Episode 4 Season 4 – Downton Abbey Episode Summary 4.4

Episode Summary:  Miss Braithwaite uses the night of passion she spent with Tom Branson to trick him into marrying her.  He seeks Mrs. Hughes for help.  Meanwhile, Lord Gillingham falls in love with Lady Mary and begins to court her.

Downton Abbey Episode 4 Season 4 Recap: Anna Bates avoids her husband and makes her way to Downton Abbey alone.  She endures having to sit beside the man who severely violated her and having to answer her inquiring colleagues about the cuts and bruises on her face.  Mr. Bates suspects that Anna is keeping the truth about the previous night’s incident that led to her injuries.  Moreover, he suspects that Mrs. Hughes knows the truth.Continue reading...

The guests from the house party make their departure that morning.  Tom Branson receives genuine and comforting advice from the Duchess of Yeovil who believes that Tom’s aloofness at the party was due to the loss of his wife, Lady Sybil.  The Duchess tells him that he will learn to manage without the love of his life just as she did when her husband died.  Soon as the guests have left, Lady Mary wastes no time to talk business with her father.  She informs Lord Grantham of seeing the tax people earlier than scheduled due to an unexpected opening in their calendar.  She is to meet with them without Lord Grantham to discuss their options.  Lady Mary remains adamant about not selling off land to pay their death duties even if it means paying their debt for years to come.  She believes that this is the only way to keep Downton self-sufficient.

Tom Branson speaks with Edna Braithwaite and confesses to have been heavily inebriated the previous night.  He apologizes for the mistake he is unsure of committing.  Edna accuses him of discarding her after using her and threatens him of the possibility of having gotten her pregnant for the one night they spent together.  Edna demands that Tom marry her and recognize the child if their night of passion led her to conceive.  Tom does not concede to her demand and instead confesses to have nothing in him but regret.

Lord Gillingham surprises Lady Mary when he joins them at dinner at Lady Rosamund’s house in London.  The small dinner party was a result of Lady Cora and Lady Rosamund’s scheme to get him and Lady Mary to spend time together.  Sir John Bullock invites them to the Lotus Club after dinner where Tom becomes Lady Rosamund’s reluctant dance partner and Lady Mary becomes Lord Gillingham’s date.  Lady Mary dances with Lord Gillingham and confesses her appreciation of his presence for it enabled her to play truant.  Lord Gillingham asks to see her again before she leaves for Downton, but learns that they will be leaving soon after the meeting with the tax people.  Lady Mary senses that the man is courting her.  She confesses that it will be years before she gets over the loss of her beloved husband.  Meanwhile, a heavily intoxicated Sir John Bullock is causing a scene at the club mortifying his dance partner, Lady Rose.  He, however, becomes nauseous on the dance floor causing him to rush out leaving Lady Rose without a partner in the middle of the dance floor.  Jack Ross, the black bandleader, leaves the stage and rescues Lady Rose from further humiliation unaware that his dancing with her caused discomfort to the Crawleys including Tom Branson.  Tom comes to fetch Lady Rose, who could not understand why her family appears more humiliated with the sight of seeing her dancing with Mr. Ross than the drunkard Sir John Bullock.  They return to Lady Rosamund’s house and Lady Mary takes the opportunity to ask Tom about his glum attitude.  Tom reveals nothing, but confesses that the truth will make Lady Mary despise him.  Lady Mary intimates to have said exactly the same thing to someone before.  She reveals that the confession she dreaded to make actually made things a lot better.  Tom agrees that she must be right, but he cannot bear tell her the truth.  Lady Mary urges him to find a confidant even if it is not her.

Lady Mary, Tom Branson, Lady Rose, and Anna return from London.  Anna remains morose and reticent even to her husband.  In fact, her uncharacteristic taciturn attitude has become apparent even to the masters.  More troubling to her husband is that his touch brings about fear and anger from Anna.  The woman would not even look at him.  Soon he learns that Anna had decided to sleep in the servants’ quarters instead of their cottage.  Unbeknownst to him, Anna feels shamed, dishonored, and underserving of his love.  In fact, she has revealed to Mrs. Hughes the guilt of somehow bringing about the violation done to her, one Mrs. Hughes assures her is false.  Mrs. Hughes urges Anna to report the crime to the police, but Anna refuses to do so afraid that the truth will lead her husband to commit murder.  Mr. Bates tells his wife that he will not press her now of the reason for her change in behavior, but he promises her that he will soon find out.  This troubles Anna, but not as much as the news of Lord Gillingham’s sudden arrival.  Ostensibly, Lord Gillingham rode the same train as Lady Mary to Downton Abbey managing to avoid being seen that he may elude explaining to Lady Mary’s company of his presence.  Lord Gillingham made the impromptu trip to Downton to propose marriage to Lady Mary.  The question shocked Lady Mary who does not accept or reject the surprising proposal and confession of love from a man she knew only as a child.  Lord Gillingham has fallen so in love with Lady Mary that he offers to wait years for her decision so long that she will eventually accept to be his wife.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Hughes learns of another secret, this time concerning Tom.  He has come to her for help with Miss Braithwaite.  Mrs. Hughes sets out with a plan immediately.  She sends for Miss Braithwaite and the lady’s maid arrives believing that they have decided to bribe her for her silence.  On the contrary, Mrs. Hughes has no plans of paying off Miss Braithwaite for she is certain that Miss Braithwaite could not have conceived on the night she slept with Tom.  Mrs. Hughes found in her belongings Marie Stopes’ book of Married Love, which showed that Miss Braithwaite made sure she would not conceive until Tom has agreed to marry her.  Mrs. Hughes believes that Miss Braithwaite would have gotten herself pregnant by any man if Tom had agreed to marry her.  Because Mrs. Hughes does not have any proof of Miss Braithwaite’s scheme, she instead threatens her to have the doctor examine Miss Braithwaite by force if necessary to prove her ploy.  Miss Braithwaite threatens to reveal the affair to Lady Cora, but Mrs. Hughes counters with a threat of not providing her a reference leaving her without any chance of getting a decent job.  Miss Braithwaite yields to the threats proving Mrs. Hughes’ theory that the woman could not have conceived that night.  She leaves Downton Abbey with more enemies and no friends, not even Mr. Barrow whom she insulted on her departure.  Mr. Barrow sensed that the woman had set in motion a scheme that did not bear fruit for which he is delighted.  Lady Cora receives Miss Braithwaite’s notice of resignation with a claim of family troubles as the reason for her sudden and immediate departure.  Miss Braithwaite’s departure relieves Tom Branson.  Moreover, it gave Anna a reason to reside in the main house instead of the cottage she shares with her husband.  She argues that staying in the Downton house will allow her to attend to both Lady Cora and Lady Mary more competently.  Lord Grantham, however, asks Mr. Bates of the reason for Miss Braithwaite’s departure, but the valet is equally unaware of the true cause.  Mr. Bates is preoccupied with problems with his wife to discern other servant’s issues.  He confides to Lord Grantham of Anna’s decision to move back into the house for reasons kept from him.  Mr. Barrow is another person who benefits from Miss Braithwaite’s departure for it gave him a chance to recommend a candidate for her replacement.

Lord Gillingham’s unannounced visit gave hope to Lord Grantham and Lady Cora who both are hopeful that Lady Mary will find another suitable husband.  Much to their surprise, Mrs. Crawley nobly receives Lord Gillingham despite his obvious intentions of courting Lady Mary.  Mrs. Crawley had confessed to Lady Violet her feelings of jealousy despite her desire for Lady Mary to find happiness once again.  She is ashamed to feel such emotions for seeing Lady Mary come alive again, but Lady Violet finds such feelings justifiable.  Lady Mary speaks with Lord Gillingham the following day and refuses his proposal after confiding that she has not gotten over Matthew.  She feels that she will never get over her beloved late husband.  Hearing so, Lord Gillingham informs her of his decision to push through with his engagement with Mabel Lane Fox.  He confesses that it is Lady Mary whom he truly loves, but he will marry Mabel Lane Fox to fulfill his obligation to his family.  He promises to leave her in peace, but asks for a kiss before doing so.  Lady Mary wastes no time to inform her family of Lord Gillingham’s engagement with Mabel Lane Fox in order to eliminate any false hope they might have perceived from her dealings with Lord Gillingham.  She, however, confides with Tom about having done something she might regret in the future.

Lady Edith is spending much time in London in order to be with Mr. Gregson.  The step he has taken that will allow him to marry Lady Edith legally has taken shape.  He is to reside in Munich indefinitely, while he awaits his German citizenship.  Mr. Gregson asks Lady Edith to sign a contract that will allow her to have authority over his affairs in his absence.  The great lengths Mr. Gregson is willing to take in order to marry her made him even more desirable such that Lady Edith could no longer contain her lust for him.  Lady Edith spends the night with Mr. Gregson.  Her arrival in the wee hours of the morning did not go unnoticed in Lady Rosamund’s household causing her aunt to admonish her.  Lady Rosamund feels that Lady Edith is gambling her future for actions she may soon regret.  She, nevertheless, agrees to keep her niece’s indiscretion from Lady Cora.

