Downton Redux: Thomas No Longer Owes Bates a Life

In the IMDB message board for Downton Abbey, I recently received the
following interesting response (to my claim...

http://sharpelvessociety.blogspot.com/2014/02/downtondonwellwhodoneit-abbey-did-bates.html

...that Barrow is the one who killed the rapist, not Bates) from a fellow
IMDB participant:

"That is a very interesting idea and that would be cool if in some way
Thomas DID do it. I do believe Bates did it, but for the fun of it; it
would be sweet if Thomas killed Green as thanks for Bates getting him his
job back at Downton. They did share a nice moment when Thomas breaks down
with "Know when you are beaten" (referring to himself)."

I responded as follows:

"...you're right, you've picked up on ONE of the key reasons why I think
it's Barrow--recall the running plot line in Little Big Man, when Jack
Crabbe saves the life of the Cheyenne warrior Younger Bear early on, and
Younger Bear thereafter hates Jack, until Custer's Last Stand, when
Younger Bear saves Jack from being shot by Custer, whereupon he screams
his elation: "Now I don't owe you a life!"
Same deal with Barrow, it's pure karma that after he kills the rapist, he
no long owes Bates a life."

Cheers, ARNIE
@JaneAustenCode on Twitter