I had some serious structural complaints about this episode, which I detail at the end of the Enneagram breakdown.
ONE
1918. We hear ping pong and see that the rec room is still in business. Men sit at tables in the converted front room. Edith asks Mary to join her in some kind of concert. She must; it keeps up the men’s spirits.
Isabelle arrives, wanting to go on rounds with the Doctor, but he’s already done it. Not sure what’s happening, only that the power dynamic has shifted to Cora.
Back in the rec room Edith passes out the mail. She catches sight of the maid Ethel flirting with the major (or captain, or whatever he was). Lol, Edith dismisses her and gives the soldier a tart response.
Mary and Granny walk the courtyard as Mary insists Lavinia was not Richard’s mistress. Oh, this old business is just a way for Violet to complain about Richard and Mary. Then she asks if Sybil has a beau. Mary doesn’t know of one.
Now Isabelle’s in the kitchen with Patmore, and again the running of the hospital has changed out from under her. Hughes comes to help, and basically tells Isabelle that everything’s been rearranged by Cora, top to bottom. “We’ll see about that,” says Isabelle, walking with a purpose.
Here they go. Whoa, Isabelle hits at a personal level. And then she threatens to leave, and Cora says (well, not really, but . . .) don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Aw, it’s sad.
And Sybil confronts Branson as he works on a car engine. Mary, approaching from the house, slows down as she sees them talking. Branson says to Sybil, I’ll stay in Downton until you want to run away with me. (Ah, the romantic takes precedence over the revolutionary this episode.) He says Sybil is in love with him. (She is? Maybe on the way to it, but we haven’t seen anything this strong.) Mary calls out to Branson, breaking them apart.
Isabelle has cornered the Doctor to complain. He says, medical training isn’t necessary to run a convalescent hospital. Isabelle says she’s going someplace where she’s useful: France. Boy, she can’t leave alone the personal digs, though. It’s painful to watch her fall apart.
Edith plays piano in the rec room and Mary sings. When she’s done she walks with Robert. He’s had a letter from Richard, who’s asking permission for Mary’s hand. Mary thinks she’ll say yes, and Robert obviously worries. What about Matthew, he says, and she rolls her eyes. Not you, too. Write to him, Robert says. She will, but she doesn’t think it matters.
Molesley oversees the loading of Isabelle’s trunks on the wagon. She says goodbye to staff, and Branson drives her to the train.
Mary enters Sybil’s room and asks about Branson. They tussle until Mary says, “I’m on your side.” Personally, everyone’s supportive. Socioeconomic class structure? Stay in you lane.
TWO
The trenches are quiet as Mary’s letter to Matthew is read, over. Ah, there’s Matthew with William. They walk through the sandbag aisles, talking how they’re going home soon for a visit.
THREE
The evil smokers! Daisy comes upon them as they discuss Bates’ presence in the pub. They mention that Lord Grantham has no valet.
FOUR
Ha, Molesley and Mrs. Bird are left alone at Crawley House with nothing to do now that Isabelle’s gone. They’re talking of how bored they are when a man — a vagabond? — wanders in. He’s a veteran. They relent and feed him.
Back to Matthew and William on patrol. Even if I didn’t know where this storyline is headed, I would feel dread at the way this is framed. They stumble on a German patrol.
Molesley in his coat and bowler hat walks up to the big house. He finds Carson in Lord Grantham’s room, brushing the military uniform. He offers to help, now that Captain Crawley’s away and he’s nothing to do. Accepted.
Daisy talks to Hughes: William isn’t here yet and he said he would be. Hughes says, Don’t worry people turn up in the strangest places. Like Bates in that pub, says Daisy. Jump cut to Carson as Hughes gives him the news.
Haha! Now Carson and Robert have Thomas cornered as they ask, Didn’t you think we’d want to know? Nope.
At the kitchen table Patmore sends Daisy to bed. On her way out the door Daisy runs into Thomas, who berates her for telling Carson about the thing she accidentally overheard. Then he sits with O’Brien while Ethel says, you and Bates are free. No more bowing and scraping. (The irony of this moment comes back later, that’s for sure.)
Sybil in her nurse’s uniform strolls the grounds and looks up at the house. Over, we hear Branson as Sybil remembers: I’ll stay at Downton until you want to run away with me.
Robert, going over the morning mail, sends for Anna. He wants to break the news to her gently about Bates at a pub. We don’t know where he specifically is, though, he says. “The Red Lion,” Anna responds. (Heh.) She explains he hasn’t returned to Downton because 1) He’s trying to settle with Mrs. Bates, and 2) He parted on bad terms with Lord Grantham. Robert feels the shame now.