Jimmy continues to pursue Ivy.  Alfred and Daisy catch them in the kitchen about to kiss causing Alfred to threaten to report them to Mrs. Patmore, but it was an empty threat.  Preparing the sauces for the house party rekindled Alfred’s passion for cooking.  He welcomes the news of the establishment of a training school in honor of Monsieur Escoffier at the Ritz Hotel in London.  The school will accept candidates who pass the test and will provide free training with a basic wage.  The candidates will also be given an opportunity to work at the Ritz Hotel.  Mrs. Patmore suggests that Daisy take the exam, but she has no desire of doing so.  Meanwhile, Alfred has Ivy in mind and asks for her.  In a fit of jealousy, Daisy maliciously informs Alfred of her whereabouts very much aware that Ivy is in the boot room with Jimmy.  Alfred finds Jimmy and Ivy making out in the boot room.  The sight broke his heart causing him to apply to the Ritz Escoffier cooking school in London.  Mrs. Patmore and Daisy help him prepare for his exam.  Daisy, however, is reluctant because she does not want Alfred to leave Downton Abbey.  It was a decision she inadvertently pushed him into making due to one moment of nastiness she now heartily regrets.  Mrs. Patmore urges the assistant cook to help the footman fulfill his dreams for it will be better if they part as friends.  Moreover, the cook is very well aware that Alfred does not share the same feelings Daisy has for him.

Next Downton Abbey Recap: Episode 5 of Season 4
Previous Downton Abbey Recap: Episode 3 of Season 4
More Downton Abbey Episode Guides
Watch Episode 4 of Season 4 of Downton Abbey

Episode 3 Season 4 – Downton Abbey Episode Summary 4.3

Episode Summary: Lady Cora throws a glamorous house party at Downton Abbey that culminates with a performance from the world famous opera singer, Dame Nellie Melba.  Nobility and aristocrats attend the house party including Lady Mary’s childhood friend, Lord Gillingham whose valet, Mr. Green, flirts with Anna Bates annoying Mr. Bates.  The last night of the house party, however, leads to a serious crime at Downton Abbey.

Downton Abbey Episode 3 Season 4 Recap: Anthony Foyle, now Lord Gillingham following the death of his father, arrives at Downton Abbey along with other guests of Lady Cora’s house party.  Lady Mary remembers Lord Gillingham as a superior young man who found three little girls extremely tiresome.  It has been years since they saw each other last and she learns that Lord Gillingham no longer resides in his ancestral house after it served as a hospital during the war.  It now serves as a girls’ school.  He now resides at the Dower House, a residence Lady Mary visited once as a child.  She fondly remembers having tea with Lord Gillingham’s grandmother who spoiled her with ice cream that she got all over her dress.  Their re-acquaintance revealed that Lord Gillingham has not yet married nor sired children, but he is in the process of starting a family.Continue reading...

Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes learn that ten guests will be at Downton Abbey, but not all of them brought servants to attend to their needs as many have done so after the war.  They find that even nobility endured financial losses due to the war, one of which is Lady Raven, whom they learn is living a meager lifestyle.  So different it was years ago especially for Tom Branson, who is now part of the family and a guest at the party.  Miss Braithwaite sees him in a white tie and asks why they have not spoken since her return.  She expresses her desire to remain friends with him.  Tom agrees to maintain their acquaintance, but nothing more.  He makes his way to the party and speaks with the Duchess of Yeovil who appears to have become fond of him.  His little knowledge of the interests of nobility, however, makes him an insipid companion that the Duchess decides to converse with someone else.  Tom might have a person to converse with if Mrs. Crawley was there, but the woman decided to attend only the last night of the party in order to hear the opera singer, Dame Nellie Melba.  She finds attending the party inappropriate given her son’s recent passing.  It is, in fact, the first party the Crawleys has thrown after Matthew’s death and Mrs. Patmore is feeling out of practice and overwhelmed despite her staff’s competence.  Mrs. Hughes finds Mrs. Patmore up late at night preparing for the next day’s feast.  Meanwhile, Mrs. Hughes and Mr. Carson discuss where their esteemed guest shall dine given that she is not nobility.  Mr. Carson believes that entertainers cannot dine with nobility, which is why he instructs Mrs. Hughes to have Dame Nellie Melba dine in her room instead.  It is a decision Lord Grantham approved along with allowing all servants including the kitchen staff to hear Dame Nellie Melba sing.

Lady Mary goes riding with Lord Gillingham after failing to convince others to join them.  She learns that he is seeing the greatest heiress of the season, Mabel Lane Fox.  Although Lord Gillingham does not have issues with the match, he has reservations at the fact that it is a match both sides of the family approve.  Lady Mary advises that a match everyone approves of can turn out to be extremely happy as per her experience.  She confesses that she was wonderfully happy with Matthew despite everyone forcing them to fall for each other the moment he arrived at Downton Abbey.  Lord Gillingham finds her lucky to have known a great love.  Lady Mary did love Matthew.  However, she has come to realize that he had made her softer.  She wonders if she might be happier if she had been as tough as she was before.  Riding through the estate, Lord Gillingham comes to appreciate the Crawleys managing to keep it all in one piece.  Lady Mary, however, intimates that they are in danger of losing some of their land due to her father’s desire to sell land to pay for the tax bill.  With Lady Mary’s permission, Lord Gillingham recommends having Lord Grantham meet with the tax people to hear the best deal they can offer.  He is speaking out of experience for he had the same dilemma when his father died.  In the end, they were able to keep the land in exchange for their house.  Lady Mary finds it refreshing to have someone by her side.  She speaks to her father about it, but Lord Grantham remains intransigent and maintains his plan to sell land as a capital gain free of tax.  Lady Mary argues that doing so risks having an estate that cannot support the house.

Lord Gillingham’s valet, Mr. Green, flirts with Anna Bates.  Unfortunately, Anna is naïve of the man’s flirtation, but not Mr. Bates, who treats him with rudeness.  Anna speaks to her husband about it and Mr. Bates confesses that he has behaved rudely for the simple fact of disliking the valet for no clear reason.  Meanwhile, the kitchen maids are having trouble opening a jar.  Alfred and Jimmy try to prove their manhood by opening the jar.  Jimmy, with some effort, manages to open the jar.  He shows off his achievement by throwing the jar up in the air to catch it, but ends up on the floor with a broken jar.  Later he learns that he has sprained his wrist from his display of bravado preventing him from serving at dinner.

It appears that Mr. Sampson thrashed all his opponents at a game of poker and everyone is abuzz of his achievement.  He sets up another game that evening and Lord Grantham decides to join them.  Michael Gregson joins the game as well seizing an opportunity to spend time with Lord Grantham having proven that the man has been avoiding him.  Lord Grantham fails to listen to Lord Gillingham’s warning about Mr. Sampson’s card skills that he loses a large amount to him, one he asks the men to keep secret from Lady Cora.  Meanwhile, Lady Rose brings out the gramophone and invites people to dance.  Tom regrettably ends up dancing with the Duchess of Yeovil and Lady Mary ends up with Lord Gillingham.  Lady Mary, however, recognized the gramophone as the gift Matthew received as a present for his engagement with Lavinia, the same one they danced to that rekindled their passion for each other.  She excuses herself and runs up to her room.  She intimates to Anna of wondering for whom she truly mourns, Matthew or the person she was when they were together.  Anna assures her that she is a fine and strong person despite her self-doubt.  Later, Tom leaves the party for bed.  Miss Braithwaite sees him and asks about his evening.  Tom conveys feeling like a fool and out of place.  This seems to delight Miss Braithwaite.

The following day, Lady Violet sees Mrs. Crawley in town and urges her to attend the party that night.  Mrs. Crawley remains undecided about hearing Melba and confesses of avoiding happiness in her fear that it makes her forget about her deceased son.  Lady Violet quotes the poet Christina Rossetti in an attempt to help Mrs. Crawley realize that she can allow herself to be happy.  Meanwhile, Mr. Carson learns that Mr. Molesley has been delivering groceries for Bakewell’s.  In need of a footman, he offers Mr. Molesley a temporary job as a footman believing that the man will be grateful of the opportunity.  Mr. Molesley, however, could not hide his disappointment at the job offer; he accepts it nonetheless.  While others are busy attending to the guests at dinner, Mr. Green organizes a game of Racing Demon for the rest of the servants causing laughter and fun at the servant’s hall.

Mrs. Crawley’s presence at the last night of the house party shows that Lady Violet was successful at her persuasion.  Meanwhile, Lady Cora has noticed Dame Nellie Melba’s absence at the drawing room.  She learns from Mr. Carson that Lord Grantham has agreed for the world-renowned opera singer to have dinner served in her room believing it inappropriate that she mingle with the aristocrats.  Lady Cora seats Lord Grantham beside the opera singer at dinner as punishment.  Lord Grantham learns that Dame Nellie Melba is quite a wine connoisseur and finds a talking point for conversation.  Tom seats beside Mrs. Crawley and observes a look of disapproval at seeing Lady Mary enjoying a conversation with Lord Gillingham.  Tom points out that it is the first time she has laughed since Matthew died.  Although Mrs. Crawley wishes Lady Mary happiness, she finds that she could not allow herself to be merry given her loss.  Downstairs, Mrs. Patmore frenetically instructs her staff with the presentation of the meals and causes more trouble than help when she suffers from what appears to be a heart attack.  Fortunately, Alfred steps in and makes the sauces for the dinner that the guests thoroughly enjoyed.  Oblivious to the commotion are the servants enjoying the game Racing Demon including Anna.  Mr. Bates puts an end to their enjoyment with reproach for their insensitivity at not knowing that Mrs. Patmore has taken ill.  Anna, however, rebukes her husband in private for his cantankerous attitude and thanks Mr. Green for providing entertainment for the servants.  As it turns out, Mrs. Patmore merely had a panic attack due to the stress of the house party.

