This scene comes from Season 3 Episode 5 This is the most heartbreaking, tear-jerking scene for me in all 6 seasons of Downton Abbey, the movie included. 😭
The shocking thing was not just the fact that she was dying but also how brutal the entire scene was. Often in film, you have characters gasp and then kind of peacefully fall asleep to their death. Here we saw Sybil in pain, fighting to breathe before eventually not getting enough air. And of course, Tom and Cora are absolutely heartbreaking.
I think mercifully, apart from the agonizing headache at the start, she wouldn't have been aware. She would have been completely unconscious during the seizures. Even so, it is horrific to watch, and you are totally right how it shows that death, even by natural causes, often isn't this peaceful slip off into sleep thing. The family certainly wouldn't recall her death as 'peaceful.' Incredibly tragic.
Sybil had Eclampsia, a pregnancy related condition causing kidney failure, seizures and total body shutdown and death if not treated. Women often died of this before modern times and you can be treated for it now if caught early enough.s@puspita282
What really hit hard for me was at 1:52 lady Mary taking that step back and just the look on her face realizing that this is actually happening and there is nothing they can do for her. Incredible powerful
Before the doctor even took her pulse, Matthew knew and he was already sad. Seen so much death he knew when Tom turned to him for help he could only look away in sadness.
I didn't cry during the actual scene. I think I was in too much shock at the time. Cora finished me off when it was just her talking to Sybil though. "You'll always be my baby" 😢
It's horrible to watch even because i have had the same illnes while having my baby but In our modern time it Can be handled if only noticed In time. Or actually only cure is that baby must be born or both Will die.
Definitely the hardest and one of most devastating scenes of Downton Abbey. 1:20 Matthew’s line of ‘not now not these days’ really hits hard because we still ask that question today. Sybil truly touched the hearts of many 💖.
La mort presqu'identique de la fiancée de Mattew de la grippe espagnole est aussi très difficile à supporter car elle meurt le cœur brisé en laissant son futur mari à une autre ; cela m'a touché davantage....
It hit me hard because I had Pre eclampsia ( was called Toxaemia) with all my 3 children in Melbourne in the 80s.Pregnancy was difficult. Thank God I didn't live in those times.
@@renatewest6366So did my mother. I had to be delivered prematurely by emergency caesarean, and there was true risk at one stage, so glad we are both here to say we lived through it.
I was really late to Downtown, so I already knew all the major plot points before I started watching. But Jesus this scene was heartbreaking and shocking nonetheless... I can only imagine how much worse it would've been if I'd had no idea.
I had no idea what was going to happen. I was only 13 when I watched this scene and it still disturbs me to this day. Sybil was my favourite character and I didn't think she'd die and certainly not like this. It's so heart breaking to think this happened to so many women back then and still sometimes happens to women today 😥
When all background music stops when they show the servants' reactions, you can just feel the emptiness that sweeps through the house. The strings tell of tension, but the silence is much louder 😭
This is so heartbreaking I did not think any author and/or director would be capable of such realistic devastation. I have to remind myself "the actress just wants out" to regain my sanity.
This Scene in Downton Abbey of Sybil,s Death has made me see how much life is Precious, and for the pain our loved ones go through, 2022 keep safe people
When people like Thomas Barrow and Miss O'Brien break down like this for a person's death, then there is no need to ask how wonderful a soul that person must be...💔🙏🏻 PS: Not to mention the phenomenal acting of every actor in this scene. When I first watched it, I swear I almost stopped breathing.
The shock of this scene never dies away (no pun intended) for me. The fact that this was going to be the last of Sybil! The manner in which she died! It was surreal to watch.
Even with his daughter having seizures and suffocating to death, Robert continued ignoring Dr.Clarkson's diagnosis of eclampsia, desperate to believe the fancy doctor's one. I never liked Robert, but his behavior during Sybil's delivery and afterwards made me hate him even more. I think he should had been punished even more further by Cora, she was in her right to despise him.
