The assault and given the time men often escaped any " real " punishment. The blame was on the woman/girl for enticing but word, thought or deed. Just do not like this story line.

As far as calling not calling Mr. Bates by his first name that was also pretty common. I was rather surprised when my Grandfather would refer to my Grandmother as " Mrs. Rothery " with company. They lived next door on our farm so my visits were rather frequent. Then relatives from England would visit and be ever so formal. It started to end in the early '60's.

Tom is stupid to answer the door to evil, oops, Edna. This will be an interesting development. Also, Thomas just didn't like the Nanny. He is trying to get to Anna for some reason.

Evil Edna. But I think she "slipped him a mickey" with a tainted drink.

She very well could've slipped him something in that drink, so true. Still, she did open the door and ask if he was still awake before entering, so she's probably not having her way with him while he's knocked out. We all knew it would happen though as soon as Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes made a mention about having to keep her in line and hoping they could count on Tom to behave himself too... and so much for that...

Good point about men escaping punishment for such assaults back in the day... I think if there was even such a law on the books in those days they would often require someone else to have witnessed the assault in order to convict a man of rape, which is why a conviction for that would've been so rare. I don't know about anyone else though, but I didn't get the impression Anna wanted to hide it for fear she'd be blamed so much as she was just worried her husband would kill Green and he's wind up back in prison or put to death himself, so it was more about her protecting him than it was about her own reputation or anything else. That's how I took it anyway, maybe someone else saw it differently. I don't generally care for rape storylines in any shows, but sadly, rape is a fact of life, so when a show goes that route, they should at least be doing so with a purpose to overall storyline of the show rather than have it be a stupid development with no further effect to the story. I'm reserving further judgment on the plotline till the end of the season to see how it further affects the storyline, if at all, before I condemn them completely for going there. But Julian Fellowes better have good reason to have gone there, and hopefully it's not just to have Anna become pregnant and not know who the daddy is...

Well, we all knew that Edna was up to no good! I'm glad that Mary at least convinced Tom that if he wasn't willing to talk to her about what was weighing on him that he ought to find someone he could tell it to - and I had a feeling once she did it would be Mrs. Hughes he'd go to, since she knew about Edna's flirtation with him from the last time. Boy she played that well too, calling Edna out the way she did. I'm glad Edna left because I didn't like her and I had a feeling since her introduction last year that she saw Tom and thought he could be her meal ticket. I hope she's gone for good now.

I really don't like that Anna's pulling away from Bates and isn't giving him a reason for it, even a made up one. I get that she's ashamed to tell him she was raped and she's afraid of what he'll do if he knew, but I hate seeing this coming between them and their happiness. Surely he gets that there is something wrong with her - how long before he starts asking Mrs. Hughes for help in understanding what is wrong with his wife and the truth slips out? Surely someone will notice her reactions - like when Carson told her that Gillingham was there and she freaked out and asked if his valet was with him, her behavior wasn't normal, so how did Carson not pick up on it?

Speaking of Gillingham, I didn't think I'd care much for him or the idea of Mary moving on too quickly, but I do think she'll be sorry saying no to his proposal. It has shades of Matthew and Lavinia to me, that now that she's said no he's going to go get married to another woman. Perhaps she would've been better off telling him that she'd accept his proposal only with certain parameters, like that they remain engaged for some time rather than rush to wed so she can still have time to grieve Matthew and accept her future with him or that it only be seen right now as a promise for a future with him and not as a full on engagement just yet since she's not mentally ready for it. If he loves her like he says he does, he would've accepted whatever she asked, I would think, and if he didn't accept what she would ask of him in return then she could've said no anyway. I have a feeling that at some point, she will run into him again and tell him she made a mistake by saying no, as she mentioned to Tom. I just wonder if she will be too late this time or whether something horrid might befall that poor Mabel just in time to free Gillingham to be with Mary. I should hope not since we've been there and done that already...

What else about this episode... Clearly Rose is smitten with Jack (heh, Rose and Jack... shades of Titanic there...) but that can't really go anywhere I would think given race relations back then. And Edith being called out by her aunt for being out so late with her beau, clearly going down the Mary "lack of virtue" path. She's so certain this guy is the one and it makes me wonder whether he too will leave her hanging the way she was with the first fiancé. And what's with James kissing Ivy? I thought all along he was just asking Ivy to go out and what not just to get at Alfred but now is there something more? And when will Alfred realize poor Daisy's feelings for him - and will it matter if he does?

