Downton Abbey / Downton Abbey - Tropes Q to S

This page is for tropes that have appeared in Downton Abbey.

For the rest:

• A to C
• D to F
• G to I
• J to L
• M to P
• T to Z

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• Quit Your Whining: Violet (amiably... for her) says something to this effect to a recently jilted Edith who's worrying what to do with her life.
• Rags to Riches: Matthew and Branson each, via the means described under the trope below. On a lesser scale, in Season 3 Robert has bankrupted the estate and there are plans to downsize (they would still appear rich and classy by modern standards, but to them it might as well be poverty), until Matthew comes into (another) inheritance and catapults them back to wealth. (At this point begins Matthew's — and later Branson's — ongoing campaign to modernise the estate and turn it into a profitable, modern agricultural enterprise. It works.)
• Rags to Royalty: Branson, after he marries Lady Sybil. It starts out as the opposite, with his wife being "cast down" by the match, but when he's forced to flee his native Ireland and Sybil dies in childbirth, the family take pity on him and his daughter and take them in.
• Rape as Drama: Anna, in a way that will break your heart.
• Reaction Shot: So many great ones.
• Real Life Writes the Plot:
  • Isobel Crawley went to France in series 2 because Penelope Wilton was busy starring in A Delicate Balance at the Almeida Theatre.
  • During series 3, Dan Stevens revealed that he wanted to leave the show, putting Fellowes in the quite awkward position of having to write Matthew out after he and Mary were married. Ultimately the only way out was to kill him.
  • Charles Edwards wasn't able to commit to the show once Fellowes decided to make Gregson a more prominent character, hence the awkward storyline where his status is up in the air for a couple years before Fellowes finally decided to just kill him off.
  • Samantha Bond was busy doing stage work during filming of Series 3, hence Rosamund's mysterious absence from Mary and Edith's weddings.
• "Rear Window" Witness: Daisy, watching a clandestine effort of Mary, Cora, and Anna to try and hide a corpse.
• Rebellious Princess: Though she's not quite royalty, Lady Sybil is a rebel who is interested in politics, supports women having the vote, wears trousers, consorts with servants and in Season 2 goes so far as to — shudder — actually get a job as a nurse, not to mention marrying the socialist Irish chauffeur, which her father has a hard time coming to terms with.
• Replacement Goldfish: Primarily for Mary and Tom:
  • Following Matthew's death, Mary gets two new love interests, Anthony Gillingham and Charles Blake. And by the time the Season 5 special rolls around, with Gillingham essentially out of the picture, Henry Talbot shows up as a replacement for a replacement.
  • Less successful in the case of Tom: first comes Edna, a maid who at first seems to admire him but then starts guilt-tripping him and eventually attempts a Baby Trap. Later, Sarah Bunting appears to be a clear replacement, with character traits quite similar to the late Sybil, but turns out too extreme and rude.
• Rescue Romance: Played with after Sybil's rescue. Mary assumes that Sybil has a crush on Matthew, but it's Branson who's interested in Sybil.
• Reset Button: Edith at the beginning of Season 3.
• Revenge: Lady Mary and Lady Edith just seem to chase each other in an endless circle of one-upmanship that increases in cruelty at every new level.
• Rich Bitch: Mary and Edith, usually to each other.
• Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: Robert fits this trope, as it is revealed in Season 3 that his poor management of Downton has bankrupted the estate, and it is the former solicitor Matthew (with an unexpected windfall) and chauffeur/sheep farmer's nephew Branson who reorder the running of the estate to bail it out.
• Riches to Rags:
  • Sybil undergoes this by marrying Branson, although it's an unusual variation in that it's her choice and she welcomes her new lifestyle and claims that she is happy to be "just Mrs Branson". (This is a very weird occurrence also in that it is synonymous with Branson's Rags to Royalty rise.)
  • This looks like it is going to happen when Robert loses Cora's fortune and it looks like they're going to lose Downton — they wouldn't be reduced to anything like 'rags', but they would have to suffer a major reduction in their standard of living. Luckily, this is averted at the last minute.
  • Violet's former beau Prince Kuragin, and many other Russian aristocrats, after the Russian Revolution.
• Rich Language, Poor Language:
  • The RP of the Crawley family (plus Carson the butler) and other aristocrats versus the Yorkshire accent of Downton's servants and townsfolk.
  • At Duneagle Castle in Scotland, the RP of the MacClare family versus the Highland accents of their servants.
