‘Downton Abbey’ season 5, episode 8 preview (PBS): Joanne Froggatt, Brendan Coyle take center stage

Before we do anything else, let us first of all praise PBS for giving us a “Downton Abbey” season that takes place over nine weeks rather than eight. This is the format used in the UK, but the network had taken previously to messing up the episode count with a two-hour premiere. For those of us who originally watched the show when it aired, it makes it easier to follow right now!

For this episode, which was in some ways the final since the Christmas Special was more than a month removed from it, what we can tell you right now is that if you love Anna and Bates, this is going to be a huge hour of TV. Almost everything changes for them over the course of this episode, and in a way that you will most likely not see coming. Without giving away too much, let’s just say that those Baxter scenes you saw tonight are very important.

One other tease that we’ll give you for now is that whatever happens in this episode is not definitive. Therefore, don’t be too upset if you are unhappy by how Joanne Froggatt and Brendan Coyle’s characters end up in this episode. They will get a chance to change things up once again in the last episode of the season.

There are some other important stories in this episode (including a huge one for Tom and Lady Edith working to ultimately find some peace), but we will have those for you once we get a little bit closer to this episode airing.

Want to get some other news related to “Downton Abbey” at this very moment? Then head over to the link here, and be sure to also sign up now to score some further TV updates on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: PBS.)