‘Downton Abbey’ season 4, episode 5 preview: Michelle Dockery’s Mary, lost in thought
Everyone on “Downton Abbey” has their own complicated story to tell, and that is in many ways what makes the series so enticing to watch. You see characters love, suffer, and also regret, but is Lady Mary feeling all three of them at the same time on Sunday’s new episode? It may sound strange, but that is very well possible. (Warning: Spoilers ahead!)
As you can see in the attached photo, Mary seems to be almost lost in a void of her own white space. She obviously has company at the dinner table, but she still for whatever reason seems to be very much alone. What is on her mind here? It is pretty easy to fathom a few simple guesses.
1. Missing Matthew – In her situation, it’s hard not to. He was the love of her life, and while she may be trying her absolute hardest to move forward from that, it’s definitely a much easier-said-than-done sort of scenario. The hardest thing about it is that there is nothing that she could have done differently to ultimately lead to a different outcome.
2. Feeling love – There are feelings there between Michelle Dockery’s character and Lord Anthony Gillingham, as the kiss last week made that obvious. The issue is figuring out the right way to let these feelings manifest themselves. This leads us to the third emotion.
3. Simply suffering – There is a tremendous amount of guilt that Mary feels for having feelings for Gillingham, and wondering whether or not she did the right thing in sending him on his way to possibly marry someone else. Is she going to have this sort of chance again? That’s not a given, but she cannot bring herself to handle the fact that her husband is gone, and that it is okay for her to be with someone else again if she wants to. This suffering leads to another regret, and one that could last forever if she really does want to marry him.
This story for Mary isn’t going away anytime soon, so be prepared to see it pick up steam over the course of the weeks ahead. Meanwhile, we have a pair of other “Downton Abbey” related resources for you to check out below!
1. Another photo preview, but this time revolving around the Anna / Bates relationship.
2. A video sneak peek, where Mary and Tom Branson (Allen Leech) have a chat about parenting.
Photo: ITV