The conversation with Mrs. Crawley and the feelings that surfaced during the house party brought Tom to speak to Lord Grantham of having come to a realization that he does not belong in Downton Abbey.  Lord Grantham disregards Tom’s revelation and leaves to hear Dame Nellie Melba sing.  Masters and servants alike watch the world-renowned opera singer, Nellie Melba.  A few of the male guests led by Mr. Sampson sneak off the performance to play cards.  Mr. Gregson surprises Mr. Sampson with a winning hand, a feat he found impossible but did not dare challenge.  The other men take their leave after losing their money leaving Mr. Gregson alone with Mr. Sampson who uncharacteristically loses to him.  Mr. Gregson uncovered Mr. Sampson’s chicanery on the card table.  He threatens him with exposure that will leave Mr. Sampson banned from the clubs he frequents.  This allowed him to blackmail the card sharp into surrendering all the IOUs he accumulated from the unsuspecting aristocrats in exchange for his silence.  Anna, on the other hand, develops a bit of a headache and makes her way downstairs to take something to relieve the pain.  Mr. Green follows her to the deserted kitchen and rapes her while Mr. Bates and the other servants are upstairs listening to Dame Nellie Melba sing Puccini’s O Mio Babbino Caro from the opera Gianni Schicchi, a song she dedicated to love and lovers.  The opera singer’s rendition of “Done lieta usci”, Mimi’s aria in Puccini’s La Boheme, left Anna’s screams unheard.  Mrs. Hughes notices Mr. Green return upstairs, but still no sight of Anna.

Dame Nellie Melba’s performance concludes the house party and the guests leave Downton Abbey including Mrs. Crawley who for the first time since her son’s death allowed herself to feel happy.  Mr. Gregson, on the other hand, wins the card players favor including Lord Grantham when he returns the IOUs they owe to Mr. Sampson.  Meanwhile, Tom Branson sulks in a corner.  The disappointment in his conversation with Lord Grantham earlier that evening still weighs in his head.  Miss Braithwaite plays the role of savior and brings him a glass of whiskey, while the other servants return downstairs.  She later enters the room of Tom Branson.

The sight of a distraught and badly beaten Anna Bates hiding in the dark corner of her office shocks Mrs. Hughes, but she knew immediately from the poor lady’s maid’s appearance what had happened to her.  Anna pleads Mrs. Hughes to keep her violation a secret especially from her husband, Mr. Bates, for she fears that he will kill the man who wronged her.  Anna could not risk her husband committing a crime given his prior criminal conviction.  Mrs. Hughes reluctantly agrees to Anna’s wish going against her better judgment of reporting a serious crime and having a doctor examine the violated woman.  Mr. Bates finally sees his wife and is alarmed at the sight of her bruised face.  Anna feigns having hit the sink when she fainted from her dizziness and explains the change of clothes after severely soiling her previous ones.  Anna’s obvious fear and refrainment from being touched tells Mr. Bates that something awful has happened to his wife.  Anna avoids Mr. Bates and walks home alone.

Watch Episode 3 of Season 4 of Downton Abbey
Next Downton Abbey Episode Summary: Episode 4 of Season 4
Previous Downton Abbey Episode Summary: Episode 2 of Season 4
More Downton Abbey Episode Guides

Episode 2 Season 4 – Downton Abbey Episode Summary 4.2

Episode Summary:  Lord Grantham finds a letter Matthew wrote declaring Lady Mary as his sole heir.  Incredulous of its legality, he considers not showing it to Lady Mary until his lawyer has assessed its validity.  He then goes on to show that his daughter does not have the aptitude to manage Downton Abbey.  Meanwhile, Lady Rose convinces Anna Bates to accompany her to a Thé Dansant for servants and farmworkers.  Lady Rose pretends to be a housemaid and dances the One-Step with an under gardener named Sam Thawley.

Downton Abbey Episode 2 Season 4 Recap: A package from the office of the recently deceased Matthew Crawley arrives for Lady Mary.  Mrs. Hughes thinks it best that someone inspect its contents first before showing to Lady Mary.  She is concerned that some of the contents may upset the grieving widow.  Mr. Carson assents to her advice and decides to bring the package to Lord Grantham. Amidst Matthew’s belongings, Lord Grantham finds a will naming Mary as Matthew’s sole heiress.Continue reading...

Lord Grantham is reluctant to show the will to Lady Mary not wanting to dash his daughter’s hopes if it is found that the will has no legal status.  He, however, consults with his mother about the matter.  Lady Violet believes Lady Mary would want to know that her late husband wanted her to inherit his assets regardless of the validity of his will.  She does not share her son’s disapproval of the wife inheriting the husband’s assets instead of the son.  Lady Violet insists that Lord Grantham must show Lady Mary the will before he sends it to their lawyer.  Moreover, she forthrightly surfaces the real reason for Lord Grantham’s hesitance.  Lord Grantham prefers the sole charge of the estate and objects of sharing the crown with his daughter.  He denies his mother’s suspicion and claims that Mary would not want to get involved in running the estate.

Nonetheless, Lord Grantham takes his mother’s advice.  He shows Lady Mary the letter Matthew wrote before they left for Scotland and concealed in a book.  She and Lord Grantham inform Isobel Crawley and the rest of the family of its existence.  At Lady Mary’s request, Lord Grantham reads the letter to them.  Matthew expresses in the letter his concern at not writing a will, one he meant to do upon their return from Duneagle.  The letter will serve as a record of his wish for Mary to be his sole heiress until a formal will is drawn.  Matthew plainly and clearly states his desire for Lady Mary to take charge in the event of his death.  Matthew affixing his signature and having two of his clients witness its writing makes the letter a legal document.  Lord Grantham insists that the letter is not a will despite those facts.  He does not welcome its validity claiming that it will only cause the estate to pay death duties twice.  Lady Mary, on the other hand, is content with earning the right to have an opinion, which her father wastes no time to test.  Lord Grantham asks Lady Mary for her opinion regarding the use of empty farmland as new sources of revenue in order to stress the point of her ineptitude in managing the estate.  The whole family, however, could see the malice in Lord Grantham’s question and they show their support for Lady Mary.  In support of her, Tom Branson reminds them of Lady Mary’s firsthand knowledge of Matthew’s plans.

Lady Violet schemes to help her granddaughter claim her right to manage the estate and volunteers Tom to train Lady Mary in secret.  Tom begins Lady Mary’s tutelage and brings her to a vantage point that exposes the estate.  He shows her the area they farm and the Oakwood Farm, land that their good and hardworking tenant, the Olds farm.  He also speaks to her about the death duties and Lord Grantham’s plan to sell land in order to pay off the inheritance tax in one lump.  Tom refuses to offer his recommendation, but rather urges Lady Mary to decide on her own.

Anna Bates sees Mr. Barrow speaking Miss Edna Braithwaite and finds reason to warn the newly promoted maid about him.  Miss Braithwaite, however, chooses to fraternize with Mr. Barrow especially after she ruins Lady Cora’s blouse.  The two of them conspire against the Bates as Mr. Barrow insinuates that Anna ruined Lady Cora’s blouse out of jealousy.  Meanwhile, Lady Rose, yearning to dance the One-Step, asks Anna to chaperone her to a Thé Dansant in York without informing anyone in her family.  Anna refuses to do so, but finds an opportunity to get Lady Mary’s permission.  Later, Jimmy, who is in York running an errand for Mrs. Patmore, sees Lady Rose with Anna.  He follows the two and sees them entering the Jubilee Dance Hall where a Thé Dansant is being held for servants and farmworkers.  Aching to dance, Lady Rose calls attention to herself hoping to get an invitation to dance from a young man.  Rose immediately catches the eye of Sam Thawley, an under gardener for Lord Ellis, and she pretends to be a housemaid at Downton Abbey.  Her cover was almost blown after she bumps into Jimmy and Anna on the dance floor.  Jimmy is unaware of her pretense, but he catches on quickly with Anna’s guidance.  Anna learns that Jimmy had come to York not only to run an errand for Mrs. Patmore, but also to buy tickets for him and Ivy to see Phyllis Dare in the hit musical, The Lady of the Rose.  Jimmy, who initially had flirted with Ivy only to spite Alfred, had fallen for the kitchen maid.  Soon they learn that a fight has ensued after Lady Rose refuses to dance with a young man other than Sam.  The men engage in a brawl endangering Lady Rose, who refuses to leave the young man who was protecting her.  Fortunately, Jimmy is to usher them out the dance hall before the police arrest them.  The three of them safely return to Downton Abbey.  Jimmy asks Mr. Carson permission to take Ivy to the theater and gets it with the help of Mrs. Patmore and Mrs. Hughes.  Ivy is excited at having been asked and having been allowed to take a half day off to go to the theater.  Her excitement upsets Alfred and makes him yearn for her even more.  This disappoints Daisy, who hoped that he would begin to dislike the kitchen maid, but Mrs. Patmore believes that there is nothing as unchangeable as a young man’s heart.  Later, Sam arrives at Downton Abbey asking for the housemaid, Rose.  With Anna’s help, Rose dresses as a housemaid and speaks with the young man who has fallen for her.  Rose feigns having given her word to a local farmer.  Sam understands and respects Rose’s situation that he bids her goodbye.  Rose, aware of having broken the young man’s heart, kisses Sam as a consolation.

