I love Baxter so much, she is a quiet but very deep character.

Quiet and kind and encouraging. I really like how she seems like a wholesome person. I think she was really horrified with herself at her past and strives to rectify it anyway she can.

Agree 🙏❤

In my opinion,Baxter is the Lady Sybil of the servants hall.She is not the head of place,but nobody is gonna hurt or suffer on her watch.

Young George is such a lovely, well brought up little boy. He must be a joy to be around.

Maybe not steal wine?

Roy Young so right 👍

Be born 30 years earlier, I think.

I always thought he was a tortured soul. Yes, for all the sneakiness and scheming, he always stood true to those he loved and admired.

@@vincentfiestada Or steal a dog to "find" it later... or cause trouble for fellow servants....

Thomas was the most perfect loyal friend to anyone who was nice to him. He would do anything for the people who treated him well, as we see with the children and Sybil. The problem was, since everyone hated him for things he couldn't change, he never got the chance to show that side to others.

You mean Thomas was a three-dimensional human being instead of a cartoon cutout pretending to be a human being, like they have on so many other shows? Who wouldathunk. LOL. This is why I liked Thomas as a character--they really fleshed him out as a real person. Real people can be jerks, liars, thieves. But they can also love, be selfless, and be heroic.

Well said Terrace Bullock and to add my own, there's a little of Thomas Barrow in most of us, that's to say, we can be both downright evil to "saintly" or noble according to the tide of the wave of time and circumstances, intentionally or unintentionally. Barrow definitely was a more realistically drawn character,and my most hated one out of all characters in the beginning but grew out to be a more interesting subject because of his many complexities.

@Pablo Ruiz No? A character can be three-dimensional without being a jerk, a thief and a liar. And a lot of shows nowadays have three-dimensional characters. Even cartoons. Yeah, real people can be jerks, liars and thieves. But it's not necessary for a character to be a jerk, a liar or a thief to be three-dimensional.

@@jollyquinn430 no one said anything close to that.

Most definitely

All I can say is I sincerely hope Thomas never, ever rises to the same level of respect as the landed gentry. If that occurs, I will boycott the show. One can like him, but one must never admire him.

@@earlofwickshire5416 ??? You know the show is finished, yes?

@@earlofwickshire5416 well then you can boycot the show

@@earlofwickshire5416 do you watch the downton abbey movie

Well, I cried

It took Both Kleenex and Puffs to soak up my tears. 😢😢😢😢 Especially when All of the children came to say Goodbye 😢💔😢💔😢 #DowntonHeartache

Usually when I have kleenex out for this show it is for less wholesome reasons

already crying it's too cute 🥺🥺🥺❤

Isn't Master George the most handsomest lil man...so sweet :)

And in season 1, Bates shoves Thomas against the wall and he doesn't react at all; anyone else would've striked back. Safe bet to say Thomas grew up around a violent father 😥

To be fair I can’t see a wooden spoon without thinking of my mother and she never even hit me with it! Just put the fear in me, which was obviously enough

His father was actually abusive. I believe he says this to Ms Baxter when he supposedly goes to visit bis father when he’s ill and Baxter keeps saying how much she loved him.

@@earlofwickshire5416 well well, now that’s a lazy way to view humanity, but each to their own of course!

He tended to be quite ironic...

I started tearing up when Baxter starting running, even when I knew he would survive.

Especialy sad because he doesnt seem to understand that Baxter is his friend, despite it all, But he seemed to have learned this later.

Mary wasn’t sneaky tho

jehanne thompson Mary was sneaky from day 1

Morgan Miller Mary did things openly apart from scandals. Edith secretly did things that was the only difference. But I couldn’t care less what you think about her bc she is my favourite character and no ones opinion will change that

Tom and Mary are each others upstairs/downstairs doppelgangers.

@@jehannethompson1432 chill they were both hella shady

She actually cared for the servants

@@jehannethompson1432 yeah, so many people say that Edith is much better than Mary but I don't remember Edith caring for the servants at all

That's what makes her a bit likeable

@@TheMimilija give Edith a break, she had too much by being her family's joke butt

When did she make Cora apologise?

