Mary is the younger embodiment of Violet the Dowager: she loves tradition, aristocracy and money, but eventually she loves life more and makes the right choices. Only she hurts people who love her in the process of growing up and out of her protective shell.
I remember seeing someone say once that every one of the younger characters has an embodiment in the older generation. The dowager and Mary, Edith and Rosamund, Matthew and robert.
@jeremyengalla6133 Matthew and Robert? Really? I mean, sure there was a lot of affection there, but I wouldn't say it was because they were two peas in a pod or anything.
@@harringt100they weren’t completely alike - Matthew was fortunately more progressive and open-minded than Robert - but they both were competent “men of the house” who treated everyone with respect and weren’t anywhere near as snobbish as they could’ve been, considering their positions.
@@jeremyengalla6133 ...and Sybil and Cora (even the physical resemblance of both actresses was striking); but I think Edith was a lot more like Martha (her American grandmama) than like her aunt...
I love that Matthew stood up for himself with her. He loved her but he also wanted to be loved properly. He challenged her the way she needed to be challenged, bringing out her more honest side and helping her discover her softness. Tony G. and Evelyn Napier were not enough to keep her satisfied. I never understood why Charles wasn't given a chance other than the writers worried we would like him too much. I don't MIND Henry and his story but... I'm surprised he was endgame. I thought he would have just been a stop on the road.
"Can you really see yourself dawling your life away as the wife of a Country Solicitor?!?" To be fair, Mary was the happiest being married to Matthew. He brought out her softer, gentle side. With his death, she died too. Retreated into a darkness that kept her safe from reality. As the London fog began to lift, she was in a whirlwind. Not wanting to recreate the happiness she had, but finding someone who was and is just as strong and stubborn as she.
That’s exactly what that story arc needed. Her learning to be honest with her future life partner. It was the obvious solution and it…just never happened?
Charles was great, but they would have clashed to much I think. Tony was not strong enough. And while Henry is strong enough, he also has a passion for things that clash to much with Mary's. Like Henry is smart and strong enough, but he just isnt a good match for her interests wise. Partners dont need to share all their interests, but they should share some. henry loves his cars, and adventure. He's a thrill seeker. Mary is not. Thats not a good match. Mathew remains the only proper love interest for Mary, as he was her equal in strenght and intelligence. He challanged her, but not for the sake of it. He also didnt have any personality traits or big passions that where a serious clash with Mary's. Their differences complimented eachother. Henry and Mary's differences do not. I do like Mary moving on with her life. But I just wished they had found somebody else as Henry was a poor fit interests wise, Tony a poor fit personality wise , and Charles was a poor fit for being to similar to Mary (though he was by far the most enjoyable love interest to watch post Matthew). Ironicly I felt she and Tom had the best chemistry, but it would be weird for Tom to date 2 of the sisters, and them having a loving platonic relationship was part of their appeal. A guy Mary is close with that ISNT a suitor and Tom having a loving family thanks to his relationship with Sybil (it seems like he isnt very close with his actual birth family as they pretty much never visit or show up.. then again the show could just have decided to not show these things because the writer doesnt care about Tom's ''middle class/lower class'' family..) I love platonic strong relationships between male and female characters. So I am glad they never had them devolp anything romantic and it stayed more like besties/siblings like. That doesnt change the fact Mary never found a good match for her since Matthew. I honestly would have liked something to have devolped with Evelyn. For the series to show Evelyn is a lot smarter and stronger then what we have been shown. That Mary had judged him to swiftly and wrongly, and stand corrected as she gets to know the real him. There would have been something sweet and poetic about it as well. But then maybe the writers feared he would become to similar to Matthew. Its a hard call. Matthew is a tough act to follow. If we include the films I actualy feel the movie director of a new era had some great chemistry with her as well. A pity downton seemed to have ''setteld'' for Henry because they wanted Mary to be married before the show was done when to me her ending the series single, at least with these suitors, would have made more sense. She could have found somebody in the movies.
@@amberanimeI don’t see why she had to remarry, honestly. I mean it’s not bad that she found love again, but truly, who could replace Matthew? It would’ve been more interesting to give Mary other things to do besides flit around from man to man.
