Top Five Lines from Downton Abbey, S5:E1
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Happy Monday, dear friends. And it IS a happy Monday today
because Downton Abbey Season 5 premiered last night.
I’m still thinking about it, laughing to myself over all the
antics and hilarious possibilities for the upcoming season. They certainly
didn’t waste time getting to the good stuff, did they?
As always and because I just can’t help myself, I’m going to
post my Top Five lines of each episode.
(If you’re not a Downton fan, just come back in a couple of
days. Please?)
As I said, they didn’t waste time getting to the good stuff
by continuing story lines that were left hanging last season (Mary and Lord
Gillingham? Edith’s baby? Thomas’s harassment of Miss Baxter?) and starting
some new, potentially interesting stories (James and Lady Anstruther? Sarah
Bunting? Molesley and Baxter?).
And, of course there was Violet, Dowager Countess. Always
the star of the show, in my opinion.
And while Violet may be the star (and recipient of all the
best lines), my favorite character is still Daisy.
1. So let’s start with Daisy, shall we? Because she had a
bit of an interesting development this week.
Mrs. Patmore walks into the
kitchen to find Daisy pouring over some accounting books and asks her what this
is all about.
Daisy: I was rubbish at numbers in school.
Mrs. Patmore, laughing: Well
all the best people were rubbish at numbers in school.
Thank you for confirming what I’ve always known, Mrs.
Patmore.
2. Moving along, what is the deal with James and Lady
Anstruther, whom we had never met until this week? James thinks he knows: she’s
getting older and trying to recapture her youth with him.
And I don’t think he
thinks that’s all bad.
Talking with Thomas in the servants’ hall, he reveals a bit
of his thoughts about the Lady A situation.
Barrow: Still, it’s pathetic for a Lady to be pining over a
footman.
James: Excuse me, I
think it shows very good taste.
Hubris will be your downfall, James.
3. Hands up if you like Sarah Bunting, especially Sarah
Bunting with our beloved Tom.
I didn’t think so.
There’s just something about that woman that bothers me. I
think it has to do with her smug, sanctimonious, self-righteous swagger. But
that might just be me.
Anyway, she did get a great line last night (hopefully her
last) in the pre-dinner scene in the drawing room. Rose, attempting to be a
polite hostess, introduces her friend Kitty Colthurst to Sarah Bunting,
mentioning that Sarah is a teacher (which, by the way, is the most polite way
to introduce someone—tell an interesting fact about the people you are
introducing. A free etiquette lesson for you.)
The exchange between the two women is hilarious—especially
Sarah Bunting’s zinger at the end.
Kitty Colthurst: Oh golly, how clever! What do you teach?
Sarah Bunting: The usual things: writing, mathematics . . .
Kitty: Crikey! Writing’s always beyond me, and I wouldn’t
know where to start with mathematics.
Sarah: Well then, you
must marry a man rich enough to ensure you’ll never need to.
I guess that’s my problem with Sarah—her zingers may be
funny, but they’re mostly cruel.
4. The pre-dinner event leads, naturally, to dinner, which
turns out to be the most awkward dinner party in the history of dinner parties,
thanks, of course, to Sarah Bunting (I’m starting to really not like that girl).
In the meantime, Lady Anstruther slips a note into James’s pocket. Sarah and
Isobel can’t keep their opinions to themselves. And everyone gets into a huge
fight over the war.
All the while, Robert strives “to keep things light.” (I
guess that’s what makes for a good dinner party—light talk, nothing
controversial.)
For once, Violet comes to Robert’s aid and ends up with the
funniest line of the night.
Violet: Now, if you could all put your swords away, perhaps
we could finish our dinner in a civilized manner.
Isobel: But I admire it when young people stand up for their
principles.
Violet: Principles
are like prayers. Noble, of course, but awkward at a party.
5. The episode ends with what will surely go down in history
as The Great Fire.
Edith, in a fit of despair, throws her lover’s book into the
fireplace. Somehow she falls asleep before she sees that some of the book has
fallen onto the carpet in front of the fireplace, causing a huge fire.
Thomas, who had been skulking about in the hallway just to
see if Jimmy and Lady A “needed anything,” smells smoke, rescues Edith, and
saves Downton (and simultaneously his own you-know-what).
In the midst of all the fire havoc, Robert shouts out
orders: “Get the sand buckets!” (Because I don’t know where they are.) “Tell
everyone downstairs!” (Because God forbid I should have to do it.)
And my favorite line of all: “Save the dog!”
With that, I shall go try to rescue my own dog who, by the
way, looks very much like Isis and who has been very naughty lately.
I can’t wait to see what they have for us next week. Until
then . . .