Nano Most likely because she saw Barrows true character and soul,and saw past the mean demeanor and rude disrespect.

Yep!!! Remember when Barrow was doing DIY conversion therapy injections? He had reported to the police then about Baxter "possibly" knowing info about the death of Mr. Green, which exposed her past to Mrs. Hughes. The fact that Baxter STILL helped him after he did that (and for her to even tell him she KNEW what he did) goes to show you what a true friend Barrow has in Baxter. He better not burn bridges with her!!

Yeah..... She saw that despite his callousness, he was a man who was in great pains and he needed love.

Carson looked at him through eyes familiar with only a fraction of Barrow's various machinations but with years of observing his general unpleasantness.

To be fair, his job was pretty useless at that point.

@@carlycrays2831 True

@@dergluckliche4973 That's understandable. We, the audience, have seen Thomas grow but not everyone else.

hopefully, he will fade into obscurity like so many commoners rightfuly did

Love her

Why? George is a kid, doesn't know what Barrow is like

@@glen7318 their saying it’s cute

I know!! So cute. 💕✨

It is indeed easy to imagine Mary and her sisters growing up with just such a bond with Carson--or for that matter, that Robert would've had with the previous butler as well as Carson.

I think the same.

"Mr. Bawwow" :)

Until the movie when Mary pushes him out for Carson who fails just as miserably in controlling the Royal Staff.

@@andrew_4747 Shows that Carson's a more popular character as they had to find some way of bringing him back as butler for the film.......

Don’t worry, in the new era movie, he got his true happy ending. I won’t spoil with the details considering some might have not seen it.

Yeah he always gave me a raging erection

He really has a rough time and he’s the ONLY lgbtq+

Her continously trying to reach out to Thomas probably also stems from Baxter knowing him since they were very young. So she always had the foundational knowledge that Thomas was more that the icy exterior he portrays

She was a lovely, gracious character. Also, Jesus loves you.

His personality is a product of his circumstances.

@@whitneydavis7443 It's the product OF THE writers.

Frankly I'd view Barrow with at least as much skepticism. Keep in mind, too, Carson had a mandate to reduce headcount and Barrow's position was seen as superfluous. The estate, after all, was a business.

@@dergluckliche4973 And it was about keeping the estate going for the sake of the family. Carson was definitely going to put them first before Thomas.

He he hadn't caused as much problems people would be more inclined to keep him.

The scenes between Carson and Thomas were painful, but Carson was not being hypocritical. He viewed Thomas through the lens of his past behavior, which is what just about everyone tends to do toward everyone else. He couldn't read Thomas' mind to know that he wasn't up to any new trouble. I would not say he was bullying Thomas either, though neither was he being kind. Were Carson really a bad person, he would not have been sympathetic to Thomas afterward, but he was.

We actually don't know for certain whether Carson has Parkinson's or an essential tremor, though I suspect an essential tremor since a few years later (in the movie) it hasn't noticeably worsened. I'm not sure, but wouldn't the next Dowager Countess be Cora, Mary's mother? Not sure how that works, but I sure don't look forward to the loss of the current Dowager Countess. She's such a great character.

A bandage would do the job.

@@qdllc she probably didn’t have a bandage on hand when she ran all the way back to the house to kick down a door and save a mans life, time is of the essence in those moments

@@esgib1385 Exactly 💯 👏🏿 🙌🏾 And I agree with you on her using (correction: RIPPING) her petticoat to use as a tourniquet. Baxter is a BAAAWWWWWWWSE.

@@danieljaffen absolutely she’s a queen

Agreed, he also was not so kind to Mrs. Hughes after they got married.

