'Downton Abbey' Recap: Season 3 Episode 3

Downton Abbey airs Sundays at 9:00 pm and is available to stream by WTTW Passport members. Recap the previous episode.
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The morning mail has arrived in the servants hall, and Anna is depressed – it has been several weeks since she’s gotten any correspondence from Bates, and she hasn’t been allowed to visit him in prison, either. She worries that it’s a sign that he wants her to forget him and move on with someone else. In prison, a fellow prisoner slips the news to Bates that the warden has been holding back Anna’s letters and that Bates’ thug cellmate Craig is behind it. They plot to get Craig locked away for good. The next day, the guards discover drugs planted in Craig’s bunk, and he’s gone.

Isobel, still hoping to help Ethel, delivers a letter from her to Mrs. Hughes, requesting a meeting but not at Downton, given her sordid occupation. They meet at Crawley House, where Ethel reveals to Mrs. Hughes and Isobel that she has decided to cede custody of her son Charlie to his grandparents, the Bryants. He’ll have a far better life with them. Isobel’s cook Mrs. Bird is deeply offended that Ethel has been allowed anywhere near the house – everyone’s reputation will be damaged by association with a known prostitute.

Matthew, having secured Downton with Mr. Swire’s money, is initially content to let Robert continue to run things as he always has. But Robert is reverting back to his wasteful ways, such as adding back more servants. Matthew is concerned, and Robert, believing that Matthew needs to know more about the workings of the estate, casually suggests he familiarize himself with the account books.

At breakfast, Edith expresses a wish that women be given the vote as they are about to be in America, and informs her father and Matthew that she might write to the London Times advocating it. Robert shrugs this off (who listens to women, anyway?), suggesting that Edith busy herself with the big dinner they are hosting that evening for the Archbishop of York.

Mary has commandeered Downton’s nursery for a new sitting room for herself and Matthew. Matthew wonders whether they might soon need the nursery for its original purpose, but Mary shuts that down, along with Matthew’s hopes that her recent trip to the doctor was for something other than hay fever. Nope, no children on the horizon yet.

Carson can now hire a second footman, and Thomas and Alfred are nervous about being demoted. Carson, however, has come to admire Alfred’s work ethic and he reassures and mentors him, to Thomas’ ire.

Exiled

As a cocktail reception for the Archbishop of York is underway, we cut to a man fleeing down a dark rain-soaked street and into the woods. It’s Tom. Edith gets a cryptic phone call from Dublin: it’s Sybil, who assures her sister that she’s all right, but she’s “out of the flat,” and “nobody has stopped her.” Sybil quickly hangs up before Edith, alarmed, can learn more. She goes into dinner, which is interrupted by someone pounding loudly on the front door. Mary goes to answer.

It’s Tom, frantic and soaked to the skin. He was forced to leave Sybil behind to follow him but assures Mary and Matthew that she is safe. Back in the dining room, as Matthew spirits Tom upstairs, Mary lies to her family and guests that it was a villager delivering a pamphlet.

Later that evening, Tom confesses to the family: he was a part of a rabble who stormed a castle owned by acquaintances of the Crawleys, forcing the family outside before burning their home to the ground. Tom never thought his cohorts would go so far – he was firmly against any violence – and fled as soon as he realized what was happening. But the police came after him anyway. The family is furious – he left a pregnant Sybil alone to face the consequences? Tom assures them, as Sybil had, that she is safe and already on her way to Downton. Cora urges a livid Robert to hurry to London to intercede for the now-fugitive Tom with the Home Secretary. Robert reluctantly agrees, but only for Sybil’s sake.

A strikingly handsome young man breezes into the servants hall – he’s Jimmy Kent, there to interview for the footman position. The maids perk up immediately and Thomas is instantly smitten. O’Brien notices, filing the knowledge away. Carson is skeptical of Jimmy, however – his previous mistress, Lady Anstruther, was evidently “quite attached” to him. But footmen are supposed to be attractive, so he gets the job.

Ethel arrives at Crawley House with Charlie, now a toddler, in tow. The Bryants are waiting, and Mr. Bryant, while he is warm to the boy, is as harsh toward Ethel as ever, despite Mrs. Bryant’s attempts to mediate. She and her husband have decided to give her a little money to help support Charlie. Ethel knows it won’t be enough to make a difference for him. Isobel is firmly against Ethel giving up Charlie altogether, but Ethel bravely insists it’s the only way to secure his future, even if it means she will never see him again. As Ethel sobs inconsolably, the Bryants lead Charlie away, clutching his expensive new teddy bear.

Sybil arrives at Downton unharmed, to everyone’s immense relief. She defends Tom’s actions to the family. But Robert returns from London with terrible news: Tom is exiled from Ireland and will be arrested the moment he returns. This is a fate worse than death for him, amplified by the knowledge that their baby will have to be born at Downton and will therefore be English.

The next afternoon, Matthew is going over Robert’s account books, troubled by the escalating amount of waste he is seeing. He repeatedly tries to bring it up with Robert, who isn’t really interested now that he has Matthew’s investment.

Daisy asks her father-in-law Mr. Mason for his advice: should she tell Alfred she is interested in him? He advises caution. She is also resentful: there is still no new kitchen maid to help her as had been promised. But just as she summons her courage to admit her feelings to Alfred, the newly hired kitchen maid arrives. She’s Ivy, young and pretty, and she immediately catches Alfred’s attention, to Daisy’s displeasure. Ivy hopes they’ll be friends, but Daisy isn’t having it.

Bates’ part in exposing Craig’s supposed drug smuggling puts him back in favor with the prison warden and breaks the logjam – he and Anna both receive a stockpile of letters from each other. We leave them tearfully reading them.

Edith, having kept her promise to write to the London newspaper pushing for women’s rights, is delighted when her letter is published, to everyone’s surprise. And later, after Matthew has tried and failed to make Mary comprehend the extent of Robert’s mismanagement of the estate, he goes to Violet, worried about offending Robert but knowing he must act before it’s too late. Gravely, Violet agrees that something must be done but gravely predicts that “a great many noses will be out of joint.”