • Rose Woodhouse in reply to Rose Woodhouse says:

        I know. “Let me point out to you how this other guy is also very attracted to you, even though he is himself more attractive than me,” is not a course normally charted by those who are a-courtin’.Report

  2. FridayNext says:

    I enjoy your recaps immensely. Thank you.

    As for the Earl’s journey to the US, Cora’s brother is somehow tied up in Teapot Dome. They mentioned Secretary Fall when that first telegram arrived. Why they need an Earl to help, though, is beyond me. But I am looking forward to seeing Paul Giamatti, who I assume is Cora’s brother.

    As for the religion issue, I brought that up with my wife on Sunday. Aside from weddings and a christening they have NEVER been to church. That seems unlikely.Report

    • Rose Woodhouse in reply to FridayNext says:

      Thanks! I’ll have to read up on Teapot Dome now. Couldn’t they just name-drop the Earl? Does he actually have to be present?

      And now that you remind me, there were a couple of anti-Catholic jabs. But that’s not the same thing as a religious life.Report

  3. Tod Kelly says:

    Well, thanks to you, the watching of Downtown Abbey begins this week in my house.

    And no, I’m not going to stop calling it Downtown Abbey.Report

  4. This was one of the funniest posts I’ve read in a long time. I laughed out loud.Report

  5. Mike Schilling says:

    A post about a pig man by someone named “Woodhouse”? Bliss.Report

  6. Maribou says:

    ” What could be the source of my continued infatuation for you during this rigidly segregated period of history?”

    I think it comes in a later episode, so I won’t spoil, but Lady Mary has a SPOT ON theory about that one.Report

  7. daveNYC says:

    I felt that this episode held together a bit better than the other ones this season. I think it’s because so little happened, relatively speaking. Most of the big events this season (Mary getting back to living, Anna’s rape, that whole goofy courtship with Mary and whashisname) were really awkward. They came out of nowhere, and were resolved (or not) abruptly. This week was more relaxed and things felt like they developed more naturally.

    There’s still the issue of the Abby’s problematic hiring practices, valet rapist guy putting himself at the scene of the crime, VDC getting the hots for the only black person in England, etc. I guess plot wise it’s about as off the rails as normal, but the pacing worked better.

    Anyone notice that nobody in the family seemed that concerned that the Dowager was possibly going to die? I guess bronchitis in 60 or 70 year olds in pre-antibiotic England wasn’t serious enough to hire an extra nurse or have family by her side?

    I wasn’t sure if Edith was going to come out as a lesbian or as a serial killer.Report

  8. bookdragon says:

    I do hope they make some mention of whether Levinson is a Jewish name. It’s almost certain that Cora has never seen the inside of a synagogue, but that wouldn’t be an anachronsim. A great many Jews who came to America to start a new life, decided to truly start ‘clean’ by leaving behind an identity that had been a source of persecution. At least one branch of the immigrants from Germany (got out just ahead of the Franco-Prussian war) in my family did so.

    There were also Jews who kept their identity, but not their original Orthodoxy since it hampered social mobility. The ones who did well frequently found that a number of their children then went a step further and married out. Sometimes with their approval – in terms of social status marrying into bluebloods was nearly as good as marrying into English nobility.Report

  9. Maribou says:

    Lady Grantham’s possible Jewishness seemed like a research question rather than a spoiler to me, so I went and looked it up. This article, with a quote from Fellowes via a book written about Downton Abbey by his niece, seems authoritative-enough for the internet (though the article itself may contain spoilers? I am bad at assessing these things).

    Here’s the pertinent quote, in rot13 in case someone else thinks it’s a spoiler:

    “Gur Puebavpyrf bs Qbjagba Noorl” dhbgrf [Whyvna] Sryybjrf rkcynvavat ubj Vfvqber Yrivafba pbhyq unir orra Wrjvfu, juvyr uvf jvsr naq qnhtugre jrer abg: “Ur qvqa’g pbaireg, ohg nyybjrq uvf puvyqera gb or oebhtug hc nf aba-Wrjvfu sbe rnfr bs yvsr. Guvf jnf dhvgr hfhny gura.”Report