As this episode of Grantchester begins, Will Davenport (Tom Brittney) goes for a walk and tries to figure out how to tell everyone he’s leaving. When he returns, he talks to Ernie (Isaac Highams) about human spawn. Will goes inside where he tries to talk to Geordie Keating (Robson Green). However, Bonnie (Charlotte Ritchie) interrupts because there’s a call for Geordie. Will tells Bonnie they need to speak to Ernie about the birds and bees. As for the other thing, Will is waiting for a quiet moment. Moments later, Geordie tells Will that they found a body in a hotel. Will tries to tell Geordie, but he doesn’t and instead talks about church. Bonnie urges Will to tell him as they walk to church. She is confident that Geordie will cope.

Bonnie goes through the reasons they should leave now. They hear a baby crying inside the church. At the River View Hotel, Geordie learns about Mr. Daniels who was always swearing. Cecilia takes Larry (Bradley Hall) and Geordie to the body. Larry and Geordie try to decide whether the man fell to his death. Larry wants to ask him about getting married. He goes on to say he believes Miss Scott is warming to him although he hasn’t asked her yet. Geordie urges him to ask her first and to get the keys he found dusted. Will calls Geordie to tell him about the baby. Cathy (Kacey Ainsworth) finds a note explaining someone couldn’t love the baby as she deserved to be loved. Geordie notices RVH on the blanket. He believes it is connected to the hotel. They check the logs and learn that Mrs. Smith was the only woman to check into the motel.

Will and Geordie check her room at the motel and learn that she likely gave birth at the motel. Will blurts out that he’s leaving since he took the job in Newcastle. Larry interrupts to say one call was made around 9:56 last night to Leonard’s halfway house. They visit Leonard (Al Weaver) who is hanging out with Sam White (Elliot Warren). Geordie asks Leonard if any of the men received a call just before 10. Leonard explains they only write down calls they make and not the ones they receive. As they make it back to the station, Will asks Geordie if he wants to talk about him leaving. Geordie doesn’t act like he’s interested. Will says they’re going next week. Geordie turns his attention to Miss Scott (Melissa Johns) and asks if congratulations are in order. Geordie drops it. Miss Scott says a witness saw a woman taking the baby to the church just before Will found it.

The witness is Ernie who says he was playing marbles with Dora in the garden. Ernie claims he can’t remember what type of hair the woman had. Larry says Mr. Daniels was a quiet man. Bonnie quickly speculates that Mr. Daniels wanted to take the child so his lady friend hit him. Ernie says the woman had a coat like the one he had for school. It was gray with a yellow badge. It might’ve been a lion badge. At the school, Geordie finds out it’s a phoenix. They run into the headmistress Eileen Bradley (Sophie Bould). She doesn’t want to believe her girls are involved. Eileen asks Miss Rose Shirley (Rebecca Benson) to take them to see the girls in question. During the interview, Holly Wainwright (Phoebe De Silva) asks how babies are made. Lola McCallum (Isobel Sinclair) asks if the baby is a boy or a girl.

Holly makes jokes about the vicar until Eileen interrupts. Later, Will tells Bonnie that it seems Geordie doesn’t care. He interrupts seconds later and possibly overhears them. Geordie and Will talk about Lola who has been withdrawn lately. Will says he loves this place and having a family there. He doesn’t want to end up there in 30 years and realize he missed his chance. Will hopes he has Geordie’s blessing. Geordie admits he doesn’t understand before saying it’s selfish. He claims Will isn’t thinking about the people he’s leaving behind. Geordie refuses to give Will his blessing. He interrupts and tells everyone else about Bonnie and Will leaving. Geordie asks Bonnie if she put Will up to it. Will follows him out. Geordie says that was honesty and he might want to try it sometime. Geordie insists he’s not taking this out on Bonnie.

Will says he didn’t tell him because he knew he’d be upset and he’s acting like his dad. Geordie says he’s not his dad. Will says thank God for that. Geordie may find something at work so he yells for Larry to bring him the note. Larry reveals someone heard a guy banging on the girl’s door. Geordie compares the handwriting to the writing on the fifth-form register. He learns that Mrs. Smith is the teacher instead of one of the girls. Larry and Geordie approach Shirley who seems to be ill. She says no one can know about the baby. At the station, Miss Scott tells Larry that the victim’s neck was broken in two places. Larry proposes to Jennifer. She tells him it was just sex and he doesn’t want to marry her. Will complains about Geordie until he arrives. He tells Will that Shirley is feeling better. Bonnie tells Geordie he just needed to be happy for him. Geordie says it’s hard to be when you’re not.

Bonnie accuses Geordie of holding him back. She doesn’t think it’s fair for Will to stay just to please him. Will and Geordie speak to Rose Shirley. She says she went to the motel and had the baby. She insists there wasn’t an altercation with the hotel manager. She wishes she had a boy because the world isn’t kind to girls. When Eileen arrives, Rose immediately apologizes and asks her not to be angry. Eileen hugs her. She tells Will and Geordie that she promised her sister she’d look after Rose who is her niece. Eileen doesn’t know the father’s name. She would’ve tried to understand because that’s what you do when you love somebody. As they leave, Will mentions the calls from the halfway house since Rose and the boy spoke on most Saturdays. Geordie notices that things are awkward between Miss Scott and Larry.