He believed the fancy doctor because he came from a better medical school and believed qualifications over experience. At the end he was desperate, Clarkson had said nothing more could be done, so like any father not prepared to let their child die, he turned to another professional who for once, agreed with Clarkson's diagnosis but offered pain medication
Agreed! He was legit the worst character in the show. He had nothing. He sucked at managing their buisness, money. He could was full of himself and often saw their kichten staff as under intelligent ect. There is so much to him that if he wasent shown from this perspektive he would deffinetly be just as bad as Larry😂
@@user-ho7mg9ol7w i see your point and i agree with the fact that it was a desperate situation, so Robert would want to cling over the last chance of saving his daughter. But on the other hand, he did not want to send her to the hospital. I know there was little to be done either way, but his refusal, even with Sybil allucinating things and in obvious need of medical help, definetly made things even worse, at least in a psycological way, i believe. That is just my opinion. And also, english is not my first language so i apologize if i was rude in any way😳
Clarkson ignored Sybils symptoms early on as well. She mentioned swollen ankles and having headaches at the start of the episode. The baby would have felt small for weeks This isn't a condition that comes on suddenly. I saw them as all failing Sybil
Come on, you guys forgetting something, it's in somewhere between 1900-1930 era 😌, no body really familiar with pregnancy and delivery risk at the moment
It's not that rare sadly . Especially in under developed countries Even with modern medicine when it reaches this stage its got a high mortality rate That's why antenatal is so dam important
@@hannahdyson7129 In the UK, preeclampsia deaths are literally non-existent. Nowadays it would be due to cardiovascular conditions, but that can always be prevented if you look after yourself. Most maternal deaths now are very preventable. There's a reason why the death rates are so incredibly low in most developed countries. Preeclampsia was a major killer 100 years ago, and so was puerperal fever.
@@hannahdyson7129 true. But in a developed country they will often be pretty sure before the birth and will collect quantitative data along the way. Medicine was much more guess work then
Understandable, but I hated Sir Philip even more: he should have known better in the first place, being a professional. At least Dr. Clarkson was wise enough not to make false guarantees.
I remember this scene it was so sad poor woman that wouldve been so awful,i know that its just a show but im sure that in real life there are probably lots of women who have been through the same kind of horror
This tragic storyline was very well kept from the viewer and so came as a complete shock. Unlike the soaps which tell you what's gooing to happen every week on the front of all the tv magazines. It ruins the stories completely. Wish they'd go back to not saying what was going to happen.
Still scary and so heartbreaking… even Snow White never got to know her own mother, nor was the fact ever mentioned in the story that her mum died of eclampsia… 💔
Sadly, this is depicted as early 1920s, and, as much as Sir Phillip mentions pain management, they would have been limited on what could be done. It doesn't come on suddenly, and it's often a combination of protein and blood pressure, but things weren't as advanced as they are now. The main drug that is used to ease it, Magnesium sulfate, wasn't distributed until at least a decade later, and even then, there have been many risks. My own mother had pre-eclampsia (toxiemia). Due to risk in pregnancy, I had to be delivered prematurely by emergency caesarean as there was a risk of losing us both, (and that was the mid 90s) but safe to say, thanks to such advancement, we are both here to say we survived.
Hi. I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia at 35 weeks with my first baby in the 90s. I was so blown up with fluid and my wee samples were nearly solid protein. The only treatment I received was going into hospital for bed rest, constant testing and wait for baby to come to put an end to it. He arrived at 37 wks soon after a rather rough internal exam from my obstetrician dislodged him 😂
@@trishstyles6514, well I'm glad to hear you're a survival story darling. I was considerably earlier. My mother got diagnosed much earlier but had very high blood pressure as a result. I was delivered at 28 weeks gestation, and as one of the NICU premmies, I can say that I am a strong, 29 year old.
