Downton Abbey: Episode 3.4

Downton Abbey: Episode 3.4
ITV
20 January 2013
Historical Drama
DVD
B

Now that Matthew is pouring money into the estate, new staff are hired: a kitchen maid named Ivy Stuart (Cara Theobald) that Alfred is attracted to, just as Daisy gets up her nerve; and a footman, Jimmy Kent (Ed Speleers), that many of the female staff, and Thomas, are attracted to.  I want to mention that the writing feels funnier this season than the first two, not just the dowager countess's lines as always, but things like the electric toaster.  Nonetheless, there are definitely serious threads, with Tom and Sybil fleeing to Downton because of his revolutionary actions, and Bates being denied visits and mail (outgoing and incoming) for awhile.  The saddest plot is that Ethel, who's become a prostitute, gives up her now toddler son to his grandparents.  Meanwhile, Edith is feeling restless and purposeless, so she writes a Suffragette letter to the newspaper and it's printed.

Uncredited Convict Roy Beck would be in another episode.