“Climb Down From That High Horse:” Let’s Talk About Downton Abbey, Season 6 Episode 2

Contains spoilers for Downton Abbey, Season 6 Episode 2. If you’ve seen other season 6 episodes, let’s keep the discussion just on episode 2 to avoid spoiling anyone else.

We don’t know exactly how old Thomas Barrow is, but we can reasonably assume he is in his early- to mid-30s; he states in this episode that he has worked at Downton for 15 years (he started in 1910, two years before the events of the series began), which means that if he was around 20 years old in 1912 he could be around 33 in 1925.

We also don’t know how old Mr. Carson is, but we know that he has worked at Downton for “half a century,” which feels like it could be an exaggeration—did he start working at Downton when he was 10 years old?—but which I’m going to set aside in favor of a more important detail: he appears to have been the butler at least since the years in which the Crawley daughters were born, which means that if he were 60-ish in 1925, he would have taken the position in his mid-30s.

So. Thomas wants the position that was available to Mr. Carson after the latter had gained roughly 15 years of service experience and moved up the ranks—because that’s also what Thomas has done, at this point in the story.

But the only available job opening is for an “assistant butler” that combines the workload of a footman, chauffeur, and valet—the same work that Thomas has been performing for the past decade. (Except chauffeur. He’s no good at driving.)

And no, he isn’t going to get a significant pay raise.

The reason soap operas work is because they combine outsized situations and emotions with “they’re just like us!”

In this case, we see a number of different factors that are, in fact, “just like us:” the cost-saving move of asking one person to perform what would have once been three separate jobs; the difficulty of taking on greater responsibility when the positions that would provide that responsibility are currently being filled; the changing cultural assumption that a man in his early 30s, who might in previous generations have become a butler, is now best suited for assistant work.

It’s even worse because, as we see in the episode, there is no longer any meaningful work for Thomas to do. There’s already an entry-level footman to take care of the basic household duties, and there’s already a butler and a valet. (There’s also Molesley, who is the kind of employee you keep around because he’ll fill in any gap, do whatever you ask, and be grateful for the opportunity. I’ve been that employee.)

Without meaningful work and without opportunity, what is Thomas supposed to do? Take the assistant butler job and hope that ladder leads somewhere? A lot of people might make that choice, since it’s better than sitting around and waiting to get laid off.

Of course, a modern career counselor might advise Thomas to create his own job. If you can’t take a leadership position within your current company, start your own—and make yourself the CEO.

Well. Not all jobs translate well to the startup model. At best, Thomas could attach himself to some new-money newlyweds who have no idea how to run a household, but his career—like many of ours—is dependent on having a larger organization to support him.

What about his other options? We’ve already seen Thomas try entrepreneurship—he literally falls for a “work at home!” scam—and although it might make sense for him to manage a hotel, he’d either have to find someone willing to hire him or start a little bed-and-breakfast from the ground up. (You know, like the Bates have been trying to do for most of the series. Good luck with that.)

“I think you have to climb down from that high horse,” Thomas’s interviewer tells him, when Thomas suggests that he is ready to move beyond the role of a footman.

Remember: if this season took place in 2016 instead of 1925, Thomas would be a Millennial.

This week, Philly Mag ran a piece titled “How Millennials Are Ruining the Workforce,” which suggests today’s 20 and 30-year-olds need to climb down from our high horses as well:

At work, on the playing field, in the world of ideas, young folk aren’t content to take their turn at the bottom of the pile anymore.

It gets better:

My generation was raised on stories and myths about people who trudged their way through the ranks to positions of power: Ben Franklin, John Rockefeller, Oprah Winfrey. Millennial fairy tales are all about disrupters, the young Jacks who slay the old, slow giants: Evan Spiegel, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs.

Oprah Winfrey launched The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1986, when she was 31 years old. She started hosting AM Chicago a few weeks before her 29th birthday. When you’re Oprah, that makes you an outlier—but why shouldn’t today’s 29-year-olds want similar opportunities?

Also: homophobia, which if you don’t think is still “just like us!” only means you haven’t been paying attention.

Thomas has always been ambitious, to the point where he often inadvertently alienates the very people who could help him, but none of his ambition is inappropriate.

His actions may occasionally be wildly inappropriate—although he has matured, over the years—but his goals, in respect to his age and experience, are not.

It’s just that the rest of the world has changed.

Yes, it looks like I’m going to be doing this for every Downton Abbey episode through the end of the series. See you next week.

Previously: Did I Make The Most of Loving My Stuff: Let’s Talk About the Downton Abbey Season Premiere

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