‘Downton Abbey’ Season 2 Adjusts to the New Normal

In the third episode of Downton Abbey Season 2, everyone’s adjusting. The Crawleys are getting used to living in, as the Dowager Countess puts it, “a second-rate hotel, where the guests keep arriving, and no one ever seems to leave.” Thomas is bullying the downstairs staff from his new position of power. Mary’s seriously considering marrying a newspaper magnate planning to (gasp!) buy his way into the aristocracy. Robert doesn’t even have a valet! It’s chaos, basically. And that’s before Matthew and William (who has been assigned to Captain Crawley as a sort of soldier servant) disappear while out on a patrol.

For all that it has its fair share of surprises, however, this is still a fairly low-key hour. The Matthew and William disappearance is ultimately much ado about nothing, and some of the subplots — a secret soup kitchen! — aren’t exactly groundbreaking drama. (Though it’s lovely to watch everyone upstairs and down pull together for soldiers in need.) But the most interesting moments are relationship-based.

Dowager Countess Violet may be best known for her witty quips, but she’s a lot more astute and observant than almost anyone in her family gives her credit for. After all, she pretty much instantly clocks that something’s going on with Sybil, because, well, it’s wartime. If she’s not openly swooning over a crush, it’s because whoever she’s crushing on is someone inappropriate.