Will tells Geordie that the most difficult part is the thought of leaving him. Geordie asks him to stay. The calls on Saturday have the initials SW. Will suspects that means Sam White. Sam tells them that Rose spoke to him and seemed unhappy. He claims the baby is not his although Rose confided in him about it. She only told him she didn’t want to keep it. Sam told her about a nonjudgmental doctor. He was surprised when she called him while in labor. She seemed scared and someone was there. Sam denies going to the motel. Leonard sticks up for him. Will speaks to Leonard in private outside. Leonard suggests he should pack his bags and come with him. Will admits Leonard inspired him because he just keeps striving. Leonard asks if he’d stay if he asked him to. He knows that was unfair of him so he tells Will to go.

Geordie questions why Cecilia didn’t mention that some man was trying to knock the door down. Will and Geordie question her. She admits a man was banging and trying to get in. Cecilia wasn’t worried about him because a breeze would’ve knocked him over. He also gave her five quid not to say anything. Mr. Warne (Adam Buchanan) is brought in for questioning. He insists the baby wasn’t his. Warne says he moved back from Dublin three months ago. He helped her to the hotel and signed her in. He claims he was trying to get into her room to make sure she was okay. Warne denies being involved in a scuffle with the manager. He paid Cecilia to ensure the situation was discreet. Warne offers to swear on a bible. Jennifer learns that the ring was his old mom’s. She thinks his mom would’ve wanted him to give it to someone who deserved it.

Larry suggests it wouldn’t have worked between them. He wants to make sure they had a nice time the other night. Miss Scott has no complaints. She tells him there’s a Mrs. Peters out there. Will thinks it’d be hell on earth if they were married. Will and Leonard talk about the case. Will thinks Eileen knew all along because she mentioned a seedy backroom although they didn’t mention a motel. Eileen takes the baby while Rose sleeps nearby. Will and Geordie try to get in touch with her and learn she’s taken a year away to the countryside. They visit Rose who blames herself. Rose claims Eileen forces you to do what you don’t want to. She believes Eileen would be with Mr. Warne because she bullies him as well. She goes on to say Eileen sent Mr. Warne to look for her.

Will and Geordie catch up with Eileen and Warne. Will takes the baby when Warne refuses to drive away. In an interview room, Eileen claims she knows what’s best for Rose. She wanted a child and fate intervened. Geordie believes it’s just another way for Eileen to control Rose. He suggests she was angry because everyone was defying her. As a result, she got into a scuffle with Daniels and knocked him down the stairs. When she entered the motel room, Rose was already gone. Geordie says it was Rose’s life to do with as she wants. Later, Rose hopes the adoption agency will find the baby a good family. She claims she wasn’t thinking straight and that’s why she wore the school blazer. Geordie wonders if she wanted to be reunited with the baby. Rose argues she can’t bring up a child alone. Geordie gives her advice using his personal experience.

He gives Rose the baby. Will speaks to the church members about his first few weeks there. Rose takes the baby with her when she leaves. Will says goodbye to Dickens. Sylvia (Tessa Peake-Jones) and Jack (Nick Brimble) tell him they got him a surprise. It’s a big shiny car. Sylvia makes him promise that he won’t give them a second thought. She thinks he’s going to do so many wonderful things. Will asks Daniel to look after Leonard. Then, Leonard tells Will that he made him a wonderful person. Bonnie tells Will she’s sorry Geordie didn’t make it as they drive away. She thinks he should go and find Geordie because changing the world can wait a little bit. Will eventually runs into him. Geordie says meeting Will has been a godsend. He says he’s grateful that Will saved him when he struggled. Geordie gives Will his blessing. Will hopes he made Geordie proud. Geordie says every day.

 

Grantchester Review

This episode of Grantchester was fairly strong thanks to the departure of Will. Most will agree that Will’s departure was handled a lot better than Sidney’s many years ago. It was better set up and it made a lot more sense. It was also more emotional with Geordie coming to terms with Will’s decision.

Based on that, this will likely be the strongest episode of the series. The investigation was also good since it helped Geordie see that he was wrong about Will. The previews for the upcoming vicar are a bit concerning. The series is already a little iffy with Geordie relying so heavily on vicars.

However, it’s been different up until this point because Sidney and Will were more than willing to help. It’s going to be a little silly if Geordie actively enlists the help of a new vicar when he should be presented as a strong investigator on his own.

The relationship between Larry and Miss Scott has been fun as well. I wouldn’t expect this to be the end of it. Truthfully, there were so many storylines going on here and strong characters that the show didn’t even need a new vicar. As I mentioned on the forum, Al Weaver really deserved to step up considering he’s stuck around for this long.

We’ll have to wait and see how it plays out, but this was a strong episode that scores a 7 out of 10. Recaps of Grantchester can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. See what others are saying at the Reel Mockery Forum.