@@amberanime l appreciated your lengthy comment very much as it filled in a lot of gaps for me. I stopped watching after Matthew died (just too contrived to be believable) but l do enjoy catching up with the short clips. The characters, period, plot lines, dialog and costumes are ALL so well done, generally. I would take issue with your referencing Tom's middle/lower class background as making him unsuitable for any potential romantic situation with Mary. He is her brother-in-law, so there's that. But most importantly he is IRISH. To the English, and especially the aristocratic English, being Irish, regardless of class, was considered being from a different culture, a different race. And an inferior one at that. Add to that the historical bad blood, if not to say generational HATE between the Irish and the English, it is truly AMAZING that Tom is able to stay on after Sybil's death. He certainly earns his place at Downton Abbey by virtue of his character
Agreed. That car business was absolutely genius. Both Tom and Henry got to be their own men outside the family and would have helped the estate should it need financial support. I loved it.
Always hated the character of Henry, to this day I don't understand who among the writers thought making Henry the successor of Matthew was a good idea? Especially when there were better options like Charles Blake
@@TheKrazysexykoolSeems like the moment Tom realised both shared the same high passion towards cars, he decided he was the perfect love for Mary and that was that
Mary never knew how to express her fears, and I appreciated that honesty in the writing. She was afraid her happiness with her lost love Matthew couldn’t happen twice. I think she was also afraid of only finding out after the second wedding that she had accidentally married a man who would be hassling her for prioritizing things that would save Downton over things for his ego. It’s hard to know that about a person, especially in her era.
Henry is good for being a fling for someone like mary...she really needed someone like Matthew..grounded & stable ..I knew this was marriage was a BAD idea..They should have just gotten her married to Charles ugh what a loss
She was engaged though. To one of the guy who died on the titanic in the first episode. Then she fell in love with the Duke, I don't remember his name but the guy who manipulated Thomas and burnt their letters, but he only wanted her status and then she fell for Pamuk and finally she fell for Matthew
@heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy924 I don't think she was engaged to him... As I remember it, he was next in line for Downton Abbey but died when the Titanic sunk.
@Mac-sb5lj she was engaged but it wasn't official, that's why she asked if she had to go into full mourning (she wasn't in love with him though, Edith was. That's why at the funeral Mary said that she didn't need to "put such an exhibition" and said that she was the one who was supposed to marry him, not her. And I think that it's from that moment that I started to really hate Mary)
@@heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy924 I dislike Mary for all the cruel things she says and does, especially to Edith. That stunt revealing who Marigold's mother really was!!! She was jealous and vindictive of the position Edith would have in society.
I enjoy Mary’s character, but I wish we would have seen more people fighting over Edith ESPECIALLY in later seasons. It would have been interesting to see Mary having to deal with her sister getting more attention knowing that Edith never truly cared for money but just wanted to be loved.
Oh poor Edith, boo-hoo. Her middle child, I'm-so-unloved trauma is tiresome. And the bitchiness between her and Mary is unpleasant to watch. It diminishes both characters IMHO.
If my life could be Mary's. Not with the money and the status .... although that would be nice but I'm thinking of just the personality the strength she has the class she has I think your character is one of the best characters there on the show. I could actually say I think every single character on that show is perfectly fit to Perfection as far as casting. Every time I watch Downton Abbey I feel like I'm there I'm a part of everything and those shows are exemplary shows and movies to watch The Best of the Best. Thank you thank you and thank you to all of you for bringing us such a wonderful wonderful performance. God bless each and everyone of you for a beautiful healthy happy life❤
The older and older we get the wiser we get. Never just absorb an elderly person's wisdom it could change your life forever. Or are you going to cry with regret many many many many many many years just thinking about what that elderly person said
I didn't care for Mathew that much, I did like Henry, but my favourite was Thomas, and if they ever make another film and leave him in America, I won't bother watching.
Henry never made sense for Mary (he was a nice sparring partner and that's it). And what was that silly storyline in one of the movies about Tom and Henry in the car business. Masculine career equivalent of trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. Or were we to imagine Henry as Sir William Lyons?
That car business storyline was GENIUS. It gave dearest Tom a real space to be who he was meant to be after languishing in the estate and not having his own. I love it to bits seeing his smile after what he went through. Henry also got his identity outside the estate. Each to their own I suppose.
Exactly! The car business was also part of the "modernization" of the world Mary lived in. Tom and Henry represented the entrepreneurial spirit that the changing times required.