Mrs. Hughes pays a visit to the Crawley House where Charles Grigg is recuperating in the care of Mrs. Crawley.  The man is anxious to hear from his old friend, Mr. Carson, but soon learns that Mr. Carson has nothing to say to him.  Mrs. Hughes explains that Mr. Carson does not remember the times they spent together with nostalgia.  Mrs. Crawley, on the other hand, has good news to share with Mrs. Hughes.  She has found a job for Mr. Grigg at the Opera House in Belfast as a stage door keeper.  Moreover, she personally asks Mr. Carson to speak to Mr. Grigg before the man leaves for Belfast conveying the man’s contrition and his admission to have caused Mr. Carson great unhappiness.  Mr. Grigg, however, maintains his innocence in the sorrow he caused Mr. Carson.  Mr. Carson refuses to speak with Mr. Grigg despite Mrs. Crawley’s plea.  Learning that Mr. Grigg is leaving for Belfast, Mrs. Hughes urges Mr. Carson to see him before he leaves that he may settle the conflict with his old friend, one he let fester for too long.  He arrives at the train station to speak with his old friend, Mr. Grigg.  Mr. Carson believed that Mr. Grigg set out to steal his beloved Alice Neal from him.  Mr. Grigg tells him that he never set out to take Alice from him.  It was Alice’s choice to marry him instead of Mr. Carson.  The marriage, however, did not last long.  In fact, he and Alice had already separated before she died, another fact Mr. Carson did not know.  Mr. Grigg imparts a message Alice wanted him to relay to Mr. Carson.  Alice confesses to have been a fool for not realizing that she loved Mr. Carson, one she later came to realize as the better man.  Alice asked Mr. Grigg to tell Mr. Carson that she loved him.  Mr. Grigg and Mr. Carson part as friends.

Mr. Molesley finds work as a laborer tending to the roads and becomes embarrassed when Anna sees him at work.  He confides the loss of income and the debts he incurred following the death of his master, Matthew Crawley.  Anna commiserates with Mr. Molesley and offers to lend him money, but the man confesses of not being able to pay her back.  He also refuses to receive the money as a gift, but expresses his deepest gratitude at the offer.  The encounter with Mr. Molesley upset Anna that she apprises her husband of the former valet’s unfortunate state.  Mr. Bates wanting his wife to be happy comes up with a plan.  He first informs Lady Violet of Mr. Molesley’s predicament then urges the former valet to sign the card Anna suggested they send to their former colleague, Gwen.  Moreover, he invites Mr. Molesley to Downton.  Later, Mr. Bates forges a note using Mr. Molesley’s signature from the card he had him sign and pretends to have found the note stating his debt.  Mr. Bates claims that Mr. Molesley had lent thirty pounds when he first arrived at Downton, one he has yet to pay.  Mr. Molesley could not recall lending Mr. Bates money, but the note has his signature on it, one that Mrs. Hughes confirms as his.  Not only does Mr. Bates provide Mr. Molesley financial aid, he also provides him with a boost of self-esteem.  Anna recognizes her husband’s good deed, one he did for her.  Later, Mr. Bates receives a request from Lord Grantham in behalf of Lady Cora to speak to his wife about going easy on Miss Braithwaite.  He learns that Lady Cora was made to believe that Anna is unkind towards Miss Braithwaite due to her promotion to senior lady’s maid.  Mr. Bates, though certain that his wife is not at fault, foregoes contradicting the claim.  He later speaks to his wife about it befuddling both of them for the cause of Miss Braithwaite’s supposed offended feelings.  Anna could think of nothing other than her advice to keep watch of Mr. Barrow’s intentions.  Soon they learn that Mr. Barrow and Miss Braithwaite have become friends.

Lady Edith is with Michael Gregson in London and he finds his functioning without a servant refreshing.  She, however, is concerned with the risk he is taking just so he can marry her.  Michael is still pursuing his plan to become a German citizen, which will not only catch the ire of many, but also will require him to go to Germany.  Nonetheless, Lady Edith looks forward to becoming his wife and she offers to bring him to Downton Abbey that he may see his childhood home.  Michael does not find it a good idea knowing that his divorce, though near, will not happen overnight.  She invites him to the house party Lady Cora is throwing that he may have reason to be at Downton without causing alarm to her family.  She then decides to stay a little longer with Michael making her late for dinner at Downton.  She, at last, arrives at Downton where her family waits in the drawing room for Mr. Carson to announce dinner.  Lord Grantham takes the opportunity to inform them that their lawyer, Mr. Murray, had done due diligence in determining the validity of Matthew’s letter.  Mr. Murray and various authorities believe that Matthew intended the letter to serve as a will.  Therefore, Lady Mary owns half of Downton Abbey.

Next Downton Abbey Episode Summary: Episode 3 of Season 4
Previous Downton Abbey Episode Summary: Episode 1 of Season 4
More Downton Abbey Episode Guides
Watch Episode 2 of Season 4 of Downton Abbey

Episode 6 Season 1 – Mr. Selfridge Episode Summary 1.6

Synopsis: Newspapers feed on the news of the car accident of Mr. Selfridge that left him in a coma.  His absence becomes the concern of investors and employees who find themselves under the management of Selfridges’ Chief of Staff, Mr. Grove.  Mr. Crabb begins to question the decisions of Mr. Grove especially his decision to ban the Suffragettes from Selfridges.  He and the department heads devise a plan that goes against Mr. Grove’s orders, but will save Selfridges from the wrath of the Suffragettes.

Episode Summary: Newspapers make the car accident of Mr. Selfridge their headline eliciting concerns from employees.  Selfridges’ chief accountant, Mr. Crabb, addresses the employees confirming the headlines that Mr. Selfridge was in a serious car accident and that their employer remains unconscious.  Employees, however, are incredulous about their employer’s well-being seeing that Mr. Crabb is wearing a mourning band.  They learn, however, that the mourning band is meant for the recently deceased Harriet Grove, Mr. Grove’s wife whom he nursed for the last 12 years.  Mr. Crabb takes charge in the absence of Mr. Selfridge and Mr. Grove, makes Miss Mardle the Chief of Staff, and assigns Miss Ravillious as the head of both fashion and accessories for the time being.  Moreover, Mr. Crabb lifts up employee’s morale with optimism that Mr. Selfridge will recover in no time.Continue reading...

Newspaperman, Frank Edwards, informs Lois Selfridge that there is clamor for the reason that led to Mr. Selfridge’s car accident.  Mr. Edwards, who saw Mr. Selfridge at the club the night of the accident, informs the matron that her son drowned himself in alcohol and lost a great deal through gambling that night.  He believes that his inebriation and gambling were consequences of a prior incident.  He intimates that an upset Harry Selfridge was toasting to his father and had an encounter with Miss Ellen Love.  Concerned with newspapers feeding off the misfortunes of the troubled entrepreneur, Mr. Edwards advises that the family state that Mr. Selfridge’s encounter with Miss Love relates to the renegotiation of her contract.  Mr. Edwards will ensure Miss Love’s cooperation.  Miss Love is indebted to him for he was the one who saved her from her suicide attempt.  Frank visits Ellen, who is still brooding about Harry’s treatment of her.  Frank informs her of Harry’s car accident educing a concern from the former mistress.  Ellen’s growing hatred of Harry, however, leads her to consider vilifying the lover who unceremoniously ended their relationship.  She ponders about earning an income from speaking to the newspapers about her affair with the well-known entrepreneur in order to cover the loss of his financial support.  Frank advises her against doing so arguing that associating herself to a scandal will adversely affect her career.  He offers to introduce Ellen to playwrights instead that she may consider leaving the Gaiety for serious acting.  Frank recommends that she begin to entertain a highbrow audience, but adds this type of audience dislikes scandals.  Ellen recognizes the insinuated trade and she deliberates on accepting it.  She decides to move on and to leave the Gaiety.

Kitty Hawkins teases Agnes Towler about her obvious infatuation with the creative director, Henri Leclair.  Miss Towler takes offense and learns from Doris Miller that Kitty’s antagonism stems from Miss Towler unexpectedly landing the Senior Assistant position.  Miss Towler sees an opportunity to conciliate the enmity between her and Miss Hawkins after Miss Ravillious asks her to act as Senior Assistant of both Fashion and Accessories that day.  Miss Towler recommends making Miss Hawkins Senior Assistant of Accessories, while she takes over Fashion’s Senior Assistant position left vacant by an ill employee.

Rose Selfridge refuses to leave the bedside of her husband not wanting to miss his return to consciousness.  She, however, had to leave it to meet with Selfridges’ major investor, Mr. Musker.  The man has come to offer sympathy, but more so to ascertain the identity of Mr. Selfridge’s heir.   Mr. Musker is alarmed at learning that the young boy, Gordon Selfridge, is the heir.  The fact that the young boy’s shareholdings will remain in a trust managed by Lois and Rose until Gordon comes of age appeases him.  The talk of preparing for the worst, however, disturbs Rose, but not as much as Gordon.  The young boy makes his way to Selfridges only to be thought of a pickpocket.  Fortunately, Mr. Leclair recognizes the child and vouches for him.  Mr. Leclair and Miss Towler return Gordon to his worried family who thought that the boy had simply run away.  Soon they learn that Gordon had gone to check the department store he will solely inherit upon the death of his father.  The statement shocked Gordon’s sisters who are unaware of their father’s desire for Gordon to be the sole heir of his business and his belief that commerce is a man’s world.  Rose, on the other hand, becomes upset at her son’s presupposition of his father’s premature death.  Her anger stems from the guilt of the fight he had with her husband that led to his car accident.  Meanwhile, Mr. Leclair and Miss Towler make their way back to the store and Mr. Leclair conveys his observation of Miss Towler and Gordon.  He finds her good with children and a fitting mother, but is surprised to hear that Miss Towler has no desire of starting a family just yet.  He learns that Miss Towler does have a boyfriend whose company she is not completely enjoying.  Miss Towler, on the other hand, learns that Mr. Leclair’s French lover is in New York, too far to maintain a relationship.  Moreover, she learns that Mr. Leclair has become infatuated with an ingénue in England whom he fears will become frightened of him the instant he courts her.  Miss Towler recommends that he wait for the ingénue to which Mr. Leclair agrees.

