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# Fug the Show: Downton Abbey recap, season 4, episode 8
- URL: https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/fug-the-show-downton-abbey-recap-season-4-episode-8/
- Published: 2014-02-18T18:00:43.000Z
- Updated: 2014-02-18T17:44:54.000Z
- Author: Jessica  
- Tags: #wp, #wp-gallery, #slideshow, #Import 2026-10-07 07:37

## Downton Sheep!

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5516.xml)

This is apparently the sweater that Mary wears when she is required to go talk to people about livestock. It is both hideous on her AND impractical, considering how much it will show the dirt. Mary, did you learn nothing from that time you and Mr Blake rolled around in the mud? At any rate, Farmer Drew -- the one who Lord G loaned 50 pounds so that he could continue to be a tenant farmer -- has taken over the role of Pig Man after the last Pig Man almost killed the pigs, man. And Edith sees how tender Farmer Drew is with their pigs, and hears him note that he hopes he can return the favor of their kindness to them one day, and decides she's going to let him raise her baby. To which I say: ???!!!??!?!?!?!!?!!?!?!?????!!!!!! How does she think THAT conversation is going to go? "Hey, you did a great job with our pigs and you owe us one, do you also want to farm my illegitimate child?"

Luckily, when she floats this idea to Rosamund, Rosamund points out the MYRIAD issues with this scheme, including the fact that if the baby looks like Edith and Edith spends all her time ducking into a random tenant farmer's house, the whole village will figure this out. (And possibly think that Edith was impregnated by said farmer.)

## Downton Thema and Louise

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5517.xml)

ISOBEL: (*enters*) It's only me!

THE DOWAGER COUNTESS: (*disdainfully*) I always feel that greeting displays such a lack of self-worth.

It turns out that The DC is feeling much better and therefore is up to the task of explaining to Isobel, and the audience, what the Teapot Dome scandal is, in a very clunky bit of expository dialogue that includes the line, "Is it really called the Teapot Dome Scandal? Sounds so unlikely. What's it all about?" Now, I certainly don't expect British audiences to know anything about Teapot Dome -- I barely remember the details and I have what is essentially a minor in American History -- but I also don't know if they even needed to explain what the drama is with Cora's brother so explicitly. It seems that they could have said he was in some kind of drama involving bribery and the US government and left it at that.

## Downton Phone

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5518.xml)

This telephone table has gotten SO much action this season. Rose, as always, looks charming in her early 20s gear -- she wears this silhouette better than anyone else, I think -- but you can always just assume that whenever she's on the phone, she's up to no good. Not MALICIOUS no good, just...rebellious no good. We also learn herein that Cora is very busy with the village bazaar -- which reminds me very strongly of my own mother, who is in charge of a rather similar event every year, and who would NEVER be so caught up in it that she would miss it if my sister and I started acting as squirrelly and weird as Rose, Edith, and even Mary are in this episode. A couple of weeks ago, one of you noted that "Cora was acting more stoned that usual," and GOD, she is frustratingly unobservant in this episode. Her inability to grasp that something is SERIOUSLY UP with Edith is kind of making me nuts.

## Downton Love

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5520.xml)

So, this is a rather delightful development. Molesley seems to like Baxter and Baxter is very kind and supportive to him (in a way that seems legitimate and not that she's playing him, as she continues to be kind and supportive to him after he is incapable of giving her any gossip), and maybe FINALLY something will be coming up Molesley! Later, he asks her if she wants coffee, and she isn't sure, and he says, "it's just coffee. You won't have to surrender your independence," which was refreshingly sassy from someone who's usually such a sad sack, and then, in fact, HE is very kind and supportive to HER, and tells her that although none of them like Thomas, everyone is capable of making up their own minds about her and it's actually all very nice. I basically just want everyone on this show to hook up and these two would be a good AND unexpected pair, which is the best kind.

Additionally, the actress who plays Baxter has a very sympathetic mien, and is a nice addition to the cast. It's good to have someone downstairs that I don't want to slap, considering that at the moment Bates WANTS TO MURDER, and I want to line up Daisy, Alfred, Jimmy, and Ivy, and slap all of them at once, *Three Stooges*\-style.

