It's Leonard's Turn in 'Grantchester' Season 10

When James Norton attempted to pull a Dan Stevens on Downton Abbey and refused to sign on to return for Grantchester Season 4, it was deeply unfortunate timing. Much like Julian Fellowes with Stevens, the Grantchester production team assumed this was a ploy for money, and wrote a Season 3 finale that not only left zero openings for Norton's Sidney Chambers to leave, but doubled down on his staying at the vicarage, blowing up three years of the show's fan-favorite romance in the process.

When the production finally realized Norton was not holding out for money, a hasty deal was worked out where he would start the season, then exit after Episode 2, and a new vicar would arrive in Episode 4. That left the show with a single episode where the rest of the ensemble would pull together, and Geordie would solve a one-off case with Leonard Finch.

The experimental episode was a landmark moment for the series, proving that it could switch out its lead, Death in Paradise-style, and still work just fine. Moreover, Al Weaver turned out to be delightful as a foil for Geordie, though it was clear this was a pairing to be used sparingly. Grantchester's writers took that lesson to heart, and ever since, there has been one episode every season that I think of as "Leonard's Turn." This week's installment is our yearly "Leonard's Turn" episode, and Weaver, as always, does not disappoint.

The episode's opening moments are a reminder of how great Bradley Hall is as Geordie's hapless bagman, DS Larry Peters, as he finds himself confronted by a drunk, poetry-and-10-cent-word spouting Leonard, clearly not wanting to have to arrest Finch until a port and lemon meet his face. It's not easy playing the straightman, but Hall's salt-of-the-earth Larry is pitch-perfect against Weaver's over-the-top performance (aided by this week's guest star Craig Binning as fellow drunk tank dweller, the asthmatic Micky), Melissa Johns as Miss Scott, not to mention the double double-acts of Robson Green & Rishi Nair and Tessa Peake-Jones & Kacey Ainsworth.

It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eyeball, or in this case, their life, as the man in charge of the drunk tank, Sgt. Floyd (Jamie Kenna) turns up dead in Leonard's cell. Of course, Floyd was the one who Leonard flipped out at upon arrival, reacting very badly to being called "son" in front of multiple witnesses, though he was blacked out drunk at the time and remembers none of it.

It's a spin on the "locked door" trope. Floyd and Leonard were inside the cell, which was bolted from the outside, and the key was in there with them (tossed on Leonard's blanket). Someone put the body inside the cell and locked the door from the outside, making it look like Leonard did it. Micky was in the cell on the other side of the hall, having an asthma attack, and heard the door and Floyd dying, but claims that just made him panic harder and breathe even worse. So, how did the body get into the cell? Confronted by how many crappy things he's done while blacked out over the last few episodes, Leonard is ready to accept he might have killed a man if that's what the evidence says.

Leonard's acquiescence spurs Alphy into action, determined to prove the ex-curate innocent. The body is hanging out in the morgue waiting to be examined in the morning, so Alphy pulls back the sheet and starts looking right then and there, and finds what Geordie needs to exonerate Leonard: a betting slip, shoved down the corpse's throat. Leonard may be a drunk, but gambling is a whole different sin, and one he doesn't go in for.

However, when prompted, Leonard does remember hearing the racing scores, and though he did recognize Floyd at the time, realizes that it was he who was there boasting about having won on a horse called Jezebel. He ugly-gloated about it to Micky and Micky's father, Donny (James Barriscale), who were sitting at the bar with him, joking he was inspired to bet on "Jezebel" by Donny's wife. (Basically, insinuating, she's a prostitute.) Donny and Floyd fought and were ejected from the pub, leaving Micky alone to get soused.

Cathy and Mrs. C drop everything, including the potential bank loan fraud they're considering to secure a loan for Cathy's planned business, to rush to Leonard's side. (Women cannot get loans during this era, so one of them is going to have to be a Mr. Colin Chapman if they want to do this.) However, their presence serves more as a foil for the ongoing relationship drama between Miss Scott and Larry than anything else, mainly because Alphy does not invite them back to the cells for this week's crime reenactment shenanigans. 

(The montage sequence of Geordie, Alphy, and Larry trying all sorts of different scenarios to prove it wasn't Leonard is adorable, especially because Larry wasn't part of the vicarage reenactment two episodes prior and has no idea what Alphy is on about.)

Despite Cathy and Mrs. C's observations about men's inability to talk, Alphy goes full vicar-therapist, forcing Geordie and Leonard to sit down and discuss their feelings after they've exhausted all methods for restaging the murder, and Larry wanders off. Leonard admits he wasn't allowed at his father's funeral, before Weaver gives his own version of Brick's famous "click" monologue in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Since this is about tearing down walls, Alphy admits to Leonard that he is a foundling and never knew his parents. 

Surprised and moved by Alphy's admission, and seeing the obvious parallels between Leonard and his father, and his reaction to his son, David, wearing girls' clothing, Geordie finally admits he's terrified he's screwed up everything about that relationship. Leonard makes it clear there's never a wrong moment for Geordie to tell David he's unconditionally loved, and that he would have given anything to hear that from his own father before it was too late.

That, of course, leads Alphy back to Micky and Donny, still sitting in the station, realizing Micky has probably never heard his father say those words either, considering Donny constantly puts him down for being dumb. Leonard would have done literally anything for his father to be proud of him. What if Micky (who notably got along with Leonard like a house on fire) felt the same? They've already proven Micky couldn't have done it alone. However, upon seeing Donny's newspaper with notes on the betting margins and realizing it's the same handwriting as the betting slip found down Floyd's throat, Alphy realizes that they absolutely could have done it together.

It's too bad, so sad for Larry, who thinks he's about to send Micky and Donny home and leave work with Miss Scott (sorry, Jenny), whom he finally managed to successfully propose marriage to after weeks of failing to convince her. (The magic words were: "You can keep your job, I don't care if your parents hate you, and it's fine if they don't come to the wedding, as long as there is one." Or statements to that effect anyway.) 

Instead, Donny and Micky are dragged back to the interrogation room, where Donny tries to act like this is all nonsense until Micky cracks. Fun twist: Floyd's bet on the horse that he won was actually with Donny's money and betting slip; Donny just hadn't put it in yet, and had left it sitting on the bar, where Floyd knicked it and turned it in as his own.

Unfortunately, Micky's confession isn't quite enough to get Geordie to say I love you to David. (He does try, but he loses his nerve and ends up saying something intensely wrong, and quite possibly worse, about how "a man needs a straight tie to get ahead.") It's also not enough to get Alphy to open what the show has dubbed "Schrödinger's Letter" from last week and see what the parent who gave him up wanted to tell him. (He's also avoiding Meg, something everyone around him plans to rectify, asap.)

However, the ordeal ultimately did one good thing. Leonard now admits he has a problem, and upon finding Mrs. C still in the waiting area when he's released in the morning, he begs her for help. I dare you to keep a dry eye as she fiercely tells him how much she loves him, utterly and unconditionally. It cannot be done. Once again, Leomard's Turn is one of Grantchester's finest hours.

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. 

Grantchester has been renewed for its eleventh and final season.