Patmore and Daisy walk in the village. (How fun! Hats, shoes, and coats on view.) Oh, hahaha! They come upon Mrs. Bird outside Crawley House welcoming in a whole parade of veterans. Bird’s running a soup kitchen, and Patmore was just complaining about the extra work the army brings to her own kitchen. Patmore, to her eternal credit, jumps right in to help serve. Bird worries that it’s not her own money feeding these blokes, and Patmore says, If we can’t feed our own men who took a bullet for king and country . . . These two! They’re a blast.
SWITCH
Daisy helps in the Downton mess hall and takes the chance to ask Edith a question. William is missing. He and Captain Crawley were to be home on leave now. Edith will see what she can find out. She takes the question to Robert, who will make inquiries.
FIVE
Haha! Patmore in the kitchen designates food to go in “the special storage area”. Here comes O’Brien with a curious look.
Dinner. Robert will be taking the car to visit Bates. We get to see everyone’s reaction, especially Granny’s, lol. Crosstalk about Bates, and Sybil’s activities. Telephone call, My Lord. As the party files past on their way to the parlor, Edith stops. It’s official: Matthew and William are missing. Perhaps they’re in a field hospital, perhaps they’re taken prisoner. Don’t say anything to anybody. And Isabelle, over in France, is incommunicado.
Haha, now O’Brien has Hughes. Did you know about this special storage area? Hughes passes it off, then catches Molesley as he’s leaving. Why don’t you dress His Lordship until there’s a valet? (Poor Molesley. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.) As he grabs his coat he says, I saw an officer by the maids’ staircase. Dunh-dunh! Hughes squares her shoulders and takes off. Ethel’s not in her bed. Giggling is heard. And there they are in the spare room, naked under the bed covers. Whoa! Dismissed without notice and without a character. Wow.
Molesley has tea with Bird. He thinks he’s to be hired. She puffs him up. (It’s so sad! He gets excited. Painful.)
Ethel packs, crying, while Anna, who doesn’t know the details, sympathizes.
Bates, wiping glassware at the pub, hears the door chime and says, “We’re closed.” Turn, reveal. Robert takes off his hat.
Crosscut with Anna pleading for Ethel with Hughes. No discussion. She’s gone.
Robert and Bates make peace. Bates won’t even waste His Lordship’s time with the tales his wife threatened to tell. (But . . . but . . . they’re so juicy! When will Robert know?)
Hughes comes to the servant’s table to tell Daisy not to worry. The evil smokers sit there. One of the reasons William is missing could be because he’s dead, O’Brien says. So much for Hughes’ attempt to soft soap it.
Back to Robert as he updates Bates about Matthew. He’s very worried and distressed. I love him like a son, he says. Will you come back with me and help? Yes, he will.
Patmore and Daisy bring baskets for Bird while O’Brien watches from the corner.
Sybil and Mary battle over Branson. You and the chauffeur, Mary says. Promise not to do anything stupid.
Feet and a cane. Bates is back. Hughes welcomes him. Anna pops her head in, smiling. Carson warns him it’s all different now. Haha! Thomas in uniform comes in. Oh, nooooo! Molesley comes running in, apologizing for being late. Oh, dear. And Bates takes the brand new shoehorn Molesley bought especially for His Lordship. (Of course Molesley loses gracefully, especially since he’s the only one who knows he wanted the position in the first place.) The scene closes with tension between Bates and Thomas as “Sergeant Barrow” throws his weight around.
O’Brien tells Cora about the food storage and Patmore’s visit with Bird. She thinks they’re selling Downton’s stores, running a little commercial enterprise.
Sybil in the garage with Branson. “I’ve told Mary,” she says. Well, I’m fired, he says. No, no, she wouldn’t. Why are you smiling, she asks. “Because that’s the first time you’ve ever spoken about us.” (Yes. It’s all been an unsatisfying hodge podge with no clear discovery moments. Hmph.) They battle. What about my parents? Then he belittles her nursing work. Ho, ho. It comes down to whether you love me, he says. The rest (meaning family opinions) is detail. No response yet from Sybil.
Bates and Anna in the courtyard. He says, Be patient. Vera blah blah. Clean break blah blah.
Edith confronts Mary in the hallway. She appears to speak from sound motives, and not jealous mean-spiritedness. And Mary sees it that way, too. Now she knows, though, that Matthew’s missing. She walks away, then leans against a wall and covers her face while the music swells. Anna comes by and takes her hand: “They’ve told you, then.” God, everyone knew but her and Her Ladyship. Harsh.
Haha. Crawley House with Patmore, Daisy, Bird, and Molesley prepping the kitchen. It’s a huge affair now. In walks Cora with O’Brien. Staff freezes. Except Bird, lol, whose back goes up. Cora asks if the food comes from Downton’s stores, and Patmore replies it’s only food the army pays for. Cora is not relenting yet. Oh, it’s a feint. She only wants for Downton to buy the food so she’s not accused of hospital mis-management! And she ropes O’Brien into helping serve. (That makes O’Brien look stingy, when she’s been very sympathetic to the soldiers in the past. Well, I guess she asked for it by tattling.)
