Untitled

A few non-Thomas-related observations:

Opening with a tracking shot through the theater, ending on an actress dressed up like a stage version of the Dowager Countess is a very funny joke, A+.

I also like how Edith hang a lampshade on the callback to the Pamuk storyline--"was he Turkish?" I also feel like JF listened & learned about how the Pamuk storyline came off as more rapey than he thought it would, and made clear that Mary was choosing to get wasted.

I'm not the only one who got a vibe like brother Harold was flirting with Noel Coward, right?

Okay, now on to the main business:

We get no particular explanation of why Guy Dexter, Hollywood star, is acting in a play in London, but that certainly leaves us lots of room to explore on our own, doesn't it?

The whole Hollywood contingent going in through the kitchen struck me as a little...unrealistically fanservicey? I mean, I liked it! And I had Thomas get away with saying Fuck to Carson in the servants' hall, so I do not have a leg to stand on here. But I got a vibe like it was happening more because it was fun to write/act, than because it really made sense for the characters. Surely they would have discussed beforehand that it would be just too awkward to expect the Downton crew to treat him as a guest.

But it was, indeed, fun, and I especially liked Noel* asking whether Carson and Andy "Worked with Thomas." Like, he's here for the Thomas's Backstory Tour; that's the main interest he has in any of these people.

(*I think? I didn't write it down. I guess it could have been Guy, since Carson wasn't there last time)

And then of course, later, when Thomas is talking with Daisy about the actress he likes (Madeleine Carroll? I can't read my writing for her first name), and Carson is like, "Do you dine with these people?" And Thomas is like, "Of course I do, bitch, I'm his wife."

Okay, okay, so the actual quote is something about he "makes sure things run smoothly--what would you call that?"

But that's what you call that, and Carson knows it.

We've all already seen the clip about Lady Mary sending Guy and Noel to fetch Thomas upstairs for coffee or a drink, and there isn't much more to it than that--he does shake hands with Branson at one point, and one of them says, "good to see you." There's a cute bit where Thomas wordlessly encourages Guy to join Noel at the piano, which comes across as very spousal.

And then the Hollywood contingent are shown still being there for the "Show"* the next day. They don't do much, apart from a little interchange about how rural England hasn't changed much, and Guy observes that now you can see women's ankles, but Noel points out that it's "not much use to us." But they're definitely there, and the one thing that the movie definitely wants us to know about the timeline is that the Show happens the day after the dinner party, so that leaves tons of time for any interactions we'd like to imagine between the Hollywood contingent and anyone else.

(*It's apparently not the flower show, more of an agricultural fair, but supposedly the Dowager Countess used to be in charge of it? That seems unlikely--but it's probably one of those things** where we aren't supposed to sweat the continuity.)