Given last week's sex fest, episode 2 felt like a bit of a wet blanket, though it's nice to see that Lord "We Need To Downsize" Grantham isn't above continuing to have his newspapers ironed. He's not an animal.
Lady Mary's big drama was getting the pigs in order for the local fat stock show and proving that she could handle taking over Branson's role as agent. Thomas was depressed because his underbutler status is in jeopardy, he had a bad interview, and Andy is giving him the Heisman at every opportunity. And now that Carson and Mrs. Hughes have sorted out their sex life, they've moved on to bickering about their wedding reception.
The issue is that Carson, spurred on by a very pushy Lady Mary, thinks the couple should celebrate in the Crawley home. Mrs. Hughes (Carson's still not calling her Elsie) doesn't want to feel like a servant on her wedding day, and she's pulling the bridezilla card to have her reception away from the Abbey. Rather than accepting this, Carson frets about insulting his employers, i.e. Lady Mary. Dude's finally got the promise of sex and he's sick with power.
Over in London, Edith's editor is also sick with power — and it's making her miserable. She's still undecided about moving to London for good. What she needs is a good girlboss pep talk, but instead, she gets her aunt musing that living alone can be hard to give up.
Mary and Anna also happen to be in the Big Smoke. The trip comes about after Wahna Anna confesses her fertility issues to Mary, who offers a visit with her own fancy doctor as recompense for helping to usher the late Mr. Pamuk out of her bedroom. No siree, this Crawley does not forget a favor! Mary's doctor tells Anna that she suffers from "cervical incompetence," which means her womb struggles to carry a fetus past the first trimester. He offers to stitch her up should she get pregnant again and we finally (finally!) see a smile on her face.
Isobel and Cora are still squaring off against Violet and Dr. Clarkson over the hospital. Daisy is still struggling to find Mr. Mason a home. Edith still hasn't told her sister that Marigold is her actual child by birth, which means "Aunty" Mary thinks nothing of taking the little girl to check out pigs at the Drewes' farm. Mrs. Drewe latches onto Marigold, which makes everyone uncomfortable. It's not surprising, then, that she winds up taking off with the child while everyone else is busy cheering on Lady Mary and her prize-winning pig at the fat stock show. Mr. Drewe gets her to release Marigold and agrees to leave the village so that Lady Edith can raise her child in peace.
But enough about her. How on earth is Lady Mary going to get home?