Downton Abbey Season 1 Episode 5

Set in August 1913..

The gruesome twosome are at it again

Daisy is flustered after witnessing the late night disposal of the dead Mr. Pamuk. O’Brien and Thomas continue to scheme and make sure Daisy tells Lady Edith the circumstances of Pamuk’s death. The evil twosome also plot to frame Bates for the theft of a snuff box, but Anna and Bates outwit them at their own game. And thanks to a letter written by Thomas, gossip about Lady Mary’s virtue reaches London. Lady Cora tells Mary she’s damaged goods and best marry quickly. Old Anthony Strallin is invited to dinner as a prospective husband. Edith is actually interested in the old coot, sparking up a bitter sibling rivalry between the two sisters.

Lady Mary better keep her eye on Edith...

Lady Sybil continues to encourage Gwen in her secretarial ambitions. Sybil applies for a job on Gwen’s behalf and gets her an interview. They sneak off to the interview. The horse and buggy breaks down on the way back and they can’t find a blacksmith. They both end up in the mud, but no one is the wiser when they return.

At least they fell after Gwen's interview

The village is abuzz with the annual flower show. While talking to Molesley’s father, Isobel discovers that Countess Violet wins the flower show every year and deems this unjust. In an unusually kind move, Countess Violet declares Molesley’s father the winner, even though the judges have decreed on paper that Violet won yet again.

Anna and Bates talk about love while making Edith’s bed. He insinuates that he loves Anna. She comes right out and says she loves him on the trek to the flower show.

Mr. Bates, what are you hiding?

Mrs Patmore makes a very salty raspberry meringue for dessert and nearly chokes Lord Strallin. Carson has a talk with Mrs. Patmore and she reveals her eyesight is going.

Edith writes a mysterious letter to the Turkish ambassador. Oh oh…

Quotes from Downton Abbey Season 1 Episode 5

Lady Mary: “All alone with plenty of money and a house in Eton Square. I can’t imagine anything better.”

Matthew: “She’s barking up the wrong tree.”
Isobel: “Poor Edith, I hope there’s a right tree for her somewhere.”

Lord Grantham: “Anthony Strallin is at least my age and as dull as paint. I doubt she’d want to set next to him at dinner, let alone marry him.”

Lady Mary: “It’s easy to be generous when you have nothing to lose.”

Mrs. Patmore: “Judas was only trying to help, when he brought the Roman soldiers to the garden.”

Anna: “It’s always sad when you love someone who doesn’t love you back. No matter who you are.”

Bates: “Sometimes we’re not at liberty to speak. It wouldn’t be right.”

Isobel digs deeper into flower show business

Countess Violet: “Flower show? Oh, I thought I was in for another telling off about the hospital.
Isobel: No, this time it’s the flower show.”

Countess Violet: “I thought I usually won the prize for best bloom in the village because my garden had grown the best bloom in the village.”
Isobel: “But you don’t usually win. You always win.”
Countess Violet: “Yes, I have been very fortunate in that regard.”

Countess Violet: “You talk of Mr. Molesley’s pride. What about my gardener’s pride? Is he to be sacrificed on the alter of Molesley’s ambition.”

A look reserved for Isobel

Lady Cora: “No one ever warns you about bringing up daughters. You think it’s going to be like Little Women, instead they’re at each other’s throats from dawn till dusk.”

Lady Mary: “She had to walk for miles. I don’t think I’d have got down, however lame the horse.”
Lady Edith: “No, I don’t believe you would.”

Countess Violet: “You are quite wonderful the way you see room for improvement wherever you look. I never knew such reforming zeal.”
Isobel: “I take that as a compliment.”
Countess Violet: “I must have said it wrong.”

A kinder and gentler Countess appears

Lady Mary: “How many times am I to be ordered to marry the man sitting next to me at dinner?”
Lady Cora: “As many times as it takes.”

Lady Edith: “It seems we’ve both been thrown over for a bigger prize.”

Lord Grantham: “Mary can be such a child… She thinks if you put a toy down it will still be sitting there when you want to play with it again.”

Bates: “You are a lady to me and I never knew a finer one.”