I think I’m the first series I didn’t like her as much as I do now but when Mary and Pamuk happened I saw her softer side and from there on I grew to adore her when she married Matthew I loved so much and was devastated when he died. Sometimes she was a bit harsh on Edith especially in s6 e8 but Edith did also rub her up the wrong way. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Why did it never occur to Henry that Mary just straight-up DIDN'T LIKE HIM? If she'd liked him before, his stupid mouth could easily have put paid to it.
if 4 years is quickly... Matthew passed away in 1921 if I recall the timeline correctly - 1 year after Sybil - and she married Henry in 1925, some 5 months before Edith married Bertie (the series ends on NYE in December 1925)
Mary is the younger embodiment of Violet the Dowager: she loves tradition, aristocracy and money, but eventually she loves life more and makes the right choices. Only she hurts people who love her in the process of growing up and out of her protective shell.
I remember seeing someone say once that every one of the younger characters has an embodiment in the older generation. The dowager and Mary, Edith and Rosamund, Matthew and robert.
@jeremyengalla6133 Matthew and Robert? Really? I mean, sure there was a lot of affection there, but I wouldn't say it was because they were two peas in a pod or anything.
@@harringt100they weren’t completely alike - Matthew was fortunately more progressive and open-minded than Robert - but they both were competent “men of the house” who treated everyone with respect and weren’t anywhere near as snobbish as they could’ve been, considering their positions.
@@jeremyengalla6133 ...and Sybil and Cora (even the physical resemblance of both actresses was striking); but I think Edith was a lot more like Martha (her American grandmama) than like her aunt...
Robert was an arrogant hypocrite.
The way I STILL cannot tell Tony and Charles apart. 🤣 Why did they pick actors so similiar to each other?!
And where does Henry fit in??
I love that Matthew stood up for himself with her. He loved her but he also wanted to be loved properly. He challenged her the way she needed to be challenged, bringing out her more honest side and helping her discover her softness. Tony G. and Evelyn Napier were not enough to keep her satisfied. I never understood why Charles wasn't given a chance other than the writers worried we would like him too much. I don't MIND Henry and his story but... I'm surprised he was endgame. I thought he would have just been a stop on the road.
I think I heard they wrote Charles off because the actor got busy and didn't want to keep doing the part.
I guess they needed someone interesting and enough aristocratic for her but not a heir so she could stay at downton
I think Tony was a better fit. If he had played harder to get, she would have kept him.
"Can you really see yourself dawling your life away as the wife of a Country Solicitor?!?" To be fair, Mary was the happiest being married to Matthew. He brought out her softer, gentle side. With his death, she died too. Retreated into a darkness that kept her safe from reality. As the London fog began to lift, she was in a whirlwind. Not wanting to recreate the happiness she had, but finding someone who was and is just as strong and stubborn as she.
I never understood why Mary didn't just tell Henry that watching his friend die in a car triggered her over her late husband's death
That’s exactly what that story arc needed. Her learning to be honest with her future life partner. It was the obvious solution and it…just never happened?
She tells him later. That's part of the narrative arch
I really liked Charles for Mary. But maybe he challenged her too much. She needs a mix of softness and strength.
Charles was great, but they would have clashed to much I think. Tony was not strong enough. And while Henry is strong enough, he also has a passion for things that clash to much with Mary's. Like Henry is smart and strong enough, but he just isnt a good match for her interests wise. Partners dont need to share all their interests, but they should share some. henry loves his cars, and adventure. He's a thrill seeker. Mary is not. Thats not a good match. Mathew remains the only proper love interest for Mary, as he was her equal in strenght and intelligence. He challanged her, but not for the sake of it. He also didnt have any personality traits or big passions that where a serious clash with Mary's. Their differences complimented eachother. Henry and Mary's differences do not.
I do like Mary moving on with her life. But I just wished they had found somebody else as Henry was a poor fit interests wise, Tony a poor fit personality wise , and Charles was a poor fit for being to similar to Mary (though he was by far the most enjoyable love interest to watch post Matthew). Ironicly I felt she and Tom had the best chemistry, but it would be weird for Tom to date 2 of the sisters, and them having a loving platonic relationship was part of their appeal. A guy Mary is close with that ISNT a suitor and Tom having a loving family thanks to his relationship with Sybil (it seems like he isnt very close with his actual birth family as they pretty much never visit or show up.. then again the show could just have decided to not show these things because the writer doesnt care about Tom's ''middle class/lower class'' family..) I love platonic strong relationships between male and female characters. So I am glad they never had them devolp anything romantic and it stayed more like besties/siblings like.