Mr. Grove decides to distract himself from the death of his wife and comes to work to take charge of Selfridges in Mr. Selfridge’s absence.  He begins to show ineptness when asked for a recommendation for the empty window display.  The window was to display the luxury sports car that Mr. Selfridge regrettably crashed.  His incompetence surfaces when confronted with the Suffragettes’ issue.  Miss Ravillious brings forth the need for a strategy to avoid the wrath of the destructive Suffragettes and Mr. Grove could offer none.  Moreover, he forbids the Suffragettes entry to Selfridges and orders Mr. Perez to cancel the Tuesday luncheon the women have at the Palm Court.  News of the forbiddance of Suffragettes at Selfridges riles Lady Loxley, a Suffragette herself, who with the blessing of Mr. Selfridge has been meeting with the movement at The Palm Court on a weekly basis.  Lady Loxley confronts Mr. Grove of his decision to bar the Suffragettes from Selfridges.  Mr. Grove refuses to reinstate the scheduled Suffragettes lunch at the Palm Court and affronts Lady Loxley with his claim that women do not have the aptitude for politics. Lady Loxley warns them about the violence that might come to Selfridges.  Mr. Crabb is in disagreement with Mr. Grove’s decision and believes that Mr. Selfridge would have taken advantage of the Suffragette march instead of receiving their ire.  Mr. Grove maintains his intransigence and refuses the advice of Mr. Crabb.  Mr. Crabb enlists the help of all department heads to prevent an impending disaster.  Miss Mardle accompanies Mr. Grove on his walk home as per Mr. Crabb’s instruction.  The department heads led by Mr. Crabb assemble the employees as soon as Mr. Grove stepped out of the department store.  Mr. Crabb conveys his understanding that Mr. Selfridge has endorsed The Suffragettes for they embody progress.  He believes that emancipated women are the future and going against the Suffragettes would be disastrous for Selfridges.  Mr. Crabb and the department heads have put together a plan to appease the Suffragettes and ask their staff, without mandating them, to work overtime to implement the plan.  Much to Agnes’ surprise, Victor Colleano has decided not to help due to an appointment with a potential investor for the restaurant he dreams of opening.  Little did she know that the person Victor is going to see is Lady Loxley with whom he began to have a love affair.  She did sense that the person is a woman due to Victor’s decision to correct himself in order to hide the gender of his investor.  Agnes, however, welcomes Victor’s absence at the store for it allowed her to spend time with Mr. Leclair without his prying eyes.  Meanwhile, Miss Mardle has done her duty and made sure that Mr. Grove has gone home.  She, however, finds that the death of his wife ironically put an end to their affair due to the man’s guilt.  Mr. Crabb is grateful to her and the dedication of Selfridges’ employees for rising up to the challenge and implementing the plan that will save Selfridges from the wrath of the Suffragettes.  In return, he receives praise from Miss Ravillious, who found him inspirational.

Mr. Selfridge wakes from his coma confused and agitated at the sight of his deceased father that he screams for him to get out.  Unfortunately, his family and doctor are unaware of his hallucination that they find his behavior disturbing.  They continue to watch over him and later rejoice when Harry becomes fully conscious and cognitive.  With his wife’s permission, Harry decides to walk to his department store and finds himself in the middle of the Suffragettes march demanding votes for women.  The peaceful protest has turned sour when women began smashing windows of establishments leading the police to arrest them.  Miss Ravillious worry of the destruction the women will cause once they pass Selfridges that she urges Mr. Leclair to open the unfinished window display they worked on all night.  The Suffragettes reach Selfridges and they begin to protest in front of the establishment that forbade them entry.  Mr. Selfridge watches in horror as one of the Suffragettes encourages her fellow protesters to smash the windows of their enemy.  He and the Suffragettes are astounded when the curtains of the windows reveal a display purely in support of WSPU, the organization to which the Suffragettes belong.  What would have been the sound of smashing windows became cheers and applause.  Mr. Selfridge, however, still weak from his accident collapses.  The Suffragettes gather to help him including a very young Suffragette, Violette Selfridge.  Violette identifies the man as her father, Harry Gordon Selfridge.  The Suffragettes cheer Mr. Selfridge.

Next Mr. Selfridge Episode Summary: Episode 7 of Season 1
Previous Mr. Selfridge Episode Summary: Episode 5 of Season 1
More Mr. Selfridge Episode Summaries
Watch Episode 6 of Season 1 of Mr. Selfridge

Episode 5 Season 1 – Mr. Selfridge Episode Summary 1.5

Synopsis: Mr. Selfridge learns that Miss Towler has left Selfridges following the humiliating incident at the store that involved her father.  He also learns of theft at the loading bay causing him to call for a staff meeting in order to discuss honesty.  Unbeknownst to Mr. Selfridge, Roddy Temple pays Rose Selfridge an unexpected visit at his house leading her youngest daughter to witness a scandalous moment between her mother and Roddy.

Episode Summary: Mr. Selfridge loaned an expensive car to be put on display at Selfridges in the hope of attracting customers to his department store.  Henri Leclair is to make the uninsured luxury car the focus of the window display that promotes “Motoring for the Modern Age!”  Mr. Leclair happens to mention missing Miss Agnes Towler’s assistance to Mr. Selfridge, who is unaware that the shop girl has left Selfridges after the humiliating incident that involved her father.Continue reading...

Agnes Towler finds herself without a job and in the company of her drunkard father after her landlady threatened eviction if she and her brother do not take in the intoxicated family member passed out on the stairs of the apartment.  Although Victor Colleano takes pity on her misfortune, he finds consolation in the fact that he can now engage in a relationship with Agnes without breaking the Selfridges rule prohibiting love affairs between employees.  Victor courts Agnes, who agrees to become Victor’s girlfriend.  Kitty Hawkins also benefits from Miss Towler’s absence as she displays her competence to Lady Carlyle, one of the loyal customers fond of Miss Towler.  Unlucky for her, Miss Towler’s absence may only be temporary.  Harry Gordon Selfridge arrives in the impoverished London neighborhood attracting the attention of its poor inhabitants.  He finds the residence of Agnes Towler and asks the landlady for her.  The sight of Mr. Selfridge at her residence surprises her.  Even more surprising is Mr. Selfridge’s wish for her to return to work despite the humiliating and disruptive incident at Selfridges involving her father.  Mr. Selfridge sees himself in Miss Towler and he believes that he would be remiss to let a person of great potential miss her chance.  Contrary to Miss Towler’s belief, Mr. Selfridge could not care less about her deadbeat father.  Mr. Selfridge believes that the sins of her father bear no merit on the being of Miss Towler.  She, however, explains that she can never be rid of her ruinous father for he manages to find her and her brother wherever they go.  Mr. Selfridge takes it upon himself to speak personally to Reg Towler, Miss Towler’s father.  He offers him money with the condition that he must never bother Miss Towler again.  Reg maliciously mistakes Mr. Selfridge’s generosity as a deed enacted by a lover.  The despitefulness of his notion infuriates Mr. Selfridge causing him to manhandle the drunkard instilling fear in him.  Reg Towler fearfully accepts the imposition.  The episode, however, resurfaced dreadful memories of his deadbeat father.  Mr. Selfridge remembers the time he learned and confirmed that his father who supposedly died a war hero was in reality alive.  Moreover, the man returned from war and chose to abandon his family for another.  The calls of Miss Towler brought him back to the present and the delight of having successfully removed the bane of Miss Towler’s existence brought him joy.  Mr. Selfridge gives Miss Towler a ride back to the store in his car and he finds her childish delight at riding a car refreshing.  Knowing that her return will cause a stir among her colleagues, Mr. Selfridge advises the grateful shop girl not to apologize or explain her return.  True enough her return shocked her colleagues including Miss Mardle, who nevertheless receives her without much protest.  Mr. Grove, however, disapproves of Miss Towler’s return explaining to Mr. Selfridge that her father’s disgraceful behavior at the store is enough reason for her dismissal.  Mr. Selfridge asserts that dismissing her would have been a mistake and adds that the parent is not the child.  Mr. Grove argues that Miss Towler’s return despite her desertion will confound the staff giving Mr. Selfridge reason to address the staff in order to expel reservations about her return.