In the Downton mess, Doctor calls Thomas to task. He’s getting imperialistic toward staff, so behave. Oh, then Doctor tells Hughes he’s done as she asked. When Cora goes through the room we see Robert, thinking. Probably about the fact that everyone knows except her.
SIX
The evil smokers! O’Brien accuses Bates of tattling about Thomas to the Doctor. No suspicion of the real culprit, Hughes.
SEVEN
Robert in Cora’s room has told her. We should start to prepare, even without giving up hope. Mary passes the doorway and tells them she knows. And no one can find Isabelle to tell her! We have to keep going, Robert says.
EIGHT
So they put on another concert, this time with the Ethel-seducing major performing for the troops. Oh, gawd, it’s a magic trick. (SHOOT HIM.) In the audience, Violet leans toward Robert. She knows about Matthew, too.
Mary comes forward to sing while Edith plays. We get the whole song, and all the reaction shots. Her voice is a light soprano, pleasant. At the chorus, everyone, wounded soldiers and staff, sings along with her. WHAT! Matthew and William come in at the back of the room! Mary’s voice fades out and the room quiets. Everyone turns and sees them. Robert rises, comes over, and shakes Matthew’s hand. “My dear boy.” (Well done. He got me with that line delivery.) William gives a little eye squinch at Daisy. Mary smiles, but no one’s going to run forward for a hug. Walking closer, Matthew picks up the chorus and sings. The whole room breaks out like a professional choir, heh! The saddest part is that Mary’s relief and joy have nowhere to go as the two of them stand side by side, finishing the song.
NINE
As everyone mills about post-concert, Matthew tells Robert what happened. They were fine. “I hope you weren’t worried,” Matthew says, and Robert plays it down. We get a Mary and Matthew show: he’s off to London for Lavinia and he got her letter about Richard. Neither one will admit their feelings or opinions to the other.
Bates and Anna pass each other while serving, happy little whispers between them. Watching down the hallway are the evil smokers. Thomas is ready to let go of his anger, but O’Brien “holds a grudge longer”.
And here’s Patmore gushing over our William. Daisy stays quiet off to one side. “It’s the thought of you that keeps me going,” he says to her. She’s genuinely glad he’s safe.
Someone whispers to Hughes and she sets off downstairs. The shot lingers on the Ethel-seducing major behind her as he chats with the Doctor. Hughes comes down the darkened hallway while shadows play in the distance. And here’s Ethel, stepping out of the gloom, in the servant’s entry. She has something to tell Hughes: I’m pregnant.
Cut to credits.
CRITICAL NOTES
Oh, dear. We’ve got an unholy mess with this episode.
The Eight is crystal clear and undisputed. Matthew and William come home. All the feels, all the energy, all of the filmmaking craft points to this as the climax. It’s a very good Eight. What proceeds after it is a perfectly fine Nine.
But, oh, that Two.
Look, it has to point toward the Eight. The Two’s purpose is to introduce the Trouble that will resolve at the end. That’s it. The Eight is obvious. The Two, the notion that the missing lads at the Eight are in danger, happens quite far in. Too far. A lot of the One addresses Isabelle’s discontent with her role at Downton hospital. This is Four stuff. Move it after the Three. It affects the overall episode not one whit to slide it a little later. All we need is for Isabelle to leave so that: she’s nowhere to be found when Matthew goes missing, and Bird can start a soup kitchen. That’s her purpose in this episode, and we don’t need to frontload it into the One.
Isabelle comes off as a whiny baby and Cora comes off as a bitch. Really? These are two adult women who certainly know how to cooperate and compromise. Both have experience as managers and mothers. Their tiff is ridiculous, and I’ll suggest that their characters are written so brittle because their story is stuck in the One. There’s no room to breathe there.
A proper One for this episode contains: the introduction of the concert tradition. We need this for the Eight. And it contains the Richard information, because Mary must write to Matthew before the Two. That’s it. All the Isabelle and all the Branson belong in the Four. If their stories move Enneagram numbers, Isabelle doesn’t look so childish and Branson doesn’t look so implausible as a love interest. Their beats relax and develop properly.
The evil smokers discuss Bates at the Three and Six. Not the most interesting or evocative of mirrors, but it counts.
The Switch — the house starts to suspect the lads are missing — happens a little early in the Four because the One is too front-loaded. If the Isabelle/Branson were moved, Daisy’s insight would feel more balanced.
Also, if the One were trimmed, we’d notice Edith chastising Ethel at the beginning. This is an important moment that we need to remember at the Nine. Right now it’s diminished due to the Isabelle show. A lot of oxygen was sucked from the room by the structural choices of this episode. I must humbly but deeply disagree here with the showrunners.