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# Fug the Show: Downton Abbey Recap, Episode 602
- URL: https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/downton-abbey-recap-episode-602/
- Published: 2016-01-11T19:00:34.000Z
- Updated: 2016-01-11T22:10:13.000Z
- Author: Jessica  
- Tags: #wp, #wp-gallery, #slideshow, #Import 2026-10-07 07:46

## Downton Reset

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bf/b9/bfb99790-924d-4e41-a7e6-5e3c6e04fe57/content/images/static-gofugyourself-com/uploads/2016/01/img_1485.jpg)

At the traditional Breakfast Reset, where we learn what everyone is up to this week, we get a pivotal moment in *Downton Abbey* history, as Mary and Edith are on the same page for the first time ever when they BOTH cannot believe that their Father thinks Carson and Mrs Hughes might want to have their wedding reception IN THE SERVANTS HALL. Mary, in fact, gets a bee in her cloche that they shall have their reception wherever they want to at Downton, and this kicks off a whole thing wherein Carson wants to have the reception at Downton and Mrs Hughes does not and Mrs Hughes actually has to pull out the old "IT'S MY DAY" canard and nothing is settled and I am sorry, but "where will Carson and Mrs Hughes have their reception" is not a question of great dramatic conflict. I am still waiting to hear more about Mrs Hughes's Secret Crazy Sister In The Attic, whose existence she confessed at the end of last season. Will she ruin the wedding, a la Mrs Rochester #1? I need answers.

## Downton Crochet

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/01/IMG_1491.jpg)

I thought you might want to see this outfit on Mary. Basically, her sweater is very complex as she tells his dude -- who is very bemused by the idea of a WOMAN with A JOB, can you imagine!?! - that the Downton Pig Farmers would be DELIGHTED to enter their prize winning pigs into some livestock contest that Julian Fellowes invented late one night because he couldn't quite figure out how to bring the Pig Farmers back to ruin everything again.

## Downton Bridezilla

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/01/IMG_1493.jpg)

In which Carson gets VERY huffy about the idea that Lady Mary might not get to be at his wedding. (Don't worry. Mrs Hughes would never do that to him) This is also as good a place as any to note that, of all six seasons of this show, these two episodes have looked THE COLDEST I've ever seen.

## Downton POOOR EDITH

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/01/IMG_1498.jpg)

So, as usual, Edith is in a mess: the editor of her NewspaperMagazine hates her and spends a lot of time on the phone yelling at her and she has to go into London to deal with him...which means she won't be home to supervise as Mary takes George and Marigold down to see the pigs at the Pig Farmer's Farm of Pigs, something Mary has obviously offered to do because she has no idea of ANY of the truth of the Marigold/Edith/Pig Farmer situation. And she doesn't realize anything is amiss, despite the fact that everyone exchanges very blatant "OH F\*CK MRS PIG FARMER!!!!" looks over the top of her head. You guys. Just tell Mary. There is, in fact, a lot of convo about Just Telling Mary, but Edith doesn't want to and Cora doesn't really want to, either. I am of the theory that Mary will be kind of a jerk about this whole Marigold Pig Farmer thing to Edith at first, but only privately, and will actually be a rather useful, and mean, ally to the outside world, and Edith will need to suck it up for those benefits.

## Downton Useful

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/01/IMG_1501.jpg)

Molesley is being useful! He goes to "the schoolmaster," and gets practice exams for Daisy so she can ace whatever the hell test she's taking to get out of service. (I assume it's like the 1920s British version of the GED. Would she be taking the 1920s O levels? Why is this show so vague sometimes?) I hope that Molesley also takes said exam, runs off and becomes an actuary or something, and -- obviously -- takes Baxter with him, so they can live a passionate life out of service.

Anyway, Daisy is like, "thanks, great, but what I am going to do about how I accidentally got Mr Mason kicked out of his lovely tenant farm when I started ranting about THE SYSTEM?" And thus Molesley and Baxter kick off an episode-long attempt to try to help, but what REALLY is going to help our Daisy in the long run is that Lord G shortly realizes that the farmers in the pig farm are...going to have to go. Like, RIGHT NOW.

## Downton Undercrackers

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/01/IMG_1503.jpg)

I mostly just wanted you to see Mary's fantastic silk undergarments. I can only hope that Matthew Goode will sweep in shortly and also get to eyeball them. Here, Anna is quietly freaking out over the Mary + Mrs Pig Farmer + Marigold = Lunacy equation, and Mary is worrying about why Anna has been so much in the glumps for the last while. Anna finally breaks down and tells her about her miscarriages, and Mary's medical opinion is that Anna should just RELAX. Which is advice widely held to be super not helpful to women struggling with infertility, but I *would* wager that Anna HAS been extraordinarily stressed, given all the times she or her husband has been accused, you know, of murder and found themselves on death row. But Anna is just like, "IT'S FINE SOME WOMEN CAN'T HAVE CHILDREN AND I'M ONE OF THEM," and Mary is clearly very concerned in that practical way she has, which appeals to me. Mary is going to fix this, you guys.

