Photographer: Nick Briggs
We here at Frock Flicks (okay, Kendra and Trystan) are so excited for the final season of Downton Abbey that we’re doing weekly costume recaps AND podcasts! Tune in each week for an episode-by-episode recap of our thoughts on both the plot and (especially) the costumes (designed by Anna Robbins) — because really, while we all are invested in the lives of the fictional Crawley family, don’t we actually keep coming back to see what they’re wearing? You can find the podcast at the bottom of this post, or on iTunes!
We start out with Henry Talbot, driving his fast cars and thinking about Mary…
Back at the Abbey, it’s time for breakfast. Henry has written and invited the whole family to come see him race! He’s sneaky that way.
Over at the Dower House, Isobel is confused as to why she’s received an invitation to the wedding of Lord Merton’s son. Granny thinks something is afoot and vows to visit the daughter-in-law and find out … after which, she’s headed to France to calm down after the hospital fight.
At Lord Merton’s house, Violet puts daughter-in-law on the spot. The dowager figures out that DIL wanted Lord Merton to marry Isobel so that Isobel would take care of him and get him out of her hair. Granny pulls no punches.
Cora is worried about Mary and Henry.
Violet has Isobel over and tells her about DIL’s shenanigans. She also asks Isobel to deliver a note to the family after she’s left, letting them know she’s on vacation.
Mrs. Patmore is excited — she’s been fixing up her cottage, and she’s ready to start renting it out as a B&B!
In London, Edith visits the magazine and invites Laura, her new editor, to join them at the races tomorrow (gee, we wonder what that will lead to…).
All the Crawleys are staying at Aunt Rosamund’s house. After dinner, Henry shows up.
Back in Yorkshire, everyone’s enjoying a day off. Daisy and Mr. Moseley are thinking about their upcoming tests. Andrew confesses that he can’t read, Barrow says he’s been helping him, but everyone ignores that good deed, and the schoolteacher takes over.
Back at the Abbey, Carson and Mrs. Hughes actually sit on the family’s furniture. Or course, this is not Carson’s idea.
At the races…
An accident happens! Everyone fears the worst (Henry), but it turns out to be his best friend. Henry tries to pull him from his flaming car, but no dice — the friend dies.
Mrs. Patmore cooks up a plan, and Mrs. Hughes gets her revenge on Carson by forcing him to cook dinner.
At dinner that night at Rosamund’s, everyone is super sad.
Henry calls Mary and forces her to decide whether or not she’s sticking with him. She breaks up with him. Tom tells her she’s made a big mistake.
Meanwhile, Bertie proposes to Edith! She’s happy but doesn’t say ‘yes’ yet. 
Mrs. Patmore’s B&B has welcome its first guests, and it’s been a success!
The family is back from London.
Isobel gives them Violet’s note telling them that she’s gone away for a while.
The Dowager’s letter comes with a peace offering … it’s downstairs …
How great was Edith’s print? Do you think Mary made the right call?
Downton Abbey Season Six, Episode Six, Podcast Recap
Listen to our podcast recap of the episode here or on iTunes!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:01 — 28.6MB)
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I enjoyed this episode for so many reasons: Edith’s, Cora’sand Mary’s clothes, Rosamund’s clothes, Laura’s clothes, Henry (*sigh*), Mary’s showing her care for Henry and the fear of losing him, ergo she chickens out. Understandable. But most of all, is that Mary is actually being less snarky to her sister, Edith and Edith’s reaction. Glad of Bertie’s proposal.
Favourite clothes: Mary’s dinner gowns, the red dress she wore at wedding, all of Edith’s, ditto Cora’s and Rosamund’s.
Tiya is spelled Tiye (Nefertiti’s mother-in-law).
What next wedding bells?
I am constantly puzzled by Mary’s hair. It’s perfectly lovely from the front, but then she turns and you see that ugly “beaver tail” in the back! Is this authentic to the period?
Where it comes to a point at the nape? Yep! That was pretty common for her style of bob. It’s funny, though, because I really like it! It has a neat, balanced, geometric quality with the angled points in front- very Art Deco. Beauty’s in the eye of the beholder and all! :-)
I too adore Mary’s haircut. Reminds me of the book covers for Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher Mysteries. Unfortunately, you must have straight hair to make it work. Any curl and it’s not a pretty sight.
Thankfully there were other styles of Bob’s intended for curly hair. You can get that tousled Clara Bow look!
My point is that Miss Fisher’s hair is clean at the nape of the neck, https://selimpensfiction.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/miss-fisher-s-murder-mysteries.jpg, while Lady Mary has this peculiar “beaver tail” at the nape http://a2.files.fashionista.com/image/upload/c_fit,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTI3OTkyNDkyMzQyNzU3Mzg2.jpg
Although I love Lady Mary’s look hairwise, I love my hair long. I know that the TV Phryne’s Haiti’s even in the back, but I was speaking about book covers. I believe, tho I’m no expert, that Lady Mary’s hairstyle came first and the even back was later.
Oh my! I totally have Lady Cora’s straw hat from when she returned to the Abbey after the races. It was originally my mothers and it was purchased in the 80’s and was bought at a little shop in Barbados.
I need to pull it out of it’s box and make sure the straw is still in good shape!
I loved that hat. My favourite characters on the show are Cora, Robert (yes, I ship Cobert), Mary, Edith, Anna, Daisy, Tom, Sybil when she was alive, Mrs Hughes, Thomas the evil Butler, and Mrs Patmore & of course Lady Violet and Mrs Crawley.
I do think that these Ladies have clothes to die for.
I love the show — and I was a late-comer to the series; I only just watched almost all of Downton Abbey via Amazon fire. I’m sad to see it ending. I’ve loved watching the changing styles to reflect the period of time over the course of the series – BUT I just want to say of all the characters, I absolutely DETESTED most of Sybil’s ‘frocks.’ Except for a few scenes in the first season, they dressed and fitted Sybil’s character with awful clothing. From her hair to her boat neck shaped blouses, the actresses body type was either purposely frumped up or they did not bother to customize to her body type. Even Edith’s clothes didn’t look as frumpy as Sybil. Also, what were they thinking with Sybil’s hair? Could they not be bothered to accentuate the actresses natural beauty by fixing her up-swept hair a little better? Then when the actress chopped her tresses into a blunt shorter cut, it looked even worse. It’s as if they were trying to downplay “Sybil” so that Mary would shine even more…or the costume dept didn’t have the budget and decided to cut corners when it came to Sybil’s character.