Season 2, Episode 6 Recap!

Episode 6 of season 2: Karma, blessings and horror oh my!

As the time brings us to 1919 and the end of the war, the soldiers move out of the Crawley house and things begin to look more normal…at least for the house itself.

And though things are returning to normal, Robert enters a state of depression. He begins to revel at the  thought of so many lives lost in the war, he begins to wonder the point of it all. He is worried about Bates and his ex-wife, Vera’s, death and is still gripped with despair over Williams tragic passing. So… naturally the Earl of Grantham finds comfort in kissing the new housemaid, Jane. I’m guessing it’s the same feeling as eating Ghirardelli’s Intense Dark Chocolate 86% cacao bar, so we’ll cut him some slack.

We are then dumbfounded as Mathew begins to feel tingles throughout his legs. But as everyone sits down to dinner a knee-jerk reaction occurs when he reaches to save Lavinia from an accident and is suddenly standing. The family is shocked and excited to hear Mathew will be making a full recovery…Yeah! Because of the good news, Lavinia and Mathew decide to move their wedding date up, pushing back Mary and Sir Carlisle’s date–thank goodness!

This, of course, encourages Sir Carlisle to get a bit crazy-ier than his norm and ask Anna to spy on Mary for him. Disgusted by such a proposal, Anna declines and alerts Carson of Sir Carlile’s shady character. Encouraged by this news, Carson tells Mary he will not be joining them at Haxby. This is sad, of course, by who can blame him?

The horror comes when Bates reveals to Anna that he had bought rat poison for Vera, at her request, and is afraid to go to the police as he may appear to be turning himself in. Saddened and scared by the news, Anna insists they get married right away. Being married will allow Anna rights to Bates if he has to go to prison. Way to plan ahead, girl!

Thomas brings his long-awaited Karma into full force this episode as he tries to win back his keep at the Crawley house by supplying kitchen foods he bought at the black market. He spends his entire savings just to find out later all he bought was a bunch of bags of plaster. He definitely got what was coming to him… boom!

As it looks like we’ll be saying goodbye to Thomas, we will also be searching for Lady Sybil. As she decides to ride off with Branson during dinner, Lady Mary suspects something is wrong and recruits Anna and Lady Edith to go in search for her. As they discover the two love birds, Mary talks Lady Sybil into coming back to the house to get their parent’s blessing… like respectable adults, I guess.

As the Spanish Flu sweeps through the house, it affects a lot of key people (like Cora), and most of all Lavinia. As Lavinia’s symptoms go from bad to better to worse again, she battles with witnessing a tender moment between Mathew and Mary. In her final moments, Lavinia releases Mathew from their engagement and to free himself with Mary.

As the episode wraps up with Lavinia’s funeral, we find Thomas reinstated to the Crawley house, Mathew guilt-ridden, Mary stuck with–dumb–Sir Richard Carlisle, Sybil and Branson receive Robert’s blessing and we return home to two policemen at Downton Abbey to take Bates off to prison–Nooooo!

Until Sunday, I leave you the season 3 preview. Enjoy, and start counting down the days!

Tagged: Bates, Crawley, Earl of Grantham, Ghirardelli, Lady Mary, Lady Sybil, Lavinia, Robert Crawley, Sir Richard Carlisle