Ship of Fools: Very last Downton Abbey- predictions

Thread: Very last Downton Abbey- predictions Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by justlooking (# 12079) on :

It gets wrapped up on Christmas Day. I'm hoping to see Edith finally get some luck. Maybe Michael Gregson didn't get killed but has been working in some top secret undercover role and now reappears to meet his daughter and marry Edith.

I was disappointed with the way the murder of Green was finally resolved. However we know Bates is an accomplished forger and could have forged the letter which got him off the hook after his his first wife's death, so I'm predicting a surprise re-opening of that case and Bates' arrest.

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :

Lots of potential romantic pairings off - most importantly I agree Edith has got to find happiness, whether with a resurrected Michael Gregson or Bertie. To marry Bertie would be one in the eye for Mary as Edith would outrank her!

Otherwise, Isobel with Lord Merton, Daisy with Andy, Molesley with Baxter, even Mrs Patmore with Mr Mason!

And of course as it's Christmas, a baby boy must be born to the Bates!

Posted by jacobsen (# 14998) on :

I'd say that Sparrow has just about covered it.

Posted by Rev per Minute (# 69) on :

If we are to see the return of Michael Gregson, then we certainly need to see the return of O'Brien and her bar of soap. We also want 'Melty-face' Patrick to come back to inherit the estate and so disinherit Scary Mary and her fast husband.

My real wish would be for the tenants and estate workers to revolt, hanging Tom from the battlements as a traitor to the working class and barricading the rest of the family in the library as the house burns down around them [Mad]

Lady Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham, would of course be at the head of the mob, having persuaded them that she is on their side. One way or another, she would get her revenge on Cora and Isobel for the hospital coup [Devil]

Posted by justlooking (# 12079) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Rev per Minute:
... We also want 'Melty-face' Patrick to come back to inherit the estate .......

Then he could marry Edith - that would work.

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

quote:
Originally posted by justlooking:
I was disappointed with the way the murder of Green was finally resolved.

I missed that bit. Who actually did do it?

Posted by justlooking (# 12079) on :

The Green murder was neatly resolved by someone confessing and, after both Bates's being on bail for some time, by a witness coming forward and thereby clearing them of all suspicion. Considering Bates' dodgy past and all the circumstantial evidence it was just too easy as a way out.

I've never liked Bates.

Posted by jacobsen (# 14998) on :

Why not?

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :

quote:
Originally posted by justlooking:
The Green murder was neatly resolved by someone confessing and, after both Bates's being on bail for some time, by a witness coming forward and thereby clearing them of all suspicion. Considering Bates' dodgy past and all the circumstantial evidence it was just too easy as a way out.

I've never liked Bates.

Me neither. I always thought he was creepy and charmless, certainly nothing there to attract a girl like Anna.

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

quote:
Originally posted by justlooking:
The Green murder was neatly resolved by someone confessing and, after both Bates's being on bail for some time, by a witness coming forward and thereby clearing them of all suspicion.

Thanks for that. Not sure how convincing that would have been really - I still think he did it.

quote:
I've never liked Bates.

No, me neither. I agree with Sparrow, not sure what Anna saw in him.

Posted by Nenya (# 16427) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Sparrow:
And of course as it's Christmas, a baby boy must be born to the Bates!

Oo, no, it can't be a boy! Downton is far too genteel to have Master Bates. [Biased]

I hope Edith and Tom find love (I had high hopes of Tom and Mary but she's married some nondescript bloke whose name I can't remember) and I hope the same for Thomas, although in that day and age I fear it is not very likely. [Frown]

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Nenya:
I hope the same for Thomas, although in that day and age I fear it is not very likely.

I don't imagine Spratt is his type. [Razz]

[Miss Amanda will get her wrap.]

Posted by HCH (# 14313) on :

Of course, the interesting question is about the kitchen staff.

Posted by justlooking (# 12079) on :

10 minutes to go. Final predictions:

Mr Mason dies and leaves everything to Daisy.

Molesley becomes a full-time teacher at the village school and a house goes with the job. He and Miss Baxter announce their betrothal.

Carson faces retirement. He and his wife 'Mrs Hughes' decide to call each other by their first names.

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :

Lady Violet will kick the bucket leaving Spratt free to take over as butler at Downton when Carson retires.

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

My prediction was going to be that somebody would die. I just couldn't decide between Carson having a heart attack during one of Lord Grantham's dinners, Lady Mary in a car crash, Lady Violet suddenly shuffling off the mortal coil, or someone dropping dead at a wedding/dying in childbirth.

