Are there any Downton Abbey fans around? What did you think of last night's show?

[Arkansas Granny]

I wasn't expecting Miss Bunting to leave like she did. It appears that Tom has made his choice.

Who do you think pushed Mr. Green in front of the bus? Was it Anna and Bates is trying to shield her. Thomas is planning some sort of skullduggery on that subject.

And what's up with Thomas? I can't decide if he's hooked on drugs or trying some sort of self-remedy to "cure" his homosexuality. I don't know what hold he has on Baxter now that she has told Lady Grantham about her past. I thought she would have freed herself from that unholy alliance by now.

And poor Edith. As much as I didn't like her character in the beginning, she has really turned into a tragic figure.

[femmocrat]

1. Here!

Not sure about the who-killed-Mr. Green-mystery. It looks like the police are closing in on Anna in order to get Bates to confess. I'm not good at mysteries though.

How about that set-to between Robert and the sleazy art historian! How dense was Cora not to see that coming?

Edith....ah, poor Edith. I can foresee her going to the farm to collect Marigold to find that the family has disappeared. More heartache.

This season certainly has a lot of intriguing twists and turns!

[Arkansas Granny]

2. I don't know what Edith is going to do about Marigold.

Our PBS station airs a talkback show, Manor of Speaking" (http://manorofspeaking.org/) after DA where different guests talk about the show and give predictions. One of the guests thinks that Edith will somehow steal Marigold away to live with her in London and take over the newspaper office, which they said was left to her by Michael Gregson (I don't remember that part) and become a famous journalist. Wouldn't that set Lord Grantham on his ear?

[femmocrat]

3. She deserves some happiness!

And a little revenge! LOL

I love that prediction.

[catchnrelease]

14. Gregson

I still think that Michael Gregson is going to reappear. They will find him in Europe or he will have made his way back to the Uk or something along those lines. Maybe he will have some mental condition after being beaten by whoever it was. Like amnesia or he's blind or some other dramatic problem. But I think he will turn up one way or the other.

In the meantime I can't imagine how the elder ladies are going to get Marigold from the farm family. It will be ok for them just to basically kidnap her? Since the family is from the lower classes maybe they don't have any/enough power to fight against losing her but it still seems that there would be an outcry over it. then the truth about who Marigold's mother is could come out.

I expect in the end Edith will have the last laugh--Gregson will return and they can go live in London after they get their child back.

It just boggles my mind how mean Mary is to Edith, the things she says to her. You'd think Cora or Robert would have told her to knock it off--in a most decorous way of course!

[Arkansas Granny]

15. The relationship between Mary and Edith has always been contentious.

If you remember, it was Edith who wrote the Turkish ambassador about the young man who died in Mary's bed. Of course, in retaliation, Mary botched Edith's first romance with Sir Anthony (or was he a lord) by telling him that Edith was trying to avoid an old man at a party. The only real affection I've seen between them was when Sybil died.

[catchnrelease]

17. You're right

They have never been shown to be caring towards each other. It just seems like by now, with both having been through some ugly events in their lives, that they might soften towards each other but I guess that doesn't make for good dramatic tv, lol.

[Sheldon Cooper]

4. SPOILER ALERT!!! I've watched ahead and know the ending.

I'm a huge DA fan, and I was able to catch the last few episodes + the big Christmas episode on youtube.

SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!
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SPOILERS!!!

The Bateses - neither of them did it. Anna is arrested and jailed, Bates can't bear it so he confesses (falsely) and flees to Ireland. Anna is released on bail but the witness against her is wobbly so the prosecution will likely drop the case. Bates is cleared and returns from Ireland in time for Christmas.

Thomas was injecting himself with aspirin, I think. Or some other totally innocuous medicine - not heroin like people were suspecting. It was a self-remedy for curing the gay. He ended up with a terrible infection at the injection site, but survives and gets back to his nasty old self. He has nothing more on Baxter and she knows it.

