'Grantchester' Season 6, Episode 5 Recap: To Serve

Leonard's court date is upon us on Grantchester, and the church is handling about as well as can be expected. The Bishop (Stuart Bowman) turns up and fires him, withdrawing his license and all. Will wants to stand for Leonard in court, but Leonard refuses; after all, doing so would cost Will his job on top of everything else. Instead, Jack will stand for him, which displeases Mrs. C. But Leonard seems to have found his center, telling Mrs. C he's glad she knows. Had she not, she would have never truly known him. Daniel gives him a St. Anthony's necklace, patron saint of lost things, to help him find his way. Geordie thinks Leonard will be ok; he'll get off with a fine and a lecture, he's got a good barrister, etc.

Geordie: You're right; God really does have all the answers.

Meanwhile, there's a bank robbery in progress, and Will wants to punch something bad enough he'll drive Geordi's car hell for leather through Grantchester and then chase the suspect Malcy Smith (Tyger Drew-Honey) down on foot and get in a full-on fistfight. The suspect insists he's innocent, refusing to talk without his lawyer, "J Richards," but the body under the wheel of the getaway car says otherwise. An elderly lady, Mary Conner, has been killed, and her husband Bill (Sidney Kean) is utterly devastated. To the point where Larry can't get an autopsy done because he won't leave.

None of this is adding up. The bank van driver, Wilson Black (Phill Langhorne), says the guy got away with £1000 in £5 notes. But he can't pick Malcy out of a lineup. Miss Scott has the details of the woman who called the robbery in, a hot librarian, Lily Bradley (Chelsea Halfpenny), who immediately picks out Malcy so over-dramatically I cackled. Suddenly, Malcy confesses right and left to beating up the van driver and throwing the money out the window. When they re-question Black, he suddenly refuses to talk without a lawyer, who is also "J Richards." But once again, when they put Lily Bradley in front of him, he starts singing like a canary. 

Geordie suspects this is a much bigger case, these two are patsies for someone more extensive, and the number found in Malcy's car has something to do with it. Right now, it's evident that Miss Bradley is the next level up, but who does she work for? If it's Johnny Richards (Shaun Dooley), that's going to have to wait because it turns out he and Geordie know each other. They were in the war together, not the same regiment, but prisoners together. Will tries desperately to be respectful, deeply aware of how gingerly he must tread on this ground. But for the moment, Richards seems to be cooperative, handing over his clients' files to Geordie to see if they can follow the money.

But Geordie seems more inclined to follow Miss Bradley. If she's not the top level, who is? But it's Will watching Leonard go through old library books that clues him in on what that mysterious number is everyone keeps suggesting might be a telephone. It's a Dewey decimal call number, leading to a copy of Poetic Books of the Old Testament. Inside, the book has been cut open, and there's the money inside, all of it, minus £50. Lily insists she had nothing to do with it, and the fingerprints seem to agree. The only ones on the book cover are Smith's.

Geordie has to Lily her go, knowing he didn't get the right person. But it at least gives Conner something to know that Smith is locked up and Black too. But Geordie's not satisfied, and worse, he's almost sure that Richards is in on it. Richards seems perplexed that Geordie is looking for justice in the law, which, as a lawyer, Richards knows does not exist. After all they went through in the war, Geordie still serves Queen and country? But though Richards doesn't understand, it's true. Geordie still believes and serves, enough so when Richards pretends to pass him a business card and instead tries to slip him that missing £50, Geordie tosses the money back in his old friend's face.

The court trial is an emotional feast for everyone to work through, with Mrs. C nearly unable to bring herself to be there for Leonard while he bravely faces down his biggest fear. But she does enter the court, and she does watch, at Cathy's urging, as do they all as the prosecutor Jeremy Baker (Paul Bradley) rips Leonard to pieces. As Geordie notes, it's the guy's job, he has to, and Leonard did say he was guilty. But it's all too much for Will. The triggering aspect of Baker's charge, it seems, was his declaration that God could never love Leonard, which is an anathema to Will's view of God, blasphemy even.

When Leonard's character witness is called, Jack begins to rise, but Will shoots up instead. He can't let Baker's words go unchallenged, taking the witness stand, literally begging for Leonard's freedom as someone who has served the community. Judge Newport (Nigel Betts) seems reasonable enough to sleep on it. For once, Will's impulsive choices might not ruin everything? LOL, no. Will did not help Leonard. In fact, as always, he made it worse. He reminded the judge that Leonard was a clergy member, someone trusted: An example must be made. Leonard is sentenced to six months. So much for Will's good deeds and so much for his career. The Bishop is enraged that Will stood up for Leonard and refuses to protect him anymore. 

But the fact is, Leonard is fired, and his livelihood has been taken from him. Will's words can't bring his job back, even if he survives his time behind bars. As Leonard notes, his plan is to move to Cambridge and then for he and Daniel to go somewhere they aren't known at all. At least if this is the end of Al Weaver, they're giving him a good send-off.