As this episode of Grantchester begins, Leonard Finch (Al Weaver) tries to keep Geordie (Robson Green) company. Alphy Kotteram (Rishi Nair) arrives in town. Sylvia Chapman (Tessa Peake-Jones) rushes to the pub to tell Geordie that someone is breaking into the vicarage. The three of them go over and Geordie tells them to guard the door. Geordie goes in and confronts Alphy who hits him and threatens to call the police. Geordie soon learns that Alphy is the new vicar. Alphy questions whether someone reported him and what they said. Geordie leaves moments later. Alphy comes outside to speak to Leonard and Sylvia. Later, Geordie speaks to Cathy (Kacey Ainsworth) and Esme (Skye Lucia Degruttola) about the new vicar.

Sylvia tells them that the new vicar is Indian. She says he’s a foreigner and it’s unsettling. Esme asks if he’s handsome. They tell Geordie that he needs a friend and a vicar. Sylvia and Cathy try to prevent Esme from leaving with lipstick on. Esme wipes it off before leaving. Alphy looks at the papers left by Will. He goes to a pond where he intends to swim. A woman approaches to tell him he’s trespassing on her family’s land. When Rachel Baron (Sophie Jones) introduces herself, Alphy asks if she’s kin to Albert Baron. It’s her father and they talk about his service. Rachel leaves moments later. At the church, Rachel’s brother, Harvey (Ned Porteous), asks Alphy about being a convert. Alphy claims he was born and bred a Christian. Then, he performs the service for Albert Baron.

Lionel Walker (Jay Villiers) enters the church before Harvey punched him. Alphy asks them to leave. Jamie Walker (Daniel Fraser) tries to take his father out of the church after Lionel tells Albert he’ll see him in hell. Harvey yells for him to admit what he did, but Lionel claims Albert took his own life. Once they’re alone, Harvey tells Alphy that his dad was murdered and he can prove it. Geordie arrives moments later to speak to the Walkers and the Barons. Alphy leaves because murder isn’t his thing. Harvey tells Geordie that Henry VII gave his ancestors a piece of land in 1545. Lionel claims the land was a gift from the King to his mistress who was his great-great, etcetera aunt. The land is behind both of their residences. Jamie says it’s been hell listening to them argue about it.

Although Albert allegedly shot himself with his rifle, Harvey claims it wasn’t his rifle. Alphy goes to the Blue Ball Inn to get a pint. Everyone is standoffish when Alphy says he wants to talk to everyone about the parish tomorrow. Geordie goes to the spot where Albert was found deceased. Harvey shows him the gun and explains his dad would notch the hand after every deer he killed. The rifle has no notches so he doesn’t think it’s his dad’s rifle. Geordie goes to the pub where he speaks to Alphy about the case. He tells him how he has come to vicars for help in the past. Alphy refuses to help him because he’s not a great believer in the police. He calls them power-hungry, violent thugs. Eventually, Alphy asks how he can help. Geordie says he needs to exhume the body and have another look.

Once Geordie learns the body is still at the church, he forces Alphy to tag alone. At the station, Alphy says he’s never seen so many uptight white men in one place. Larry (Bradley Hall) confirms to Geordie that he was the investigating officer. Then, Geordie tries to drag Alphy to the morgue. Instead, Alphy stays so Larry can take his statement. Miss Scott (Melissa Johns) comes over to speak to him. Alphy learns that Geordie has a thing for vicars. Miss Scott notices he doesn’t have a wedding ring so she offers to be his tour guide. Geordie returns and says Albert was right-handed making it difficult to shoot himself in the right side of the chest. Alphy experiments with that idea later. He also learns that Rachel Baron and Jamie Walker were in marital counseling at some point.

Alphy meets Rachel and Jamie to talk to them about it. Jamie admits he’s ready to put the land behind them. Harvey walks in and mentions their love. Jamie seems to get upset before storming out of the room. Outside, Rachel ends up kissing Alphy. He sees Jamie and Harvey speaking nearby. Leonard visits Alphy at home with a gift to apologize. Alphy suggests Sylvia is bigoted. Leonard thinks she just needs nudging in the right direction. He introduces Alphy to Dickens who comes with the house. They talk about Will and Geordie. Alphy thinks Geordie is a judgmental, right-wing, tyrant. Leonard insists Geordie is more tolerant than he might think. He tells him about the church frowning on some of his romantic choices. Leonard tells Alphy to give Geordie a chance. Everyone else in the village takes a while to soften toward anything different.