A man that was probably born while victoria was still queen so hes going to have that stiff upperlip. Especially for head of staff in a big house. All men were like it because they were bought up to show no emotion and to be harsh. Essentially carson is the lord granthem of the servents

@Kayleigh Ludlow still he's still bad

@@user-bf7bp2ox5z no. Dont judge a character by modern standars, he had to be hard, by his age, time period, job... and yes he didn't things to change with the modern time but he is a good person

@@jaciel610 Decency is still expected regardless of the era. Carson was a stage actor putting on airs. As the Page of the Backstairs told him in the movie: "You are a retired servant in a minor provincial house, serving an undistinguished family." Carson looked down on Ethel as well. Thought it was his place to say Sybil shouldn't cook. He acted like a Lord.

I've never Stopped binge watching. The shutdown just gave me More freetime. 😎 #FortheLoveofDownton

I started binge-watching Downton Abbey recently, as I never had an opportunity to watch it when it first came out. I like Thomas and the actor who played him in the show. Really kept me on my feet so far for the first 4 seasons. Will continue to work on them to see what happens to him thereafter.

I want Baxter and Mosley to get together!!! They're so sweet to each other and I love how Mosley gets all googly-eyed and timid when he's talking to Baxter. So sweet ❤️

YES!!!! LOVED how they kept his wounded hand throughout the ENTIRE series AND the movie!!!

Thats so adorable, Robert indeed a lovely person in real life.

Such a horrendously behaved child. Fortunately typhoid is coming...

Cute. That's maybe why Barrow was scripted to be a friend to the children. Writers often seem to take note of these off set dynamics.

Haha plus Rob has a kid of his own

@@earlofwickshire5416 typhoid was pretty much non existent in the UK in the 20th century

What goes around comes around.

are they really likely to tell a 5 year old that someone's tried to kill himself?

@@glen7318 You dont know much about Victorian and Edwardian up to Pre WW2 times do you? Children weren't allowed to be children - They had to be little adults. Children being children and playing and not worrying about things is a relatively new concept. If it was the real world and not a show then yeah they would have definitely told little George that Barrow almost died.

@@rosierennie5867 yes I do. Consider that Thomas tried to kill himself I doubt if they were going to tell a small child. Suicide itself was a crime

I always wondered why the teacher was that harsh to Thomas!😭 He dismissed him just like that like he was on the wrong! Got me thinking, does he know too? And he's behaving all Carson like by asking him to keep off Andy.

@@tash_g No, he just felt that it wasn't a good idea to mix 2 teachers and their methods

@@glen7318 I'm sure he meant well but there was no harm if Thomas would have reviewed with Andy what he learned that day.

@@silentsaturn7604 exactly. Like parents do. And even if that's the case, he would have told him calmly or something. He just dismissed him. And you can see Thomas felt it.

It was so awkward I hid under a pillow. I couldn't watch 🙈

The creators of that show, the producers of a movie or an author of a book never really knows if it will touch or reach someone. I was very moved to read your comment right now. I enjoyed that storyline as well. I really like his friendship with Master George. He is so sweet with him. It brought out his owns child like qualities. Master George really likes him and a child’s instinct never fails.

@@annec6200 Indeed! It warms my heart the idea that he will be to Master George what Carson was to Mary.

Nazgul Lord, it’s a great idea for a future movie sequel when Mr Barrow is the butler to an adult Lord George Grantham! 😉 Oh boy, and Lady Mary as the Dowager Countess of GranthamDowager!!!😂

I’m just glad that he’ll never be amongst the landed gentry

Thanks for your comment. Stories can really be healing, can't they? I have found the same to be true in difficult times.

Edith had growth too. Daisy as well. Mosley too. Mary had some growth and development when she was with mathew, but she's not that interesting.

Mary also grew wiser with the time.

Along with Anna & Bates who probably at times were the most unpredictable characters in my opinion

Was there incest in that noble family?

@@earlofwickshire5416 i just watch this movie/film recently, and i don't know exactly how the story is going. but i don't think there is, look at how tom never kissed sybil and the first time they're kissing after they decided to get married, yet tom still didn't sit on the bed with sybil instead he sat on a chair next to the bed. when mary and edith caught them up in the room. i think they haven't done that deed but i don't know if there is other story that tells like what you said. please don't judge me ✌️

I agree. Really great character development. 👏🏿

She has such a good heart.