## Downton Hospital Shenanigan

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/01/IMG_1504.jpg)

I'd just like to note that MAYBE you'd have had better luck with Isobel, Lord Merton, if you'd told your HORRIBLE CHILDREN, Larry and Darryl, to lie down under the nearest train to London. He's very charming with her here, as they run into each other in front of the post office and discuss The Hospital Situation, and he's a very handsome and well-dressed man, and I actually like him. But I find it annoying that this love triangle is being kept at a simmer when REALLY nothing has changed. Either turn this thing up to a boil, or take the pot off the stove.

## Downton Lifestock

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/01/IMG_1506.jpg)

The subtext of this scene for everyone but Mary and George and Marigold -- and the pigs -- is "OH MAN THIS IS SO AWKWARD REMEMBER WHEN EDITH TOOK YOUR BABY BACK?" Especially when Mrs Pig Farmer arrives and is very, very very clearly not over the entire thing.

## Downton Despair

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/01/IMG_1507.jpg)

They ought to just start keeping a giant box of fresh handkerchiefs in the boot room, because the only thing that happens there is DESPAIR. Here, Anna is crying -- again -- about how she's ruining Bates's life via her barren womb, where no seed can find purchase, etc etc. And Bates is like, "have you thought about adopting?" and Anna gives this bizarro answer about how Bates is "tribal" -- which I could barely even follow, honestly, it's so dumb -- and thus, it would never work for him, and Bates goes, "but what do *you* want?" and she's like YOU JUST PROVED MY POINT which, also, seriously, Bates. Come on. These two are terrible at communicating with each other. They are never actually confessing whether or not they've been blameless victims of assault, or if they want a child, or if they maybe murdered their wife, or if they kinda stabbed their father once.

## Downton Capes

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/01/IMG_1514.jpg)

So, Edith goes into town and her NewspaperMagazine editor Mr Skinner spends their entire meeting yelling at her, and last time I checked, yelling at your publisher is a GREAT WAY to get fired, so maybe Edith should consider sacking him. If he doesn't like working for a woman, I SAID GOOD DAY.

However, despite her professional problems, and her raging concern over The Continuing Complexities of Mrs Pig Farmer, and her dead lover at the hands of proto-Nazis, Edith looks GREAT. I hope Laura Carmichael stole that cape.

## Downton Thomas

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/01/FullSizeRender.jpg)

Meanwhile, Thomas has a rough time of it in this episode. Let me just cover his woes in one fell swoop, and also let me note that I find SadButler.com very boring. Tragic Thomas is NOT why anyone is tuning into *Downton Abbey* at this point. Anyway, Thomas is quite sure that he's going to be sacked once Lord G embarks upon his Vague But Terrifying threats of laying off players to be named later, and Carson is giving him no reason to feel any better. So he goes on an interview for a job that sounds awful, working for an awful person who twigs to the fact that Thomas is gay and is predictably awful about it (which, while I'm here, I'd note that I really don't think a total stranger in 1925 would leap to that conclusion from Thomas in the span of 10 minutes).

Speaking of being gay, Thomas ALSO keeps hitting on the new footman, Andy, and Andy is not having it. (Not unkindly; he's just in no need of Thomas's help in any format, from winding the clocks to "winding the clocks.") Even Mrs Patmore tells him to give up the ghost. Now that she's brokered the great Carson-Hughes Sexual Peace Agreements, she IS sort of an expert on inner-staff romantic conundrums, it''s true? Maybe he should call The Evil O'Brien and go see what kind of trouble he can get up to with her, wherever she may be. Get the gang back together, as it were.

## Downton Doctor Referrals

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/01/IMG_1516.jpg)

In which Mary announces that back when SHE was having problems conceiving, she went to a doctor in London, had "a tiny operation," and everything worked out just fine! And she's going to bring Anna to see that doctor, and also she's going to pay for it. "You've earned it fair and square. Keeping my secrets. Hiding that fearful Dutch thingamajig. Carrying poor Mr Pamuk down the gallery at the dead of night!" And then they both sort of chuckle at the fond memory. Ah, you never forget the first time your murderous vagina claims a victim and then you have to haul a dead body through a manor.

## Downton Mirrors

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/01/IMG_1517.jpg)

If this shot isn't used at least once an episode, an ancient curse comes to pass and we are all shot into the sun. Anyway, there is a lot of blah blah here about whether anyone can help Mr Mason, and once Baxter leaves, more yada about Marigold and the Pig Farmer Family, and basically this entire episode was conversations about plot twists yet to come, and no actual action.

## Downton Drawing Rooms

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/01/IMG_1520.jpg)

"Beware of being too good at it. That's the danger of living alone. It can be very hard to give up," Rosamund tells Edith, which is very true indeed. Edith is trying to decide whether to live in Gregson's flat, still. ALSO not a great source of dramatic conflict. Several of you mentioned last week -- and I agree -- that Edith is a bit frustrating because she is so unaware of the privilege of her wealth of options. She owns a flat in London and she's the owner of a NewspaperMagazine, and while I actually think it's realistic that this character wouldn't know what to do with these things, at least for a bit, seeing her natter about it endlessly is kind of boring.

