I am so glad you asked. So glad I wrote over a thousand words (I’m so sorry).
I completely agree with all of this. I think that Mary and Mrs. Hughes are remarkably similar and think it’s quite logical that Carson loves them both so much. Similar personalities also usually clash, which is where some of the tension comes from. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that Mrs. Hughes takes some of her disdain of the class system out on Mary, who is the perfect example of an aristo woman.
I worry that as Mary deals with Matthew’s death she’s going to neglect her son, which will upset Carson greatly (both for the boy and more importantly because he feels for Mary) which will in turn cause Mrs. Hughes to feel as frustrated with Mary as ever (for upsetting Carson). BUT I also think you’re right in that Mrs. Hughes is the most compassionate person on the show, so I’m hoping that her empathy will overcome frustration.
Lmao, yes, I think I’ve harped on about some underlying similarities between the two of them for quite some time, but because these similarities were fostered in different systems, so to speak, for seemingly different reasons, tension is a given.
That being said, I think you definitely have nothing to worry about as far as Mary neglecting her - and the same with Mary upsetting Carson. We’ve received a few quotes about the next season, and one of the most striking ones was that Mary “will be like a lioness, defending her child from any threat” (I don’t know if that was it word for word, but that was basically it). And being that core pragmatist, this is, of course, completely in character. It wouldn’t make sense, as I see her, for Mary to neglect her son. Her son is the heir and the future of Downton falls on him - even more so now that Matthew is gone. He’s the most important thing and she’ll preserve Matthew’s memory, so to speak, through raising him. Not to mention that we’ve seen in times of grief and loss, Mary is always the one to move practically ahead. Neglect and becoming stuck because of Matthew wouldn’t really be in her nature. That’s not to say she won’t be upset and she won’t mourn, but Mary always seems to channel that into action. (After her engagement with Matthew falls through, she goes and finds a seemingly suitable new offer in Carlisle; when her sister is dying, as it’s been noted, Mary is the one doing the more medical procedures she can and tries to get the doctor’s to help her sister - while they sulk in the corner. These situations are a bit different, but highlight that practical way she deals with loss.)
And lmao, Mary can’t do anything wrong in Carson’s eyes. I think there’s a line in the S1 Scriptbook where JF mentions that even if Mary had murdered Pamuk, Carson would have justified it anyway (as he justifies an act he finds repulsive in other people). Because that’s what Carson is to Mary, that unrelenting, unquestioning source of parental support (which she doesn’t get from anyone else) (not in the same way, not from the very beginning ever, and not with the same degree of devotion). But Carson (no matter how hypocritical it would make him) (I mean the man is full of them) (which is maybe one of the best parts about his character sometimes) (only sometimes) (why am I using so many brackets), no matter how fond he becomes of George Crawley (which he undoubtedly will), will always put Mary first, because absolutely no one else is like Mary is his eyes.
So really, no worries on that front!