Still not liking the rape angle and do not understand how that can contribute to the story except to illustrate the signs of the times. Mr. Bates is such a wonderfully supportive husband when he finds out Anna will collapse in thankfulness for him.........or so I sincerely hope.

James is a playboy and Ivy seems rather too eager. Poor Daisy.

Mary does not need Gillingham in her life. I cannot stand him and Mary deserves someone to match her strength. Tom deserves someone that loves him and helps him to understand his worth.

Edith loves deeply and I think more of the storyline for them is him giving up his English citizenship. Not really liking this storyline but then again I am not in charge! I just go with the flow like each viewer enamored of Downton Abby

Oh, my.........sob sob sob......the scene between Anna and he loving husband was one of the best scenes ever! The only concern is still standing by the " complete stranger ".

I hope Tom doesn't take Sybbie to America but I do understand his reasoning. They need Tom to help the running of the Abby.

Good overall with my not liking the upstairs lady's maid. Oh, then Edna.....hmm not sure what is happening there and I do NOT like Mary belittling her.

Well, I'm glad that Mrs. Hughes did tell Bates the truth about what happened to Anna, even if she had to lie a bit. Granted, I don't like Green getting off scot free right now but I don't think it will be good for Bates to be going after him either, so I understood why she tried to throw him off the scent. It worries me though that at the end of the episode he told Hughes that the matter isn't over and done with even though he had that heart to heart with Anna about it and told her it wasn't her fault and that she's still worthy of him and all. Clearly, he is hell bent on figuring out who did this to his wife (if not Green) and making the man pay for it. Will his anger become all consuming? If he does lay a hand on Green or anyone else he thinks is responsible, will someone else say they were the one who did it to try to keep Bates from going back to prison?

I can only assume Tom's mention about possibly moving to America was to make it more clear to Robert especially but the family as a whole what role he now plays in their lives and how it has changed from them once hating his involvement with Sybil to now feeling like his being there and their daughter being there keeps Sybil alive in a sense. Granted, Tom is a man without a state as they say, but surely by now he should feel a little more importance within the family given his job as the estate manager too. not just being Sybil's widow. I can't imagine them writing him off the show though by sending him to America.

Anyone else wondering if Edith may wind up being pregnant? She did sleep with Gregson before he departed for Germany and then they show her running off to London supposedly to go to his office only that's not where she ended up going... What are the chances she winds up "in the family way" and something happens to him? She said she hasn't heard from him since he left for Germany so could it be possible he doesn't return and she's left alone again, only this time she's suddenly an unwed mother? Or trying to secure an illegal abortion or something?

Mary did seem oddly upset writing that letter to Gillingham after reading his engagement announcement. Another instance of her having second thoughts after telling a man "no"? It's not like she didn't know what his plans were... And the return of Evelyn Napier just reminded me why she wound up sleeping with the Turkish guy season 1. She and Napier have no chemistry, even worse than her and Gillingham.

So far, I'm not minding the new lady's maid Baxter, but I am not sure whether she's someone to be trusted, outright hated, or someone who will play both sides. Nice to see Alfred and Daisy spending some time together, even if it was just her helping teach him to cook. Clearly Mrs. Patmore was trying to help her young protégé in the love department by having her work with him, even though Daisy wasn't quite seeing it that way. Sort of glad Alfred didn't get the other job, since without him the whole downstairs love quadrangle would fall apart. They wouldn't have much for Daisy, Ivy, and James to do without that. And what's with Mosley being all high and mighty over being offered a footman position when he's been taking all these other menial jobs to get by? You'd think he'd just be happy they were thinking of him when they had a possible position open given...

Mosely=someone downsized or having a job loss and will not venture forth for another career that is less $ and a hundred steps back. My spouse was downsized and due to his " age ".....etc.a comparable job was given to those 20 years younger. He accepted this mindset and took a job with 1/2 the pay and 1/2 the required education. He feels extraordinarily satisfied.