## Downton Battle Lines

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/01/IMG_1524.jpg)

Okay, so, this hospital thing. Let's just get things straight. Isobel, Lord Merton, and Cora all think it will be better for the village if they are subsumed by the larger hospital because the quality of care will be better. Violet doesn't like this because she Hates Change and also thinks the Royal Yorktown (or whatever it's called; I keep forgetting to write it down) will be bossy and bureaucratic. Dr Clarkson agrees (and probably also doesn't want to lose his status as the town medical expert). Merton and Mary hope that this whole shebang concludes with Isobel in Lord Merton's bed -- if I may be blunt about it. Violet is Team Clarkson. And Cora's hat apparently contains all the town's medical records, it is that enormous.

Frankly, this conflict over the hospital is ALSO a snore -- I only want to see hospital politics when they involve discussion of that time they set up shop in the Downton library and Lady Edith fell in love with a pathological liar/burn victim/impostor -- but Violet v. Isobel never fails to make me laugh. At least there's that.

## Downton YOU'RE TERRIBLE

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/01/IMG_1526.jpg)

Things I need to note about The Pig Farmer: HE IS THE WORST. He has been saying, for two seasons now, that he can handle his wife and HE'S NEVER BEEN ABLE TO DO SO and in fact doesn't do so here, and nor should she allow him to handle her, given that he's LIED TO HER and also he only makes this one facial expression.

## Downton Reproductive Specialist

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/01/IMG_1531.jpg)

So, Lady Mary's Lady Doctor tells Anna that she's got an "incompetent cervix," which is still what they call it, and which is VERY IMPOLITE to a women's poor cervix, which is surely trying its best. The good news is that the doctor can do something to aid the competence of Anna's lazy cervix -- namely, he can basically sew it shut and ideally keep it from opening too soon, which is why she's been miscarrying. Interestingly, this is basically the same treatment that they perform for this issue today, in many cases. Some times, the old simple ways are the most effective. Anyway, Anna is pretty excited that there's a possible surgical solution to her fertility woes, and so am I. Yay for modern medicine! (Also, frankly, for Mary's outfit.)

## Downton Tenant Farmer Issues

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/01/IMG_1533.jpg)

At the fatstock show -- the internet tells me that "fatstock" is a term for livestock that is...well, FAT and potentially ready to eat, if I am understanding correctly -- the Downton pigs win, and Lady Mary is very proud, and Mr Mason is gloomy because of how Daisy's Socialist Rantings have gotten him evicted and then it all really goes to hell because Mrs Pig Farmer kinda kidnaps Marigold. I mean, not REALLY. She just snatches her and takes her back to the farm for some cuddles, which frightens the hell out of everyone, nevertheless. It would be more proper kidnapping if she'd grabbed Marigold and driven to Scotland.

## Downton Tweeds and Hats

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/01/IMG_1536.jpg)

So, you know how [the Duchess of Cambridge has been all up in her tweeds lately?](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/royally-played-wills-cuts-his-hair-01-2016/) They're well on record as being *Downton* fans chez Wills and Kate and I swear to God, Kate went and ordered all those tweed-y suits she's been wearing all over the country lately once they saw this season. Royals: They ARE just like us.

Anyway, Mary only hears about the kidnapping after it's been figured out -- you guys, seriously, just tell Mary -- and is mostly irritated that Edith has left in the Downton car without her. As you would be. If you didn't know that Edith was fetching a child who she feared was being kidnapped. Also, her hat looks fantastic.

## Downton OMG Please Move Out

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/01/IMG_1539.jpg)

And so of course, they give Marigold back to Edith and Mr and Mrs Pig Farmer essentially agree to look for another farm on which to be tenants. Which obviously means that Mr Mason will get to move into Downton and solve THAT problem, at least. But of course, we'll all be sorry when Mrs Pig Farmer REALLY cracks and comes back and murders Edith. I mean, right? NO SPOILERS!

[Fug the Show: Downton Abbey Recap, Episode 602YOU GUYS. Mrs Pig Farmer is back (and she's kinda turned into a kidnapper, not that you can totally blame her). Can Sarah Bunting, Ingrown Bikini Line Hair, be far behind?? In other news, EvilButler.com is terribly gloomy and Edith actually looks amazing despite the fact that her life choices to give up her child for adoption, then go get her, then give her to a pig farmer, then change her mind again, has once again come to bite us all on the ass. All that said, I'm afraid I thought this episode was a bit of a snooze, all Setting Things Up For Later without anything really happening. Yes, even the kidnapping was kind of half-assed. To the Downton well! I wonder who we'll find down there. Mayhap a Gutenberg Bible! PS: As ever, if you have seen this season, please don't spoil those of us who haven't! Thank you very much for being so careful about that in general. It's incredibly appreciated.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bf/b9/bfb99790-924d-4e41-a7e6-5e3c6e04fe57/content/images/static-gofugyourself-com/uploads/2016/01/img_1485.jpg)](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/downton-abbey-recap-episode-602-01-2016/)