Lovely, lovely person.

For as rotten as Thomas was towards her when she first arrived, she proved herself on at least two occasions to be a genuine friend.

Being a good person is highly overrated

Earl of Wickshire no, it’s pretty underrated I would say

fear of not having a job, being able to pay for anything, and in general the safety of a solid position outweighed the rest of it.

He did, as well, once say that Downton was the one place he'd ever found any measure of happiness--and certainly Anna and Miss Baxter, as well as Lady Sybil, showed him a certain level of compassion and acceptance. Not things to ignore, and quite frankly, he was the sort of character who might've had a hard time making true friends anywhere.

Well, the job situation could've been sorted out by looking for a comparable position as a valet/butler/under-butler while he still had his position at Downton. It's not like London is short on huge mansions filled with rich people in need of a good, handsome English butler/valet. So lack of job opportunities was not it. As for lack of savings--he could've saved up his earnings over a few years. I will credit Thomas' inability to make true friends. Thomas' knee-jerk need to belittle and condescend to others was always his true weakness, and in a big city where he wouldn't know anyone those personality traits could've ended in Thomas' permanent loneliness. There's also just the comfort factor--one just gets nice and settled in a place, and totally reluctant to leave it all behind.

@@Luboman411 Yes, Thomas was a jerk. He could feel relatively safe at Downton because he knew the people and knew how to get by around them. He always had good parts in him, but he actually really changed only after the suicide attempt, when he learned that people really care about him, inspite of all wrong things he's done. It's also believable in terms of modern knowledge- people change under extreme circuimstances.

I think the movie partially answers your question, because when Thomas discovers the secret gay bar, he's amazed and says he's never seen anything like it before. It's likely he's not aware of the lgbtq community already existing (although secretly) at the time and didn't have any reason to think London would be different (no matter his job being considered a "good position" for his social class, he is still a provincial man and you knew these sort of circles if someone introduced you to it or if you looked hard enough, which he obviously never did).

wow yes that is super cute

He certainly got disrespected with the arrival of the Royal family, but at least his love story was arguably the most pleasant human interaction he had ever had. He seemed reasonably happy by the end.

It was an excuse to have Carson in the film. Not that they did much with him but they felt he HAD to be there. I'm glad he was, but I did understand why Barrow was upset. Barrow assumed correctly that the Royal family's staff had their own way of doing things and would want them done as such. In the real world, Barrow would have been right. However, in the film the house/kitchen staff needed something to do so there was a bit of a coup.

Love story is the best thing that ever happened to him. It was worth it.

@@melindoranightsilver9298 I agree 100%. Barrow already knew what he was doing as far as table settings were concerned. If anything, Mary (who, despite being my other favorite character on this show, can be rather intimidating at times hahaha 😆) was having him on edge.

He got Baxter hired so he could basically blackmail her. He sabotaged Bates several times to try and get him sacked. He lied to the duke he had a past affair with to try and get Mary to wed the man, then tried to blackmail the duke. He used Daisy's crush on him to hurt William. When he realized he was about to get fired for theft (he tried to blame it on Bates) he joined the army as a medic, to avoid combat. I get that he has gone through a lot, but he also hurt a LOT of people. It makes it hard for people to trust him when he tries to do the right thing.

1. that quote is ALWAYS taken out of context. 2. let's not forget the time he tried to kiss a footman, while asleep. sexual assault is sexual assault.

@@happybkwrm Agreed. Length of service means little when weighed against the number of unpleasant plots and schemes he instigated and years' worth of general bad attitude. He was lucky to make it this far.

