Downton Abbey, Series 6 Episode 7, review: drama at the race-course and a new puppy in penultimate episode

A trip to the race course saw the Granthams, their family, and the servants away from the old manor house
We knew something bad was going to happen, but the question was, to whom?
ITV
Edwina Langley1 November 2015

The drama, the drama! Such veritable bucket loads of the stuff in this, the penultimate episode (sob!) of Downton Abbey.

We had a funny feeling about the Brooklands race all along. Because anything that takes the family, their lovers and servants away from the house spells trouble (or at the very least: DRAMA!).

There were all the telltale signs of tragedy from the beginning; the chortles and smiles and 'calm before the storm' of the “swank” Downton lunch, followed by the predictable Henry Talbot ‘farewell Mary’ kiss. “See you in a minute,” he said, which left us thinking: "why do people always say this when clearly they are tempting fate?!"

If that hadn’t convinced us of impending doom, however, his well-wishes to best friend Charles Rogers certainly did. And then there was Charles’ response: “Good luck old boy...” (said in tandem with a camera ‘swoop’ for cinematic emphasis). We knew something dreadful was going to happen to someone, we just didn’t know to whom...

And then we were off – and what a race it was! Could we relax and enjoy it though? Could we heck! What hurdles we had to overcome – what with the ad break and those intercut scenes of the Patmore picnic to contend with. We almost lost interest (a lie, we were gripped).

Picnic time for Patmore (and her co-workers)
ITV

Then it really got going, and it was all we could do not to shriek outloud: “Come on Henry!” (though thankfully we didn’t as “they might all be called Henry” – which we hadn’t thought of until Lord Grantham pointed it out, but we were most grateful he did, for nothing could be worse than looking silly in front of the telly).

Cheer for Henry (all of them)
ITV

Then ‘Sir Patrick’ retired from his radiator trouble, and dash it, blew a gasket too… and before we knew it, Mary had muttered something about being trapped, and a witch’s curse, and then suddenly: KERPOW!

The crowds erupted (as did we) – off rushed Mary, off rushed Anna, off rushed Baxter to follow Anna (now in on the pregnancy secret – well done Bates) to find out what had happened. We were certain we would have rushed off too had we wanted to be anywhere other than glued to our seats to find out WHO HAD DIED.

And who was it? Charles. A tragedy! But what a relief that Henry had been spared. And then how it played out...

Did Mary, resplendent in red, rush into the arms of the grieving driver? Of course not! “Let’s not do any of that stuff now,” she coldly bleated. Great work Mary, let’s kick a man when he’s down...

A telephone call poor Henry wish he hadn't made
ITV

... No wait, that happened later, when you dumped him over the phone. “This is my carpe diem moment – I must seize the day,” he bravely confessed.

“No,” interrupted Mary breathily. “We’re not meant to be together, Henry.”

Well, that settled it then. Or did it…?

We can’t work this one out. Is Henry her great love (number two)? On the one hand, the match doesn’t have Anna’s support (and we always agree with her), but on the other, Tom Branson is still plugging away at it. “There’s no reason to give up on the man who’s right for you,” he pleaded. As we said, we can’t work it out. Perhaps next week might shed some light.

And speaking of Branson, might there be something blossoming with Miss Edmunds, do we reckon? Maybe next week might shed some light on that too.

Edith got a proposal – at last!
ITV

Next excitement: Edith. Engaged! Well, almost. Well done Bertie Pelham, what a moment to declare your love for the lady who declares herself unlovable – “I’d like to be trapped”, good man.

And Edith – you sly ol’ fox, you – answering that you “have to think about it”, keeping the man on his toes. Well played.

After those two gargantuan excitements, the rest of the episode was a bit of a blur. Molesely got his get-out-of-Downton-free card in passing his teaching exams, and that was very sweet (wasn’t it?) when he cried and everything.

The Carsons got to sit down in a comfy chair for once
ITV

Crafty Mrs Hughes got her own back and had Carson cooking up a storm in the kitchen (or rather, creating one). Hopefully that will now put a stop to all those grating chauvinistic remarks of his (which we knew he didn’t mean really).

In other news, Andy revealed he can’t read and got a sympathetic look from Daisy, which convinced us more than ever that they'll get married and have babies.

Andy's secret is finally out...
ITV

And on that subject, Thomas Barrow was uncovered as his secret tutor - and what did he get for his efforts? A thank you from the illiterate lad? No, a smack in the face. “Mr Barrow, it might be better if you stepped back now,” said head teacher Dawes. And Andy said…? Nothing. That’s gratitude for you. As we mentioned last week, we’re worried about this one…

Mrs Crawley finally got to the bottom of Amelia Cruikshank's interest, thanks to Cousin Violet and her probing. “You’re a cool little Miss, aren’t you?” the Dowager quipped, “I’d feel sorry for Larry if I didn’t dislike him so much.” Quality.

However, all feelings of love we had for the woman turned swiftly to anger when she announced she was going on holiday. How could she do this to us? Might we now not see her till Christmas?

Naturally, we were furious.

But like most things, we felt instantly better once a puppy got involved.

No one does putdowns like the Dowager
ITV

Yes, ol' Ma Grantham gifted Lord G with a new dog to replace the old dog with the unfortunate name, who died last season. Thankfully, we were reminded that only “names from ancient Egypt” are good enough for Downton dogs (in case we remembered the unfortunate name and started to wonder about it again).

BAFTA celebrates Downton Abbey

1/5

Luckily, an uncontentious ‘new’ name was instantly thought up: Tiaa – “the wife of Amonhotep II and the mother of Thutmose IV” (durrr, Edith), which means a dog is officially part of the programme once more. This, therefore, also means that in next week’s final episode, having a labrador walking at Lord Grantham's side in the opening credits will make sense again. Phew, we didn’t want to have to write in about it…

And speaking of next week, what a week it will be. We cannot WAIT.

Follow Edwina Langley on Twitter: @EdwinaLangley

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