'Grantchester' Brings a Pair of Twists as Season 10 Digs Into Insecurities

Grantchester's second episode of its tenth anniversary season starts with its strongest angle: The continuing saga of the life of Geordie Keating and his latest vicar pal. The series doesn't even get to the body until the second act, and then most of what we learn is in the context of Geordie's bagman, Larry, and his ongoing quest to convince Miss Scott to marry him. Instead, we get a pair of setups that lead to major twists, one of which we encounter right from the start, and one that the show keeps under wraps until the final scenes, but will most likely have repercussions both on and off-screen.

Last week's premiere included the introduction of Alphy's new (possibly serious) love interest, who the credits listed as "Margaret Grey." On screen, her last name wasn't given, and when asked by Alphy if she went by "Maggie," she quickly corrected him to "Margaret." That was obviously deliberate, as we learn in the episode's first scenes. Alphy and Margaret's date goes swimmingly, they trade books, and wind up in a hot makeout session in his convertible, only for Alphy's boss, the Bishop, to walk around the corner and see them.

Alphy, of course, already had a difficult time with the Bishop in the latter half of Season 9, and until like our last vicar, did not have a sister-by-marriage to distract him with sex. The chances of Alphy being ousted were 0% because Rishi Nair had just been cast aside, apparently, this was, we learn, deliberately built as a longtail arc, as the Bishop Aubrey Grey just so happens to be the father of one Meg Grey. Not Maggie, nor Margaret either, apparently. She swears she was going to tell him... eventually. Thankfully, that's when Geordie calls with a body, the same one that got him out of listening to Cathy rant about how the men in the clothing shop are not taking her eye for what sells seriously.

Unsurprisingly, the actual murder is less about the victim, grad student Chrissy Parsons (Olivia Gleaves), than it is about how the suspects work as foils for Geordie and Alphy. Suspect 1 is Professor Aldo (Guy Henry), Chrissy's boss and lover, introduced while making racist and sexist remarks about his fellow lecturer, Suspect 2, Professor Joshi (Maya Sondhi). Suspect 3 is college janitor Peter Grayson (Joseph Potter), her working-class mod boyfriend. Finally, there's Suspect 4, Terry Betts (Paul Storrs), who TA's for Joshi. He, too, is working-class, there on scholarship from Northern Ireland, the first of his family to make actual strides at jumping the class barrier. 

Suspects 1 and 2 are an interesting pair, since Alphy's sympathies naturally lie with Professor Joshi. Unlike our Reverend, who last season established was born and bred in the U.K. and raised in the church, Joshi is an immigrant who is fighting to fit into the culture; so it's not that surprising she assumes Alphy's "Classic English Vicar" is merely one of his code switches, and not his actual self. Notably, unlike last season, where each white person who assumed as much was in turn shamed for their assumptions, Joshi gets mad when Alphy corrects her about his background and accuses him of being a willing lapdog that Geordie uses to put South Asian suspects at ease.

Suspect 3, Grayson, is mostly a red herring —a guy who was trying to better himself to impress Chrissy, oblivious to the fact that she was already sleeping with someone else. The real point of his story is to highlight and underscore the doomed marriage proposal that Larry attempts later in the hour, stealing Chrissy's ring out of the evidence locker to propose to Miss Scott during their lunch break. Unsurprisingly, Miss Scott is not interested in Larry's vision of the future, which includes quitting her job to stay home with babies, and she is properly horrified at his continuing use of evidence to try to further their relationship. 

(One can only pity Geordie, who has seen this coming a mile away, and is bracing for the ugly response Larry will have for being told no.)

Joshi's accusations get under Alphy's skin enough that when Meg comes to apologise, he questions if she was using him to piss off her father. (Raise your hand if you immediately thought of Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club, "Wouldn't I be outstanding in that capacity?") Meg is genuinely taken aback; she had no idea her father had a plot point last season in which he tried to fire Alphy for the crime of being brown. But Alphy's accusations are not going to fly with her, and she understandably walks out just as Leonard turns up looking for company, since Daniel is off trying to reconcile with his parents.

Leonard proceeds to get drunk while reviewing the case files with Alphy, pointing out that Meg is not her father and should perhaps not be tarred with the same brush without evidence. It's a strong argument coming from him, since it was Bishop Grey who revoked his clerical status for his crime of being LGBTQ+, so he's not much of a fan either. However, he also points out that people who are forced to conform to something they aren't can become emotionally twisted and do terrible things, citing his ill-fated engagement to Hilary Franklin (Emily Bevan) from the Sidney Chambers era of the show as an example.

But it's actually Chrissy's notes Leonard is drunkenly staring at that turn out to be the key to the mystery. When he and Alphy switch, Alphy recognizes the results... they're the same ones Joshi published that made Aldo curse her out. He and Geordie track her down at the lab in a party dress, drunk and desperately trying to recreate the results she published and failing.

Joshi realizes she can't replicate the results... and neither can Aldo. He'd faked his research; that's why he dithered about publishing. It's also why he was so incensed when her paper came out — those were his faked results, but to call her out would ruin his reputation. He wasn't the only one incensed. Chrissy recognized the data and knew how Joshi obtained it. Chrissy was always kind to Terry for being an outsider, and he "helped" with her research... all to copy her numbers. Chrissy went full-class bigot when she confronted Terry, pressing every button he had until he lost it and pushed her. Her head struck the corner of the lab table, killing her instantly.

With another case wrapped up, Alphy decided to take Leonard's advice to heart, heading to the library, where he admits to Meg that his insecurities had gotten the better of him, and then uses a reading list he wrote up as an excuse to whip out a wholesome picnic he had brought as an apology. It's super cute, I'd be charmed, and Meg is too. Maybe this twist won't be so bad after all.

However, there's that other twist, which stems from Cathy's push to be taken seriously as a fashion buyer. While Geordie is off solving crimes, she's taking the kids and using them as fashion models to show off the outfits she thinks her boss should be ordering. It's notable because, for the first time, all the Keating children have first names: Dora, Ivy, and David. (Previously, Esme was the only one who did; the others were merely "Keating Children.") But that gets explained when Geordie arrives home to find his son, David, dancing in the living room to rock and roll in a bright yellow dress. Geordie immediately panics and orders David to take it off, telling him he's not a girl as he sulks upstairs.

Grantchester is a show that has evolved over time, transitioning from an all-white cast in its early seasons to grappling with Leonard's sexuality and its meaning at that time. Adding Black and South Asian characters has been a slow-but-steady course correction over the last few years, but adding a potentially genderqueer child is a huge step, especially in light of recent events. Multiple series in the last year have been reportedly cutting transgender characters at the last minute when the political climate became ugly. Wherever Grantchester is going with this twist, at least the show stuck to its guns.

Grantchester Season 10 continues with new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on most PBS stations, the PBS app, and the PBS Masterpiece channel, and will air and stream weekly through the end of July. All eight episodes are available to binge on PBS Passport starting on premiere day. As always, check your local streaming service/listings. Seasons 1 through 9 are also available to stream on PBS Passport.