As the fifth episode of Grantchester’s 6th season begins, Will Davenport (Tom Brittney) remains at home and tries to cope with the loss of Leonard Finch (Al Weaver). He eventually ends up playing backgammon down at the pub with Inspector Keating (Robson Green). Geordie tells Will about the child abuser he sent home with a slap on the wrist while Leonard rots away in a cell. Will confesses he hasn’t seen Leonard yet because he can’t until he can bring him some good news. Rachel from the school CND interrupts to tell them about the group’s anti-nuclear weapons protest. She argues nuclear bombs could reduce the whole planet to ruins in the next war while Geordie claims they ended all wars. They have a good laugh when Will pretends Geordie is his father. Rachel tells them how a lot of people ended up with cancer after the Hiroshima bombing. Geordie takes a leaflet while Will admits she won’t change his mind.

Once she leaves, Geordie argues the youth of today need a good war. When they leave later that night, Will tries to convince Geordie to go for another drink because it is too quiet and depressing at home. He insists even their dog Dickens is depressed although Geordie isn’t sure about it. They look up and notice a peace sign graffitied on the university nearby. As they approach the crowd in front of them, a young man, Josh, rushes past and bumps shoulders with Geordie. They see figures moving around on the roof and Geordie makes it clear he doesn’t want to be involved. When they hear a scream, they rush into the building to find Rachel laying in a pool of blood. Geordie quickly takes control of the crime scene where pictures are taken in the morning. Geordie and Will speak to Mr. Allison who complains he will have to clean the paint up.

Allison says he saw them, they ran, and he heard Rachel scream. When he looked over, he saw her on the ground below. He thought it was two or three on the roof. Although it is a lady’s college, it could’ve been boys. It was difficult to tell since they’re all wearing pants today. They head outside and hear Josh trying to convince Rory that this isn’t his fault. They find out that Rory was Rachel’s boyfriend, and he was at the debating society meeting when she fell. Rory insists he wouldn’t have let Rachel do it if he knew what she was going to do. The students do not cooperate. When Will and Geordie walk away, Rory speaks up and says they can’t let Rachel be remembered for this since she lived for the cause. Will finds an address on the leaflet before telling Geordie he is going to speak to Rachel’s roommate. Once they arrive, they’re introduced to Petra Nuemann who doesn’t deny being on the roof with Rachel.

Petra claims she didn’t see what happened. They’d finished painting when the porter found them, so they split and ran in opposite directions. When pressed about that, she only says it was Rachel and her. Geordie finds a letter from the Home Office giving Rachel a position in the International Trade Department. Petra says Rachel was the most brilliant of them and she must make Rachel’s sacrifice worthwhile. Once they return to the station, Geordie says it is ironic the German is fighting for peace, but Will says it is inspiring. That prompts Geordie to call him an idealist. Miss Scott (Melissa Johns) tells Geordie about his messages including several from the college claiming an officer has been harassing students. Plus, Johnny Richards (Shaun Dooley) has been looking for him. Geordie receives the postmortem results and finds out that Rachel was stabbed in the back with a small object before she fell.

He tells Will that being an idealist isn’t going to get you anyway. Whatever stabbed Rachel managed to pierce her heart, so she would’ve bled to death in seconds anyway. Next, Will speaks at the church as Bishop Aubrey Gray (Stuart Bowman) and Henry Jones (Ahmed Elhaj) enter. They sit down and approach Will once the sermon ends. During the conversation, Will learns Henry Jones is going to be his new curate. That angers him since he should’ve had a say so in the matter. In private, Aubrey tells Will that Jones is the perfect man for the job because he is upright, wholesome, and engaged to be married. Will takes Henry back to the house and introduces him to Dickens. Henry pulls out exercise equipment from his luggage and admits he can’t get enough calisthenics.

