Downton Abbey's 17 Most Shocking Moments

After a hot post-dinner make-out with Lady Mary, the dangerously handsome Turkish diplomat sneaks his way into her bedroom and forces himself on her, only to collapse in an apparent "heart attack." Left with no other options, Mary wakes up Anna, her maid, and Cora, her mother, so they can help carry the corpse back to his bed. Was Pamuk really poisoned? Was Mary set up? That mystery dogs the Downton heroine through at least three seasons, threatening her all-important chances at love, overcoming trauma, or ever wanting to have sex again.

Sexy but scheming Thomas lures the Duke of Crowborough to Downton with a promise of access to Mary's fortune. But we soon find out that that he really wanted to continue the behind-the-scenes action he'd had with the Duke himself over the summer. At first, Thomas's sexuality is portrayed through the lens of a tragically doomed love affair in a closeted time. That is, until we learn that Thomas also tried to blackmail the Duke by threatening to release their intimate letters.

Pre-Downton, this icon of English reserve and staunch defender of propriety sang and danced on stage as part of a traveling theater group called the "Cheerful Charlies." Waltzing down memory lane, though, was not exactly his thing. He banished his old dance partner, Charles Grigg, from his life and threw away his letters—understandable, considering that his former love, Alice Neal, chose Grigg over him. Well, at least it all worked out for Mrs. Hughes-Carson!

Game of Thrones fanatics were thrilled to see Ygritte, er, Gwen, (played by the gorgeously red-headed Rose Leslie), the former maid who studied to become a secretary return to the show in season six with a rock on her finger and a cool job to brag about. By sharing her success story around the dinner table, she can't help but elegantly shame Mary, yet again, for her small-minded snobbery.

In a classic Downton war-time martyr moment, Daisy opts to marry the injured footman she never really fancied in a deathbed ceremony, just so that he won't have to go to the grave alone. (Cue labrador puppies running on a green lawn, soaring music.) Later on, she forms a kinship with his father, Mr. Mason.

Thinking she's about to be replaced, O'Brien, Lady Grantham's personal maid hides a bar of soap just beside the tub, causing Cora to slip and fall, in possibly the darkest work-revenge move ever. Cora ends up miscarrying the only male heir to the Crawley/Grantham fortune. Cora never suspects O'Brien's treachery, and somehow the lady's maid lasts a few more seasons.

Mr. Bates seems destined for a life behind bars for crimes he didn't commit: First, for his ex-wife's theft, then for her carefully staged "murder." He proves just as loyal as his doting wife, Anna, though, when she is wrongfully arrested for killing a man.

The gorgeous and charming Lady Sybil rocked the family to its core when she shunned all of her suitors and pursued a secret romance with Tom the chauffeur instead, eventually eloping with him. Later, they would return to Downton, and Tom would become a devoted member of the Grantham family and Downton household, even after Sybil's tragic death in childbirth.

Fortunately, Cora stepped in and shut it down before he could get anywhere near Jane's pantaloons.

Somehow, Lady Edith managed to hide an affair with a married man, a full pregnancy, and the first few years of her daughter Marigold's life from her eagle-eyed sister Mary. Because it's totally normal to go to Switzerland for a year and then spend a lot of time with the farmer's kid down the road.

Cousin Rose got us over the middle-season hump with her impetuous decisions and secret romances, including one that involved gondola rides with a charming American jazz singer.

In one of a shocking, almost unwatchable episode, Lord Gillingham's sociopathic valet corners Anna during a holiday party and attacks her viciously. Downton may be a soap opera, but with this storyline, it asked its audience to reckon with how powerless and vulnerable most women of the period were.

Everyone assumes Mr. Bates is somehow involved in the valet's murder, but when Mrs. Hughes finds a train ticket to York in his pocket, our heart sank. Now that she knows he couldn't have been responsible, though, what was he doing there?

Deep down, Lady Mary is a very modern woman, and Anna is a key member of her proto-squad. We all cheered when Mary sent her loyal maid out for birth control so she could give the cute-but-boring Lord Gillingham a whirl before she commits for life. He was too meh to be more than a fling, but even we have to admit that the discreet adjoining doors at the Grand Hotel in Liverpool were kind of hot.

We all felt for Tom after Sybil's shocking death, but it was kind of uncomfortable to see him fall into the hands of this master manipulator, even for a minute.

Dowager Countess may be a pillar of British society, but it turns out that she almost left her husband and kids for the wild-eyed, mysterious Russian Prince Kuragin. His wife shows up just in time to thwart a rekindling of their romance.

As season six came to a close, we noticed Mr. Carson's health starting to falter, even prompting him to spill a drink on his beloved Lord Grantham. Turns out he had been hiding a secret illness, and has to step down as head butler at Downton. But we love the warm and fuzzy closure his replacement brings.