• Right Behind Me: In the Series 3 premiere, O'Brien speaks of Alfred's dream to be a cook and that it's hard when "there's a thousand dogsbodies taking orders from a cross and red-faced old woman." Cue Mrs. Patmore.
  Mrs. Patmore: Who's this you're discussing?
  O'Brien: Hello, Mrs. Patmore. I didn't see you there.
  Mrs. Patmore: Obviously not.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: In Season 4, Thomas accuses one of the nannies of mistreating the children just because he takes a dislike to her. Of course, Cora should go up to hear her side of the story at precisely the moment that she's telling baby Sybil to "shut up, you filthy little half-breed" because she's keeping her blue-blooded cousin awake.
• The Rival: Isobel Crawley to Violet Crawley. This seems less so during Season 3, as they seem fonder of each other and even decide to get a car home together. Even less so when Isobel nurses Violet back to health in Season 4.
• The Roaring '20s: The setting for Series 3 onward.
• Romantic False Lead: Lavinia, Matthew's fiancée.
• Romanticism Versus Enlightenment: A recurring theme is the polarisation of the household between the more modern members who want to embrace change (notably Matthew, Sybil and Edith upstairs; Gwen, Thomas and Branson downstairs), those who would rather leave it the way it is/return to the past (Robert and Violet upstairs; Carson downstairs), and those happy to compromise (particularly Cora, Mrs Hughes and Mrs Patmore). Things start to reach a head in Season 3, as Matthew and Robert are now co-owners of the estate and have wildly different ideas about how to run it.
• Romantic Rain: When Lady Mary is being escorted by her suitor Henry Talbot to her aunt's place where she is staying in London, it starts raining and they end up sharing a kiss under a roof. Lampshaded by her brother-in-law who says it was romantic.
• Rule of Three:
  • Used In-Universe. After the sinking of the Titanic and the death of the Turkish gentleman, Daisy is certain that something else is bound to happen. It takes two years, but sure enough... Maybe people should listen to Daisy more often. Cruelly averted in Season 3, though, when tragedies come in four.
  • Reggie Swire left three heirs shortly before his death; one died of Spanish Flu, another of unknown causes in India... leaving Matthew as the third.
• Runaway Groom: Sir Anthony, albeit for selfless reasons.
• Running Gag: Beginning with Season 3, the Abbey's more or less always in need of some extra cash.
• Saying Too Much: In Season 1, Bates lets slip to Robert that Sybil attended the suffragette rally.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!:
  • Branson turns down Robert's offer of a bribe to abandon Sybil.
  • Ethel refuses to give her baby to Major Bryant's wealthy parents, as she believes it's better for him to grow up with a poor but loving mother. This is later averted in a redux of the same situation.
  • Matthew refuses Reggie Swire's inheritance claiming that it would be "taking money under false pretenses" as Reggie didn't know the truth of him and Lavinia. Of course, after two episodes he's given a convenient excuse for accepting.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!:
  • Jane has no shame in asking Robert to influence a prestigious grammar school to award her son a place.
  • A running theme throughout the show is how this changes over time the Crawleys and by extension the entire aristocratic upper class have less and less connections as time goes on. At the start Robert is a member of the House of Lords with a Conservative government in power several close friends and family members as high ranking members of said government. This allows for them to use their influence (and brag about it) to among other things get William transfered to an officers only hospital and for Robert to find out what happened to Mrs. Patmore nephew. But by the final season the Blue Bloods literally had the upcoming generation die off in World War I, a new Liberal government has taken over and greater economic oppurtunties in cities for lower class people mean less people to work tenant farms or in service so many older families die off or go bankrupt.
• Scullery Maid: Daisy. Also Ivy, when she gets there.
• Second Episode Introduction: We don't meet Matthew and Isobel until the very last minute of the first episode, where they have a single very short scene.
• Secret-Keeper:
  • Several, regarding the Kemal Pamuk affair, but someone spills the beans.
  • Mrs Patmore regarding Mrs Hughes' cancer scare.
  • Mrs Hughes keeps Anna's secret about being raped. (Though she eventually lets it out to Mary, to explain why Bates needs to stay home rather than accompany Robert to New York. Mary keeps it thereafter.)
  • Rosamund regarding Edith's pregnancy at first, although more people find out or figure it out on their own later.
• Secret Other Family: The Season 5 Christmas special reveals that Lord Sinderby has a mistress and love child somewhere off on the side. Rose's quick thinking after Sinderby's Secret Other Family shows up at a party finally endears her to her father-in-law.