## Downton Aw

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5526.xml)

And this is where we all decided we preferred Mr Blake to all of Mary's other suitors. George is SCREAMING, and Mr Blake scoops him up and jollies him and is just delightful to him, and there is nothing more attractive than a man who is lovely to a small child. Additionally in this scene: Edith acts completely squirrelly to the DC, who, unlike Cora, immediately snaps to the fact that something is up.

## Downton Finally

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5527.xml)

In which Mary tells Anna that Lord Gillingham and Mr Green -- his Evil Valet -- are going to be staying at Downton shortly, and Anna freaks out (quietly, in her controlled Anna way) and FINALLY tells Mary that Green is her rapist, and Mary is obviously horrified and wants to go to the police (don't ask me why she wants to go now when she knows who did it, but didn't care when she thought it was a random rapist on the loose in the countryside) and tell Lord Gillingham and Anna won't have it, all because she thinks if the news gets out Bates will get his murder on. I wish SOMEONE would storm down to Bates and be like, "DUDE. If you kill this guy, it will make everything SO MUCH WORSE so get your homicidal tendencies in check. Take up boxing or something!"

All that being said, both Michelle Dockery and Joanne Froggatt are very good indeed in this scene. Mary tells Anna she's going to get Gillingham to leave Mr Green at home...but she doesn't reach him in time, so we're all going to get some more FACES OF MURDER at Downton, to which I can only say: Whee!

## Downton Oy Vey

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5532.xml)

Alfred's dad has died and it's made him totally lose his mind because he's written to Ivy and proposed. Let's get this taken care of: Ivy says no, and Alfred's okay with it. There is no more unsatisfying love quadrangle than one where NO ONE ends up with ANYONE. Although we did get the redemption of Daisy, which we'll get to later, and which was a very long time coming, and much needed because I was getting ready to put Daisy into the line to go into The Well.

## Downton Murder

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5535.xml)

ANNA: So, Lord Gillingham is coming to visit.

BATES: I FEEL SO MURDER-Y RIGHT NOW.

There WAS a moment in this scene, where Bates was questioning Anna about Green -- "you liked him so much when he first came. You thought he was so funny" -- that I had a horrible, brief moment of wondering if he thought she lied about the rape because she slept with Green of her own volition. BUT! The show, thank god, did not go there, because that would have been terrible and awful and no good and very bad and also totally out of character for Bates. He was just trying to get confirmation from Anna that he was free to MURDER, which she did not give. I really REALLY wish someone would tell Bates to GET A GRIP.

## Downton Telephone Table

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5537.xml)

There's just some set-up here -- Rosamund is coming to stay, and is rightly telling Edith that she has to figure out her shit vis a vis her baby -- but I thought you'd want to see Edith's dress. Do we think the costumers are padding her very slightly? Because later she makes a comment that implies she's about five months along and here is my question: SURELY Anna has realized something is up, since she is dressing Edith and by that point, EDITH IS SURELY SHOWING. Maybe Anna is just distracted with worrying constantly that her husband is about to go on a killing spree, or thinks Edith is just eating her feelings, but how has no one else noticed?!

## Downton Tea

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5539.xml)

Tom and Isobel -- who have gotten into the habit of driving places together and talking about whether or not Tom is still a Socialist, which, with apologies to this show and also to Socialists, is actually the very last plot point I care about -- have gone into town to buy him a copy of *Are You Still a Socialist??*, and while he's there, Tom witnesses Rose caressing Jack Ross's face and he FREAKS OUT internally about this incredibly juicy bit of scandalous gossip. Everyone else in the tea shop is a bit OMG about it, too, including Jack Ross, who keeps telling Rose that she needs to dial it down with the PDA and who clearly is slowly realizing that Rose has a lot of very idealistic and optimistic ideas about reality.

Once Tom gets back to Downton, he goes in and tells Mary what he's seen -- she, of course, already knows, because she walked in on Rose and Jack making out on the kitchen table -- and then basically says, "NOW YOU KNOW AND I'M OUT OF THIS HOT MESS."