A P and tell me, pray - what is the correct context? As I remember, the Pharisees wanted to stone a woman who had sinned (I forget specifically, adultery? Prostitution?) and Jesus said let he who has not sinned throw the first stone. Because you have no right to be cruel to someone for past transgressions unless you yourself are flawless

Skylark 7 People love to quote that one part, but never the rest, which is Jesus basically telling her to not do it again. Obviously, it doesn’t mean go around and be an ass to people who’ve done wrong, but it also shouldn’t be used to stop someone from making legitimate criticism and calling someone out about their BS.

He also brought a felon (Baxter) into the house without telling her employer at least partley because he enjoyed having power over her. He was pubically spiteful to Gwen when she showed up with her husband. I think everyone was just tired of giving him 2nd, 3rd, 4th chances, because he kept doing the same thing over and over. It's not like he was turned out onto the streets. Barrow himself has admitted he's his own worst enemy.

You both say true things. Most of the characters on Downton have said and/or done some pretty rotten things at least once, many of them a lot more than once, but they all have also shown redeeming qualities. Even the sly Miss O'Brien from the earlier seasons wasn't 100% bad (just maybe mostly).

YES!!!

You're forgetting how much damage Barrow has done to the family and to Bates (Lord's friend too), and Lord Grantham was aware of a big part of that. He was always very kind and generous towards his staff. As a matter of fact, the welfare of his tennants and servants seemed to be the only thing he ever cared for, and he went into battle with Matthiew and Mary just to protect his people.

Barrow fetched and carried because it was his job...In the 1920s there wasn't so much money around, and most upper class families had to cut back and not live so grandly, so they let some of their staff go...They could not afford to live in the same style as before and Thomas had shown himself so many times to be spiteful, untruthful and a trouble maker.. he was hardly likely to be the one that they would try and hold onto...

He took his word that nothing more than a kiss had happened with Jimmy, so he should believe him now as well. If he doesn't believe him now anyway, what's the point in asking? When he heard that Jimmy insisted on Thomas leaving without a reference, the pain in his voice is obvious.

Andrew may or not have been a dyslexic, but he said himself it was because he didn’t pay attention in school

@Eleanor Clark Short answer--Czar Nicholas I and all the other Russian Czars have long wanted the reconquest of Istanbul to re-establish it as the Christian city of Constantinople. That is where the Orthodox Church started, so it's the holiest city in that sect of Christianity, like Rome is for Catholicism. Czar Nicholas I, in his bid to take the city, started the Crimean War in the early 1850s with a declining Ottoman Empire, dubbing it "the sick man of Europe." The Crimean War was a disaster for the Russians--the British and the French did not want the Russians to gain complete control of Istanbul because then it would mean Russian dominance of the Mediterranean, which the UK and France wanted for themselves. So they fought on the side of the Ottomans, and defeated Russia on Russian soil. This was very humiliating for Russia, for it showed how backward the nation had become in comparison to the great powers of the West. Thus, Czar Nicholas I suffered a pretty bad setback for Russian foreign policy for underestimating the staying power of the Ottoman Empire. :D

@@plaguerat7015 Dyslexia discourages children from learning. So sufferers tend to not pay attention because why try hard when even trying hard means certain failure in reading-heavy classes (which is practically all classes except for math)? It's a terrible disorder, dyslexia, because it cultivates an inferiority complex in sufferers that is very hard to lift later on.

Luboman411 oh oof

L Oliver and I love how they found a little boy that looks like the spitting image of Dan Stevens who played Matthew Crawley!🧒🏼

@@maryannlockwood7806 Actually, they found three! Two out of three triplets played George, can you believe that?! 😍 That had to be so much fun!

what did he do for the family? Mostly he did nasty things to upset the other servants and then struck lucky and was allowed to stay even when the upper crust were fed up with him

He probably secretly hates him and hopes he catches typhoid

Earl of Wickshire what the hell is wrong with you

@mayzday20 there is nothing wrong with me, you impetuous peasant! I am the formidable Earl of Wickshire, appointed by God to oversee my share of the Earth and those who might dwell upon the same. If I say he wants him to catch typhoid, he shall! I demand it!

Earl of Wickshire aight lmao