The Dowager's Ingenious Scheme | Downton Abbey

When Mrs Crawley suggests keeping Downton open as a place of recuperation after the war the Dowager Countess decides to get involved...

Clip From: Series 2 Episode 6: With the end of the war in sight, it looks as though it won't be too long before life can return to relative normality at Downton Abbey, however, Cora and Isobel clash once more over what is to be done with the house when the Armistice is declared. A Canadian officer arrives at Downton to assist in his return to health but some of the things he imparts to Lady Edith could cause problems for the Crawley family. Meanwhile, Bates once again finds that he has to deal with Vera and must travel to London to do so. His Lordship tells him to keep calm, but will he be able to do so? Ethel is struggling as a new mother but is receiving a lot of help and support from Mrs. Hughes until Mr. Carson finds out, which may possibly be problematic for all concerned.

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The costume drama series, Downton Abbey, written and created by Oscar-winning writer Julian Fellowes, stars Academy Award-winner Maggie Smith as a Dowager Countess of an Edwardian English country house in 1912. The series portrays the lives of the Crawley family and the servants who work for them, in a time before the last vestige of a century’s old tradition were stripped away by World War and the modern age. The all-star cast also includes Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern.

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[robboyte]

Sorry, Isobel, but you're up against a champion. 🙂

[leoncarrillo]

I loved Cora's expression when Isobel appointed herself to run Downton.

[Robert]

"Have I really? Oh thank heaven!"

[marinazagrai]

I loved how half heartedly Violet got the message to Isobel about saving the refugees.

[michaelchan]

Isobel: "...that life of changing clothes, killing things and eating them, do you really want it again?" I can almost hear Violet yell: "YES!"

[adriangilbert]

I love Isobel but this was one time I was firmly not on her side. People have a right to what's theirs.

[zidneya]

2:23
hahahahahahahaha 😂 the Dowager desperetly switching topics, to see which one pulls the trick.

[yvonnetomenga]

Some more wonderful scenes that have slipped my memory. So glad you posted them. 👍

[Luboman]

At 1:33. Cora says, "I'm an American. I don't share your English hatred of comfort." However, Cora wasn't exaggerating or being melodramatic. These old country homes in the English countryside didn't have indoor plumbing and hot water piped in, even in the 1920s. In some houses you literally had to do your business in a chamber pot that a servant had to empty out. And to take a hot-water bath in a bathtub, you needed at least three servants to heat the water in the kitchen and then to bring all that water up to the mistress's bathtub. Modern bathrooms with flushing toilets and sinks with hot and cold water were unheard of. Modern central heating was also totally absent, so if the winter got really cold the mistress would have to go in furs throughout the house, running from one open fire to another. Cora wanted to stop living like this and to import modern American comforts, like indoor plumbing and central heating.

[alaskacosplay]

I mean if it were up to me, Id rather have my large house be a private house again as soon as possible and at least I can have my home back without the noise of the soldiers who are pretty much recovered. As much as I see what Isobel is saying, I have to agree more with Violet.

[deborahpinkey]

TG for the Dowager! Isobel was off her rocker! All those vacant estates sitting idle and Isobel wanted to keep Downtown as a public house!

[l.a.]

Love Isabel's hair in the first scene

[Angie-GoneSoon]

Haha 😂
"I don't dislike him, I just don't like him!" That's hilarious!! 🤣

[abhilashmishra]

Isobel was diabolical in Season 2...even so the Crawleys were they "caretakers" of the Abbey, it's still a private property... Guilt tripping them into using the house as a convalescent home was weird..she could have achieved it with diplomacy and a proper plan

[jmarie]

Sorry, Isobel. Not your home, not your choice.

[Xerxes]

Isobel was wrong on the form. It wasn't hers to decide what to do with Downton. However, she was completely right on the substance. The time of these big mansions and its lifestyle was over. Downton itself was empty for the most part. The family could have transformed part of Downton Abbey into an hospital and they would still be cozy and quiet in their palace.

[shankarbalan]

Isobel sometimes can be a pain. Her reforming zeal as the Dowager Duchess put it, is quite something else.

[MorriganWarrioress]

Seriously, I could have stood a show that was just an hour a week, of these two women plotting, battling, and otherwise sharing scenes.

[marymcmahan]

I don’t think she really had the right to ask that. Downton is their home.

[Luboman]

Dowager Countess: "Well, surely you can put her off."
Cora: "I don't know how. Once the bit is in between her teeth."
Dowager Countess: "Well, change the bridle. Find a course that needs her more than Downton."
Cora: "She's such a martyr."
Dowager Countess: "Then we must tempt her with a more enticing scaffold!"

I love these lines. First they objectify Isobel into a stubborn horse, or even a mule, that needs to have her bridle changed so that she goes in a different path. Then they objectify Isobel into a martyr who is allowed to choose the best way she wants to die--will it be by burning at the stake, by beheading or by hanging? LOL...