## Downton Get A Grip

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5547.xml)

In which Rosamund tells Edith that her idea to give her baby to a pig farmer is RIDICULOUS and tells her that what they're going to do is this: they're going to Switzerland on an extended trip, and Edith can have the baby abroad and adopt it out to a wonderful family, who will love it dearly and give it a wonderful life, and no one need know (although, of course, the sharper people in Edith's circle will surely suspect, as "I'm taking an extended trip with my maiden aunt and coming back a changed woman" is always slightly suspicious; but suspicions are not proof). Rosamund is being VERY KIND and a very good friend to Edith here, and thank God, because she needs one. Also, her dress is great. Let's find a delectable suitor for Rosamund in Switzerland, shall we?

## Downton Pay Attention, Cora, GOD.

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5548.xml)

ROSAMUND: Sooooo, I am going to go to Switzerland to.....learn better French! For a while. A long while. How long did I say I would be gone, Edith?

EDITH: Um...four months? Or so? Didn't you say four months would do it?

ROSAMUND: YES.

CORA: Why aren't you going to France?

ROSAMUND: Switzerland has better hospitals. UM IN CASE WE GET SICK. YOU KNOW. JUST IN CASE. And by "we" I mean me and Edith because Edith is coming too. EDITH MUST COME TO THIS CLEAN COUNTRY WITH THE LOVELY HOSPITALS WITH ME AND NO ONE ELSE FOR A PERIOD OF FIVE MONTHS GIVE OR TAKE YOU KNOW HOW FIRST BABIES ARE I MEAN NEVER MIND.

CORA: Sounds SWELL! BYE!

## Downton Dinner

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5550.xml)

So the dinner table is full of dudes who love Mary and I am firmly Team Blake at this point. Gillingham is all, "ALL I DO IS THINK ABOUT MY LIFE AND HOW IT'S GONE WRONG" and he keeps throwing Meaningful Glances at Mary, and look, dude, YOU were the one who didn't listen to her at all when she told you she wasn't ready to move on from Cousin Matthew and then went and got engaged, so this is really all of your own making. I don't even dislike Gillingham -- I think the fact that he goes and breaks it off with Mabel Lane-Fox regardless of whether or not Mary will have him speaks well of him -- and he does agree to fire Green when she asks him to, even though she won't tell him why. But he is a bad listener. And we have no idea if he's good with pigs at all. Whereas Blake is all, "MARY IS SPLENDID!" and we know he likes livestock AND children.

This scene is also notable in that Tom is the ONLY PERSON who seems to realize that the fact that Michael Gregson went to Germany and VANISHED is actually kind of serious. Even if you don't care about Edith, isn't it at the very least rather INTERESTING that a person she loved HAS TOTALLY DISAPPEARED IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY?

## Downton Faces of Murder I

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5552.xml)

Green is down at the servants' table being his usual ASSHOLE self -- seriously, the man is really REALLY confident that no one has any inkling of his crime, which seems terrifically stupid of him -- and Bates just calmly cuts his meal and pretends it's Green's FACE and listens very carefully as Green gives essentially his exact London address.

## Downton Faces of Murder II

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5553.xml)

But no one's FACE OF MURDER is as good as Mrs Hughes's.

## Downton There It Is

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5557.xml)

Mary has this whole convo with Cora about how Cora is having a difficult time "parenting" Rose because (a) Rose is an adult and (b) Rose isn't technically her child, and I call BS on both of those things. Cora is not even trying to parent Rose because Rose is a handful and Cora doesn't want to deal with it. The truth is that regardless of parentage, Cora is Rose's GUARDIAN and has been trusted to keep an eye on her. Additionally, Rose hasn't been presented at Court yet, and ergo, given the social structure of the time and her class, she ISN'T really considered an adult yet, as she isn't officially out in society. I get why Rose is chomping at the bit for her freedom, but Cora's take on that should really be "too f'ing bad" rather than her ineffectual hand-fluttering

And so, as always, it falls to Mary get shit done. She calls Rose into her room and Rose yammers off the words "imperialist nonsense" and "racial purity" and "daring to dream" before finally announcing that she can't WAIT to tell her mother that she and Jack Ross are getting married, so she can see her mother's face CRUMBLE. And there we are. Romantic rebellion as a way to stick it to your parents. A classic.

