Downton Abbey: the drama returns

I have been on tenterhooks ever since I saw the preview for this episode a few weeks ago. You just knew Julian Fellowes was going to send all the characters to hell and back before the final episode, and even the first 15 minutes didn't disappoint. From the minute Matthew's head pops up in no man's land you know we aren't in gentle pre-war England anymore...

I think that was the theme that came through most in this episode - the fact that even if they get through relatively unharmed, if most of their men get home in one piece, nothing will ever be the same again. The rot has set in for big houses and landed gentry, and in a century or so Downton Abbey will be hired out as scenery for movies about upstairs downstairs in the pre-war era. Anyway.

I was most impressed with Mary in this episode. She's grown so much in the past season. Would the Mary we saw in the very first episode of Downton have gotten up early to wish Matthew good luck at the train? Would she have given him a toy dog as a token (sniff!)? Would she have kneeled to pray for his safe return? That scene really got me.

The other person who impressed me was the Dowager Countess - who would have expected the grand old lady to be the one who would support Sybil going off as a Red Cross nurse? Sitting there in the room where they were packing her up, advising about clothes she won't need a main to get in and out of! She's splendid, it's the only word for it. But then in the same breath she's interfering to prevent Molesley and William from going off to war. She has her own sense of right and wrong, and you can't fault her, in a way. Why should anyone be off to war at all?

And that brings me to Thomas. I watched with horror when he took the bullet to the hand to get himself sent home. On the one hand, he's a devious bastard, who joined the medical corps to stay away from the front in the first place. Then on the other hand, who wouldn't want to stay away from the front? He's clearly been there for a while and done his bit. So cowardly or terribly brave?

And then there's Molesley, who was ok with the Dowager Countess keeping him off the draft list, and goes to the doctor to ask him to keep his mouth shut. Cowardly? Or a sense of self-preservation?

I was outraged by those women at the concert going round handing out white feathers - what right do they have to judge who is brave or not. Do you think that really happened?

You'll note I haven't talked about Anna and Bates. I just can't. I'm too distressed.

I'm so excited to see where the season is going....