This page is for tropes that have appeared in Downton Abbey.
For the rest:
- Jaw Drop:
- The viewer can see Mary's jaw slacken when she sets eyes on the handsome Kemal Pamuk.
- Carson's reaction to learning that the former prostitute Ethel has cooked a luncheon for the ladies at Downton.
Carson: [Mrs. Patmore] has allowed a woman of the streets to wait at table for members of our family? I am speechless. - Just Eat Gilligan: All things considered, the household would run a lot smoother if those in charge just got rid of Thomas and O'Brien. And we see this in action in early Season 2, when Thomas is fighting on the Western front... but it doesn't last.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While Branson's political views are usually portrayed as a case of Know-Nothing Know-It-All, he does have moments of this. Notably, when he compares Ireland being ruled by the English King to England being ruled by the Kaiser.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The Dowager Countess fits this trope; underneath the cold exterior she does care, and is utterly shattered when Sybil dies; she ends up hobbling across the hall, adjusting her veil and looking, for the first time in the series like a devastated old woman who has just lost her granddaughter. It's a sad sight, to see someone so powerful in tears! That's how bad things are — and you know things are bad when even the Dowager Countess is crying.
- Rosamond can be such a cold-hearted snob even Violet occasionally calls her on it...but she helps Edith out of a situation that could have ruined her life.
- Karma Houdini: O'Brien caused Cora's miscarriage, informed Edith about Kemal Pamuk's death in Mary's bed, told Vera that Bates had broken his promise and came back to Downton (as well as creating another avenue for the Pamuk scandal to potentially ruin Mary's life), almost got Thomas sacked or worse, caused various smaller problems and NOTHING has happened to her.
- Kick the Dog: Mary's brutal passive-aggressive mockery of Sir Anthony at the garden party. While Edith definitely deserved to be taken down a peg, her suitor did not, and it verges on What the Hell, Hero? level cruelty.
- In season 6, Mary, out of total spite, forces Edith to reveal to her fiance that Marigold is Edith's daughter. It almost breaks up Edith & Bertie.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: The soldier who Barrow is talking to in the trenches."I think it comes down to luck. If the bullet's got your name on it, there's nothing you can do. If not, then thank God you were lucky-" [Boom, Headshot!]
- Kissing Cousins: Second cousins Mary and Patrick were informally engaged, though they didn't have much say in it; Edith was in love with Patrick. Mary and Matthew are fourth cousins, but this is only very technically this trope; fourth cousins have only marginally greater risk of genetic problems than unrelated couples (which on average has the same level of genetic risk as fifth cousins).
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Robert and Cora eventually stopped fighting the entail after seeing Matthew might actually make a good Earl. This displeased Mary greatly.
- The Lady's Favour: Mary gives Matthew her figurine to bring him good luck and asks him to bring it back when saying goodbye before Matthew goes to the war.
- Lampshade Hanging: Robert occasionally comments on the unnecessary amounts of drama in his household. When he figures out about Marigold being Edith and Michael's daughter in Season 5, and Cora asks him to keep quiet about it, Robert muses that it's rather nice to be in on one of the secrets in the house.
- Last-Minute Reprieve: Robert running after the car taking Bates away.
- Law of Inverse Fertility: Ethel the housemaid in the second season and Edith in the fourth both get pregnant when they really shouldn't. In contrast, Matthew and Mary in the third season and Anna and Bates in the fifth struggle to have children when they would very much like to.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: After Anna marries Bates and becomes Mary's lady's maid and Mrs Hughes marries Mr Carson, the Crawleys decide to keep calling them "Anna" and "Mrs Hughes" instead of "Bates" and "Mrs Carson" as would be proper, because that's what they're used to calling them. The same as the audience.
- Leitmotif:
- The opening theme could be heard in several renditions of the background music.
- There are also ones for the various couples on the show, like Matthew/Mary, Sybil/Branson and Anna/Bates.
- Left Hanging: Patrick Gordon just disappears into the night.
- Like Brother and Sister: Branson truly does become a surrogate brother to both of sisters-in-law.
- Limited Wardrobe:
- Everyone, even the Crawleys. The Crawley women basically have only three evening dresses that they rotate through every episode.
- Lampshaded by Branson when he and Sybil first return to Downton Abbey after their wedding. Many are shocked to learn that Branson does not even *own* anything fancier than his usual jacket, let alone any true formalwear.
- In commentary, Jim Carter (Carson the butler) notes that, until the cricket match in Season 3, he has two outfits — one for day scenes and another for evenings.
- Literal Metaphor: In Season 4, after the visiting Mr Blake helps Mary save Downton's dehydrated herd of pigs.Mary: You've certainly saved our bacon. Literally!
- Longing Look: Lots: Anna, Bates, Branson, Daisy, Edith, Mary, Matthew, Sybil, William, Thomas, Alfred, Carson, Mrs Hughes, Ivy.
- The Lost Lenore: William for Daisy (to an extent), Sybil for Branson, Matthew for Mary, and the former Earl for Violet.
- Love Theme: Several of the couples have their own themes, most notably "Such Good Luck"
for Matthew and Mary, "The Butler And The Housekeeper" for Carson and Mrs Hughes and "Emancipation" for Tom and Sybil. - Love Triangle: Quite a number. There are three sibling triangles: Edith being in love with Mary's late arranged fiancé Patrick, Edith pining for Matthew, whose interests lie in Mary and vice versa, and Mary incorrectly thinking that Sybil has developed a small crush on Matthew after a Rescue Romance. Mary was also interested in Napier until Kemal Pamuk came along. Then there's William crushing on Daisy, who's crushing on Thomas, who's gay. And then there's Molesley's mild interest in Anna, who's already in UST-territory with Mr Bates. Season 3 has the Love Quadrilateral of Daisy -> Alfred -> Ivy -> Jimmy, with Thomas also making his own moves on the latter.
- Lampshaded by Mrs Patmore: "You know the trouble with you lot? You're all in love with the wrong people."
- Luke, I Am Your Father: When the Dowager Duchess's Old Flame Prince Kuragin shows up in season 5, Mary brings up the possibility for the purpose of denying it.Mary: Granny has a past. Thank heavens Papa and Aunt Rosamund were already born or we could spin all sorts of fairy tales.