## Downton Adios

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5564.xml)

And so all the men -- a gaggle of which Cora refers to as "a desire of suitors," brilliantly -- all take off, after Gillingham tells Mary he's going to break it off with Mabel Lane-Fox, and she is like, "dude, I'm still not ready to date anyone, so slow your roll. Also, your valet is bad news." She does, however, tell Mr Blake that she is very grateful for his help and they're all sort of twittery at each other, and Gillingham clearly doesn't like it. How many times can I say this: All of this is a problem totally of your own making, Gillingham! Of your own making!

## Downton Command Audience

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5565.xml)

Thank God SOMEONE is paying attention to What's Wrong With Edith. The Dowager Countess calls Edith and Rosamund in for tea and basically serves them as the main course, pointing out that: (a) Rosamund does not care about French, (b) Rosamund is being very solicitous about Edith but not telling anyone WHY, and (c) Rosemund and Edith are fleeing the country for a very suspicious amount of time. She wants them to tell her what's going on.

## Downton Command Audience II

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5566.xml)

And Edith is like, "If I tell you, you'll never speak to me again," and the DC wisely points out that even saying this is basically confirming her suspicions. "But I'd still like you to enunciate it for me clearly." SAY IT WITH ME: POOR EDITH.

## Downton Rose

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5568.xml)

In which Rose is wearing a new dress and tells a gobsmacked Mary that she and Jack Ross are engaged. Now, I think it's very interesting that we never saw the scene in which this happened, and I have some theories about it: namely, that this entire plotline never got off the ground and it was a bit of a mess. The actors had very little chemistry -- and Jack Ross's Uber-American accent was a bit distracting -- but we also NEVER really saw them interact beyond a couple of scenes, so we could never actually get invested in them as a couple. It's a shame, because I actually think this storyline, theoretically, could have been very interesting, if a bit of a retread of Sybil Loves the Chauffeur. But they never gave it enough time to develop into something the audience could really care about and now it's over. So...that's a bit of a let-down.

## Downton Command Performance III

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5571.xml)

In which the DC drags Isobel over to have luncheon at her house with Mary's Godfather, Lord Merton (who you may remember as a man who has a terrible family but who is himself rather lovely and quite handsome), all of which turns out to have a bit of a match-making element to it. He is clearly smitten with Isobel, and even sends her a giant mass of flowers after inadvertently forgetting that Matthew is her son (and dead; I don't think he forgets that Matthew is dead, just that her son is Matthew and ergo is dead). Dr Clarkson, you better get this show on the road! Mary is not the only woman with a desire of suitors on this show!

## Downton Vistas

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5574.xml)

You can't really tell from this screengrab -- which I couldn't resist, because it's SUCH a beautiful shot of the countryside -- but Tom is calling on his old Chauffeur Skillz to fix the car of the woman he met at the political meeting last week, whose name -- [like that of our friend at Tomato Nation](https://www.tomatonation.com/?ref=go-fug-yourself.ghost.io) \-- is Sarah Bunting. She is sassy, and a schoolteacher, and he is kind of warm for her form. I'm pretty sure Isobel is going to meddle to set the two of them up, given that her take when they met was, "she knows her own mind," and just two weeks ago she said that what Tom needed was...you guessed it....a women who knows her own mind.

## Downton Kindness

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5584.xml)

It does my heart good to see the DC being so very kind to Edith in her hour of need. She basically tells her that Rosamund is right, and Edith needs to go to Switzerland and adopt the baby out to a nice family: "Switzerland has everything to offer. Except perhaps conversation. And one can learn to live without that." Edith is VERY sad about this and wonders yet again what she's going to tell Gregson if he turns up. I honestly think, "welp, I'm unmarried and I thought you were dead, so wtf was I supposed to do!" would take care of it. The DC says she's going to pay for everything, and if Gregson pops up, the two of them can "start again." She is VERY non-judgmental about all of this in a way that makes me want to hug her except she'd hate it.

