'Downton Abbey' Christmas Special
Preparations are underway for Christmas. On Christmas morning, the servants gather with the Crawleys to receive their gifts, Mary and Cora both telling Anna that they are thinking of Bates and the upcoming murder trial. The staff have their (somewhat subdued) Christmas dinner at lunch while the Crawleys and Sir Richard Carlisle will have theirs in the evening, Carlisle believing that even though it's Christmas Day the staff should still be serving them their dinner at lunchtime. That evening, Matthew informs Mary that his would-be father-in-law Mr Swire is unwell and likely to die soon and that he'll be away from Downton for a few days to see him. Down in the kitchen, O'Brien and Thomas get out a ouija board but Daisy is uncomfortable once she realises what it's for. Knowing how fond Edith was (and still is it would seem) of Anthony Strallan, Violet invites him over when she knows Edith will be there. He has declined several visiting dates, particularly the New Year's Day shooting, as he has taken a bullet in his right arm. Anna pays her husband a visit in prison, telling him that she would be better awaiting the outcome of the trial and prepare herself then rather than now.
(As the rest of the family enjoy a game of charades with Mary as 'it'.)
Carlisle: "Do you enjoy these games in which the player must appear ridiculous?"
Violet: "Sir Richard, life is a game in which the player must appear ridiculous."
Carlisle: "Not my life."
(Spoil sport...)
Lord Hepworth arrives at Downton for New Year, causing excitement for Robert's sister Rosamund. Robert and Cora discover in a letter from Sybil that she and Branson (having married in Dublin) are expecting; Robert is less than thrilled with the news but Cora makes it clear that she will not be kept from their first grandchild. While their glasses of wine are being poured to celebrate the new year downstairs, Thomas confides to O'Brien that he is desperate for Bates's job seeing as Bates is in prison but knows that Robert and Carson are reluctant given that fact that he has stolen from Downton in the past. O'Brien has him think of something Robert would certainly miss should it be lost, and Thomas sets his sights on Isis, Robert's golden labrador. As the clock strikes the beginning of a new decade, Matthew breaks the news to Mary that Lavinia's father passed away with him at his side. Having witnessed Rosamund's maid, Marigold Shore, on perhaps too friendly terms with Hepworth, Anna advises her to stay away from him but she insists that he's only asking after Rosamund. In the morning, Mary, Matthew, Carlisle, Robert, Rosamund and Hepworth all head out for the annual shooting party. Mr Mason pays Daisy a visit in the kitchens and her attempts to tell him the truth about how she saw William only as a friend are rebuked while Edith's attempts to get back with Strallan prove futile when he insists that he's too old for her. During the second drive at the shoot, Carlisle becomes irritable after seeing Mary and Matthew laughing together, both getting into a heated argument which does not go unoticed by Matthew. That evening, Violet grills Hepworth over his financial status, realising that he may not be after Rosamund at all but her late husband's fortune although Hepworth claims otherwise. In the dining room, Carlisle and Mary have another spat over her reluctance to set a date for their wedding and out in the hall, Matthew can't understand why she is still with him, but Mary can't bring herself to tell him the real reason...
Robert: "So that's it then. No return. She's crossed the rubicon."
Cora: "She crossed it when she married him Robert. She says we're not to tell anyone, not even the girls."
Robert: "I wondered why she didn't ask to come for Christmas."
Cora: "Would you have allowed it?"
Robert: "Well well. So, we are to have a Fenian grandchild."
Cora: (smiling) "Cheer up, come the revolution it might be useful to have a contact on the other side."
Robert: (not looking convinced) "Hmm."
- Mary: (about Carlisle) "Thank you for intervening back there before I said something rude."
Matthew: "He does rather beg to be teased."
Mary: "The awful truth is he's starting to get on my nerves."
- Carlisle: "Why were you laughing with Matthew, at the end of the first drive?"
Mary: (sarcastically and shrugging irritably) "I suppose he said something funny..."
Carlisle: (annoyed) "Am I never to be free of him?"
Carlisle: "Have you thought of a date?"
Mary: "I'd like to get married in the spring or the summer."
Carlisle: "I am only asking to set a date."
Mary: "But what's the hurry?