But that's the weird thing about Mosley's situation - he has already taken jobs paying him much less for much more menial labor than what he had been doing, so really being a footman, while it's a step down from being a valet or a butler as he had been trained for, it's still a step up from patching up roads or delivering groceries. You'd think he'd jump at the chance to get back into service at a big house like Downton because at the very least it strengthens his resume to say he's working there and shows something about him as a worker that they would take him back on when they had an opening - plus should someone else leave it could mean he gets the bump up having had experience or if another job elsewhere became available he'd have a better in than from patching up roads or any of the other jobs he's taken since Matthew's death.

Yes, but often times a person like Mosely will take a job at McDonalds and when a job where they had a career.....ie Hotel Manager and now was offered the job as Elevator Person it is seen as a demotion. Obviously Mosely was wayyyyyyyy before the times. LOL! Think loss of face.

I suppose... but I would think it's more of a loss of face to have Anna see him repairing the street or Mrs. Patmore and the kitchen staff seeing him delivering the groceries than to have him work with them again in the house but as a footman instead of being a valet or butler. I would think those other jobs he was picking up would've been seen as more menial and transitory than a lesser position in a stately home would've been. They surely would've paid less too...

I have finally got caught up on this season and am slowly making through all of you comments on the season. What a season it has been thus far.

I knew Edith was pregnant! My bet is Gregson has disappeared for good. He's either dead (and it does seem like when someone's having a baby it means someone's also dying with this family) or decided now that he's able to get free from the wife he doesn't need to go back to Edith, or the whole story was a ploy in the first place... though I don't know what means that would serve. Seems like if he's dead it's just going down the same path we've been and we'll just have another single parent character in the house, so I can't imagine that to be the direction they'd want to go, unless Julian Fellowes has just gotten really lazy this season. I could see Edith being the type to opt for an abortion rather than tell her parents she slept with Gregson before he went off to Germany and disappeared; she wouldn't want the humility not only of being a single mother but also just the sheer satisfaction for Mary to se her sister was no more "virtuous" than she was. Poor Edith is always doomed to be the tragic character isn't she? It would stand to reason this guy would desert her and leave her "in the family way".

I think we could all tell Rose was well on her way to a romance with Jack Ross (anyone else think its funny they named him Jack - like Jack and Rose in "Titanic"?! That's all I can think of when I mention the two of them together...). The family may be okay with him singing and leading his jazz band in their house for Robert's party, but I would imagine some might have even more of an issue than Mary did seeing them kissing.

Sort of sad to see Alfred go, more so because poor Daisy is heartbroken even if nothing was ever going to come of them as a couple. Ivy's way too naïve - but she's lucky James isn't the kind of guy that say Green is, in that when she objected to his advances she did get away with her clothes in tact. Funny that Daisy is taking out on Ivy that Alfred left though given that if Ivy had noticed Alfred was into her and reciprocated, then Daisy would be even more miserable because she'd have to see them together all the time. I think that's worse than having him leave altogether, no?!

Ugh, Bates and Anna... the forever hanging "shadow" over them... they keep saying they want to move past it but neither of them can get through 5 minutes without mentioning there being a "shadow" over them. I can't see this resolving itself until Bates gets his hands on Green - or someone else does - or something at least happens to the guy so he gets some comeuppance to balance out what he did to Anna. I mean, does anyone see Bates just putting this aside and moving on?

Still on same episode....I think Alfred will learn to cook from Mrs. Patmore, become her assistant, since they kerp implying shes getting older physically and is resistant to changes that come with a modern kitchen.

So glad Anna and her hubby are reconciled.

Of course Edna is pregnant.

Hubby is a therapist and he says the writers are doing an excellent job with the whole Anna/Bates situation. The shadow is a term he has heard often in therapy sessions...... That is what constitutes an event that can lead to PTSD. It simply does not disappear. Bates is also acting like the outraged protector and only in TV world will he be able to somehow off the guy...hopefully.

Edith/Edna-----I notice I am not the only one! Edith is such a tragic figure and I do not like how Mary is so dismissive. Not a nice sister. If she is indeed preggers maybe they will send her to the US to have the baby and call it a Holiday and then come home next season. Otherwise don't quite understanding where this line is going. It makes no sense for him to voluntarily disappear and remember how he wanted to be accepted by her family.