Roderick Temple drops by the home of the Selfridges unannounced insisting on seeing Rose Selfridge.  Rose feigns forgetting to inform their butler, Mr. Fraser, of the appointment she scheduled with the painter, Mr. Temple.  Rose receives Roddy in the drawing room and they reconcile as friends.  The sight of the portrait Roddy painted, however, rekindles their passion and the two passionately kiss.  The arrival of Rose’s youngest daughter, Beatrice Selfridge, breaks their scandalous act.  Rose flounders for an excuse for the inappropriate intimacy her daughter witnessed between her and Roddy.  She asks Beatrice to keep what she witnessed a secret explaining that the painting Mr. Temple made is a surprise for Harry.  Rose realizes the indignity of engaging in an affair that she ends her burgeoning relationship with Roddy.  This, however, ignited Roddy’s passion for her even more.  Beatrice’s inability to keep a secret adds to Rose’s misfortune.  She wakes to find her displeased husband with the portrait Roddy made of her.  Harry’s demeanor exudes his suspicion, but Rose is unyielding with her claim of innocence.  In fact, she claims that the portrait of her was to be a surprise and it is to hang in his office.  Later that day, Rose receives another unexpected visitor, Miss Ellen Love.  The woman has come to inform her that Mr. Selfridge has been having an affair with her.  Much to Miss Love’s shock, her revelation did not surprise Mrs. Selfridge at all.  Mrs. Selfridge claims to have had her suspicions from the onset.  Moreover, she believes that Miss Love’s decision to divulge the affair to her suggests that the affair has reached its end or has already ended.  Mrs. Selfridge finds her undertaking an act of desperation for a misguided belief that Mr. Selfridge has fallen in love with her unaware that the man has had many similar liaisons.  Miss Love leaves with a threat of causing the Selfridges discord.  Unbeknownst to Miss Love, her revelation hurt Mrs. Selfridge despite her apathetic reception of the news of her husband’s affair.

Roger Grove breaks the news he received from Mr. Colleano about thieving at the loading bay to Mr. Selfridge.  Mr. Selfridge instructs Mr. Grove to catch the thieves red-handed and to terminate them immediately.  Victor learns of the plan to catch the thieves in the act and hastens to warn George Towler, who naively and unknowingly taken part of the theft.  Victor pulls George aside as he is loading items to the unmarked van and makes it clear to the ignorant young man that he has been inadvertently aiding Alf and Sam with their theft.  Victor advises George to wise up believing that he remains as the breadwinner of the family.  Imagine his surprise at learning that Agnes has resumed working at Selfridges.  In fact, she is again assisting Mr. Leclair with the motor driving promotion.  The promotion has caught the interest of high society including Lady Loxley, who pays a visit at Selfridges to find that the store has started to take down the posters of Miss Love officially ending her association with Selfridges.  Just as Mr. Selfridge gets rid of his mistress, he learns from Tony Travers through insinuation that his wife might be having an affair with the bohemian young painter, Roddy Temple, after seeing them at the Chelsea Arts Club.  Travers continues with the insinuation despite Mr. Selfridge and Lady Mae’s obvious discomfort about the subject.  This displeases Lady Mae, who scolds her lover for his behavior, upsetting Travers for having to oblige to her censure.  Travers abandons Lady Mae, who could not care less for she has found a replacement in the person of Mr. Colleano.  Lady Mae uses Mr. Colleano’s ambition to open a restaurant in Soho to lure him into becoming her lover.  She offers him a place in her kitchen as a temporary replacement for her ill chef with the suggestion of using her influence to help him realize his dream.  Victor speaks with Agnes about her decision to return to work at Selfridges, which complicates their relationship given the rule prohibiting love affairs between colleagues.  Agnes apprises Victor of the visit she received from Mr. Selfridge that justified her return despite its consequences in their relationship.  Victor understands Agnes’ decision and both decide to continue their courtship in secret.  They, however, engage in an argument after Agnes refuses Victor’s dinner offer due to a prior work engagement with Mr. Leclair.  Kitty fans the fire after commenting to Victor how Agnes and Mr. Leclair make a lovely couple.  Fueled by his jealousy and ambition, Victor agrees to cook for Lady Loxley despite recognizing the woman’s real intentions.  Meanwhile, Agnes and Mr. Leclair finish a window display.  In order to show his appreciation for Agnes’ hard work, Mr. Leclair buys her a scarf, an act that adds to her infatuation with the gorgeous creative director.

In light of the recent thefts from Selfridges employees, Mr. Selfridge addresses all employees to discuss honesty.  Selfridges prides itself for giving their customers exactly what they paid for and believes in the philosophy that employees stealing from the store only steal from themselves.  Mr. Selfridge speaks of his humble beginnings starting as an errand boy and shares of the pride he felt at earning the trust of his employer.  He believes that an establishment cannot run without trust, which is why he has no tolerance for dishonesty.  Mr. Selfridge, however, avows of his willingness to offer help to those who seek it.  He speaks of his refusal to accept Miss Towler’s resignation due to the humiliating incident at the store that involved a member of her family.  Mr. Selfridge reiterates his desire to help those who seek his help and his abhorrence for theft.  He arrives home after his speech to spend time with his family.  He finds his wife reading to their youngest child, Beatrice, and asks about the fifty white roses he had sent to Rose.  More importantly, he stresses the message in his note and repeats that Rose is his one and only.  Mr. Selfridge gives Rose a kiss causing her to blush leading Beatrice to divulge innocently of having seen her mother terribly blush after Mr. Temple kissed her.  The innocent statement causes domestic strife between husband and wife.  Harry finds the gall to admonish Rose for kissing Roddy in his house in front of their daughter when he is guilty of having an affair with Ellen Love.  Harry declares to have ended his affair, and Rose refutes the accusation of her affair with Roddy.  She, however, believes of its justification if she did.  Harry rationalizes his extramarital affairs as urges he could not contain and that it is a constant struggle for him, but he receives disgust from his wife instead of pity.  He leaves the house for the club and resorts to alcohol to drown his sorrows.  Frank Edwards finds a heavily inebriated and depressed Mr. Selfridge at the club.  The arrival of Ellen Love, who spews harsh words, after being rejected adds to his despair.  Frank ushers her out of the club and later checks up on her at her apartment.  He finds her overdosed with pills in an attempted suicide.  Meanwhile, a severely intoxicated Mr. Selfridge makes his way to Selfridges and against better judgment takes the expensive sports car for a drive.  Unpleasant memories of his childhood and recent events that led to his inebriation cloud his mind leading to a serious car crash.

Next Mr. Selfridge Episode Summary: Episode 6 of Season 1
Previous Mr. Selfridge Episode Summary: Episode 4 of Season 1
Mr. Selfridge Episode Summaries
Watch Episode 5 of Season 1 of Mr. Selfridge

Episode 4 Season 1 – Mr. Selfridge Episode Summary 1.4

Synopsis: Miss Bunting is found guilty of theft and is replaced with a progressive Head of Fashions, Miss Ravillious.  Mr. Selfridge invites the famous ballerina, Anna Pavlova, to Selfridges allowing everyone the opportunity to meet her.  Rose Selfridge spends time with the young painter, Roddy Temple, and his friends losing track of time causing her to miss the afternoon tea her husband arranged for her and Pavlova.

Episode Summary: Miss Bunting is castigated and dismissed in front of all employees after she was found guilty of pilfering Selfridges’ best lace and silk inside the hem of her skirt.  Her betrayal disappoints and upsets Mr. Selfridge, who hoped for her innocence.  It also led Mr. Selfridge to instruct Mr. Grove to increase the random checks on all different departments.  Miss Bunting pleads for mercy to Mr. Grove explaining her situation, but it is too late.  Ironically, her pride to keep secret the hardship of taking care of an invalid mother brought her shame.Continue reading...

Harry Gordon Selfridge takes his wife and daughter to see the ballerina, Anna Pavlova, perform for a private audience.  His wife, Rose Selfridge, was so taken by her performance, but unlike Lady Loxley, she longs for every woman to get a chance to experience a moment of perfect beauty such as the one she witnessed in Pavlova’s performance.  Her statement struck Mr. Selfridge with an idea.  He invites Pavlova to Selfridges, allowing everyone to see her in person.  This delights his family most especially his youngest daughter, Beatrice.  Rose is delighted as well at hearing that her husband managed to arrange an afternoon tea with the ballerina.

The new Head of Fashion, a woman who came to work on a bicycle and has her skirt above her ankles, scandalizes Kitty Hawkins at the sight of her skirt and for requesting for inset collars of the finest gauze with a pearl motif without speaking to the Head of Accessories, Miss Josie Mardle.  Kitty refuses to accede to the woman’s demand, but yields when the woman does not show any signs of dissuasion.  Doris Miller speaks to Miss Mardle about the incident that had just transpired.  Later, Mr. Selfridge introduces to the various heads of departments, Miss Irene Ravillious, as the new Head of Fashion.  He speaks of her with great respect due to her training at the House of Lucile in London and her experience at the Liberty department store.  More importantly, he finds that she will breathe new life into the Fashion Department with her progressive ideas.  In fact, Miss Ravillious predicts that women will be able to purchase readymade for purpose clothing in the near future.  Mr. Selfridge agrees with her belief that fashion will shine and will even surpass accessories.  He plans to stock all shapes and sizes so a woman can purchase clothes without requiring a fitting or a seamstress, clothes a woman can take home the day of the purchase.

Miss Mardle later asks Miss Ravillious about her shortened skirt believing that it is the new trend in fashion only to learn that the woman had it shortened that she may ride her bicycle with ease.  Moreover, Miss Ravillious declares herself as a champion of the Rational Dress Movement, a group that believes that clothes can serve a purpose other than mere drapery.  In addition, she does not wear a whalebone corset believing that a vigorous exercise will keep her figure intact.  Miss Mardle then segues to the incident early that morning cautioning her against taking stock away from one department to another.  Miss Ravillious, however, argues that she is allowed to use her initiative as the staff manual decrees.