Carlisle: (grabbing her arm) "Hurry? Glaciers are fast compared to you on this Mary. I-I warn you, even my patience has its limits."
(Mary wrenches her arm out of his grasp and leaves. Matthew and Robert catch each other's eye across the dinner table and Carlisle throws down his napkin in fury. Matthew hurries out into the hall after Mary.)
Matthew: (lowering his voice) "Mary, can I help?"
Mary: "After today I won't insult you by asking what you mean."
Matthew: "You don't have to marry him you know. You don't have to marry anyone. (smiling) You'll always have a home here, as long as I'm alive."
Mary: "Didn't the war teach you never to make promises? And anyway you're wrong, I do have to marry him."
Matthew: "But why? Not to prove you've broken with me surely? We know where we stand, we've no need for gestures."
Mary: "If I told you the reason you'd despise me, and that I really couldn't bear."
Robert voices his concerns to Cora about why Mary insists on staying with Carlisle when it's clear he's making her unhappy. Cora begins to tell him of the night Kemal Pamuk died at Downton. O'Brien and Mrs Hughes discover that they have been both called to give evidence at Bates's trial; O'Brien recalling Bates arguing with his lawyer over the phone on finding out a divorce from Vera wouldn't be granted, Mrs Hughes recalling overhearing him call Vera "you bitch". Robert also takes the stand in Bates's defence but after intense questioning and reminders from the judge that he is under oath, he is reluctantly forced to admit Bates's words regarding his late wife shortly before his last visit before her death ("I only wish she was the former, or better still the late"). Shortly afterward, the jury comes back with the verdict: guilty. Robert, Mary, Matthew, Isobel, Mrs Hughes, Anna and O'Brien are shocked by the outcome. The judge sentences Bates to hang and he is taken back to the cells as Anna cries out across the courtroom that the verdict is "terribly terribly wrong!"
Violet cautions Rosamund over Hepworth's intentions, but Rosamund feels she has it under control. Murray (Robert's legal advisor), Robert and Matthew advise Anna that they will try and appeal Bates's death sentence, Murray saying that there is only a very small chance that their appeal will be granted. Mrs Hughes and O'Brien break the news of the trial to the rest of the staff and to Cora, Thomas still hopeful that when Robert requires another new valet, he will be selected. Now knowing why Mary is prepared to marry Carlisle, Robert gently confronts her over what happened between her and Kemal Pamuk but knows he can hardly critisize her when he has also made mistakes. He advises her to ditch Carlisle and flee to New York when the scandal hits the newspapers and to bring back someone who will liven the house up. At Lavinia's grave, Mary breaks the news to Matthew and Isobel that she is going to leave the country. After she goes, Isobel insists that Matthew tell Mary that he is still in love with her but her son refuses; he is still adamant that he deserves to be unhappy.
(The library)
Robert: "Can I ask you something?"
Mary: "Of course."
Robert: "Do you stay with Carlisle because he has threatened to expose the story of Mr Pamuk dying in your bed?"
Mary: (after a long pause) "When did you find out?"
Robert: "Your mother told me when I asked why you were still with Carlisle when you are so tired of him."
Mary: "How very disappointed you must be."
Robert: "Your mama chose her moment well, and you're not the first Crawley to make a mistake..."
Mary: (looking at him) "To answer your question it is partly true, though not entirely. In Mama's phrase, I am damaged goods, now. Richard is after all prepared to marry me in spite of it, to give me a position, to give me a life..."
Robert: "And that's worth it? Even though he already sets your teeth on edge? What about Matthew, how does he view the late Mr Pamuk?"
Mary: "He doesn't know."
Robert: "So that is not what split you apart, I thought that might have been."
Mary: "Oh no there were other reasons for that to do with Lavinia."
Robert: "I see, and those reasons are final?"
Mary: "They are final for Matthew, so yes, they are."
Robert: (standing and walking over to the table) "Here's what I think: break with Carlisle. He may publish but we'll be a house of scandal anyway with Bates's story. Go to America, stay with your grandmother until all this fuss dies down. You may find the New World is to your taste."
Mary: (looking stunned) "He'll keep my secret if I marry him."