Have to say I'm going to going to miss Downton. You have to stop somewhere, of course, and 1926 is a good place to stop, but I'd still have liked to know how it went in the 1930s and the run-up to the next war.

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:

Have to say I'm going to going to miss Downton. You have to stop somewhere, of course, and 1926 is a good place to stop, but I'd still have liked to know how it went in the 1930s and the run-up to the next war.

I believe there is a rumour that they might be making a movie?

Posted by Nenya (# 16427) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Nenya:

quote:
Originally posted by Sparrow:
And of course as it's Christmas, a baby boy must be born to the Bates!
Oo, no, it can't be a boy! Downton is far too genteel to have Master Bates.

I got that wrong, then! [Big Grin]

But it was all Most Satisfactory. Oh, yes. [Smile]

Posted by jacobsen (# 14998) on :

Agreed.

Posted by Schroedinger's cat (# 64) on :

I have not watched the last series, so I was slightly out of sync (I watched a couple of series, so I knew most of the long-running stories). I thought it was a good conclusion, because it was the end of the original era, and a move onto another era. There was a risk they would burn the house down or something, but it wasn't a "kill everyone" finish.

I am glad that the family are moving on and there is a sense of a new story starting.

Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :

ETA: Sorry, I was thinking this was a thread for the start of the very last season in the US. But I'll leave this.

Edith should marry Thomas. They suit each other, and it would legitimize Marigold's situation.

Part of the Abbey will become a hospital. And the family will give the servants shares in the property, and they'll create a very posh little hotel in the Abbey, and everyone will get (comparatively) rich.

[ 04. January 2016, 23:28: Message edited by: Golden Key ]

Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :

Golden Key
It has already been established that Thomas is gay - that happened (if there had been any doubt) in series 3.

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

I think she might have Tom Branson in mind.

Posted by Barnabas62 (# 9110) on :

I rather hope they don't make a movie. I've got so used to dystopian and dark endings that it was rather refreshing to have this one. And leaving the last word (and what a word) to Maggie Smith was just perfect.

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :

quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
Golden Key
It has already been established that Thomas is gay - that happened (if there had been any doubt) in series 3.

Or do you mean Tom (Branson)? for Edith? That might have worked.

[ 07. January 2016, 15:01: Message edited by: Sparrow ]

Posted by Eirenist (# 13343) on :

Surely Thomas Barrow is a distant illegitimate scion of the Granthams. Now that he is butler at Downton, members of the family will begin to die mysteriously, one by one . . .

Posted by Talitha (# 5085) on :

I'm glad Barrow got to be butler of Downton - it's always been his dream, and now he's reformed enough to deserve it. Also, he has a great bond with young George. (I had been wondering if he'd end up staying on as some kind of tutor for George - having had practice tutoring Andy - but he's not really educated enough, so this is a better outcome.) George will never sack him, even if the estate downsizes to having only one or two servants and handing most of the castle over to the National Trust; so he's got a career for life, and he and George will have the fond I-used-to-dandle-you-on-my-knee relationship that Mary and Carson do now.

Speaking of Mary, though - Henry Talbot? WHY? I mean, I know it would be hard to live up to Matthew, but she could have done better than that. He looks like a teenager, with a gawky too-long neck, and he acts like one too: taking her on "dates" that consist of her watching him doing his hobby which she finds both boring and upsetting; phoning her up late at night after she dumped him and drunkenly begging her to take him back; getting all angry and entitled and yelling at her and making out it's a flaw in her that she doesn't want him. (It isn't me, it's you?)

I really thought the scriptwriting was leading towards them breaking up permanently - with the all-wise Anna being opposed to the match, and of course Mary herself until about half way through the last episode. I think the writers suddenly panicked and realised they didn't have time to introduce anyone better, so she'd have to relent and marry Talbot. I'd have much rather seen her with Charles Blake - she really lit up and came alive when chasing down muddy pigs with him.

Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :

Ok, the American finale was last Sunday. (And we get a marathon of the last season this weekend!)

--Yes, I did mean Tom Branson as a match for Edith, in my earlier posts. I think they'd be a really good match. Plus he was absolutely ok about Marigold. I don't like the guy Edith married. (I missed the dramatic episode where they broke up, but I'll catch it this weekend.) He did finally get his act together, somewhat, and stand up to his mom. But he didn't seem kind enough nor mature enough for Edith; and I think he came back for his own good, not for hers.