Mr. Selfridge announces that the ballerina, Anna Pavlova, will be making an appearance at Selfridges allowing anyone from any class to meet her.  Taking from his wife’s philosophy, he wants everyone to have a Pavlova moment.  More importantly, he wants the store to benefit from the event.  He requests all departments to work together and provide him with suggestions on how to use the event to increase sales.  This request, however, turns into a competition between Miss Mardle and Miss Ravillious with the former forbidding her staff from acceding to Miss Ravillious’ demands.  Moreover, Miss Mardle asks her staff to come up with an idea before Miss Ravillious does.  Unlucky for her, Miss Ravillious is already presenting her idea to Mr. Selfridge complete with an end product.  Miss Ravillious plans to sell a cape with braiding much like the ones Pavlova wears.  Moreover, she has laid out a plan to have her seamstresses produce as much as they can that day so they can test the viability of the capes in terms of sales.  If the capes proved to be sales worthy, the seamstresses will then be requested to work shifts through the night so the capes will be ready for tomorrow’s event.

Miss Mardle finds herself missing the company of Mr. Roger Grove; the man has been avoiding her.  She finds a reason for them to spend time together after receiving tickets for Drury lane, an evening they had planned to spend together awhile back.  Regrettably, Mr. Grove could not accompany her to the theater claiming that his wife’s nurse will be taking the night off.  She confronts Mr. Grove about his avoidance, revealing her fear that he had tired of her.  Mr. Grove denies having done so and maintains that his invalid wife’s care is the only reason for his unavailability.

Victor Colleano sees George Towler loading goods in a blue van absent of the Selfridges livery.  He learns from George that the young man is the only one who loads goods into the van as per the instructions of his superiors, Alf and Sam.  Victor gathers that George is unaware of the meaning of the unmarked motor van.  Although he has been avoiding Agnes, he manages to inform the young woman of warning George about the vans he loads.  Mr. Henri Leclair interrupts their conversation causing Victor to leave summarily.  Mr. Leclair asks Miss Mardle’s permission to have Miss Towler work at the Fashion Department for that day.  The request annoys Kitty and Doris who find it unfair that Mr. Leclair always requests the help of Miss Towler.  Meanwhile, Lady Loxley flirts with Victor at the Palm Court.  She becomes impressed when Victor turns a bland chicken dish into a flavorsome plate.

Rose poses for Roderick Temple as he paints a portrait of her for a show at the Chelsea Arts Club, which disappoints her for she had hoped to purchase it as a gift for her husband.  Roddy, however, manages to persuade her to join him at the Chelsea Arts Club.  Rose finds herself enjoying the company of the artists and the artists become intrigued of the American who calls herself Mrs. Buckingham.  Rose, who is to have afternoon tea with Pavlova, tries to take her leave, but to no avail.  Anna Pavlova arrives at Selfridges with the fanfare reserved for celebrities.  She is treated like royalty as Mr. Selfridge presents her with the finest items sold at his store including luggage she can use to transport all the gifts from the entrepreneur.  His generosity does not come without a price and this Pavlova learns when he presents her to the press among a crowd anxiously waiting for her at the shop floor.  Soon, Pavlova wears the cape sold at Selfridges and flaunts it to the expectant crowd with the grace of a ballerina.  Mr. Selfridge watches with delight as spectators become customers.

The Selfridges wonder about Rose’s absence unaware that she was tied up at the Chelsea Arts Club.  The artists, at last, leave the club giving Rose the opportunity to go to the engagement for which she is already late.  They, however, urge her to go with them and Roddy puts her in a bind when he tells his friends to force the supposed Mrs. Buckingham to come.  Rose is flabbergasted at learning that the artists are making their way to Selfridges in order to see Pavlova.  She speaks privately with Roddy in order to confess her real identity unaware that her conversation with Roddy is within earshot of the playwright, Tony Travers.  Rose explains that she had assumed a different identity due to her desire to have a life of her own, one that is not tied to the famous Selfridge name.  Roddy becomes upset at having been made a fool and assumes that the woman has been using him to take revenge on her philandering husband.  He confesses to have fallen in love with her.  Rose, however, confesses to remaining in love with her husband despite his transgressions.  She did confess that she was tempted to betray her husband.

Mr. Selfridge has begun to avoid Ellen Love leading the woman to confide in Frank Edwards.  Miss Love has mistaken Mr. Selfridge’s largesse as his way of settling.  She has made herself believe that Mr. Selfridge is preparing to leave his wife for her. Ellen becomes furiously jealous upon learning that Mr. Selfridge will be too busy to speak to that day causing Frank to divulge the news that Anna Pavlova will be visiting Selfridges.  This concerns Ellen, who gathers that Mr. Selfridge has found a new star for his store.  She finds that it is her duty as the Spirit of Selfridges to be at the event to welcome the famous ballerina.  Ellen Love arrives at Selfridges much to everyone’s surprise, some pleasant and some not.  Mr. Selfridge watches in horror as the tawdry performer steals the attention from Pavlova.  Moreover, causes further embarrassment when she refuses to leave and insists on having her photograph taken with the famous ballerina.  Meanwhile, Agnes Towler becomes perturbed at the sight of her drunkard father at the store.  Reg Towler has come to cause a disturbance at her daughter’s place of business after being refused entry to her apartment.  Miss Towler tries to urge her father to leave the store, but ends up causing a scene when her father falls on a glass display breaking it with a loud crash.  Moreover, the drunkard being escorted out of Selfridges identifies himself as Miss Towler’s father embarrassing the young woman so.  Upon Mr. Selfridge’s instruction, Victor escorts the drunkard out through the loading bay followed by his humiliated daughter.  Reg relishes at having cost her daughter her job, but has the gall to demand respect from her.  Agnes declares her hatred of him causing the man to attack her.  Luckily, Victor was there to protect Agnes.  Victor was relieved to learn that Agnes’ evasiveness was due to her father.  Agnes believes that the incident that transpired will result in her termination and the same incident will recur anywhere she goes as it always had.  Victor offers to look after her for which Agnes is grateful, but refuses to accept knowing that he also has a family to support.

With the commotion placated, the event at Selfridges continues as Mr. Selfridge announces the creation of a window dedicated to Anna Pavlova, a window Ellen Love covets.  This announcement caused another scene from Ellen Love, who has been asking Mr. Selfridge for a window ever since she signed up to become the Spirit of Selfridges, but has yet to have one.  Moreover, Mr. Selfridge ends her contract and their affair that moment.  The Selfridges arrive home and finds Rose there with an excuse of having taken ill.  Meanwhile, Mr. Mardle lies on her bed feeling alone when Mr. Grove arrives with a box of violet creams from the shop she loves on Marylebone Street.  Moreover, he is to spend the night with her.  At Selfridges, people including the famous ballerina herself admire the newly unveiled window dedicated to Anna Pavlova.  Ellen Love too passes by to see, but looks at the window not with awe, but with envy and despair.

Next Mr. Selfridge Episode Summary: Episode 5 of Season 1
Previous Mr. Selfridge Episode Summary: Episode 3 of Season 1
Mr. Selfridge Episode Summaries
Watch Episode 4 of Season 1 of Mr. Selfridge

Chapter 13 Season 1 – House of Cards Episode Summary 1.13

Episode Summary: House Representative Francis Underwood scrambles to force Raymond Tusk to approve of his vice presidency without agreeing to the multi-billionaire’s demand.  Zoe Barnes, Janine Skorsky, and Lucas Goodwin pursue the prostitute that was with Peter Russo the night of his arrest in order to uncover Underwood’s involvement in Russo’s death and ultimately expose his corruption and abuse of power.  Meanwhile, Claire Underwood faces a wrongful termination lawsuit with Gillian Cole.

Chapter 13 House of Cards Recap: House Representative Francis Underwood confides with Remy Denton about the supposed plan of the President to tap his friend multi-billionaire Raymond Tusk as his new vice president.  He argues that having a pro-nuclear energy vice president in the White House will not bode well for the natural gas company, SanCorp.  Frank Underwood intimates that Tusk will not accept the nomination if his holdings are at risk and recommends that SanCorp initiate a hostile takeover.  Remy finds the move infeasible given that Tusk is worth three times more than SanCorp.  Frank contends that SanCorp merely has to go after the subsidiaries that refine and ship the uranium in order to cause a stir.  Remy remains hesitant to Frank’s plan conveying the numerous considerations they have to take into account, which includes the unwelcome huge financial exposure for SanCorp.  Frank argues that SanCorp only needs to distract Tusk enough to make him reject the vice presidency.  Remy agrees to speak to SanCorp about the plan Frank laid out, one they have to carry out before the President makes the announcement on Friday.Continue reading...

Zoe Barnes and Janine Skorsky continue to pursue their investigation of Frank Underwood and Peter Russo’s relationship.  They need to unearth the person who managed to expunge Russo’s arrest records.  Janine’s angle is to find Underwood guilty of abuse of powers and corruption if it is revealed that he was involved with the cover-up.  With all records expunged, Janine and Zoe are left to find the arresting police officer, which is a feat given the brotherhood among D.C. cops.  Zoe seeks Lucas Goodwin’s help aware that her boyfriend has connections with the D.C. police given his former work on the crime beat.  Lucas becomes incredulous of Zoe’s intentions given the timing of her request and his knowledge of having prostituted herself to get information.  Zoe realizes that asking her boyfriend for a favor right after sexual intercourse is the wrong approach.  She instead inveigles him into complying to her request with insincere honesty.  Zoe confesses to have been stupefied by Lucas’ declaration of having fallen in love with her.  She claims not to use his feelings for her to manipulate him.  Lucas later arrives at her apartment behaving like a paranoid.  She learns that he has uncovered a cover-up that involves the police commissioner.  Lucas’ source was able to provide information about Rachel Posner, the call girl that was with Russo at the time of his arrest.  He warns Zoe of the consequences of pursuing police cover-ups having been in that situation before.  Zoe, Janine, and Lucas look into the call girl who dropped out of Lorimer High School in Lynchburg, Virginia during her sophomore year.  Her whereabouts are unknown since then making their work to find her an impossible feat.  Fortunately, her previous arrest record for loitering placed her at the District Grand Hotel.