Before Will leaves to handle business, Henry promises he isn’t there to stop on any toes. As Will steps out, Mrs. Chapman (Tessa Peake-Jones) worries that her boy isn’t going to come back. Will visits Geordie to complain about Aubrey picking a new curate for him. They look at the minutes from the debating society that show Rory would’ve been there from 8:15 to 10:15 PM. They learn from Larry (Bradley Hall) that something is going on at the college, so they rush down there and find the students harassing Mr. Allison. Rory learns that she was murdered and immediately blames it on Allison who he calls a pervert. Geordie breaks it up and sends the kids back to their kennels. Allison complains the kids talk about peace, but they’re actually savages. They learn the kids stole his paint before Geordie checks the trunk and finds a bloody screwdriver in Allison’s toolbox.

Bernard Allison is taken to the station where he admits he checks his toolbox almost every day. He believes the pinkoes broke in and hid the screwdriver. When he is asked why they called him a pervert, he says he took Rachel into his office and cuddled her to calm her down when he found her arguing with Rory. Before the interview ends, Bernard promises he never hurt her. Then, they learn from Larry that the screwdriver has been cleaned with turpentine or something so there are no fingerprints. Will and Geordie agree you’d clean the handle and leave the blood on the screwdriver to frame someone. Since they need to find out who was on the roof, Geordie believes Will should attend one of their meetings. Moments later, Henry looks at a picture of Leonard. Sylvia Chapman approaches Henry and learns he has finished putting all the contacts into his wheeldex.

She wonders whether Henry Jones is his real name, but he says it is and he is as British as fish and chips. Henry says the wheeldex is a modern masterpiece of efficiency and one of the many advances he will bring to Grantchester. Will attends the meeting as Petra says they need to nominate a new leader. Josh quickly speaks up and nominates Rory since he was good enough for the Home Office. Petra nominates herself, but nobody stands with her so Rory gets the position. Rory thanks everyone for putting their faith in him before Petra says they need to start planning their next protest. Rory takes credit for deciding to deface the college although Petra says it was Rachel’s idea. They turn their attention to Will who admits they let Bernard Allison go because they only had circumstantial evidence. Rory believes they should do something about that. When Petra suggests otherwise, Rory reminds her she needs to be keeping the minutes.

Will talks to Petra when the meeting ends, and she says it wasn’t about being rich or pretty when the group first started. Will tells her she is inspiring because she believes in something. Petra says she grew up in Dresden, so she saw men, women, and children suffer because of the war. Seconds later, Will has to break up an argument between Rory and Josh. She admits Josh is always pushing people’s buttons, but she won’t say he was on the roof with them. Will gets her to reveal that Josh liked Rachel and she saw them struggling by the stairs. Josh is immediately brought down to the station for an interview. He says he drove the equipment back to the workshop so he couldn’t have killed Rachel. He reminds Geordie that he ran into him before the murder. Josh goes on to admit he thought Rachel was inviting him up because she liked him too, but he was wrong. Once the interview ends, Geordie claims it is only a fad and they’re interested in the hanky panky more.

They step outside where they’re greeted by protestors complaining about Bernard Allison being released. When they step back inside, Will admits he might’ve said something about it. Will says they’re grieving but that upsets Geordie who says they’re not revolutionaries and neither is Will. Davenport makes it worse by comparing his actions to what the Nazis did before trying to apologize. Geordie tells Will that he only wants to talk and doesn’t want to do anything including not visiting Leonard yet. Back at home, Sylvia learns that Henry has made dinner for himself and Will although she isn’t sure when Will is going to get home. Henry makes it clear he likes cooking so she’ll have a hard time keeping him out of the kitchen. Johnny finally catches up with Geordie for a drink and both agree the youth of the country need a good war. Johnny justifies trying to bribe an officer by saying the people he works with operate in the grey and he feels he has earned the money.

He also says everyone takes backhanders from time to time, but Geordie tries to deny his force does. Johnny says it is easy for people who’ve never fought in the war to protest against the weapons that end them. He says there is no right or wrong since people are just trying to survive. Geordie invites him to dinner while Henry continues waiting for Will. At the pub, Will finds Tamara (Emily Patrick) with a soldier and breaks them up. They pretend they’re married and use that as an excuse to leave. Johnny goes home with Geordie and compliments Cathy (Kacey Ainsworth) immediately. Esme (Skye Lucia Degruttola) is tasked with preparing for the guest. Tamara tells Will he can’t interrupt her plans and send her away in a taxi. He suspects she has had too much to drink and was on the verge of making a big mistake. Will looks away when she pulls out a bottle of alcohol from her stalking. She finds that funny and wonders if that is the most female flesh he has ever seen.