Sadly, 100 years ago childbirth was a dangerous thing with mortality of either mother or baby was quite common. This scene is shocking because we're used to childbirth being a natural, straight forward occurrence. Its a good reminder not to take the things we take for granted as a given normality
How is it her parents were the last to know something was wrong with Sybil? Mathew, Mary, Edith and the two doctors were already in the room and it looked like this had been going on for a while
Thhe thing that vets me is those 2 doctors. The very knowledgeable GP who is 100% right in his diagnosis and the consultant gynaecologist, who true to the the type of THAT, era , thinks he's God Almighty, and has fouled up big time. If only the family had listened to Dr Clarkson, Lady sybil would have survived it.
How? They didn't have modern anesthesia, antibiotics, blood pressure meds etc. Sure there is a tiny chance she would have survived a rudimentary caeserian but the odds were not in her favour, alas.
I'm so glad someone spoiled this to me so that I didn't have to continue watching just to see my favorite character die. They didn't have to kill her just because the actress couldn't play her anymore, they could have gone away together or something.
@@MsJubjubbirdIt wasn't a dispute, she had planned it from the first season. It was because she didn't want to be typecast early. So Julian Fallows knew, it was the fact that, being part of the main characters, she was going to have to be written out, either by way of leaving permanently or death.
Yeah. Even though what they could have done would have been very limited, they would certainly have been trying as hard as possible to keep her airway open.
@chronically ella It's extremely rare to die of preeclampsia these days. It's very treatable. In the early 1900s, there was no understanding of why it happened, so they couldn't find a cure for it. I can't speak for all countries but here in the UK, preeclampsia deaths are literally non-existent.
Yes, injections of magnesium are a simple treatment that saves many lives these days, mother and child. It is used in western medicine and in many parts of the world, because it is cheap and effective. It allows time to deliver the baby and placenta, which cures the condition. Not all women and babies can be saved, but most can.
@Marijn Leegstra, this was sometime in the night after she had given birth. She was suffering from eclampsia a condition many women suffer and die from during and after childbirth.
All i can remember is branson saying thomas had it coming when he was mocking the death of cora’s unborn child. I dont really thinks he respects branson as he once did mocking him for thinking highly of himself to visit downstairs.
@Maasoomah Abdul, she was suffering from eclampsia - according to google, it is a condition of unknown cause that used to be called “toxemia of pregnancy.” It is the world's number one killer of mothers and babies in childbirth
@@maasoomahabdul8872 You are most welcome. I also learned about the condition from watching this show. I don't have kids but it is still a very scary thing to think about, happening.
@@downtonabbey1786 It's not now. The number one cause of maternal deaths are cardiovascular conditions. Also back then childbed fever was a nasty killer aswell. You don't ever hear anyone dying of that now. Not in Western countries anyway.
She had preeclampsia. It's when something goes wrong with the placenta. It causes you to have seizures and fits. If not treated, it can cause severe damage to your organs and even death. It's not a major killer now thanks to advances in diagnosis and medicine but back then, it was a really horrible way to go.
high blood pressure caused by abnormalities in the placenta (it's complex but basically the placenta needs to send signals to the mother's spinal arteries to widen in order to accommodate adequate blood flow to the foetus. In pre eclampsia they think the signaling is inadequate and so the blood vessels don't change enough and are too narrow for the amount of extra blood flowing through- hence high blood pressure) These days they monitor a pregnant lady's blood pressure regularly and will take action if it gets too high. In those days they didn't know until the birth and she started having problems and it was likely way too late then
I want to point out that none of the people except Sybil's bf/husband are wailing. Where's the crying? Does nobody really care about her? Mary is like a robot, no real emotions at all
They were processing it at their own levels, not everyone immediately breaks down. Her husband and mother were crying immediately, but the others were in shock, her father was in denial. All these reactions are normal.
The day my father died, I didn't cry, but I felt like I'd been sucker-punched. Worst feeling in the world. I never thought he'd really die. Just that morning he'd been fine. He was looking forward to seeing his twin grandsons turn eight the next week but he wasn't so keen on having to go to hospital for a hernia operation. After his last birthday he didn't think he'd live to see another one. I thought: "Sure, Dad, how long have you been saying that now?" Why did I automatically think about that after he died? Because I never believed it would happen.
