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Grantchester

I think it’s safe to say that Grantchester isn’t a mystery show anymore. It’s a straight up morality show.

Going into this season, fans of the series assumed that we’d get more of the same sweetly progressive, jazz-filled, provincial country murder episodes that defined season one. We thought it would be Sidney (James Norton) dating girls and solving crimes and hanging out with Dickens the dog. We assumed there would be more of this:

And less of this:

We were wrong.

Season two of Grantchester has plunged deeper and deeper into the dark moral quandaries that stitch our society together — and consistently create the tensions that tear us apart. Last week, Gary Bell hung for the murder of Abigail Redmond. This week, her predator had to pay.

Sam returned to Abigail’s grave to ask for Sidney’s forgiveness. Sidney, completely bereft after the death of Gary Bell, only wants to blame him. What unravels is a horror show. The Redmonds plot to avenge their daughter. Sam is revealed to be serial pedophile. Oh, there’s a distinct smell of Spotlight stinking up the diocese. Never before has it been so clear that while Sidney Chambers is a “man of God,” he is just a man. The problem is that while most of us can slip into bouts of depression without it ruining life for everyone, Sidney is the moral linchpin of an entire community. More than one character points out that if Sidney’s lost, then they all are.

Peace comes to Sidney only when he begins to interact with the community again. Getting involved in the mystery surrounding Sam’s disappearance forces him to reconnect with Geordie (Robson Green) and Margaret. The trio have to work together to deal with another of Sam’s teen victims. While tracing Agatha Redmond’s actions, Sidney visits Mrs. Bell. She dully takes him to task for not visiting him. And in order to save Sam, Sidney has to forgive him. Grantchester is arguing that peace can only come from kindness and forgiveness. Later, Sidney’s compassion starts to flare up again when he comforts a heartbroken Leonard. Taken by itself, it’s a rare moment of grace on television: a straight man comforting a gay man over a failed love affair.

In the midst of all this, we’re finally given a glimpse at what may really define the biggest difference in Sidney and Geordie’s worldview. While the two try to awkwardly work together again, Geordie tries to brush off their friendship entirely by pointing out that he’s old enough to be Sidney’s father. He’s 50. Now, I don’t know about you, but I quickly did some history nerd math and realized that meant that Geordie escaped both World Wars. He served in Burma, though, and at the end of the episode, Geordie brings this up by explaining they weren’t considered heroes in that war. It wasn’t about valor or national pride or standing up for what’s right – or even being a part of major history. For him, war was about survival. Finally, Geordie’s stark view of right and wrong, life and death, and crime and punishment starts to make a little more sense. It’s the law that gives him purpose.

What gives Sidney’s life purpose? Amanda (Morven Christie).

She rushes to him at the end of the episode declaring that she’s left Guy and her father’s disowned her. She has “nothing” now, poor girl. Of course, this isn’t true. She’s always had Sidney. And so, the two finally suck face. Oh, do they suck face. They kiss like neither of them have never known passion before — and it’s good. It’s really good.