And so here’s looking forward to the Downton Abbey 3.04 preview.

Now, you ought to know that I already knew that Tom would get in trouble with the Irish police and would unexpectedly show up at Downton.

Since there isn’t a video uploaded to the official Youtube channel yet, I’ll add it when it becomes available. So you’ll have to live with my narration:

Anna tearfully says, “He [Mr Bates] hasn’t written in weeks. I worry that he wants me to make a new life without him.” Part of this is voiced over a disappointed Bates talking to a prison guard. Mr Carson hands cigars to Robert and Matthew. He asks, “Am I to answer to you both?” Matthew replies, “I have made an investment in the estate, that is all.”  Scene change. Robert is furious. He yells, “You abandon a pregnant woman in a land that is not her own while you run for it?” Part of this is voiced over Tom crying and over a scene of a man (presumably Tom) running and almost tripping through a rainy night. Cut to dinner. Robert says, “Other men have normal families.” Violet replies (or at least appears to), “No family is ever what it seems from the outside.” Cut to a calm Sybil on the phone, “No time to talk, but tell him I’m alright.” Edith, on the other side of the phone, looks confused, “Sybil? Hello?” Sybil hangs up.

Here was my initial reaction. I literally posted this on Tumblr seconds after watching that. I’ll spare you the capslock:

I never thought it would happen like that that. And I was counting on you not ever making an asshole move. Guess what? That’s an asshole move Tom. Goddammit.

Unless it’s not what it looks like. I’ll go with that. Fellowes has a habit of doing that. He couldn’t get Sybil out and she told him to just leave her. Yep. T_T

(I literally forgot other things happened in the preview and didn’t remember until hours later.)

After about a minute of breathing and near-tears. I could come up with reasonable analysis.

Everyone is going to hate Tom now. I can just see it: “OMG! I told you he was an ass. See, he abandoned her! I told you this was going to happen.” Watch, there’s going to be a reasonable explanation. Haters are going to ignore all of it just because they hate Tom and I’m going to be left saying, “Do we even watch the same series?”

Tom lives and breathes for Sybil. He would never just abandon her, it would be the hardest decision of his life. And if he willingly left her, he would never run to Downton. It’s been established that he hates Downton, he hates the way Sybil’s family treats him, the family is always insulting him, Robert is always looking for reasons to hate Tom. Abandoning his youngest daughter in the middle of political unrest and upheaval is a great way to make sure your father-in-law hates you. Look at Tom, he’s an emotional wreck in this preview. And Allen Leech, the actor, once said in that if it came to choosing between political activism and love, Tom would always choose Sybil. (Source: Zap2it)

My theory is that Tom got in trouble with the local police and needs to leave the country. Since it was dangerous to be a young male republican in Ireland in those times, I would imagine the Bransons had some kind of emergency escape plan. However, it might be difficult or dangerous for Sybil to leave with him. She forced Tom to leave without her because if he’s caught he would be imprisoned and surely killed, leaving her alone and their child fatherless. They agree to meet at Downton, they are most likely to find each other there than anywhere else. Tom flees.

That seems pretty obvious to me.

He probably had to take a slow route, she takes the fast one. After several days, Sybil arrives in England and is about to take the train. She calls her family asking them to tell Tom she’s alright and hangs up because she needs to catch the train. No one knows what she’s talking about and they have a kind of normal dinner. I base this on the fact that Edith looks confused rather than anxious or afraid. She doesn’t seem to know what’s going on. Tom bursts in shortly after. As I said, probably had to take slow route, so he didn’t get to Downton until now.

When he tries to explain the situation, Robert takes the situation at its worst, refuses to listent to Tom and judges very harshly. Just because Robert said Tom abandoned her doesn’t mean it happened that way. Tom is an emotional wreck. Cora probably forces Robert to shelter Tom. Tom spends the night up worrying. Matthew lends him some clean clothes. I’m not going to let go of that theory. It helps the brotp very much.

Next morning, Sybil arrives. Tom runs to her and we get the spinny kiss from series three trailer shown at 0:26. The trailer is at right. I keep linking to it. But hey, when that’s the force for all you’ve got to support a theory, that’s what you got.

They have to stay at Downton on the Crawleys’ generosity, which is surely humiliating for Tom. If he can’t return to Ireland, he gets a job in the papers nearby, he and Sybil move into Downton village, and Tom becomes accepted by the family. That last bit is what I want to happen. All wild conjecture, really.

Chances are this will be resolved early in the episode. Later in the episode, Sybil has her baby! That’s what I’m putting my money on. That’s based on the fact that episode summaries say that Matthew and Mary are talking children, but Mary doesn’t want any now (Source: What’s on TV).

Thoughts on the rest of the trailer. I’m not sure I have many, my brain was numbed and bewildered by Tom’s sobbing.

Edith looks like she’s doing very well after getting jilted at the altar. Heard that she’s getting bored and writes to a local paper in this episode (Source: What’s on TV). Is Michael Gregson coming into the picture? I really hope so! And Ethel shows up (Source: ITV). I think she finally asks Isobel for help!