yes it is, I had noticed that too when I watched the episode…

There are so many things up in the air that I wonder how they can wrap up the Hapstell story with just one episode…

can you watch RPDR from abroad?

I think this was the only finale that could fit Downton, I would have accepted nothing else than an unapologetic happy ending all around.

yes in a way, but I think in that case it was specific to the tragic event (if I'm not mistaken Mary says something like, let's be nice in this moment that it's the last time we three are together). This time it was more of a general life-spanning consideration, an indication to change the dynamics of their…

yes, and also the rousing speech of Molesley at the school

They indeed have not much chemistry. I think also they lack "the" bonding moment that makes the relationship more believable. For example the famous pig crisis with Blake. Mary and Talbot's moment has been Charlie's death, but it drew a rift more than create a bonding. Fellowes was probably in a bit of a rush to…

Definitely. But I think here the idea was that going against her heart put her in a very bad place, self-destructive and destructive against everyone.

I very rarely get teary for tv shows, but this episode got me twice.
First, obviously, Mary's visit to Matthew's grave. Michelle Dockery manages to make that clichéd moment a very moving one, and the meeting with Isobel after it was the perfect one-two punch.
More unexpectedly, I was very moved by the little speech that…

knowing her, I don't think so :P

yes, because the next episode is the "last" of the season and the ninth is considered to be a special (even if in all the season it -is- the real ending of the season, plot-wise).

I think the upper class was way more relaxed -in private!- we believe nowadays.
In the Victorian and the Edwardian age the pillar of morality was the middle class (and most of the novels of the time targeted exactly that group, perhaps giving us a slightly biased view on the moeurs of the period).
In contrast, the…

About the last point… I don't know. Cora and Robert have always been very liberal in those matters (remember Mr Pamuk?), and I think that, as for homosexuality today, personal reactions to such a coming out varied immensely between families.
I suppose things would be different if it were made public.

each Downton season is made up by 8 episodes plus a Christmas special.

Interesting!

I never believed in the Tom-Mary romance and I'm happy it stays in the realm of fanfiction!

how wonderful it could be if Thomas meets in this way the obviously gay patron of Bertie and goes with him to Tangiers! :)

Regarding Bertie, I think it's both, but I'm quite convinced that upper class mentality of 1925 plays a big role.
(speaking of Bertie and Edith, how gorgeous is that shot at the end where they cuddle on the sofa?!)

yes,I had the same feeling when I saw it some months ago: this episode is too contrived. "We need" the inevitable car crash to create an obstacle in the (already very contrived) romance between Mary and Talbot; we also need it to show that Talbot is not a man of steel but it's VULNERABLE. We need an opportune degree…

I also think the figure of the mother (played excellently by Sally Field) is pretty tough. After all she's a normal person trying to make a household work with a pretty unreliable husband, which forces her to be the stern parent when actually she doesn't really want to be one.