DOWNTON ABBEY: Everything Comes Back at Once

As always, this recap of Downton Abbey references the physical and emotional aftermath of a sexual assault. If this is a potential trigger, please do not read further.

With the exception of the special Christmas episode airing next week, here is the wrap up of all that was Downton Abbey, series four.

Mary’s life, as ever, is still full of adventure. She is well over the trouble with the pigs and has added another suitor to her mix: Mr. Blake. That now leaves her with three: Lord Gillingham, Mr. Napier and Mr. Blake. What is a girl to do? As Anna is helping Mary to discuss what might happen if Lord Gillingham returns, Mary finally hears more about what happened to Anna. Mary then says that she’ll tell Lord Gillingham to sack his valet after their trip to Downton, but by the end, Lord Gillingham couldn’t do it because his valet was killed in the middle of the road in Picadilly. It also happens that Bates, in Robert’s absence and with little to do, took a trip to York the same day Gillingham’s valet was killed. Did Bates really go to York? Only time will tell.

Isobel is presented with a new problem in her life: the attention of a male suitor. Mary’s godfather takes a shine to Isobel after Violet invites her to lunch without Robert or Mary in town. A few faux-pas later, he apologized with some gorgeous flowers. Can Isobel really move on from both her husband and Matthew’s deaths?

While Cora is trying to get Rose to help her with the village bazaar, Rose is too busy thinking about being engaged to Jack Ross. Tom discovers the two of them in town, and that sends Mary off to London later to cut off that engagement before it can even begin. Even if all Rose wanted to do was piss off her mother, there are other ways to do that than marrying a Jazz singer, who also happens to be black.

Molesley tries to get Baxter to open up more, especially since he thinks so little of Thomas. It starts to work, but she’s still left with divided loyalties.

In Tom’s life, he runs into the woman from the MP meeting earlier, and finds out that she’s the local school teacher. They develop a relationship and he even helps fix her car – revealing more about his life with the Crawleys than she previous thought the family capable of.

With the death of Alfred’s father, he admits that he wants to marry Ivy, but she turns him down. Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Patmore have to find a way to keep Alfred from the house, lest his presence bring back the conflict between Daisy and Ivy. It doesn’t work too well, though Daisy does take a visit to see Mr. Mason, who tells her she should say her goodbyes to Alfred or she’ll regret it.

Edith is still sorting out her situation and wants to give the baby to the Drewes, rather than some family in Switzerland, where she and Rosamund are going on the pretense of “improving their French”. Violet worries about Edith’s plan to give the baby to the Drewes, but wants to be supportive however she can. Her support turns into her decision to pay for all of the trip while Edith has the baby instead of Rosamund paying for it.

The bazaar is going well when Robert arrives in the middle. Robert’s presence might have helped Harold get off with a reprimand from the Senate.

And with that, Downton Abbey season 4 draws to a close. Next week PBS airs the annual Christmas special, full of additional drama to tide us over until season 5.