You're gonna be bothered by how cool I am.

Women's Rights

MARY/MATTHEW OMG!

- Oh fun. A reminder of when men used to equate women with household animals. No surprise to see Isobel at the political speech. Robert is wrong about Sybil, of course. Technically. She was a little political even before Branson came along, especially with her assistance to Gwen in getting a job. But you can't deny she became much more passionate about it after his arrival.

- "...until she is married, then her husband will tell her what her opinions are."

- And now we see what Edith's revenge hath wrought. Poor Carson.

- Robert Bathurst (Sir Anthony Strallan) is an actor whose face I swear I've seen before but can't place where (and none of his credits that I've found are anything I remember seeing). I rather like Sir Anthony. He has such a splendid toothy grin. Edith seems delighted that Mary can't take a ride in his car. I'm amused, though, that even after the dinner fiasco, Sir Anthony's prime target in the house is Mary. All she did after completely ignoring him at the table was point out a book to him before she went to the window to pine after Matthew, and she's still his first choice over Edith. Until the car ride, of course. :-)

- I *love* the little scene between Mary and William. Mary was a smidge insensitive about William's job, but her meaning is good. She sees that William left a job he loved to "better himself," as he puts it, and it seems to her that trading a job you love, no matter how supposedly lowly, to be a mere footman is a poor trade.

- Oh, Daisy. Haven't you done enough with the things you *know* are true? Thomas is not THAT handsome! I was not as interested in this second go-round of Blame Bates For Theft. Get a new routine, you two.

- CLASSIC O'Brien, bringing up something on purpose and then saying it's not her place to tell.

- You can see that Robert fears something is up with Sybil's request to be driven into Ripon, but he doesn't want to be suspicious of her. Or perhaps just doesn't know what to do.

- Perhaps it's the corset, but my goodness Mary does seem rather desperate for breath in the scene with Matthew. "If you really like an argument, we should see more of each other." Proof that these two will NEVER be together. ;-)

- "My poor niece never uses one word when twenty will do." ... "Sorry? She's thrilled!" I love that Violet focuses on the practical side of the scandalous story first - how in the world they dragged the body. Way to stand up to her, Cora!

- Gwen is partially in the right. It's easy for Sybil to say anything is possible when every door is open for her. But then Sybil knows from her recent political experience that some doors still have yet to be knocked down, even for some members of the privileged class. They make a good pair of conspirators.

- Speaking of conspirators, good to see that O'Brien has at least one scruple about her treachery. She's not loyal enough to Thomas that she's willing to lose her job lying down.

- I love that William is the one to tweak Daisy's conscience about the lie she told.

- "I don't care a fig about rules." Yes, Mary, we know. And no one knows it better than your mama.

- Poor Branson! What an awkward position for Sybil to have put him in! LOL Mary doesn't miss a trick. Look at her face when Sybil is staring at Matthew. :D STEP OFF GURL!

- Hugh Bonneville has some hilariously dramatic heel-turns in this episode. Someone should edit them together with the Dramatic Chipmunk music.

- Obviously Mary and Matthew and the sandwiches is the Best Scene Ever. (Until something tops it in Season 2, I suppose/imagine/hope.) Hee! Mary fiddling with her necklace is like Def-Con 4 of Flirting - she does it every time she goes in for the kill. GREAT kiss. *fans self*

- And here we go with Anna and Bates and their almost-kiss and more Remains-of-the Day-ing again. :P

- Okay, here's the thing with Mary's uncertainty about Matthew, which I can see peeking through even as she tells Cora about the proposal. And yes, Matthew should have seen it coming, to a certain extent - not been okey-dokey with it, but seen it coming. For Mary, right now, it's not about who she loves or who can benefit her the most. She still, as of this episode, sees it as a duty to marry him, EVEN THOUGH she feels strongly attracted to him. She hates the idea of *having* to marry anyone and having it be a business to get over and done with and that being basically the end of her life and her goals. She's intimated as much to Matthew, and I think at this point, for both of them, it's still more attraction than genuine, lifelong love. He's closer to the latter than she is, but ... I don't know, I still can't ignore that they're characters in a story and that a (relatively) easy courtship is a dull one. I want them together quite badly, but I also want conflict, I want trials, and I want character growth.

- "We can't have him assassinated ... I suppose." I love Violet's response to hearing that Mary wants to tell Matthew the truth about Pamuk - "She reads too many novels." NO SUCH THING, VIOLET. She also has a lovely line about everyone going down the aisle with "half the story hidden."

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