Edith Wharton And Henry James put ‘old money’ under a microscope and, boy howdy, did their characters long for some British creds. I wonder how things will turn out for Bannister (who is British by birth). He keeps his plans close to the vest.

I don’t think Fellowes is a very skilled writer either. The dialogue is clunky and overly theatrical and sometimes it’s painful to hear such acting talent having to deliver those lines. Didn’t people ever use contractions when speaking in the 1870s? “I cannot,” “I shall not...” Starting to wonder if these characters…

The main reason why i watch this show is the production design and costumes, which are so spellbindingly lavish that i can’t pause for a second to realize how awful the writing is.

I get the feeling Raikes didn’t even bother trying to help Peggy. He just said he couldn’t find the midwife for he wouldn’t have to bother with it anymore.

The John Q. Adams-Gladys relationship has some interesting potential. If Agnes were to learn, for example, that her son and Adams were in a relationship, that might leave her in the position of trying to tell the Russells that Gladys’s relationship with Adams is a bad match and not revealing why — a parallel situation…

That’s what I think too!  You can’t find a baby’s grave if it doesn’t exist. 

Fellowes is not a great writer. The Train Accident trial would have been a great story line for S2. With Bertha losing her shit over this endangering all her plans, George “accidentally” running into Slutty McEvil Bangs, and almost letting her seduce him, and then the trial is almost over and the note shows up, or…

“Oh no, the giant bustle on the back of my dress got turned around AGAIN! Dear me!”

I thought that too but I also think Agnes in some ways values Armstrong’s busybody habits as she’s been all to eager to reward them in regards to bits of gossip about Oscar and Marian. I can’t decide if Agnes is going to turn into the sort of cruel person she never wanted to be or if this all is going to come back to…

Consuelo and Charles Spencer-Churchill were divorced before the annulment. Ava wasn’t the one who initiated the annulment. It was sought by the Duke (who wanted to convert to Catholicism). Interestingly Ava Vanderbilt supported the annulment and testified that she “...forced my daughter to marry the duke.” Consuelo…

That baby is DEFINITELY alive and whisked away to somewhere else by mean old Poppa Scott, right? There’s a reason Raikes hasn’t been able to track down the midwife, and that reason is that she was paid very well to not be findable, lest she spill those beans.

I wonder if Peggy's baby is actually alive and her father just told her he hadn't survived.

When you’ve been at a certain level in society for awhile you don’t have to go out because people come to see you.

I think you mean “Gladys”.

As a floral designer, they did not have orange roses in the 1880s. I was disappointed at that flaw. I mean come on. You didn't have pink or red roses available?

Speaking of babies and dresses: In Newport, Bertha wears a lacy white number (sneaking into the Astors’), and I caught myself noticing that Bertha’s midsection seems drastically increased. Am I the only one who didn’t know that Coon was pregnant during filming? She’s probably close to 8 months in this scene. The…

I’m wondering if Agnes is being loosely set up as an equivalent of Consuelo Vanderbilt, a noted beauty and heiress of the time. Her ambitious mother - not the Mrs. Vanderbilt of this series, but a relation - wanted nothing less than a title for her only daughter, and kept a very tight rein on Consuelo, eventually…

In the first few minutes Aunt Ada says to Aunt Agnes “I don’t live at the bottom of an oubliette!”

If they’re only getting the internet to watch TV it’s comparable. If they’d have it anyway, then it’s not.