Lucas works the District Grand Hotel, while Zoe goes to Lynchburg.  She learns that Rachel might have run away to avoid having to testify against her father for abusing her.  Lucas, on the other hand, deceives an escort into providing information about Rachel Posner after pretending to be a police officer working under cover.   He learns that Rachel has last been seen working as a waitress at a restaurant in Georgetown.  Lucas and Zoe pay a visit at Slater’s, the restaurant in Georgetown where Rachel is working, but learns that she is not on duty that day.  Zoe manages to sneak in the kitchen and pinch the staff contact list that has Rachel’s phone number.  She gives Rachel a call, but the young woman hangs up after hearing that the woman on the other line is a reporter from Slugline.com who knows about her connection to Peter Russo.  Zoe sends her a text message instead with a threat of writing a story about her and Peter Russo if she fails to meet with her.  Rachel agrees to meet with Zoe, but refutes all of Zoe’s claims.  Rachel denies being approached by Frank Underwood or knowing Doug Stamper.  Moreover, she ignores Zoe’s threat about writing a story about Peter Russo and her that will also reveal her reason for running away from home.  Rachel leaves and goes straight to Doug’s car.  Although she followed all of Doug’s instructions, Rachel could not help but be overcome with guilt about Peter’s death.  Both are unaware that Lucas followed her.  The knowledge of Doug Stamper’s involvement at a meeting with Rachel Posner causes Lucas, Janine, and Zoe to consider a larger angle.  Lucas supposes that Underwood was after the VP nomination, but Underwood’s efforts in Russo’s campaign contradict his desire to become vice president.  Janine reminds them that the only reason the vice presidency is left vacant is because Russo unexpectedly failed.  Zoe supposes that Underwood had planned Russo’s self-destruction in order to force Vice President Jim Matthews to run for governor.  Zoe and Lucas deem that the President will make Underwood his vice president as soon as Matthews wins the gubernatorial race in Pennsylvania.

President Garrett Walker meets with Frank Underwood and Chief of Staff Linda Vasquez to discuss Frank’s assessment of Raymond Tusk.  The President is surprised to hear Frank name Tusk as the best candidate for vice president.  Moreover, he is bemused with Frank and Linda urging him to invite Tusk to the White House with the goal of personally wooing him to accept the vice presidency.  At risk with exposing the true nature of the vetting, President Walker agrees to his advisers’ recommendation.  Frank, however, learns that Remy may not be able to fulfill his request in time.  He goes against SanCorp’s rules of avoiding a direct contact with a politician and flies to Atlanta to speak personally with a peeved Scott Cunningham of SanCorp.  Cunningham is livid at Underwood’s surprise visit that implies SanCorp’s graft due to their relationship with the House of Representatives’ Whip.  Underwood continues to feed Cunningham with information he refuses to hear in an attempt to persuade him to take action against Tusk.  Underwood believes that Tusk will refuse the vice presidency due to the required blind trust that prohibits him from fighting off the threat against his company, the threat that Frank hopes SanCorp will make against Tusk’s subsidiaries.  Scott Cunningham is intransigent to his plea.

Oliver Spencer, CWI’s legal counsel, speaks with Claire Underwood about the termination of Gillian Cole.  The woman has threatened the organization with a wrongful termination lawsuit claiming that her pregnancy was the reason for her dismissal.  Gillian presented quotes from Claire from their confrontation that resulted in her termination.  The lawyer suggested that they return with a settlement offer in order to avoid a damaging lawsuit.  Claire agrees to the strategy, but then learns that Gillian refused to accept a settlement offer regardless of the figure and the return of WorldWell.  Gillian wants to go to court despite her lawyers’ advice to settle in order to send the message that organizations like CWI get the vast majority of grant money only to fulfill the will of corporate sponsors that are destroying the environment.  Claire offers her apology and pleads Gillian not to go to court, but the woman dedicated to her cause rejects her pleas.  Gillian would like to use the court as her soapbox.  She is certain that her lawsuit will receive national attention given Claire’s marriage to Congressman Frank Underwood.  She becomes even more confident having received the support of Evelyn Baxter and the eight other former CWI employees that Claire ordered Evelyn to fire.  Moreover, Gillian finds more reason to pursue her cause for her child.  Claire later ponders the use of her legacy when there is no heir to benefit from it.  She later meets with a fertility doctor inquiring about the possibility and the risk of conceiving a child at her age.  She learns that her history of going through three abortions adds to the difficulty of conception, but ascertains that it is still possible for her to conceive.

Frank returns home defeated only to find his wife in the same disposition as him.  Claire conveys of the nightmare she just had.  In her dream, she was among children in the backyard when a girl started climbing up the vines ignoring Claire’s order for her to get down.  The vines start to strangle the girl.  Claire pulls the girl in order to rescue her, but ends up ripping the girl apart.  Things begin to fall apart for the Underwoods.  Remy Danton arrives at the Underwoods at the wee hours of the morning.  He denies not conveying Frank’s plan to Cunningham and contends that the man refused knowledge of his plan to avoid accusations of insider trading.  Remy refuses providing further help and accuses Frank of keeping his real agenda from him.  He claims to have known Frank enough to know when he is being used.  He has slaved for Frank for eight years until he realized his real value.  Remy believes that the tables have turned for he now has power over Frank given his position at Glendon Hill and his representation of SanCorp.  Frank states that he is trying to strengthen his partnership with SanCorp by doing them a favor.  SanCorp returning the favor allows Frank to maintain his influence in the White House, one that trickles down to SanCorp.  Remy agrees to speak to Scott Cunningham again.

Frank learns from Linda that the President will be having dinner with Tusk at the White House.  He instructs Linda to schedule a meeting with Speaker of the House Bob Birch to allow the congressman to share his choices for the vice presidency.  The meeting will never take place, but one that will be on his schedule, but off the official schedule just like his dinner with Tusk.  Frank then sends the President’s OTR schedule between that day and Friday to Zoe who in turn sends it to Janine.  Janine shares the OTR schedule to her superior, Carly Heath, with the supposition that the President is secretly meeting with Raymond Tusk and Bob Birch, because he is considering both as his vice president.  Slugline breaks the news about the two meetings and the press begins to hound Bob Birch about the possibility of the President nominating him as his new vice president.  The President learns of the leaked schedule that spurred the news and cancels the meeting with the Speaker of the House to avoid feeding the frenzy.

Doug Stamper learns of news of a sudden surge in SanCorp’s stock and informs Frank who figures that Tusk has made his play.  Frank hastens to speak with Linda in order to get a meeting with Tusk before he speaks with the President only to learn that Tusk is already at the White House.  Later that night, Frank gets a call from Freddy and learns that Remy is at the BBQ joint waiting for him.  To his surprise, Remy had just delivered him to Tusk, who is already inside enjoying a meal.  Tusk bought 3% of SanCorp earlier that day and will own over 10% of the company by the end of next week to secure his hold on the company enough not to allow the natural gas company to cause him trouble.  Raymond Tusk asks Frank Underwood to reconsider his offer by sharing his need for him to become the vice president.  Tusk is dependent on China that controls 95% of the world’s supply of Samariam-149 that he needs for his reactors.  The imbalance on currency and the foreign debt of the United States, issues that are in the hands of Congress, endanger his business that is dependent on China.  Tusk deems Frank useful to him for his influence in Congress, the legislative body that controls trade tariffs.  In fact, it was the reason why Tusk had instructed the President to forego nominating Frank as State Secretary, because he was more beneficial to him in Congress.  As of the moment, Tusk is unable to apprise Frank of the services he requires of him, because he is waiting for China to make a move.  This causes Frank to continue to refuse Tusk’s offer maintaining his conviction against indentured servitude.  Furthermore, Frank demands that Tusk earn his loyalty.  He is unwilling to accept Tusk’s offer, but is willing to work with Tusk as equals.  He vows to take Tusk’s opinions seriously without the guarantee of agreeing to them.  That is all he can offer.  Frank is certain no other candidate will prove more useful than he will.  President Walker calls Frank in a meeting with him and Raymond Tusk to confess the true nature of his trip to St. Louis.  He intimates that Tusk has been his trusted advisor.  In fact, he had sent Frank to see Tusk that his advisor can vet him for the vice presidency.  Tusk affirms his belief that Frank Underwood will make a formidable and loyal vice president to President Garrett.  President Garrett Walker officially asks Congressman Francis Underwood to be his vice president.  Frank Underwood gladly accepts the vice presidency.  The first benefactor of his rise to vice president is his driver, Ed Meechum.  Frank informs him of his desire to include him in his security detail as a member of the Secret Service due to Meechum’s proven loyalty to him.  Frank and Claire Underwood celebrate the success of their plan with a sigh of relief.  Husband and wife go out on a late night run unaware that Doug is speaking with Christina Gallagher about Zoe Barnes.  He claims that everyone at Slugline is trying to smear Congressman Underwood and learns from Christina that Zoe offered her information about Underwood’s involvement with the Kern scandal.

Next House of Cards Episode Summary: Chapter 14
Previous House of Cards Episode Summary: Chapter 12
More House of Cards Episode Summaries