Downton Abbey

[myboynoah]

Also, could a doctor explain to me exactly why a young, supposedly healthy Turk would die during sex?

It's simple: Mary Crawley.

[hostile]

I'm not a physician, of course, but I assumed that his experience with Mary was so exquisite that, faced with his return to Turkey and the knowledge of what he would be missing, he was fatally crushed and debilitated under an intolerable weight of despair and regret.

This is the correct answer.

As put so eloquently by Cake:

Bowel shaking earthquakes of doubt and remorse,
Assail him, impale him with monster truck force.

[myboynoah]

Oh, and Batesy is the man.

Puhleeeeaaaasssssseeeeee.

This guy can't seem to get anything right, ever allowing his destiny to be determined by others. From the first time he promised Anna they'd be together soon sans the complications of his then wife, he's put the poor girl through the most terrible of roller coaster rides. I fear Anna is now addicted to the drama of it all.

I don't understand the appeal.

[creekster]

Yes! Definitely soap opera after taste... Except I could use a little more sex in it. I guess that's why it's on PBS.

Also, could a doctor explain to me exactly why a young, supposedly healthy Turk would die during sex?

Congenital heart defect.

I do nto subscribe to the Mary theory. Whilo I think the woman portraying her is an excellent actress, I really think she could stand to eat a couple of sandwiches.

[UtahDan]

Congenital heart defect.

I do nto subscribe to the Mary theory. Whilo I think the woman portraying her is an excellent actress, I really think she could stand to eat a couple of sandwiches.

Me too. And at the end of the season when they were doing that little documentary that had clips from season one, I noticed that she is actually more gaunt now than she was then. She is pretty but, yeah, sandwiches.

[creekster]

Puhleeeeaaaasssssseeeeee.

This guy can't seem to get anything right, ever allowing his destiny to be determined by others. From the first time he promised Anna they'd be together soon sans the complications of his then wife, he's put the poor girl through the most terrible of roller coaster rides. I fear Anna is now addicted to the drama of it all.

I don't understand the appeal.

Of course you don't understand. Bates never lied to Anna (unless he killed his wife, of course) but he is the very picture of British forbearance and honor in the face of the most unfair and dire circumstances. To say Rule Bates is to say Rule Britannia!

[UtahDan]

Of course you don't understand. Bates never lied to Anna (unless he killed his wife, of course) but he is the very picture of British forbearance and honor in the face of the most unfair and dire circumstances. To say Rule Bates is to say Rule Britannia!

Exactly.

[creekster]

One of my favorite aspects of the series is how deftly they incorporate and explore many of the dramatic social changes that took place in that era. From the marriage of a British nobleman to and American (a rather common event as many Brits tried to find some new world coin to prop up no longer profitable estates) to women learning to drive and even to the decision to incorporate electricity into the manor house. The stories are sometimes too soap operaish (Patrick? blechhh) but the writing is usually good, the acting is superb, the accents are perfect and the costumes are lovely.

Oh, and Bates. Everybody loves Bates.

[myboynoah]

Oh, and Bates. Everybody loves Bates.

[Viking]

But Bates is just full of integrity and goodness - that's why she loves him. Sometimes we look past the pudge.

The one thing that was pointless was how they handled the impostor heir. A little obnoxious.

matthew's mother looks reminiscent of our maternal grandmother (and astonishingly similar in character, including being a nurse), whose grandfather was a gardener of an estate in England before meeting the mormons.

[Viking]

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[HauteCoug]

matthew's mother looks reminiscent of our maternal grandmother (and astonishingly similar in character, including being a nurse), whose grandfather was a gardener of an estate in England before meeting the mormons.

I completely thought that, too. I love how sharp and still sweet she is.

[myboynoah]

Who killed Mrs. Bates?

Who had means, motive, and opportunity?

The suspects:

Mr. Bates
He obviously had the means, having purchased rat poison some days before the poor Mrs. Bates died and also having regular access to the home they shared oh so unhappily. He was also overflowing with motive, as Mrs. Bates was making his life a living hell and keeping him from his little Anna. And he had opportunity, having been with Mrs. Bates right before she was poisoned.

Mr. Bates is a very likely suspect and I might believe he did it but for two reasons: he doesn't have it in him (Mr. Bates seems a bit spineless to me) and even if he did have it in him, would he really use poison? Given all he was subjected to during his lifetime with Mrs. Bates, I'd expect a total uncontrolable raging slaughter, not a poisoning.

Mr. Bates did not kill Mrs. Bates

Anna
Very limited means without the help of Mr. Bates. A lot of motive; inspite of all of Mr. Bates' broken promises, sweet little Anna still loves him and wants to make a life with him, and Mrs. Bates was standing in the way. If she had limited means, Anna had practically no opportunity. She was at Downton leading up to the death of Mrs. Bates.

Anna did not kill Mrs. Bates

Sir Richard Carlisle
Sir Richard certainly had the means. He knew who Mrs. Bates was and no doubt knew where she lived. He is rich beyond measure, so he has the assets at hand to carry out any number of untoward tasks. Sir Richard also had opportunity, even if he himself did not carry out the poisoning. As noted, he has an extensive network of unsavory people on his payroll digging up dirt for his tabloid newspaper empire. He most certainly knows people that can enforce his will, legally and illegally. He also had motive. Mrs. Bates had information that would have ruin his strategic union with Mary. He paid handsomely for that information, only to supress it. But even so, as long as Mrs. Bates lived, she held the means to destroy him and make him the laughingstock of proper society and his tabloid competitors.

Initially, Sir Richard doesn't even register as a suspect, but the more one considers this, the more it becomes apparent that he did it. Unlike Mr. Bates, Sir Richard is a man of action, willing to squash anything that stands in the way of him getting what he wants. He threatened Mrs. Bates with ruin if she violated the exclusivity clause he had with her concerning Mary's part in the death of The Turk. And he also saw how upset Mrs. Bates was that he had duped her by keeping the story quiet. No doubt, he started watching her more closely, seeing her for the angry, vindictive woman that she was, willing to violate their exclusivity agreement. Sir Richard was now her enemy and she was going to take him down as well. Whether or not he caught wind of her contacting other tabloids, it doesn't matter; she was capable or doing so, and likely to take action.

Sir Richard was on the verge of using Mary's momentary lack of judgement to enter into respectable society. Even more, he actually loved Mary and wanted to protect her. Mrs. Bates, that vulgar, money-grubbing, classless cockroach had the potential to bring it all down and make Sir Richard a tabloid spectacle himself. She had to be silenced.

Sir Richard Carlisle did indeed kill Mrs. Bates, or at least, had her killed.

Write it down.

[Viking]

Hey, how about a spoiler alert??!!

[EuropeanFootballMale]

It's simple: Mary Crawley.

Nah
Sybil maybe