Now that Season Five has ended with so much Christmas cheer and possibility, it's time to predict what will happen in what's going to be the final season. I expect developments worthy of Dickens.
Princess Kuragin will die after eating bad Pavlova (oh, that Denker!) and the Prince and the Dowager Countess will finally elope -- to Brighton. Lady Grantham will be thrilled but Lord Grantham will be appalled (of course).
Rose will have twins and name them Romulus and Remus.
Mrs. Hughes and Carson will get arrested right after their wedding, accused of conspiracy in the death of Mr. Green, jailed, then get exonerated by the King.
Thomas and the new footman will fall in love and have the blessing of the whole household, though only grudgingly from Lord Grantham (of course).
Alan Turing will be a dinner guest at Downton, meet Daisy and take her on as his private chef and we'll all realize she'll ultimately be crucial in his breaking Enigma.
Lord Merton's sons will sail to India and be presumed lost at sea in a typhoon, so Isobel will relent and marry him.
Isis will be discovered to have a twin who gives birth to a healthy litter of Alsatians. Lord Grantham will shake his head ruefully and complain about change (of course).
Tom will return from Boston a millionaire and install brand new plumbing at Downton. Lady Gaga will play his eccentric bride who was a student of Isadora Duncan's and she'll wear diaphanous Grecian tunics to dinner. Lord Grantham etc.
Lev Raphael is the author of 25 books including the Gilded Age novel Rosedale in Love.