• Self-Made Man:
  • Cora's father was this as part of his backstory.
  • Matthew and Richard Carlisle. Lampshaded by Carlisle himself when he explains to Mary that he sees no shame in not being from "old money".
• Separated by a Common Language: From the Season 4 Christmas special, when Martha and Harold Levinson cross the pond to visit their Crawley in-laws:
  Martha: Well, the gang's all here!
  Violet: Is that American for "hello"?
  Martha: Harold, I don't believe you've met Tom, Sybil's husband.
  Tom: It seems strange we never met when she was here to introduce us.
  Harold: Well, I'm glad to know you now.
  Violet: How curious these phrases are!
• Series Fauxnale: Season 2 ended with Mary and Matthew getting engaged and Sybil getting pregnant.
  • The TV series finale (Season 6) ends up serving as this due to the two feature films serving as a continuation of the series.
• Serious Business: Oh no! We may have to sell our enormous castle and move into a slightly smaller mansion! Branson lampshades this, pointing out that even the smaller mansion is a "fairy palace" by most peoples' standards.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Lang, the footman.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • Carson, Cora, Robert, The Dowager Countess, Rosamund (although perhaps in part out of guilt for shooting it down the first time), possibly Branson, even Isobel and Anna, even Lavinia, at the end of her life... at this point, is there anyone who doesn't ship Mary/Matthew? Apparently so, for Martha Levinson isn't fond of them to begin with, but it grows on her.
  • Maybe Edith. Sir Richard.
  • Mary, for her part, ships Anna/Bates rather blatantly.
  • Isobel for Sybil/Branson in S2. Matthew jumps on board in S3. (And they do need the support).
  • Cruelly subverted/deconstructed with O'Brien in Season 3. After discovering that Jimmy not only suspects that Thomas has a crush on him, but is revolted and a whisper away from reporting him to Carson, she starts encouraging Thomas that Jimmy feels the same way. This hearsay evidence is enough to convince Thomas to sneak into Jimmy's room half-undressed and kiss him as he sleeps.
  • Branson for Mary/Henry in season 6, to Mary's annoyance.
• Shipping Torpedo:
  • Daisy is not fond of anyone Alfred flirts with.
  • In Season 2, everyone towards Tom and Sybil, and Violet and Rosamund towards Matthew and Lavinia.
  • Mary effectively and intentionally ruins the engagement between Edith and Bertie Pelham by revealing that Marigold is Edith's daughter.
• Ship Tease: If Carson cheerfully singing "She Stole My Heart Away" whilst polishing silver after Mrs Hughes is declared cancer-free — while that lady looks on biting her lip and beaming like a giddy schoolgirl — isn't this, then nothing is. And then in the Season 4 Christmas Special Carson and Hughes holding hands on the beach.
• Shirtless Scene:
  • Branson gets a partial one in Season 1 and then a full one in the Season 3 Christmas Special.
  • Jimmy has one, just when Thomas happens to stumble upon him undressing.
• Shock Value Relationship: Though Rose does genuinely care for Jack Ross, she also plans on marrying him explicitly because she "want(s) to see mummy's face crumble when she finds out." Ironically, she actually does get to see "mummy's face crumble" when she marries a very nice (and aristocratic, if recently so) Jewish boy whom she genuinely loves and who loves her back.
• Shot at Dawn: The fate of Mrs Patmore's nephew, for cowardice.
• Shout-Out:
  • Matthew remarks "I am the cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to me" — a reference to one of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories.
  • In Series 1 Thomas refers to Bates as "Long John Silver" due to his bad leg.
  • Similarly to Bates being Long John Silver above, Mrs. Bird says they should get going with preparations for the garden party unless they want it run by Blind Pew.
  • In the first Christmas special Mary compares herself and Matthew to Tess Durbeyfield and Angel Clare.
  • Mrs Hughes makes a parallel between Ethel's story and The Scarlet Letter. Violet doesn't get the reference but says it sounds "most unsuitable" (trust the Dowager Countess not to know anything about American literature!).
  • In Season 5 Tom and Sybbie play a game of Poohsticks. This is a particularly nice piece of Shown Their Work, as the story that introduced the game was indeed published in 1924 when the episode is set, but Winnie the Pooh hadn't yet been given a name beyond Teddy Bear so they don't actually call it that.
