Justice For Thomas Barrow

thomas has a bleeding heart. he denies and denies and denies it, but just look at the way he interacts with sybbie and george. romantically, he falls hard and he falls fast - see the duke in season 1, or edward courtenay in season 2, and he is devastated when things end (the way he cries when edward dies... then when sybil dies... my heart).

he also helps phyllis find a job at downton.

and he says it's for blackmail purposes, and manipulation purposes, and it's like... sure, he does do that. but there's such an ache of kindness and fondness to his relationship with phyllis, that he decided to help a friend of his sister's he hadn't spoken to in years, and covers that up and is like 'well it's all just part of my dastardly plan'.

and the thing is. phyllis 'you won't let me be fond of you' IS fond of thomas, even when he is a bastard, and she doesn't let him push her away: she persists, and her persistence and kindness quite literally saves his life.

phyllis and thomas' friendship makes me soft and is one I adore; phyllis is in many ways a foil to mrs o'brien; she has thomas' best interests at heart and cares for him unconditionally, even when he makes him hard, whereas mrs o'brien's - who did care for thomas, don't get me wrong - care for thomas was conditional and tied in large part to what thomas could do for her.

Annoyingly, many TV shows do not have episode titles making it difficult for me to remember what happens in each episode. The only Downton Abbey episodes with titles are the Christmas Specials but otherwise there are none. In order to better remember what happens in each episode of the series @thelady0fshalott and I have come up with titles for each episode that refers to the most memorable part of that episode. Read below the cut for the possibly spoilery episode titles for all six seasons of Downton Abbey (Christmas Special titles are included in this list in italics).