He says there was a nun before downing her alcohol and inviting her on a boat trip. Geordie and Johnny tell Cathy and Esme about their time in Burma without going into the fine details. Johnny says it was a hard time and there are reasons people don’t talk about it. Will helps steal the boat before Tamara falls inside and they kiss. In the morning, Will isn’t thrilled to find Tamara next to him in bed. He rushes to get her dressed so she can leave without anyone noticing. Henry talks to someone on the phone about the house being akin to Sodom and Gomorrah. He ends the call and runs into Tamara who is called Will’s stepsister. She tells Will she doesn’t normally do sleepovers without satisfaction and breakfast in bed before saying she is disappointed, and a disappointed woman is a dangerous thing. Meanwhile, Kathy continues pestering Geordie while he eats. Once he has had enough, he asks her for five minutes of peace before work.

Will arrives and tells Geordie about spending the night with Tamara, but he doesn’t think he did anything with her. Will changes the subject and suggests Petra would be the most disappointed person in the situation. They visit her and ask about her disappointment of losing out on the CND leadership to Rory. They notice she is nervous about her bag. Geordie rushes over, grabs it, and opens it. He finds a small bloodstain inside. She admits to removing the fingerprints with turpentine and putting the screwdriver in Bernard’s van. She also admits to lying about Josh but denies killing Rachel. She has seen enough death and wouldn’t do this to anyone. At the station, Will admits he believes her. Geordie tries to make amends for their argument while Will says they might be friends because they disagree about everything. They agree to go to the railway station to meet with Rachel’s parents who thought Geordie was the Home Office when he called.

Will begins suspecting Rory because of what Josh said during the meeting. He checks the meetings for the CND and the debate society and finds out that Petra wrote both. Since she likely did it to give Rory an alibi, he is brought in immediately. They make him read the letter from the Home Office. Rachel got the position and Rory wanted her to step aside but she wasn’t going to do it. They want to know what happened that night and what set Rory off. We see a flashback of Rachel laughing at him and telling him to stay home and play the good little wife. When she turns around, he stabs her in the back with the screwdriver and pushes her over.

Petra helped cover it up and give him an alibi because she wanted to be the leader of the CND, but he took that away from her. Rory argues that the job would’ve been wasted on Rachel. Geordie wants to see how superior he feels when he is in a cell. When that ends, Geordie goes outside and talks to Will about it before learning Will is going to visit Leonard. Aubrey sits down with Henry who tells him about Will and his stepsister. He says Will isn’t around much. He complains that Will treats it like an amusement but what they do is a privilege and not a right. Henry says God brought him there and he knows how to put it back into line. Will goes to the prison and waist to see Leonard. When Leonard steps out, Will apologizes for not coming soon and Leonard asks Will to pray with him.

 

Grantchester Review

I am not sure how I missed that the season was going to feature eight episodes instead of the normal six, but I did. I think they made the right decision here since we need more to happen before closing the book on this season of Grantchester. The episode was good in many ways, including how Geordie and Will are starting to bicker. I suspect this is going to continue until it blows up and they work to resolve it eventually.

The addition of Henry Jones was very interesting although I worry that he is going to create strife in Grantchester. It would be fun to see how some of his efficiency techniques could revolutionize the investigative work in Grantchester. Still, viewers are likely hoping poor Leonard will return to his rightful post as curate.

The episode did a good job of pushing the story forward and giving us a glimpse of a possible Grantchester without Leonard Finch although nobody wants them. I have a suspicion that Johnny is going to help Leonard at some point, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens. The episode scores an 8 out of 10. Catch up with previous recaps of Grantchester on Reel Mockery here.