I want to put this song on my main ghosts playlist so bad but I can’t add a literal asterisk going *for the girls !!

WAIT- so alison and isabelle are related yeah? like distantly? well maybe its like what mary said about the root vegetables- maybe thomas only loves alison because shes isabelles family :000

"He waited and waited. But she never came."

I always thought this line was about Thomas's dying moments but what if there's more to it?

Thomas, very noticably, barely moves after he dies. He lifts his head to look at the others but that's pretty much it. His reaction, of course, could be the result of shock - the pain from his wound, the realisation that he's dead and ghosts are real and he's one of them, and the pain of Isabelle's absence are quite a lot to deal with, after all - but I wonder if perhaps Kitty's words imply that Thomas stayed under that tree even after he died. At that point he still believed Francis was going to fetch Isabelle so why wouldn't he continue to wait for her?

So imagine him sitting under that tree next to his body, gazing towards the house with hopeful eyes. Imagine the minutes ticking by, turning into an hour. Imagine the other ghosts urging him to come inside and when he doesn't, leaving him there. Imagine the flare of hope inside his chest when someone finally comes, and the disappointment when he realises that it's only the servants. Imagine him watching them carry his body away and hearing them call him a fool. Imagine him staying behind, still waiting, still hoping for Isabelle to come. Imagine the sun setting and night falling and it dawning on him that she won't. Imagine him getting to his feet after all these hours and finding his way to Robin's nook because he can't bear to go into the house and face Isabelle there. Imagine him curling up on the bench and waiting for the sun to rise. Imagine him returning to the tree the moment it does on the off chance that Isabelle might want to say goodbye to him after all.

Imagine him waiting and waiting.

THOMAS’S CRAB\WOMAN DREAM

She's everything <33 He's just Ken.

Both Thomas and the Captain died for true love. Their hearts stopped knowing their love was reciprocated, but they didn’t live long enough to experience it! 🫠

Thomas saying how he can't talk to Isabelle publicly in a social situation where it would be completely normal to talk to her because their engagement is "secret" (read: they are both equally dramatic and massively overthought this whole thing) while they extremely obviously stare at each other across the room like love-crazed loons just proves they were perfect for each other.

I wonder how the other ghosts reacted to become ghosts for the first time. Robin mentions that everyone tries to leave at first, I wonder how many times Captain ran full speed at the gate, or if Pat panicked and tried to reason with the others that he needed to see his family. How many times did Fanny scream at George before she gave up, how much of Isabelle’s life did Thomas get to see. Once Humphrey got used to Robin, did they spend a lot of time together? Did Kitty try to join in on Eleanor’s life if she both outlived her and stayed at the house? 

I looked forward to unveiling my new work, but most of all, I looked forward to seeing once again Lord Higham's daughter... my beloved Isabelle.

Holli Dempsey & Mathew Baynton as Isabelle Higham & Thomas Thorne in BBC GHOSTS (2019-) | 2.04 (The Thomas Thorne Affair)

bonus:

the fact that isabelle’s letter was forged and that she did love thomas is like a double twist. in the initial telling of the story the reveal of isabelle no longer loving thomas came as unsurprising like haha yeah it’s absurd thomas sillyboy. but when the actual account of events came and the recital audience’s reception of thomas flipped to the stark reality of remarks and sneers, we get an image more befitting of our perception of thomas. however it is then, in this universe of reality, that isabelle is seen still loving him. therefore all the more tragic that francis ripped away one of the few who did not look down vehemently upon thomas.

it’s one thing to make thomas believe his love was unrequited, to make isabelle go on to think of thomas for the rest of life as a man of fickle affection is another ... i do wonder if she had doubts at the start, searching in memories if he ever displayed a sign.

question: if eleanor is a higham, how come isabelle is also a higham? it wouldn't really make sense for eleanor to keep her maiden name in this time period, and we know that she must have married and had children, because kitty mentions that alison is descended from her. i know it's probably a stupid idea to ask the show which says humphrey was born in the 1530s to have a logical timeline but what's going on there

Let me lend you some pussy

Oh, you are kind

- Francis Button and Isabelle Higham

At a history day at Button house Humphrey, Kitty, Thomas mistook three brown haired women (one in Tudor, one in Georgian and one in Regency) for Sophie, Eleanor and Isabelle. Thomas lashes out a dark haired man wearing glasses and in regency fashion while Cap almost had a heart attack when he saw a brown haired man in a lieutenant’s ww2 uniform. Fanny lashed out an old man in Edwardian fashion.

not to be abrasive on purpose but people who write modern au isabelle to intentionally cheat on thomas with francis did you even watch the thomas thorne affair

dresses worn by the regency era women in 2x04 ↳ ( for anon )

Tried making some sense of it from what little we do know (also i just realized i needed to add Heather one more down-)

But- lets pretend we are George and look at the family line from there, with that Thomas Thorne is his “first cousin thrice removed”, they have a bit of relation but its very far out (yes i know i spelled isabelles name wrong in both images let me suffer silently)