‘Downton Abbey’ season 5 finale review (PBS): Is Allen Leech’s Tom Branson leaving?

Sunday night marks the end of the road for “Downton Abbey” for a long time, and this also happens to be an episode that contained quite a few elements of good news and bad news for various characters.

When we’ve reviewed episodes of the series when they air on PBS, we’ve chosen to focus and analyze one single storyline. Given that this episode was both so enormous and so long, we’re doing something a little bit different here in focusing on a variety of highlights. With this being said, there is too much here to focus on just one individual item. Therefore, why not spend a few paragraphs talking about three individual highlights from this episode? We imagine that these are the stories that you are going to be talking about for some time. (Warning: Spoilers ahead!)

1. Is Tom leaving? – This episode certainly felt like a farewell to this character, as he seems ready to depart for America and start life anew there. Allen Leech has expressed interest still in returning (see his Reddit AMA), so we’re hoping that this is all a way for the character to realize that he really does enjoy life at the Abbey.

2. A new era for Anna and Bates – Is there more hope now that these two could be happy? We would argue that the answer here is yes, but given how many times the show has put them through tragedy, we wouldn’t be shocked if it happens again. Let’s just hope for no more prison. We’re rather tired of that.

3. The proposal – This was the biggest shock to us of the entire special. Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes are getting married! We really hope that we get to see the ceremony; these two may be rather low-key, but it would definitely be worth it.

What did you think about the end of season 5? Share with a comment, and head over here to get some other news related to the series! Also, you can sign up in order to score some further TV scoop on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ITV.)