The problematic John Bates
Ι have to say, I disliked Bates very early, and with every rewatch I find new reasons. I think the closest I came to having sympathy for him was the first episode, when O’Brien cruelly kicks his cane and has him fall in order to embarrass him and have him lose his job (after first poisoning a nastily gossiping Cora against him in order to influence Robert) then he is crying alone in his room, desperate that he will not find another position.
But it is downhill after that. When he sees Thomas flirt with Daisy just to make William feel rejected, he physically attacks him. Then we find out he is hiding one big secret from Anna—he is married—and another from Robert and Carson—he was imprisoned as a thief. Considering how big of a deal we are led to believe hiding such a record was when we come across Baxter later, he is quite the shady character. Frankly, even during the first episode when he lets Carson lecture him not to be intimidated by the presence of “his lordship” knowing full well Robert and he go back is also dubious behavior.
After establishing his character as someone shady and prone to physical violence, it is not nard to see why circumstantial evidence would have been enough to convict him when Vera is found dead—even Robert warned him to be calm, obviously knowing his nature. And Mary and Mrs. Hughes would also not be so quick to fear Bates’ (supposed) trip to London was to kill Green, if his violent temper was not a common secret.
Regarding other downstairs characters, when he does offer advice to Gwen not to give up on her dream of changing her fate, he is speaking from drawing a parallel with his ill-conceived leg contraption. When he helps Molesley financially using the Dowager’s money, it is to make Anna feel better. Contrast that with Molesley spending weeks of his days off to help exonerate him of the charge that he killed Green. Ironically, the one person downstairs I must admit he really did help was Thomas.
I will grant he did love Anna, which is probably his biggest motive for succumbing to Vera’s blackmail after telling him Anna was involved in the Pamuk scandal. But even the way he made Anna feel guilty for having fun during the cards game Green organized, as if she should have known Mrs. Patmore had fallen ill, also shows how unlikeable he can be. When Molesley tells him he is really only nice to Anna, he is certainly dropping quite the truth bomb about him as a character.