## Downton TCB

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5588.xml)

I have no idea why I didn't get a shot of Mary actually talking to Jack Ross, but I suspect it's because I am so transfixed by how WRETCHED this dress is on her, and I went into a fugue state for the next five minutes. At any rate, Jack Ross tells her that he was never actually going to marry Rose anyway -- his own mother was quite against it -- mostly because he doesn't think she could actually handle what would happen to them, socially. So why did you ASK HER TO MARRY YOU? The entire trajectory of this plot is confusing to me. It feels like the writers set up one thing, realized quickly it wasn't going to work, and then tried to just abandon ship as quickly as possible. It's kind of unsatisfying. There is a great moment where Mary basically says, "I'm sure YOU love her, but I'm pretty sure she's just using you," and Jack's like, "She's not THAT bad, but...I know, right?" And then he says he'll write to her -- "She'll get it tomorrow," he notes -- and then they both agree that racism is awful and if only people were more tolerant than they'd totally be on board with this whole thing and then Mary leaves. How can a plot be both hamhanded AND undercooked at the same time?

## Downton MURDER TIME

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5590.xml)

While Mary is in London, taking care of business, Anna is of course with her. Which gives Bates the opportunity to take the day off without Anna knowing, to "go into York," AKA come up to London and push certain people under trucks, which we know is what's about to happen given that every time the show cuts to Bates, like, walking off campus, the music is all DUM DUM DUM MUUUUUUUUDER!!!!! It's terrifically subtle.

Mary tells Anna that she's going to tell Gillingham to dismiss his valet (which she does, because Mary is the upstairs version of Mrs Hughes: SHE GETS SHIT DONE)."Is Bates going to challenge Mr Gillingham as to why he has a different valet?" Mary points out, when Anna gets squirrelly about this. NO. No, he will not. Because Bates will know that Gillingham needed a new valet AFTER HIS OLD ONE GOT RUN OVER BY A TRUCK.

## Downton Bazaar

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5599.xml)

Rose's take on Jack Ross breaking it off with her is "it's SO disappointing, Mary," and essentially being totally petulant for like ten minutes until she seemingly forgets the entire thing. Mary points out that if you're going to "complicate your life," it better be for a better reason than briefly annoying your mother, which is good advice that Rose obviously won't remember given what must be something wrong with the memory-processing cortex of her brain.

## Downton

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5604.xml)

Look who's back from filming *Monuments Men*! I mean, visiting America.

## Downton Smooches

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5606.xml)

These two are VERY smoochy in recent episodes. That's not a critique -- I clearly want people to be making out on this show constantly, even if they're terrible for one another -- just an observation. Turns out Uncle Harold got a reprimand, and Thomas found America "very modern...very interesting," and it seems he and Lord G didn't get along particularly fabulously.

## Downton Loose Ends

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5608.xml)

IVY: So, let's definitely not get married.

ALFRED: Nope! Feel bad that I was so crazy about that.

IVY: No probs! Good luck in London!

ALFRED: Thanks! Let's just be friends!

IVY: Sweet!

## Downton Hats

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5609.xml)

Can we take a sidebar to note that while William's father, Mr Mason, is SO NICE to Daisy and is in fact the only person to shake some sense into her vis a vis Alfred, her hat is HIDEOUS. It is TERRIBLE. It might be the worst hat that has ever appeared on this show, ever.

## Downton Counsel

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5611.xml)

Edith looks very nice in this lavender dress, while she reiterates that Gregson is really really gone. WE KNOW. "Sometimes I fear that God doesn't want me to be happy," she says, and I'd accuse her of being a sad sack, but I actually think she might be right. The DC comfortingly tells her that life is just a series of problems until we die, and that's really a wonderful thought for us all to sit with for a while.

## Downton Murder

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5615.xml)

GILLINGHAM: Hey, remember how you told me to fire my valet and wouldn't tell me why and I said I would do it? I didn't, BECAUSE HE DIED FIRST.

MARY: OMG.

GILLINGHAM: He fell...or tripped...OR SOMETHING...right under a bus.

MARY: !!!!

GILLINGHAM: Doesn't that seem, I don't know, SUPER SUSPICIOUS?

MARY: Gotta go talk to Anna SEE YOU LATER.