Robert: "Once I might have thought that a good thing but I've been through a war and a murder trial since then, to say nothing of your sister's choice of husband. I don't want my daughter to be married to a man who threatens her with ruin. I want a good man for you, a brave man. Find a cowboy in the middle west and bring him back to shake us up a bit!"
Mary: (half laughing, half crying) "Oh Papa..."
(she walks over to embrace him)
After coming across an upset Daisy, Violet kindly talks with her about William and also feels that there was nothing wrong with marrying William to make him happy in his last hours. Going ahead with his plan of taking something that Robert highly values, Thomas hides Isis the dog in an abandoned shed in the grounds of Downton. On visiting Bates for the last time before they discover whether the appeal against the death sentence has been successful, Anna tells him she doesn't regret marrying him. After gaining permission from the nearby guard, they both stand and Bates kisses her for what may very well be the last time. Robert and Carson organise a search party for the dog but as night falls, they are all forced to to call it quits and retire for the evening. Thomas attempts to go towards the shed but is thwarted by Carson who sends him back to the house in advance. Anna hands in her resignation as she knows it would be too painful for her to stay on at Downton if her husband is hanged. Mary comes clean about her brief fling with Pamuk to Matthew who, although is stunned by the news, still insists that she not marry Carlisle as he also feels that the man is not worth a lifetime of misery just to keep one story out of the papers.
(Prison visitor's cell)
Anna: "I'm not sorry, you know. Not a bit. I would marry you now if I wasn't already your wife. I would."
Bates: (smiling sadly) "God knows I'm not sorry either. Maybe I should be but no man can regret loving as I have loved you."
(Anna smiles sadly back and they reach across the table for each other's hands.)
Guard: "No touching!"
Bates: "For God's sake man, you know where I am bound...how dangerous can this be?"
(He looks round at the guard who finally nods his consent. He and Anna both stand.)
Bates: (taking her face in his hands) "One kiss to take with me?"
(They kiss and embrace tightly.)
- (In the grounds)
Matthew: "It isn't worth buying off a month of scandal with a lifetime of misery. When is he due back?"
Mary: "Tomorrow. He and aunt Rosamund's beau are returning for the servants' ball."
Matthew: "Will that still go ahead?"
Mary: "Not if Bates is...not if the worst happens. Papa hasn't faced that it probably will."
Matthew: "You were wrong about one thing."
Mary: "Only one? And what is that, pray?"
Matthew: (smiling) "I never would, I never could despise you."
(Mary smiles back, relieved.)
After some 'persuasion' from the ouija board, Daisy finally visits Mr Mason at his farm, who kindly requests that since he now has no children, if she would consider him as a father. At first chance, Thomas goes back to the shed to bring Isis back, but discovers the door opened and the dog gone. On heading back to Downton, he finds the dog with Robert and Robert is impressed when Thomas admits he was searching for her (though not in the way it was intended!). Anna asks Mary if she can come with her to New York, that at least she won't be completely severing ties with Downton and Mary agrees. Carlisle is furious when Mary breaks the news that she has called off their engagement, knowing that they cannot make each other happy. Overhearing the row in the drawing room, Matthew comes to Mary's defence and when Carlisle provokes him about Lavinia, Matthew promptly rewards him with a punch to the jaw, sending Carlisle flying. On discovering the two men fighting on the floor, Robert has Carlisle leave first thing in the morning. Knowing that he won't be back, Violet can't help but look pleased.
(Coming into the drawing room after hearing Mary and Carlisle arguing)
Matthew: "Mary, are you quite alright?"
Carlisle: "Oooh here he is, the man who can smile and smile and still be a villain. Is she not to be trusted even to get rid of me without your help?"
Matthew: "I heard shouting."
Carlisle: "Lavinia knew it you know. (Matthew turns to look at him) She knew you never loved her."
Matthew: "Don't you dare."
Carlisle: (stepping towards Matthew) "She said it once. It was late and she was tired and you two were locked together in the corner of the room and she said 'if he could just admit the truth then all four of us might have a chance'."
Matthew: "You liar.",
Carlisle: "I'm not a liar. No, I am many things but not that. She regretted it of course but she said it."
Matthew: (shaking his head) "You bastard..."