Edith does indeed take Marigold and head up to London. Mrs. Drewe spills the beans to Cora, who in turn is furious at Rosamund and Violet for keeping the secret from her. Ros and Cora go up to London and find Edith. She is managing Michael's paper, which she has now inherited. Her plan was to drop her title, go to America, invent a dead husband, and live in anonymity with Marigold in Detroit or Chicago - where she could be sure to never run in to anyone she knows. Cora and Ros talk her into returning to Downton and having the baby brought up in the nursery as Edith's ward - the daughter of some dead friend of Ediths' or some such.

Tom is taking Sybbie and moving to Boston. His cousin owns an auto shop and Tom will work there. Cora and Robert are sad but Tom must do what he must do.

Mary and Charles manage to convince Lord Gillingham that he really does love Mabel Lane Fox after all, and now they are reunited as a couple. Mary hasn't accepted Charles, though - in fact she becomes interested in a man she meets at a shoot at Lord Sinderby's. Not clear where that is headed - he's not a titled lord, after all.

Speaking of Lord Sinderby, Rose marries Atticus and lives happily ever after.

And, the best news of all - Carson proposed to Mrs. Hughes and she said yes!!

Rumor has it that there is only one more season for the show, so I imagine they will tie up all the loose knots next year.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. Ah, you're tempting me with the spoilers, but I'm going to wait

and drag it out to the bitter end.

[QuebecYank]

6. Bates, the mystery man!

I think Bates pushed Green in front of the bus. I thought Edith's grannie, would suggest, Edith adopt her own child. As for Thomas, I thought at first, that maybe he had syphillis. Now, I'm thinking he's trying to cure himself of his sexuality.
Good to see Lord Grantham show some emotion concerning Cora, but to then ignore her, is a bit childish on his part.
I'd love to see Tom and Mary get together, but I doubt it'll happen.
The show seems to be running out of ideas. I've read somewhere, that this is the final season, I can't see it going on beyond next year.

[Arkansas Granny]

7. Anna was so worried that Bates would find out about Green and kill him that she might have done it

herself before Bates had a chance, therefore sparing him the hangman's noose. After all, in last season, Bates had figured out that Green was responsible for Anna's attack.

[QuebecYank]

10. Anna would certainly have good reason to!

[catchnrelease]

16. Bates?

I thought it was established that Bates killed Green? Didn't someone (Mrs Hughes? or was it Anna herself?) find tickets to London in Bates' coat pocket after he had made his trip to York? Maybe I have this mixed up but I think that was to show that he had been in London during the time Green got his just deserts. I figured that's why Anna is so nervous about the whole thing coming up again, as she is worried that Bates did it.

I also kind of wonder if the police would really to to this much effort for a servant. To me this story line has kind of carried on too long, with all of the other things going on in the show they could have just left Mr and Mrs Bates in peace.

[dsc]

8. He is definately trying to cure himself

the ad that Baxter saw was for one of those change your sexuality things. She actually feels bad for him as she knows what he is doing and why.

[Arkansas Granny]

9. Ah, I missed the as. That explains a lot.

[QuebecYank]

11. Didn't the ad say something about cheese?

I can't help but wonder, what he's injecting himself with.

[dsc]

12. now that I don't know

from his symptoms it well could be heroin but I have no idea.

[QuebecYank]

13. That's what I was thinking.

[Shankapotomus]

18. I actually like the fact that

Miss Bunting can't exist in the world of Downton Abbey. It's fitting that a socialist would be straight away at odds with that world and driven away. Miss Bunting is a reproach to that entire system and I think the device of having her leave stresses that she won't back down or bow to it or sugarcoat it as the price of staying. She is a test and challenge to their entire world and I think she is one of the strongest characters. She exists above it and outside of it like some repelled but still knowledgable observer.

I have a feeling Miss Bunting will reappear when it all starts to fall apart for Lord Grantham and his Abbey.

[Arkansas Granny]

19. You know who I keep expecting to reappear? Cousin Patrick who died on board the Titanic and then

showed up as a wounded soldier and then suddenly disappeared. I think he was probably Edith's first love, but he was supposed to marry Mary to keep Cora's fortune in the family. When the news of the Titanic came, Edith seemed more upset than Mary.

[grasswire]

20. yeah!

maybe so