That doesnt change the fact Mary never found a good match for her since Matthew. I honestly would have liked something to have devolped with Evelyn. For the series to show Evelyn is a lot smarter and stronger then what we have been shown. That Mary had judged him to swiftly and wrongly, and stand corrected as she gets to know the real him. There would have been something sweet and poetic about it as well. But then maybe the writers feared he would become to similar to Matthew.
Its a hard call. Matthew is a tough act to follow. If we include the films I actualy feel the movie director of a new era had some great chemistry with her as well. A pity downton seemed to have ''setteld'' for Henry because they wanted Mary to be married before the show was done when to me her ending the series single, at least with these suitors, would have made more sense. She could have found somebody in the movies.
I liked Charles the best of the second set of suitors. He was the most like Matthew.
@@amberanimeI don’t see why she had to remarry, honestly. I mean it’s not bad that she found love again, but truly, who could replace Matthew? It would’ve been more interesting to give Mary other things to do besides flit around from man to man.
@@amberanime l appreciated your lengthy comment very much as it filled in a lot of gaps for me. I stopped watching after Matthew died (just too contrived to be believable) but l do enjoy catching up with the short clips. The characters, period, plot lines, dialog and costumes are ALL so well done, generally. I would take issue with your referencing Tom's middle/lower class background as making him unsuitable for any potential romantic situation with Mary. He is her brother-in-law, so there's that. But most importantly he is IRISH. To the English, and especially the aristocratic English, being Irish, regardless of class, was considered being from a different culture, a different race. And an inferior one at that. Add to that the historical bad blood, if not to say generational HATE between the Irish and the English, it is truly AMAZING that Tom is able to stay on after Sybil's death. He certainly earns his place at Downton Abbey by virtue of his character
Henry indeed made sense because he didn’t have an estate of his own to take care of. He just needed a profession to keep him occupied.
Agreed. That car business was absolutely genius. Both Tom and Henry got to be their own men outside the family and would have helped the estate should it need financial support. I loved it.
Always hated the character of Henry, to this day I don't understand who among the writers thought making Henry the successor of Matthew was a good idea? Especially when there were better options like Charles Blake
It's not real😂
Same here.
I agree and why did he need Tom as his cheerleader. They both bullied into saying "Yes" to Henry. He was an underdeveloped plot device.
@@TheKrazysexykoolSeems like the moment Tom realised both shared the same high passion towards cars, he decided he was the perfect love for Mary and that was that
He was the trophy husband
Love this series
Mary never knew how to express her fears, and I appreciated that honesty in the writing. She was afraid her happiness with her lost love Matthew couldn’t happen twice. I think she was also afraid of only finding out after the second wedding that she had accidentally married a man who would be hassling her for prioritizing things that would save Downton over things for his ego. It’s hard to know that about a person, especially in her era.
Henry is good for being a fling for someone like mary...she really needed someone like Matthew..grounded & stable ..I knew this was marriage was a BAD idea..They should have just gotten her married to Charles ugh what a loss
sybil desperatly wanting to escape the convo with mary is sort of funny to me
LET LOVE ALWAYS CONQUER OPINIONS. IT IS YOU THAT MUST WEIGH YOUR LIFE'S CHOICES ❤
I always wondered why Mary was never able to get married her first season being presented around 18 but ig her attitude has always been the issue. 😂
For sure, it's her attitude AND her snobbery.
She was engaged though. To one of the guy who died on the titanic in the first episode. Then she fell in love with the Duke, I don't remember his name but the guy who manipulated Thomas and burnt their letters, but he only wanted her status and then she fell for Pamuk and finally she fell for Matthew
@heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy924
I don't think she was engaged to him... As I remember it, he was next in line for Downton Abbey but died when the Titanic sunk.
@Mac-sb5lj she was engaged but it wasn't official, that's why she asked if she had to go into full mourning (she wasn't in love with him though, Edith was. That's why at the funeral Mary said that she didn't need to "put such an exhibition" and said that she was the one who was supposed to marry him, not her. And I think that it's from that moment that I started to really hate Mary)
@@heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy924
I dislike Mary for all the cruel things she says and does, especially to Edith. That stunt revealing who Marigold's mother really was!!! She was jealous and vindictive of the position Edith would have in society.
Always likes Charles more.
I enjoy Mary’s character, but I wish we would have seen more people fighting over Edith ESPECIALLY in later seasons. It would have been interesting to see Mary having to deal with her sister getting more attention knowing that Edith never truly cared for money but just wanted to be loved.
