'Downton Abbey' Season 4 Premieres In U.K.; Mary Wears Black, Gets Closer To Branson [SPOILERS]

Downton Abbey premiered its forth season on Sunday in the U.K. with Mary still mourning the death of her husband Matthew and Edith carrying on a romantic affair.

The episode dealt with the fall out from Downton Abbey’s shocking third season finale, which concluded with the death of Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) after his wife, Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery), had given birth to a baby boy. Picking up five months after the season finale, the forth season found Mary struggling to move forward in her mourning and Thomas (Rob James-Collier) back to his old two faced ways.

“Following Matthew’s untimely death, new mother Mary is struggling to come to terms with her loss. Robert and Violet disagree on how to bring her through it. Downstairs, hearts are set to be broken as Jimmy finally takes an interest in Ivy. Carson has an unwelcome reminder of his past while Mrs. Hughes sees an opportunity to help grief stricken Isobel. Thomas is up to his old tricks and has the children’s Nanny in his sights,” reads the synopsis for the episode.

Lady Mary is so consumed by her grief that she barely interacts with her baby, George, and the child’s nanny takes a prominent role in his care. According to reports, Branson (Allen Leech), Mrs. Hughes (Phyllis Logan) and the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith) all play a part in helping Mary come out of her depression – a symbol of which is her switch from black dresses to lilac.

“Normally three months after someone’s passed away the women would start to change into lilacs and greys and purples but Mary is refusing, even after six months, to change out of anything but black,” Dockery reveals on the shows official Tumblr.

Branson and Mary are put in charge of running the estate of Downton, a shake up that promises to incite conflict between Mary and her father, Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville).

Meanwhile, Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) continued her affair with a married man and Daisy (Sophie McShera) remains unlucky in love.

The cast of Downton also teased that royal characters will be appearing in the coming season.

Downton Abbey season 4 will premiere in the U.S. on Sunday, Jan. 5 2014 and will be comprised of eight episodes.

– Olivia Truffaut-Wong

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