Mary might have a different point of view there. Before she goes, Smug Chambermaid takes a dig, “Aren’t you the lucky one, but then I suppose you always are” before turning on her heel. Still quite a lot, but a pretty big come down from her original demand. She settled for a mere £50 (£2720 – or $4056 – in 2015 money) thanks to Lord Grantham. Thankfully Anna’s legal troubles have taught her how to do the perp walk, and she assists Miss Bevin as she sashays away and out the back door - only for her to return. But for all her big talk, in the end, Miss Bevin was a cheap date. The scandal here though, isn’t just the one Miss Smug Chambermaid is threatening to go to the tabloids with, it is the way she, bold as brass, pushes into the Abbey anytime she pleases. It’s the, ‘I can brazenly come waltzing into your home, into your very bedroom I can even eat your toast off your silver tray if I want to’ attitude. It matters not that Lady Mary’s imperious volume has been turned up to 11 Miss Bevin is the personification of a tide that cannot be stopped. The old rules no longer apply. I find it suspicious. In fact, if you’ve been reading my blog all along you know that I’ve always found it suspicious the way the fallout from proximity to Lord Tony has always seemed to pass over him and land on Mary and Anna. But I wonder: Why did she come to Downton? Why Mary? Why not blackmail Tony? This is the third season now that proximity to Tony has caused major headaches for the House of Grantham. Turns out what happens in Liverpool doesn’t stay in Liverpool, and Tony’s idea to use their real names wasn’t such a bright one after all. Smug Chambermaid wants £1000 to keep her mouth shut. And now this a pushy woman claiming to be a chambermaid from the hotel where Mary had her Try-Before-You-Buy weekend with Tony the Tiger turns up at Downton threatening to expose her. I am Lady Mary Crawley”, which, to her shock, had zero effect. We’ve seen it in subtle changes and interactions over the years, like last season when Mary tried to prevent Detective Vyner from carting Anna away by pulling rank, “I am not Miss. That thin veneer of obedience is now worn away, exposing the resentment hiding behind a million “yes, m’lady’s. “Your lot’s finished!” How often have we heard this? It’s become a common refrain from the commoners, and seems kind of like a silly schoolyard taunt on its face, but it belies a seething that must have always been there just under the politely ordered surface of this class system, where everyone was held in their places by nothing but common agreement. Now you can’t tell warp from weft and it’s all starting to unravel in earnest.Īs the hunt stalks the fox, Lady Mary is stalked by a smug chambermaid, and she means to deal with Mary as savagely as those dogs mean to deal with that fox. It used to be that everyone in the Grantham’s world knew who they were and where they stood. That shall remain a mystery for another day, but my theory: Double-stick tape, (which I’m sure was invented in 1924, in Thirsk, for just such a purpose).Īll these rules surrounding every little detail, down to the buttons on the livery, and the colors of the fabric, seem hopelessly lost when the fabric of the society they represent, this ordered life, is fraying. In fact, there are pages of rules about what you can wear (and how and when you can wear it) to a fox hunt! Enough that it could give even Alastair Bruce a nervous breakdown – but none of it explained how their top hats stay on while they’re galloping on horseback. They were just waiting for everyone to ride out before they revived her. And by the way, I was curious to know if there was any significance in the way everyone was dressed for the hunt, in the colors of the jackets and such, so I looked it up. My guess is she was, but when she saw Mary riding astride, she fainted into a heap and had to be carried into the library. He left that to a random villager in brown tweed.) Also interesting to note that Granny Violet wasn’t there. Mary is her father’s son.(Though, when she fell off, he wasn’t concerned enough to get down and check on her himself, and take the chance of soiling his splendid crimson and white livery. It’s interesting to note that Mary rides out with the hunt, but not Edith. It’s as if they know how much the audience loves that waggy Labrador opening and want to give us our fill before last orders are called at Pub Downton. Downton Day has arrived! Release the hounds!Īs season six begins we are awash in wagging doggie tushes.