Oh poor Edith, boo-hoo. Her middle child, I'm-so-unloved trauma is tiresome. And the bitchiness between her and Mary is unpleasant to watch. It diminishes both characters IMHO.
07:29 Either Mary is having a seizure or this video has a glitch on my end.
Saw that, too
Me too.
It's the video
If my life could be Mary's. Not with the money and the status .... although that would be nice but I'm thinking of just the personality the strength she has the class she has I think your character is one of the best characters there on the show. I could actually say I think every single character on that show is perfectly fit to Perfection as far as casting. Every time I watch Downton Abbey I feel like I'm there I'm a part of everything and those shows are exemplary shows and movies to watch The Best of the Best. Thank you thank you and thank you to all of you for bringing us such a wonderful wonderful performance. God bless each and everyone of you for a beautiful healthy happy life❤
It only Mary had listened to Violet in 1914 😂
He certainly did not infer that she's a "grubby little gold digger" but clearly she's afraid that's how she looks
The older and older we get the wiser we get. Never just absorb an elderly person's wisdom it could change your life forever. Or are you going to cry with regret many many many many many many years just thinking about what that elderly person said
The show was never the same after Matthew died 😞 That being said, at lease Henry and Mary are not cousins 😂
Matthew wasn't her first cousin as well. If i remember he was 3rd cousin or something.
@@Call-me-Avi4th cousin. I’d say that only 1st cousins count as incest. More distant than that is fine.
I didn't care for Mathew that much, I did like Henry, but my favourite was Thomas, and if they ever make another film and leave him in America, I won't bother watching.
Mary has always been my least favorite character on this show.Because she can never make up her mind.She can never commit to anything
Henry Talbot had the personality of a cardboard box. Mary could’ve done so much better.
Lo penso anch’io, ma soprattutto ha scelto uno che non era fatto per lei
Seriously 😂
mary wasn't exactly a bundle of laughs herself.
@@maxthecat14 but at least she had personality.
@@12classics39 Mary? No she didn't. she was dull as ditch water, (better in season six .) Sybil had personality.
Love is sometimes difficult ❤
Henry never made sense for Mary (he was a nice sparring partner and that's it). And what was that silly storyline in one of the movies about Tom and Henry in the car business. Masculine career equivalent of trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. Or were we to imagine Henry as Sir William Lyons?
That car business storyline was GENIUS. It gave dearest Tom a real space to be who he was meant to be after languishing in the estate and not having his own. I love it to bits seeing his smile after what he went through. Henry also got his identity outside the estate. Each to their own I suppose.
Exactly! The car business was also part of the "modernization" of the world Mary lived in. Tom and Henry represented the entrepreneurial spirit that the changing times required.
I love Mary so much but heartbroken over mathew
I grew into lady Mary. I didn't like her at first and found her too strong but in the end found she was indeed who she was meant to be.
I think I’m the first series I didn’t like her as much as I do now but when Mary and Pamuk happened I saw her softer side and from there on I grew to adore her when she married Matthew I loved so much and was devastated when he died. Sometimes she was a bit harsh on Edith especially in s6 e8 but Edith did also rub her up the wrong way. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Porque nao é legendado em português de Portugal.
7:30 Mary had a stroke
Why did it never occur to Henry that Mary just straight-up DIDN'T LIKE HIM? If she'd liked him before, his stupid mouth could easily have put paid to it.
MARY MARY MARY
Sure Jan.
@@vulcan2882You got it.
She got over Matthew pretty bloody quickly!
Wasn't her 2nd marriage like 3 years later or more? I wouldn't call that quickly.
It took year not months lol
if 4 years is quickly... Matthew passed away in 1921 if I recall the timeline correctly - 1 year after Sybil - and she married Henry in 1925, some 5 months before Edith married Bertie (the series ends on NYE in December 1925)
😇🥰😍🤩😘
👏🏻 💯
Well if Downton Abbey does come back for another season, bet are on that Talbot will have ended up in a box, 6ft under. Mary, the eternal widow...
You have to watch the movies, specifically the second one! 😉
@@theagta I have thats is why I am sure he will end up 6ft under.
I doubt it will. They killed off the best character in the last movie
@@MsJubjubbird The Dowager Contess, Lady Grantham?? Yes. Very sad...
@@c.a.savage5689 Yes and now she has also left us in the real world :(