I can't wait until Gillingham decides Mary put a hit out. (I'd think he would sort of suspect her -- it would not be the first man dead at her..well, not exactly her hand -- but I think Green met his bone-crunching and disappointingly off-camera end while Mary and Gillingham were having tea). Mary runs off and tells Anna and they're both like, "so this happened IN PUBLIC and no one SAW ANYTHING? That seems good." And THEN Mary runs over to Blake -- who has ALSO popped up, because this bazaar really DOES have everything save DJ Baby Bok Choy -- and is like, "if something terrible happened to someone awful and you know who made the something terrible happen and you thought he was totally right to do it, would you tell anyone?" and he is very thoughtful and kind of great (and points out this is really awfully theoretical) and tells her he'd keep his mouth shut, and that's right when Mary REALLY fell in love with him.

## Downton Feats of Strength

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5617.xml)

In which we learn that Molesley is stronger than Terrible Jimmy, which is maybe my favorite thing that happened all this week. Jimmy storms off like the baby he is, as Thomas sidles up to try to get some dish out of Baxter, which she refuses to give him, and then Molesley sweeps in and gallantly tells Thomas to back off, and they stroll off together, leaving poor EvilButler.com smoking and impotent. All Molesley needed was some attention from a kind woman, it seems, and he turns into a gallant delight. Molesley is our king!

## Downton Touching

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5625.xml)

Okay. So I have to admit that as much as I have found this storyline to be terribly tiresome, I actually totally cried at this scene. Daisy COMPLETELY redeems herself. She's made Alfred a basket of treats, and he is all, "wow, maybe I SHOULD marry you" -- like, HEADDESK ALFRED -- and she *shuts him down*, telling him that she loved him, but no more, and never again, and they have to go their own ways, but she wishes him well, "so very well. And we'll be friends. Friends, forever." And I don't know why but I totally cried at that moment. Maybe it's because of that hat? It DOES make my eyes hurt.

## Downton Tears

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5626.xml)

And then I cried a little more when Mrs Patmore chased Daisy outside and told her that she could not have been more proud of her if she were her own daughter for how well she handled this in the end. Oh, Daisy, I'm glad I can like you again. Let's get you some cute boy who likes you back this next season.

## Downton Suspicions

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5628.xml)

It makes me mental how Anna and Bates only talk in circles around this Green thing. She won't tell him not to murder anyone -- which ought to be something that goes without saying, in the first place -- and she won't ask him if he pushed Green under the lorry, and HE won't tell her that he knows what happened, and that he did. JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER ABOUT YOUR MURDERS. IT'S SO MUCH HEALTHIER.

## Downton ThreeShot

![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5632.xml)

And then the episode ends, rather abruptly -- the pacing this week was off; I think they needed another 15 minutes, even though this already HAD an extra 15 minutes, because there was plot JAMMED into this thing, especially the last ten minutes, and nothing got time to breath -- with these three old broads staring after Mary, Lord Gillingham, and Mr. Blake, walking off somewhere together. Like they don't all have bigger problems than Mary's love life! ONE OF YOU IS HAVING THE BABY OF A MAN WHO HAS VANISHED! THE OTHER ONE HAS A SUITOR WHO CAN'T REMEMBER THAT HER SON IS DEAD! THE OTHER OTHER ONE HAS PROBABLY LOST HER UNCLE'S GUTENBERG BIBLE! Focus, you guys! Mary can mind her own knitting for ten minutes.

[Fug the Show: Downton Abbey recap, season 4, episode 8Getting shoved under a lorry is almost as good as getting pushed down the well. PS: Last week's recap went up at the last minute, due to Fashion Week, so if you missed it, you can find it here. (The master list of all Downton recaps is here; our MASTER master list of ALL recaps is here. That latter one lives in the black bar in our header, for easy access. Kinda. Easy-ish.) A NOTE ABOUT SPOILERS: I know you lovely people who live in the UK (and you lovely people who have been watching by less than legal means) have already seen this season. I trust that you will continue to be lovely and considerate and you will not spoil those of us here in the US as to what we have in front of us. Please keep the comments spoiler-free. We all sincerely, sincerely, really appreciate it. Thank you! (It goes without saying, I hope, that if you have NOT caught up through season three, then this will have spoilers for seasons one through three.) And now....to MORE WANTING TO MURDER.![](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/content/files/www-gofugyourself-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/img_5516.xml)](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/fug-the-show-downton-abbey-recap-season-4-episode-8-02-2014/)