'Downton Abbey' Recap, Spoilers: Fire Almost Burns Down House As Female Leads Assert Themselves

"Downton Abbey" returned to PBS with a "burningly" good episode that saw a fire nearly engulfing the entire house. The premiere episode of Season 5 which aired at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday also saw several female members take control of their destiny and become prime movers in the show.

The episode kicked off with Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) visiting her illegitimate daughter Marigold who was being looked after by a farmer. However, his wife thought Mary was flirting with him. This made him suggest that she show less interest and gradually think about "adopting" her. Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) finally decided to embark on a relationship with Tony Gillingham (Tom Cullen) and they decided to spend a week together as lovers so that she can be sure that he is the correct person for her.

Coming to the politics of the episode, the new Labor government of the day got a vote of no confidence from Lord Robert (Hugh Bonneville) who viewed them as a threat to his family's lifestyle. There was also more politics discussed at a dinner where Sarah (Siobhan Finneran) criticized Robert's views and voiced her support for the government.

The premiere also saw Baxter confessing to Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) that she stole jewelry from her former employee and went to prison for it, thereby neutralizing Thomas's threat to tell Cora about it to get Baxter fired. Cora then told Baxter she could remain in her job, but when Thomas (Rob James-Collier) subsequently went to Cora, she held him to blame for bringing a convicted felon into the house.

After this, Violet (Maggie Smith) planned a luncheon to help Isobel (Penelope Wilton) get to know her admirer Lord Merton (Douglas Reith) better. However, it didn't go as planned with Lady Shackleton (Harriet Walter) taking over Merton's time. Isobel then assumed that Violet was setting her up with Merton by making her jealous.

Finally the fire occurred when an upset Edith threw a book of Michael Gregson (Charles Edwards) into the fire and it ended up spreading flames into the room. However, she escaped from the fire when Thomas rushed into the room to save her.