  • Mrs. Patmore reprimanding Ivy for wearing rouge is a reference to the Vita Sackville-West novel The Edwardians where a servant is dismissed for wearing a flower in her hair.
• Shown Their Work/Truth in Television:
  • There was in fact a real Earl of Grantham. The title was created in 1698, but became extinct upon the Earl's death in 1754, because he had no surviving male heirs. Ironically, this also averts the trope of did not do the research, for the press pack states that the First Earl of Grantham (in the show) became earl in 1772, eighteen years later.
  • Though it's played for laughs, acting was seen by many at the time to be just as disreputable a profession as Carson believes it to be.
  • It may seem to views like an Ass Pull to have Lavinia die of the Spanish flu rather than Cora, especially when the latter was initially responding worse to it. However, part of what made the 1918 flu unique was that, unlike other strains, most of the deaths were from teenagers and young adults with healthy immune systems.
  • Edith's plans to move to Detroit might sound nonsensical- why would an earl's daughter ever want to move to a place whose name is synonymous with urban decay and high crime? But in fact, back in the 1920s, Detroit was one of America's most beautiful and affluent cities, known as "the Paris of the Midwest". So in fact it would be a perfect place for Edith to live a comfortable life and probably not be tracked down.
• Sibling Rivalry: Between Mary and Edith. Culminates most viciously in the end of Season 1 when Mary learns that Edith ruined her reputation by informing the Turkish ambassador of the circumstances of Mr Pamuk's death, and ruins Edith's prospect of a good and happy marriage in revenge.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Matthew and Mary, holy crap.
• Sleeping Single: Averted by Robert and Cora, despite the fact that "really smart people sleep in separate rooms". Technically Robert's bedroom is his dressing room, essentially a very large walk-in wardrobe adjoining the marital bedroom that also happens to have a small bed in it. This was actually a fairly common practice for aristocracy and royalty at the time, so husbands who had stayed up late playing cards, travelling, or working wouldn't wake their wives by coming to bed late. In Season 3, Cora refuses her bed to Robert because she blames him for Sybil's death. This is one of the few occations where Robert's own bed gets some use.
• Slipping a Mickey: Larry Grey does this to Tom at one dinner early in Season 3; he is roundly condemned for it by everyone, especially his father.
• Slut-Shaming: Premarital sex was just short of a crime. For women.
  • Lady Mary's unfortunate dalliance with the Turk wasn't just unlucky, but very nearly a social disaster, and not merely because he died.
  • From the second season, housemaid Ethel loves a man in uniform, and when caught with one is sacked without notice and without references. The gentleman has to put his trousers back on. Pregnancy leaves her destitute and him... mildly inconvenienced when people try to rub his nose in it.
  • By the third season, Ethel has become a prostitute. It goes as well for her as you might imagine when she asks for help. Her son's grandparents are divided: the grandmother is sympathetic and caring, the grandfather heaps her with recrimination and hatred. When Mrs Crawley takes her in as a maid (and later cook), her cook has nothing but contempt for her and eventually leaves Mrs Crawley's service over it. Lady Violet doesn't care for it either, and eventually helps Mrs Crawley get her a position in London, away from the village and its gossip.
  • Cousin Rose's mother even calls her a slut in the Season 3 Christmas special for wearing a dress in the latest fashion. Lady Violet, of all people, defends her ("Dear me, that's not a word you often hear among the heather"). Amusingly, she then says she has no place to criticise when in her youth she had once worn the latest fashions of the 1860s and '70s:
    Violet: Oh, my dear, in my day I wore the crinoline, the bustle, and the leg-of-mutton sleeves; I am not in a strong position to criticise.
  • Lady Edith in Season 4 is called out by Aunt Rosamund for spending the night with Gregson. Rosamund eventually helps Edith give birth to a child discreetly in Switzerland.
• Small Reference Pools: The writers were wise making the sinking of the RMS Titanic as the starting event for the series considering it is the one historical event at the time that is widely known with the general English-speaking public that would logically make such a big impact on the nobility.
• Smug Snake: Thomas.
• Snow Means Love: The moment when Matthew finally pops the question to Mary (at the end of the Season 2 Christmas special) provides the image on this trope's page.
• Someone to Remember Him By:
  • Gender Swapped with Baby Sybil. It's the mother who dies in this case.
  • When Matthew is killed in an accident right after the birth of his son we’re even treated to a shot of an unsuspecting Mary holding their baby in the hospital right afterwards to close out the episode.