--I think the editing in the finale was too close. They put LOT of scenes into it, and trimmed them a little too closely to make it all fit. I think it was mostly a matter of seconds or a minute, but over and over again. They didn't flow together quite right. I hope there will be a director's cut of the finale available.

--We didn't get to see all the weddings! (pout)

--Weird the way that Lord Merton's family showed their true colors. Isobel was magnificent in getting him away! And Violet was great, too.

--I'm glad Anna finally got a child, as she wanted.

--I was a little afraid that Lord Grantham might have a heart attack and die, given his ongoing health problems. Glad he didn't.

--Sorry Carson developed palsy. Glad he had people to support him, and work out ways to handle it. Great that Barrow took over the main butlering, and that he changed.

--Daisy is in no way mature enough for marriage! But Mrs. Patmore helped kick her in the right direction. And, given that Mrs. P seems headed towards eventual marriage to Daisy's former father-in-law, there's going to be a very interesting household at that farm!

--I never quite liked Mr. Molesly, but I'm glad he got his teaching post.

--The sequence where Lord Grantham changed his mind about Cora's hospital work was great. He can sometimes be selfish, blind, and stupid about things--but he can learn, if someone walks him through it. (As also shown with his disastrous investments, early in the series, and changing his approach to handling the estate.)

--Slightly mixed feelings about Mary's husband. He's capable of standing up to her, and she needs that. But he's focused on being wholly devoted to her, rather than creating a balanced relationship *together*. IMHO, that could be a problem.

--It's been fun to see all the thank-you messages from the cast and creators, throughout the series, and find out that Americans are even more devoted to the series than UK folks. Evidently, no one involved with the series expected that. Hugh Bonneham said something like "the British are used to seeing me around, so it's just one more show to them; but you Americans have to actually *find* it". And it's been fun to see promos for Downton on our *commercial* stations, not just PBS. That's rare.

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

All in all, as many loose ends were tied up as could fit in an hour-plus special. On the whole, satisfactory.

I was disappointed, though, that Mrs. Patmore never acknowledged that Barrow's interest in Andy was entirely honorable (she heard Andy himself say so during that picnic on the lawn) and that she shouldn't have gone blabbing to Carson about her suspicions.

And I can't help feeling that Carson's palsy will only lead to more bullying of Mrs. Hughes -- if's he's laid up at home not working, he can only be more demanding of her that the plates aren't warm, the sauce isn't correct, the vegetables aren't cooked enough, the silver isn't polished, etc. etc.

And I would have liked to have seen Spratt and Denker reach some sort of truce -- even a romantic interest!

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
All in all, as many loose ends were tied up as could fit in an hour-plus special. On the whole, satisfactory.

I was disappointed, though, that Mrs. Patmore never acknowledged that Barrow's interest in Andy was entirely honorable (she heard Andy himself say so during that picnic on the lawn) and that she shouldn't have gone blabbing to Carson about her suspicions.

And I can't help feeling that Carson's palsy will only lead to more bullying of Mrs. Hughes -- if's he's laid up at home not working, he can only be more demanding of her that the plates aren't warm, the sauce isn't correct, the vegetables aren't cooked enough, the silver isn't polished, etc. etc.

And I would have liked to have seen Spratt and Denker reach some sort of truce -- even a romantic interest!

I don't think Spratt's interests lie in that direction.

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Sparrow:
I don't think Spratt's interests lie in that direction.

Probably not. He wasn't Barrow's type either.

Posted by The Phantom Flan Flinger (# 8891) on :

I was disappointed that it didn't end with the Dowager Countess waking up to find Matthew in the shower.

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

Alive or dead?

Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :

Australian finale is tonight.

Posted by Kittyville (# 16106) on :

Not quite - it's only episode 4 tonight.

Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :

Here in the US, we had a full-day rerun of season 6 on Sunday! [Smile]

Gave me a chance to catch up on some bits I missed--like *exactly* what Mary did to Edith, and everyone telling Mary off. Tom Branson was wonderful, both at telling her off and trying to help. He's one of the best things that ever happened to that family.

Edith's husband is maybe a little more honorable and has a little more backbone than I thought. But I don't think they're a good match, and Tom Branson would be much better.

Posted by jacobsen (# 14998) on :

She could never cope with being told off, however nicely.

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

I loved Edith's mom-in-law calling her "damaged goods." Nowadays she'd just be called "experienced." [Roll Eyes]

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