DOWNTON ABBEY: Changes Afoot

So here we are with another year of Downton Abbey and plenty of stories on the horizon. The theme of the season seems to focus on change, and how willing (and able) everyone around Downton Abbey is to accept it.

As the season begins, everyone in the house reals from the sudden departure of O’Brien, who has run off to India with Lady Flincher, with only Rose knowing something of the plan before O’Brien left in the middle of the night. That sends Lady Cora on a hunt for a new lady’s maid, and Rose feels horrible for knowing something and not having done anything to stop it; she posts an ad in the post office and looks forward to some results. Edith also helps in the look for a new maid by placing an ad in a lady’s magazine on one of her many trips to London, where she visits her beau Michael Gregson.

Gregson, still interested in pursuing Edith, is thinking of becoming a German citizen in order to gain a divorce from his mentally ill wife in order to marry Edith. That seems to surprise Edith, but she takes the news in stride and continues to enjoy her time with him, regardless of what he wants to do to have her properly.

Back at the house, the search for a new maid for Cora finds Rose and Cora meeting Edna, a former housemaid, in another town where Edna impresses both of them. It’s too bad that Edna was the same maid who tried to pursue Tom just after Sybil’s death, and Edna clearly never mentions it. She’s hired on, and her true nature has to be hidden from all but those who were already aware of it.

Despite the attempts of Cora to change with the new maid, Mary and Isobel are both still suffering from the death of Matthew. Mary chooses to live in a fog and do nothing (with Robert’s help) while Isobel is hesitant to take on new challenges – this one in the form of Carson’s former friend who has been working in a horrible workhouse. However lost Mary seems, even Carson’s aid cannot bring her out of her fog until she realizes that she’s been gone and in the land of the dead too long. She is so uninterested in most things that she even looks at George, her son, as if he is an orphan.

Nanny West seems to pay that no mind, and instead chooses to force Thomas into work he feels is beneath him on her behalf. That doesn’t work out well in the end, as he warns Lady Cora of Nanny West’s ills and it turns out to be true: the nanny thinks ill of Sybil – as a crossbreed – and prefers George.

The land of the living has many difficulties, including dealing with the results of Matthew’s death. A sort of will discovered provides her with the final move to come back, as she now owns half of the estate. Robert seems less than thrilled with her being a part of the process, but he will have to contend with both she and Tom when it comes to discussions.

Without Matthew, though, Molesley has fallen on very hard times. He is forced to leave the house, taking odd jobs as he can and debts all over the town. The Dowager tries to help him out and get him a job with another lady, but her butler, Splatt, sabotages the lunch. Knowing of how hard Molesley has fallen, Bates says that he owned Molesley money from before to help cover all of Mosley’s debts, and then some, in town. (It seems that Bates learned many useful skills in prison.)

Rose, as the youngest member of the family, also causes her own problems, attracting attention of many men at a dance in York. But she responds as best she can and turns down one suitor with all the grace of a lady.

Change exists all around Downton in 1922, and it seems that even as much happened today, more will happen next week. But how will everyone react? Will they stay in the past and resist change, or push forward and try everything to maintain some of the ways of the landed gentry.

Downton Abbey will return to PBS next week for another episode at 9/8 Central. Below is a photo gallery of some moments from tonight’s episode and a few sneaks to upcoming guests and storylines.