The course of love never does run smooth. That's the theme of Shakespeare's comedies. It has also been the theme of "Downton Abbey," both upstairs and downstairs.
Tonight, some of that gets resolved. Mary's past comes to light. Matthew et al. know that she is not a woman of virtue. She had slept with another man. Yet, Matthew still wants to marry her. Mary asks him to ask her properly, on bended knee. He does that and she accepts.
The Earl and his wife have found love again. After she survived Spanish Flu she became less shrewish and he was willing to give up the possibility of an affair with the servant Jane.
His daughter Sybil did marry the servant but he did not attend the wedding. That saddens his wife. She asks him to allow the couple to enter their lives back at Downton Abbey. She wants to welcome grandchildren.
Downstairs, Bates, who had married Anna, is given life imprisonment instead of being hung. The Earl will fight for the facts of the case to be looked into again but for now is just relieved Bates will live. During their visit together Bates tells Anna to be happy. That changes everything. Anna can have her marriage, as limited as it is, with Bates and still enjoy her life with people like Daisey. Daisey who had married William on his deathbed now has gotten on the other side of that confusing experience. She can accept that she did have feelings for William and he for her. That has allowed her to mature. She is not the scattered girl she had been. A friendship is blooming between Anna and herself. The two have been through so much because of the men in their lives.
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