They haven’t softened toward Leonard though. Before Leonard leaves, he learns that Alphy has read Dostoevsky. Alphy asks what he knows about the Barons and the Walkers. Leonard says he never took Jamie as the marrying sort or at least to any woman. Alphy climbs a tree and finds a hidden note. Geordie catches him in the tree and asks if he’s trespassing. At the station, Geordie says the Walkers and the Barons reported that Alphy was trespassing on their land. Alphy shows him the love letter he found from Jamie Walker to Harvey. He also tells Geordie about Rachel kissing him. Geordie speaks to Rachel who claims she loves Jamie and he loves her. When Jamie arrives, Rachel tells him not to let Geordie bully him. Geordie speaks to Jamie and Harvey in private about their relationship. They explain Jamie and Rachel are marrying for practical purposes and so they can sell the land or build on it.

They were at the pub celebrating the engagement when Albert was killed. Only Leonard, Sylvia, and Jack (Nick Brimble) show up at Alphy’s gathering. Lionel meets Alphy at the church and admits he’ll miss Albert. He claims he did not kill Albert before asking if they can pray for him. Alphy goes to the station to speak to Geordie about his conversation with Lionel. He doesn’t think Lionel is the killer although he believes he knows something. Geordie says Lionel was in the Blue Ball pub with the happy couple at the time. Alphy points out that the landlord keeps the clock an hour slow. Any of them could’ve shot Albert and been back to the pub in time. Lionel is brought in and asked to empty his pockets. He pulls out a bloody cloth but insists he’s never seen it before.

Geordie notices it has his initials on it.  He questions Lionel who says Albert wanted to see him. Lionel claims Albert wanted to stop the wedding. Geordie believes Baron knew about Jamie and Harvey. Lionel yells that his son is not a pansy. A flashback shows them fighting over the gun when Albert was shot. Lionel claims he tried to stop the blood. He thought someone was coming so he panicked and fled. Lionel says he didn’t keep the handkerchief and left it there. Geordie tells Alphy he arrested Lionel. Alphy agrees to help him any time. Cathy rushes in to inform Geordie that Esme has not come home. Alphy offers to help look for her. Geordie says he’ll get his coat. As they walk together, Alphy tells Geordie why he became a vicar. They end up finding Esme at The Hope and Anchor.

Once Esme returns home, she complains about her mom being a drag. She goes on to say she can’t stand Sylvia being in their house anymore. Sylvia calls her a disrespectful minx. That upsets Cathy who yells for her to get out. Sylvia says their children are a lost cause. She tells them to keep the mop and try using it because their floors are a disgrace. Once they’re alone, Esme tells Geordie that his old lady is such a downer. The next day, Alphy finds a picture of Jamie and Rachel together. He notices that Rachel has the handkerchief in her pocket. Alphy approaches Geordie to show him the picture. They confront Rachel and accuse her of watching Albert and Lionel fight. Geordie suspects she planted the handkerchief on Lionel at the vicarage. Alphy says her dad was going to stop the wedding because he wanted the Jamie and Harvey situation out in the open.

Rachel couldn’t have that so she watched Albert die. Then, she went to her engagement party and celebrated. Rachel is told she’ll go to prison for this. She says she’ll marry Jamie and they’ll have children. Rachel admits she let him die so she can have some peace. At the church, Alphy thanks everyone for the warm welcome. He goes around to greet everyone personally. Geordie joins Alphy at the pub later and offers to buy him a pint. They talk about Geordie’s thing for vicars. He asks about Alphy’s secret. Alphy claims there are no secrets. They end up talking about football.

 

Grantchester Review

This episode of Grantchester was pivotal considering it was the first with the new vicar. While the episode wasn’t particularly terrible, it didn’t do much to stand out either and it felt a bit too forced given the circumstances. Rishi Nair is trying hard with the role although it felt like it was thrown together at the last minute at points.

Some of the aspects were similar to Will’s introduction with locals quickly swooning over him. Geordie and Alphy’s first meeting and everything that came before it was a bit corny to be honest. Everything after that was pretty much what we’re seeing in every other British detective drama so it’s redundant.

Geordie was portrayed as weak and incompetent after first being punched in the face. The poor Larry character was humiliated by Miss Scott’s behavior and he also had to be the idiot who botched the case previously. If we dig even deeper, we can see that the writing was pretty horrendous here.

It’s fairly convenient for Alphy to just be at the right place at the right time every single time. First, he just happens to get half-naked on the disputed property and meets Rachel. Lionel just falls into his lap and provides him with ample evidence. Alphy just happens to climb a tree for whatever reason to uncover the relationship between Jamie and Harvey. He also finds the engagement photo with the smoking gun to arrest Rachel.

As for the personal drama around the new vicar, that was a bit awkward and uncomfortable as well. The writers wanted to play both sides here by initially making everyone standoffish before only Sylvia was the bigot. The familiarity of the series was always going to take a hit with Will’s departure, but it wasn’t necessary to devalue the remaining cast to introduce the new vicar.

The series will need to quickly resolve those relationships to restore the comfortable familiarity it had with both Sidney and Will. Until that happens, these next few episodes could be very bumpy. This episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Grantchester can be found on Reel Mockery here.

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