Nothing quite says "Super Bowl counter-programming" like a Lady Edith-centric episode of "Downton Abbey."
Lady Rosamund is in town, and she's itching to talk to her niece about the little girl Mary told her was living with the pig farmer.
"You knew I'd bring her back," Edith tells her aunt. She reveals that Marigold's former adoptive parents have adopted another child. So good for them.
Of course, Edith takes Rosamund to visit the child at the Drewe hovel, and Mrs. Drewe throws a lot of 1924 shade in Edith's direction.
"She's very sweet," Rosamund says.
"Lady Edith seems to think so," Mrs. Drewe responds. Burn.
The Rosamund visit is a big mistake -- even Marigold cries when Rosamund tells her, "Remember your friend Rosamund" -- and later Mr. Drewe tells Edith that she is no longer allowed to visit or his wife will make them move and take Marigold with them. Because really, how many Edith visits can one pig farming family take?
Because she's all-knowing and all-seeing, the dowager catches on that something is up with Edith and goads Rosamund into telling her about the Marigold-Drewe situation. The pair talks to Edith about how dire the situation is, and, oh by the way, have devised a plan to "get the child away" and take her to a random school in France.
It's not entirely clear how they intend to just take Marigold away from the Drewes and ship her off to another country, but hey -- they'll worry about that later.
Edith is crushed (it's her usual emotion) and briefly tells the dowager that she just wants to move to London with Marigold. In the final scene of the episode, Edith is seen making a call to London, so it looks like the France thing isn't going to happen.
We kind of see where this is going. Cora almost walks in on the trio plotting about Marigold (how many episodes until she finds out?) and I'm guessing somehow Marigold could end up at Downton, which is good since poor Mrs. Drewe is about to have a mental breakdown.
Bricker's desperate move
The Tan Man finds a way to get back to the Abbey for a dinner, and Robert just happens to be busy that night going to some sort of official Downton duty thing (and he's wearing a spiffy red suit!).
When he arrives, Cora tells Bricker that they'll have a nice time "as long as you behave," which, naturally, means he wont.
After the dinner, Bricker waits for Baxter to leave Cora's room and brazenly goes for a Cora romantic embrace. "When did someone last cherish you?" he asks.
After being told to leave several times, we see Robert walk up the stairs (dun dun dun!) and walk in to find Cora and Bricker talking. He tells Robert that it was all his idea to barge in, but can't leave it at that and decides to lecture Robert on how bad of a husband he is. Kind of rude for a guest, no?
Robert then loses his cool and unleashes a harsh punch-slap kind of combo thing enough to wipe the tan off of his rival.
They tussle on the floor for awhile (really...) until the fight is stopped when Edith knocks on the door asking about the commotion. Cora assures her everything is OK while blocking the action from her daughter's view.
After Bricker finally leaves, all Cora can say is "Golly, what a night." Robert sleeps in his dressing room that night and Bricker slinks out in the morning (he looks up at the house and sees Cora watching him leave). That night at a Downton cocktail party, Robert gives his wife the silent treatment. Watching Mary and the dowager noticing the coldness is pretty heartbreaking.
Rose meets a beau
While buying baked goods for her Russian refugees, Rose gets her very own meet-cute! As she struggles to open her umbrella in the rain, a man approaches and offers her his. Their patter officially cements the meet-cute:
"You must have a very sweet tooth," he says, noticing all her bakery packages.
"They love cake," Rose responds, talking about the refugees.
"I love cake," he says.
"You can have some if you like," she offers.
You kind of expect Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock to appear as a romantic rival.
We finally learn that his name is Atticus Aldridge (a name which I'm pretty sure is only a thing in a "Masterpiece" series). He's Really, Really Ridiculously Good Looking, and says that since his family is Russian in origin he simply must come visit Rose and the refugees.
In the meantime, we learn that Atticus Aldridge is the son of a banker, Lord Sinderby (of course he is) and that the Crawleys are vaguely familiar with the family.
Atticus keeps his promise and arrives at the Dank and Dark Russian Refugee Hostel. We talks with Prince Kuragin and his always unnescessarily dramatic friend, and we learn that the Aldridge's descendants were from Odessa and Jewish.
Atticus watches Rose's reaction and when she doesn't care at all about the Jewish thing, they set a first date.
Side note: In doing research on Matt Barber, the actor who plays Atticus, I found this story headlined "'Downton Abbey' hosts hot Hebrew Hunk." It comments on his "goyishe name" and asks "Would we really expect a guy named Yankl Lipschitz to grace the grand halls of the house of Grantham." Kind of funny stuff there.
In Merton and Isobel news...
Well, there isn't much news really. They're still "dating" or whatever you want to call it, but she hasn't answered his proposal. The dowager is meddling, per usual, and enlists Dr. Clarkson to intervene (shrewd move, Violet).
Her plan: Have a lunch where Clarkson can see for himself just how wrong Merton is for Isobel and save her from an awful future. In turns out that Merton is geuinely into medicine and obviously kind and endearingly Merton-y. Clarkson can only say that they're well-suited for each other.
What's the next plan, dowager?
In less happy couple news...
Bye, Bunting! Branson talks to Sarah Bunting about her behavior, how she has pitted herself against the Crawleys. "You despise my family, but you forgot my wife was one of them and my daughter is one of them," he says.
"Don't you despise them, really?" she offers. Um.
It has been very odd seeing Bunting's character devolve this season. I really liked her when she was first introduced. She seemed kind and fun and a perfect match for Branson.
But it's as if it was decided, "You know, let's just make her kind of awful." I understand how she acts as a mirror to Branson's former life, but why did she have to be portrayed as so nasty? And as much as I love Branson, how many times must be go through this, "Will he or will he not want to leave Downton?" subplot?
Moving on, after it's clear Branson's not too happy with her, Sarah decides to take a job in another town, says goodbye to Daisy (who is not happy about her decision, enough to tell Branson that he needs to stop her) and then has a pretty sad goodbye with him.
He says he'll miss her a lot. She adds, "I've loved you, you know? I could have loved you more."
Yeah, maybe if you weren't so busy being rude to his adoptive family.
The heat is on Anna
The investigation into Green's death continues to haunt the Downton halls. This time both Mary and Anna are interviewed by the kindly sergeant and now a not-so-kindly inspector from Scotland Yard.
Mary goes first and says Anna was "shocked" by Green's death and lies about knowing where Mr. Bates really was. Anna is asked if it was odd Carson didn't know her whereabouts, if she liked Green and if Bates liked Green.
The talk is ending with a foreboding message from the inspector: "Don't go away."