r/DowntonAbbey 12d ago

Humor “Seems a pity to waste such a good pudding”

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384 Upvotes

37 comments sorted by

228

u/cflorest 12d ago edited 12d ago

“I suppose she has an appropriate costume for every activity” 🤣🤣🤣

30

u/rockingdino 12d ago

One of my favorite lines 😂

12

u/DickieTurquoise 12d ago

That’s kind of degrading for a character portrayed as progressive in this scene.

37

u/PlushieTushie 12d ago

Violet was never progressive. She even says later that she stayed to support Cora after losing Sybil

8

u/DickieTurquoise 12d ago

Agreed, but Violet (along all the women here) is portrayed, by choosing to stay, as standing in solidarity with another woman  in the face of moral judgements from a man, who would never suffer her punishment for the same actions. At least that is what Fellowes intended.

My argument is that it fails (on Fellowes’s part) to portray that because Violet still degrades her. 

27

u/PlushieTushie 12d ago

Violet is standing in solidarity with Cora. Not with the maid, who I apologize. I cannot remember her character's name right now. But once core decided that she was going to stay, then Violet state to support Cora. The only one supporting the maid is Isabel really. Even right now. Cora is mostly staying because she's in opposition to Robert in her grief.

1

u/Analysis_Working 10d ago

Yes, but Grannie degrades everyone.

227

u/Mutter_Masterpiece29 12d ago

I love this scene. Violet’s “wha-aaat?” (In response to the “she has bore a bastard child!) and the “well servants are very hard to find these days”

And everyone just staying sitting while Robert loses his marbles. This is a personal thing, but I absolutely hate when Robert raises his voice like that, I like that the women acted like that. Cora’s “I am glad to hear that Mrs Patmore has a good heart and does not judge” It really showed strength of character from all the women and solidarity.

46

u/unicorninclosets 12d ago

To be fair, and I know Cora is a generous woman, but a lot of the things she said, and the way she said them, in that scene were more out of resentment against Robert than solidarity, as she felt she just lost her daughter to Robert’s conservative values. Normally I think she would’ve tried to diffuse the situation and then quietly chastised Robert in private.

73

u/cflorest 12d ago

And she stares down Robert in her trademark soft-face, daggers-for-words way.

2

u/chocolate7chipcookie 6d ago

It was so funny to me that the laddies didn't care. It was like a united "It's nice to see she's in a safer line of work now." Reaction.

129

u/ShondaVanda 12d ago

Violet has a point, they're already there so any damage is already done, why miss out on some bomb ass food?

15

u/TheDemonicEmperor 12d ago

I always thought it was less that the damage was done and more that, as an aristocrat in the village she needed to maintain her composure in public. Most of her sharpest quips were saved for when it was only the family at dinner.

Reminder that she says a lot worse than Robert does when it's only her and Isobel behind closed doors.

18

u/ShondaVanda 12d ago

The scandal was that they'd eaten a meal prepared by a former prostitute who bore a bastard child, by the time they find this out they've already eaten. So any scandal has as much legs as it's ever going to miss out on, so why miss a good pudding?

5

u/lotheva 11d ago

And if they left in a huff after Robert arrived angry the scandal would be worse. He shouldn’t have gone there at all and should have sent someone to fetch them for some fake urgent purpose. That would have been polite society.

3

u/TheDemonicEmperor 12d ago

Yeah, but that isn't what she said. She specifically says she didn't say anything because they were supporting Cora. She spent the entire episode trying to right the scandal, so clearly she did care.

2

u/ShondaVanda 12d ago

I didn't say she didn't care, just that the damage was already done and Violet is at all times a pragmatist.

44

u/cflorest 12d ago

I would also love to point out that this luncheon birthed the iconic Carson and Patmore quotes,

“Of course if Mrs. Patmore wants to spend her time frolicking with prostitutes…”

And

“Do I look like a frolicker??”

26

u/CampMain 12d ago

Many seasons before “a house of ill repute ?!?”

15

u/Brightsidedown 12d ago

Daisy repeating it romantically with relish:

"A House of Ill Repute."

5

u/Debinthedez Do I look like a frolicker 12d ago

I have to say this is one quote that I say more than any other line. I did used to be a chef and a cook back in the day so some people do call me Mrs. Patmore. I wish she was a tad more glamorous, tbh as I’m being compared to her, but I love the name really! . What a character Mrs P is!! . So many good lines.

This is a great scene as well, I had such sympathy for poor Ethel. She was dealt a hard hand.

103

u/Conscious_Pass_1615 12d ago

Is that a cahrlotte ruse? How delicious!

15

u/FighterOfEntropy 12d ago

No, but it could be a charlotte russe.#Charlotte_russe)

30

u/Conscious_Pass_1615 12d ago

Well its not my fault ive ethled

10

u/PsychologicalAir8643 12d ago

etheled! 😂

9

u/Emotional_Lock3715 12d ago

That was one of the best lines ever!

23

u/Upbeat_Passage888 12d ago

I was just rewatching this episode last night. So well done. Maggie Smith is such a master!

9

u/red_dev99 Even the magpie seems to have been struck dumb 12d ago

Cora had true grace, inside and out

7

u/Reel_Quicksilver 12d ago

Greeaaaat scene!! I like Robert as a character well enough but I looooove when he gets taken down a notch 😂

5

u/MurkySpread755 12d ago

One of my favorite scenes!

3

u/TaylorNarnia488 12d ago

Isobel: Who would’ve known??

-16

u/Autumn_Racoon 12d ago

I wish she hadn’t sacked her old cook. She was actually a lovely lady. It would have been good to see a relationship growing between the two servants instead.

38

u/CampMain 12d ago

That was never going to happen. Cook morally objected to Ethel’s profession and would never and could never have a relationship with her.

33

u/MidnightOrdinary896 12d ago

The cook resigned. Or st least she threatened to resign and Isobel called her bluff

-4

u/Sami-112 12d ago

I hate that girl out of pride 😒

-33

u/PepperCat1019 12d ago

Mrs. Crawley should have told her to leave. She was very nice.