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[Scarlet]

Knowing as we do that Ethel will be returning what do we think her storyline is going to be like?

Obviously she's going to be keeping Charlie now but the only person she seems to have any contact with at Downton now is Mrs Hughes and we know there's a new maid coming so she's obviously not coming back there?

Is she just going to pop up for a scene that'll tie off her storyline or is she going to have an actual plot of her own?

[darklioness82]

I've never been particularly endeared to Ethel and I can't really see what else they can do with her character. Perhaps you're right and she'll only pop up briefly to tie up her storyline - whatever that was supposed to be in the first place?

I guess she was a sort of contrast to Gwen, who had ideas above her station but was prepared to put in the graft for it. Or maybe even to Jane, who was widowed in the war and therefore left holding the baby through no fault of her own? I'd be interested to hear what other people think.

[Scarlet]

I always wondered about Jane actually.

I know that nothing was ever concrete but the bit where Hughes said "We've a new maid who has the same story as you funnily enough" or words to that effect, always felt like they were going to go somewhere. But I suppose she was supposed to be the contrast to Ethel, but the thing that's been bothering me - and highlighted by posts on tumblr where Robert fans have been saying that its not fair to judge Robert by our standards because it was somehow alright for men in his position to have affairs - is that Fellows presents the characters, like Ethel, doing "bad" things and then being punished. And that's fair enough if it's by the characters in the show but there always seems to be an air of "this is actually how I think we should approach these things" in his writing.

With that in mind I'm guesses that Ethel's going to swallow acid and be like the dead woman in An Inspector Calls who was so hard done by by the world that she ended it all and then it's everyone else's fault!

[mlt]

I don't think I can really talk about the Robert/Jane thing without having an apoplexy so I will stay far away from that subject.

Anyway, I think Ethel will just be a guest star and not a member of the main cast. I imagine her being in a few eps just to show viewers what ended up happening to her. I am in the minority in that I think Ethel was given a raw deal and I want to see her in good straights by the time her storyline ends. Hopefully Sybil and Branson can take her on as like a part time maid in Ireland or something. Or maybe I am just reading too much into that pic of Allen Leech and Amy Nutall.

OR MAYBE

When Mrs. Patmore dies and Daisy inherits her surprisingly large legacy and she opens her fabulous London restaurant she will hire Ethel as a waitress. The possibilities are endless!