(He punches Carlisle across the jaw, knocking him backwards and Mary gasps. Carlisle grabs Matthew by his jacket lapels and they knock over a table, smashing a vase in the process.)
Robert: (coming into the room) "Stop this at once!"
(Carlisle and Matthew roll off one of the chairs, stand up and begin smoothening down their hair and dinner suits.)
Robert: (coldly) "I presume you will be leaving in the morning, Sir Richard. What time shall I order your car?"
Carlisle: (sauntering up to him) "How smooth you are. What a model of manners and elegance. I wonder if you will be quite so serene when the papers are full of your eldest daughter's exploits?"
Robert: "I shall do my best."
Violet: (coming into the room shocked) "Oh what on earth's the matter?!"
Carlisle: "I'm leaving in the morning, Lady Grantham. I doubt we'll meet again."
Violet: "Do you promise?"
(Robert gives her an annoyed side look and Carlisle leaves.)
Matthew: (sheepishly) "Sorry about the vase."
Violet: (waving him away) "Oh don't be, don't be! It was a wedding present from a frightful aunt; I've hated it for half a century!"
(LMFAOOOOOO!)
Despite their row, Mary still wishes to part with Carlisle on better terms but Carlisle will still leak her affair to the papers, though Mary hopes that he will still find a woman to love him. The appeal to overturn Bates's death sentence has been approved, and the servants' ball will go ahead as planned. Bates and Anna decide to appeal his sentence of life imprisonment, although it may take a number of years. He has her promise that she will do her best to be positive in the meantime and to forgive Thomas and O'Brien for all their previous wrongdoings against him. During the servants' ball, Daisy decides that she wants to move ahead and become Mrs Patmore's cooking assistant and Anna catches Marigold Shore and Lord Hepworth sneaking upstairs. With Mary and Rosamund in tow, they discover the pair in an amourous clinch. Rosamund is understandably furious. Mary thinks she's had a lucky escape, however Rosamund is annoyed over the fact that her mother's suspicions about Hepworth were right all along. Anna withdraws her resignation and Robert is happy to have her stay on. Later she and Daisy have a go with the ouija board in the kitchen but they both claim the other is pushing the board when it spells out the message: 'may they be happy with my love'. Finding Mary alone outside, Matthew says that he hasn't forgiven her over the Pamuk affair as he believes there was nothing to forgive and that they should now live their lives together. Knowing what he is about to ask her and refusing to answer if he doesn't do it properly, Mary happily agrees to marry Matthew when he gets down on one knee in the snow and proposes.
(Mary is standing on her own in the snow at the front door. Matthew joins her.)
Matthew: "That was fun. There'll be a few thick heads in the morning."
Mary: "No doubt they think it's worth it."
(He chuckles.)
Matthew: "So you're really going to America?"
Mary: (nodding) "Hm."
Matthew: "Would Carlisle make your life a nightmare if you stayed?"
Mary: "I couldn't tell you. Maybe. Even if he does let me go, my story's still out there and always will be."
Matthew: "Would you stay, if I asked you to?"
Mary: "Oh Matthew you don't mean that. You know yourself we carry more luggage than the porters at King's Cross. (They both chortle.) And what about the late Mr Pamuk? Won't he resurrect himself everytime we argued?"
Matthew: (smiling) "No."
Mary: (turning to face him) "You mean you've forgiven me?"
Matthew: "No I haven't forgiven you."
Mary: "Well then-"
Matthew: (still smiling) "I haven't forgiven you because I don't believe you need my forgiveness. You've lived your life and I've lived mine and now it's time we lived them together."
Mary: "We've been on the edge of this so many times, Matthew. Please don't take me there again unless you're sure."
Matthew: "I am sure."
Mary: "And your vows to the memory of Lavinia?"
Matthew: "I was wrong, I...I don't think she wants us to be sad. She was someone who never caused a moment's sorrow in her whole life."
Mary: (nodding) "I agree."
Matthew: "Then will you?"
Mary: "You must say it properly. I won't answer unless you kneel down and everything."
(He kneels in the snow and takes both of her hands in his.)
Matthew: "Lady Mary Crawley, will you do me the honour of becomig my wife?"
Mary: (smiling) "Yes."
(Matthew stands up to face her, kisses her and lifts her, both of them laughing.)