Previously on Mr Selfridge: Mae’s husband turned abusive, Agnes and Grove struggled to keep their heads above water, and Rose tracked down Henri.
Late at night, Agnes puts together some kind of safari-themed display in fashion, complete with stuffed tiger. She looks exhausted.
The next morning, Victor arrives at the store for work, passing by signs announcing the opening of the empire exhibition the following week.
Previously on Mr Selfridge: The store turned five and Rose came back to London, prompting Harry to try and get his act (and family) back together. Agnes returned from a two-year stint in Paris and pouted because Victor actually got on with his life without her. Mae’s jerkass husband showed up to be hateful and boring, and young Gordon started learning the business from the ground up.
Selfridge workers make their way to work, passing by some union men passing out leaflets. Victor chases a couple away from Agnes and escorts her inside. In the store, the workers gossip over whether or not Harry will go back to America if war breaks out. Crabb announces that Harry’s totally staying put and tells everyone to get to their stations.
Previously on Mr Selfridge: Harry Selfridge and his crazed smile moved to London so he could open his eponymous store. Almost immediately afterwards, his personal life started imploding, thanks to his affair with the unstable Ellen Love, which led to a humiliating play that sent his wife, Rose, into the arms of a stalker, and then rushing back overseas to America. Shopgirl Agnes Towler was apparently some sort of window dressing genius and became first the protégé, then the lover of Henri Leclair before he, too, took off for the new world. Mr Grove, the store manager, turned out to be a major douchebag and dumped his long-time lover, Miss Mardle, so he could marry former employee Doris and turn her into a baby machine.
Previously on Mr Selfridge: All the spurned people on the show got together to work on a play, which I’m sure won’t be disastrous at all. Rose got a creepy stalker in Roddy, who insists she’s in love with him, and she seems to agree with that, which is gross. Grove started getting a bit closer to Doris, while freezing out Mardle, and Agnes decided to end her nonsensical fling with Henri.
Previously on Mr Selfridge: Miss Bunting got fired for stealing and was taken under the wings of both Doris and Grove. Grove asked Mardle for a break, which made her an enemy, Kitty was promoted, and Rose got stalked by that horrible artist. Also, Agnes started having regular sexy time with Henri.
Previously on Mr Selfridge: Bunting turned up, clearly in a bad way, prompting Doris to show her softer side. Agnes got switched over to fashion and started making out with Henri, and Ellen decided to become a Serious Actress.
Previously on Mr Selfridge: Harry drunk drove himself into a coma and was haunted by his douchbag, deadbeat dad. Grove lost his wife and let his misogynist flag fly while he was briefly in charge of the store, giving Crabb, of all people, a chance to step up and be kind of awesome. Henri revealed an inexplicable crush on Agnes.
Previously on Mr Selfridge: Agnes got her job back and hopefully saw the back of her dad for the last time. Lady Mae got her claws into Victor, Ellen attempted suicide, and Harry’s life started to crumble, sending him off into a drunk-driving accident.
On her way to work, Agnes sees newspapers with the news of Harry’s accident splashed all over the front page. Slow news day? There’s a suffragette outside the store handing out leaflets and Agnes distractedly takes one.
Previously on Mr Selfridge: Ellen got fired after gatecrashing an event with Anna Pavlova and making an ass of herself; Drunken Dad also took the opportunity to make an ass of himself, costing Agnes her job. Things between Rose and Turner the artist went perhaps a touch further than is strictly proper.
Wow, no teaser scene this week. Right to the credits.
Selfridge and Crabb head into a warehouse, where sits a beautiful Rolls Royce that Harry’s going to put in the window, just as Henri promised. Crabb’s a bit worried about the cost (of course), and he warns Harry that the car is not insured to be driven, not even by Harry. Henri shows up and declares the car magnificent. Harry wants the window to be all about motoring for the modern age. Henri says he needs Agnes and Harry’s like, fine, go ahead and grab her. Henri looks at him like he’s an idiot and reminds him that Agnes doesn’t work there anymore, after that business with her dad.
Previously on Mr Selfridge: Ellen started getting all coked up and a bit unhinged, Agnes’s alcoholic father started getting abusive, and Rose had her artist friend, Roddy Temple, start painting her portrait.
Harry, trailed by Grove, Crabb, and Henri, steps off the elevator, and he does not look happy. He calls for Miss Bunting, head of…fabrics, I guess? Which makes her name kind of funny, to join them. She looks scared. Grove asks for Mardle to help them out and to check the hem of Bunting’s skirt. Mardle looks alarmed, but she does so and pulls out a length of silk the woman had stuffed in there, while the other workers stare. Bunting weeps and says she’s sorry, but Harry (rather regretfully, it must be said) fires her. Well, this all came out of absolutely nowhere. Poor writing, writers. Really poor. It’s so random it almost seems like she was set up (she wasn’t, but it seems like that should be the case). I also can’t help but wonder why Henri’s being involved in this. Isn’t he just the window dresser? What’s his involvement with staff disciplinary issues?
