‘Downton Abbey’ season 4 spoilers: What happens in episode 3 with an ‘extravagant party’?

Welcome to “Downton Abbey: House Party Edition.” But before you get past the Edwardian England version of a velvet rope, remember that this contains spoilers from the British airings on ITV. American readers, take note!

The official synopsis from the network for season 4, episode 3 is hardly much of a spoiler-fest in the first place, given that you are likely to know and understand far more about this episode from watching the promo here than you are reading about it. Not only is the synopses very general in terms of what it says, but it also for whatever reason decides to even mention the Crawleys by last name. Nonetheless, read below choose to make of it what you will:

“An extravagant house party at the Abbey gives the Crawleys a chance to reconnect with old friends. Some guests, however, prove more welcome than others and along with the celebrations come skulduggery and heartache.”

Before we do anything else, perhaps it is better to first address the pressing question here: What is the meaning of the word “skulduggery”? This is a word as British as bangers and mash is food to the country, and it basically means some trickery or devious behavior. It is basically such a microcosm of Thomas’ personality that you could change his last name so that he is “Thomas Skulduggery” for the rest of the series’ run.

By the end of it, perhaps there will still be more to talk about in terms of the long-term storylines of season 4, whether they be if Mary can move forward without Matthew, how Tom Branson finds his place in society, and if Lady Edith chooses to leave England for Germany in order to marry her love in Mr. Gregson.

The only story that many want nothing to do with (including us) is anything more centering around Lady Rose, who was rather irritating at times on Sunday night.

Photo: ITV