Downton Abbey Season 3 Episode 2

Set in Summer 1920

Matthew and Mary are blissed out after their honeymoon in the south of France and they arrive home with a car! When Lord Grantham asks Matthew about the honeymoon, Matthew claims his ‘eyes have been opened’. Maybe Mary learned a trick or two from old Pamuk.

During an after dinner heart to heart, Matthew lets Lord Grantham know he’s aware of Downton’s financial issues. Matthew confides he doesn’t feel right taking Lavinia’s inheritance. Mary grows short tempered at Matthew’s unwillingness to help the family out of their financial trouble by taking Reggie Swires’ money.

Violet and Mary scheme to get money from Martha. They think they can show her the value of Downton by holding a grand dinner party, but the stove is on the fritz down below. The big dinner meant to charm Martha out of her money is about to turn into a disaster without any cooked food. Martha brainstorms an indoor picnic and the guests all seem amused. But Violet seems unamused when Martha sings her a Sapphic version of “Let me call you sweetheart” and kisses her hand at the end. After dinner, Mary and Violet learn Martha’s capital is all tied up and she can’t save Downton a second time.

Violet and Lord Grantham discuss the danger of letting the Anthony Strallin and Edith romance continue. They decide it must be ended. Robert tells Strallin to lay off and Edith receives a letter at breakfast breaking things off. Edith is furious at Robert. Martha consoles Edith in the garden and they convince Robert to let the romance continue. Anthony and Edith hatch a marriage plan at the grand dinner party.

Thomas is still hounding the new footman, Alfred. After Thomas catches Alfred sewing a button on Matthew’s shirt, Thomas tricks Alfred into using a noxious chemical on Matthew’s jacket and Alfred burns a hole in it. Carson is mortified, claiming Alfred has embarrassed the family by forcing Matthew to appear downstairs improperly dressed, wearing a dinner jacket to dinner, instead of tails. Sly old Tom puts a bug in Robert’s ear about Alfred and Molesley ends up taking over valet duties for Matthew. O’Brien exacts revenge on Thomas by hiding all Lord Grantham’s dress shirts on the evening of the big dinner party. Lord Grantham realizes Tom isn’t the most popular man downstairs.

Isobel has taken up a new cause. She’s helping ladies of ‘ill repute’ rebuild their lives. Ethel appears fleetingly outside Isobel’s centre for wayward women, not just once, but twice.

Mrs. Hughes takes Mrs. Patmore aside to confide and show her a lump in her breast. Mrs Patmore reassures Mrs. Hughes and vows to stand by her. They go to the doctor together. The first test is inconclusive and the results of the second test won’t be known for a couple of months. Carson knows somethings up, but he’s not sure what.

Anna visits Bates in prison and tells him she bought a garter in France! Now Bates has something to look forward to. Anna works on more ways to prove Bates’ innocence, but Bates isn’t exactly a model prisoner and threatens his roommate, showing his dark side once again.

 
 

Quotes from Downton Abbey Season 3 Episode 2

Martha: “I love the sun”
Violet: “So we can see”

Violet: “No guest should be admitted until the date of their departure is settled”

Martha: “Are there still forbidden subjects in 1920?”
Violet: “I speak of taste, not law”

Mrs. Patmore: “I’m never sure about Americans and offal”
Alfred: “I think she’d eat whatever you put in front of her that. What a gob. I thought Mr. Carson was going to put a bag over her head”

Violet: “If only we had some coal, or gravel, or tin”

Cora: “Cousin Isobel helps women who’ve had to degrade themselves to survive. There’s a centre in York”
Martha: “Oh, no addresses please or Alfred will be making notes”

Cora: “You don’t have to give money after every conversation mother”
Martha: “Isn’t that what the English expect of rich Americans”

Mrs. Patmore: “If you must pay money, better to a doctor than an undertaker”

Mrs. Hughes: “If the doctor treats me like an adult Mrs. Patmore, why you do you insist on treating me like a child?”

Matthew: “I do love you so terribly much”

Martha: “Harold hates to leave America”
Violet: “Curious. He hates to leave America. I should hate to go there”

Mary: “The role of houses like Downton is to protect tradition, that’s why they’re so important to maintain”

Tom: “This is what comes of making him run before he could walk”

Anthony Strallin: “Please Robert I understand completely. Lady Edith is your daughter and you don’t want her involved with some cripple who’s far too old”

Mary: “Now stop talking and kiss me before I get cross”

Mary: “I shall be Countess of Grantham one day. And in my book the Countess of Grantham lives at Downton Abbey”

Violet: “Nothing succeeds like excess”

Mrs. Patmore: “We’ve 20 lords and ladies in the drawing room waiting for dinner and we’ve got no dinner to give them”

Martha: “You two are dressed for a BBQ”
Robert: “I feel like a Chicago bootlegger”
Violet: “I don’t even know what that means but sounds almost as peculiar as you look”

Robert: “I know it’s all a bit casual”
Dinner Guest: “It’s exciting Lord Grantham. I feel like one of those bright young people they write about in the newspapers”

Anthony Strallin: “Are you absolutely sure you won’t wake up in ten years time and wonder why you’re tied to this crippled old codger”
Edith: “Only if you keep talking like that”

Anthony Strallin: “Do you know how much you mean to me? You have given me back my life”

Carson: “If you ask me we are staring into the chaos of Gomorrah but we have to give them more wine and you are going to help”

Martha: “The world has changed. These houses were built for another age. Are you quite sure you want to continue with the bother of it all?”

Martha: “You know the way to deal with the world today is not to ignore it. If you do, you’ll just get hurt”
Robert: “Sometimes I feel like a creature in the wild whose natural habitat is gradually being destroyed”
Martha: “Some animals adapt to new surroundings. It seems like a better choice than extinction”
Robert: “I don’t think it’s a choice, I think it’s what’s in you”