Downton Abbey recap: 'The Finale'
The series finale of Downton Abbey — even typing that phrase still makes my heart hurt — was never going to be about the question of what would happen. When a show is this beloved for this long, the ending becomes all about what needs to happen.
In that sense, the final episode of Downton Abbey was deeply satisfying. Anna didn’t get arrested for murder again. Neither did Bates. Barrow appears to have turned a new leaf. A couple characters got sick — but not that sick — and everyone is married or about to pair up. It was just about as tidy as tidy finales go, but who cares? These are characters we love, and this is what they deserved. I don’t mean “love” in the sense that we like them strongly. A good show can create that emotion between the viewers and the fictional characters on the screen, and Downton Abbey knew exactly how to do that and how to manage that feeling.
But let’s dive into the episode. We won’t have another opportunity to do so. [Weeps]
There was simply no way that Downton Abbey would end with one of its central characters having done something as atrocious as what Mary did and then immediately getting married to the man of her dreams. Yes, Mary and Edith partially buried the hatchet before the former tied the knot, but she has a long way to go if she wants to be seen as anything but reprehensible when the credits roll.
That means helping to fix what she’s broken, and thankfully, Mary actually has a plan, a pretty good one at that. It’s the classic Downton dinner switcheroo. Oh, Edith, you thought you were getting dinner with Lady Rosamund? Guess again! The new Marquess of Hexham just happens to be waiting for Edith to take a seat. Their conversation is at first tense. Edith is mad at Bertie, somehow. If I remember correctly, she was the one who almost tricked him into marrying her. Sure, Bertie did basically sprint away from Downton once he found out about Marigold, but I think Edith may have to take the blame for this one.
“Would you believe me if I said I couldn’t live without you?” Bertie asks, which is both sweet and a very good line. The hang-up for Edith is that essentially nothing has changed from before. Bertie insists that his perspective on the situation has shifted, but there’s still the issue of his mother. “If we tell her, we’ll have to break with her,” he tells Edith, which isn’t ideal. Based on how all matters concerning Marigold have been mostly blundered from the second she came into this world, I could never imagine Edith allowing that secret to remain driving (herself!) into the sunset with Bertie and her daughter.
With the engagement finally in place, everyone is once more off to Brancaster Castle to make the thing official, and all signs are pointing to another showdown like the one that Rose had with her mother before the wedding. The fact that Mrs. Pelham’s new vision for Brancaster as a communal pillar of morality — heavily hinting that Bertie’s cousin was gay — is certainly not a good sign. Because an “emphasis on morality” usually just means hating on folks.
In the grand scheme of the finale, Mrs. Pelham’s prejudice are just the last hurdle that Edith must clear in order to prove her growth as a person. Since Edith won’t ever get to redo her courtship with Bertie and be open with him from the start, her soon-to-be mother-in-law is a decent do-over to come clean about her “sordid revelations.” The road to the truth is bumpy — and Mrs. Pelham has good points to make about what is societally expected from Bertie — but ultimately, it’s Edith’s honesty and integrity (and a little push from Robert) that wins over the new in-law.
See, Rose’s mom. Acceptance isn’t that hard.
NEXT: Is that pernicious anemia? Or are you just happy to see me?