  • Though Michael Gregson's fate was unknown when Edith had their baby in Season 4, the confirmation of his death in the following season puts Edith in the same boat.
• Something Only They Would Say: Patrick.
• Soundtrack Dissonance:
  • The stirring, even romantic strings heard when Kemal Pamuk forces himself on Mary in Season 1.
  • During Series 4, Dame Nellie Melba sings the romantic aria "O Mio Babbino Caro" from Gianni Schicchi while Mr. Green rapes Anna.
• Speak of the Devil: In Series 1 after Matthew and Isabel arrive at Downton, Matthew declares that he will choose who he marries and that the Crawleys will likely throw one of their daughters at him to marry... just as Molesley announces Mary's arrival.
• Spirited Young Lady: Mary and Sybil.
• Spiritual Successor: To Upstairs Downstairs and Gosford Park. Julian Fellowes, who created both Downton and Gosford, says so himself.
• Spousal Privilege: Anna is forced onto the sidelines at Bates' trial.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: The chauffeur Tom Branson and Lady Sybil. Subverted in that they elope in Season 2.
• Stigmatic Pregnancy Euphemism: Edith's pregnancy is covered up with the pretext of going on a long trip to Switzerland with Rosamund.
• The Stoic: Bates. Except when he cries alone in his room. So a Stoic Woobie, really.
• Straight Gay: Thomas.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: In the pilot, both Daisy and Robert think its pointless to install electricity in the kitchen.
• Succession Crisis: Two of the Earl's heirs die on the Titanic.
• Suffrage and Political Liberation: Lady Sybil is a suffragist and socialist. She tries to help women and takes part in a socialist rally. She bonds with Tom Branson, an Irish chauffeur employed at Downton, who is very active politically, too; he's a socialist and fights for the liberation of the Irish. He had a cousin killed in the Easter Rebellion (an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916; launched by Irish republicans to end British rule in Ireland and establish an independent Irish Republic while the United Kingdom was heavily engaged in the First World War). There's also a moment where he and Sybil spar over it when she doesn't understand why Tom has such a strong dislike of the English government and military. She views the issue from the English side of things, and even though she's a rebelling daughter, she still grew up among aristocracy.
• The Suffragette:
  • Lady Sybil is a politically active young woman, liberal and radical in her opinions. She's a socialist at heart and supports woman's suffrage. She also cares on a personal level. She befriends housemaid Gwen Dawson who is determined not to follow the prescribed path for women of her social status and strives to make a better life for herself. Lady Sybil helps her.
  • After WWI, Lady Edith finds out she's a worthy person, too, and finds her cause. She takes an interest in writing about her support for women's suffrage and other political issues to a newspaper.
  • Gwen Dawson, now Mrs Harding, reappears in season 6. It is revealed that she has made a successful career in government alongside her husband John, and helps to support young women from similarly disadvantaged backgrounds to progress their careers. John is named as a trustee at a woman's college for middle-class girls who want to do other jobs aside from service.
• Suicide, Not Murder: The resolution to the mystery of Vera Bates's death.
• Sunday Evening Drama Series: In both the U.K. and in the U.S., interestingly enough.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
  • An ambitious redhead that doesn't want to stay in service but go out and make it big. Where have we heard that before, Ethel? Although there are some differences: Gwen's ambition ran only to the much more realistic goal of becoming a secretary; Ethel wants to be a movie star. And Gwen actually works toward her goals (with some help from Lady Sybil), while Ethel seems to think she should just be handed them. In turn, the ends for each of their characters are also very different.
  • After Sybil's death, Rose seems set to take her place as the upstairs "modern girl", although, in true M*A*S*H fashion, there are clear differences between their characters (Sybil was an idealistic reformer and Rose is a party girl).
  • After William is killed in World War I, Season 3 brings us Alfred: tall, fair-haired, awkward, and a potential love interest for Daisy.
  • It takes a while to determine who fits this role most closely, but by the end of Series 4, it appears that Charles Blake is turning out to be this regarding Matthew. He and Mary start out with an initially hostile relationship, then share a sweeter moment or two, and by the end of the season wants to marry her. Sound familiar?
    • And in season 5 and 6, Henry Talbot. Mary fears the racing enthusiast may be too similar to her late husband and suffer a similar fate.
  • Sarah Bunting has strong opinions, particularly where politics and class are concerned, likes helping people, and is attracted to Tom, much like the late Sybil.

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