In Season 9's Second Episode, 'Grantchester' Bids Farewell to Will Davenport

The moment many of us have been dreading has finally arrived: Will Davenport has officially left Grantchester. Technically, this isn't a surprise, given that we've known Tom Brittney would be departing the show for the past year or so. However, Grantchester still manages to wring maximum drama out of his exit in an episode that features teary farewells, heartfelt declarations of love, and Will rushing across a picturesque field to share a last-minute hug with Geordie (Robson Green, now moving to his third co-star) like they're in the airport in Love, Actually. While I'm still not 100% sure that the show needed to come up with a convoluted extra reason for him to leave beyond the trauma he endured last season, it's a testament to the strength of the onscreen relationships between these characters that this is all as emotionally affecting as it is. 

Grantchester has never been a show you watch for its mysteries. Besides the Season 8 arc where Will accidentally killed a guy, you'd probably have to struggle to highlight more than one or two cases from the series' run that stood out on their own merits. Admittedly, the show's weekly cases are usually slightly more subtle (which is to say, at all) in terms of how their stories tie into the season's more prominent themes than the two episodes we've seen thus far this season have been. 

Seemingly incapable of trusting its viewers to understand Will's sudden decision to leave or Geordie's complicated feelings about his departure on their own, Season 9 has opted to beat us all over the head with overly simplistic ideas about regret, growth, and love. Settling is terrible — and might make you a murderer! Real love means letting those you love go — even when you don't want to! Brittney and Green are the only reason any of it works. 

The bulk of this week's episode revolves around Will trying to find the nerve to tell the important people in his life that he and his family are moving to Newcastle. Honestly, it almost gets to the point where you start wondering if Will's reluctance to share his plans is meant to indicate some unspoken nervousness or hint that this isn't the life plan he should be following. But, no, Will is just... a child about it? (What a role model for the kids he's shaping up to be!) Between getting interrupted by parish duties as well as the discovery of both a dead body and an abandoned child, all of Will's plans for "finding the right moment" to tell Geordie fizzle, and he ends up blurting out the truth in the middle of a crime scene, over a set of bloody towels. Not that there was likely a scenario in which Geordie would react well to this news, but this is pretty far down on the list of bad options, and that was before it was done with absolutely zero tact.

Suffice it to say, Geordie doesn't take Will's news remarkably well. To be fair, he gets to say some of the things we're all thinking — that Will's decision to leave is honestly kind of stupid, that it feels like it's come out of nowhere, and that he's upsetting a fairly solid life and family structure for no other reason than because he's bored. But Geordie's not precisely being his best self in this moment either. His response to Will's news is cruel and petty. Though it's coming from a place of deep hurt and emotional upset, it's genuinely ugly, too, especially when he randomly blames Bonnie for Will's choice, as though Will doesn't have the agency to make stupid decisions all on his own. 

Misogyny, it's a hell of a drug.

Thankfully, this week's mystery is here to teach Geordie the error of his ways and remind him that real love is sacrificial at its heart. If he loves Will, he has to support him and be unselfish enough to care about his well-being beyond his own feelings about him leaving. He has to be the dad Will's father never was; he has to love him enough to try and understand the choices he's making. That it takes an abandoned baby, a Cruella DeVille-esque spinster aunt, and a dead man everyone almost immediately forgets about to remind Geordie of that fact is just how Grantchester rolls. 

To wit: a young teacher leaves her newborn baby at the parish church in the hopes that she can give her child a better life than the one she's currently living under the thumb of her controlling aunt. She didn't particularly want the child to begin with; she was bullied into keeping it by said aunt, who then cartoonishly spends the rest of the episode trying to cover her tracks and reclaim the child for herself because she Knows What's Best for them all. "That's not love, Miss Bradley," Geordie tells her mournfully, finally understanding he's been trying to control Will's choices in much the same way, only with less overt violence. 

Geordie's big emotional revelation takes way too long to manifest itself, if only because it robs viewers of a chance to enjoy his last proper adventure with Will. Yes, the two make up and hug it out, but they do so with literally three minutes to spare in the episode (after Geordie inexplicably misses Will's goodbye send-off — why?). Although I'm woman enough to admit I teared up over it, it's hard not to be annoyed that the show kept them at uncomfortable odds for so long. 

As always, the episode is strongest when it leans into the character dynamics and emotional bonds it has spent years developing. We see Mrs. C bawling as she declares that Will will go off and do "so many great things" beyond their tiny village. Jack buys Will a car as an excuse to, as his wife puts it, "get you off that blooming awful motorbike." Leonard calls Will his brother. (I am helpless against Al Weaver in tears.) Bonnie forces Will to find Geordie before they leave because she knows he will never be genuinely settled elsewhere if he doesn't. Will, literally running across a field to his BFF, full-on rom-com style? And finally, finally, Geordie, finding the words to say what's in his heart at long last. There's a lot you can side-eye this episode for, but goodness if its final five minutes aren't pretty close to perfect. 

What is more of a punch to the heart? Geordie telling Will he made him proud every day? The two of them (dumb-dumbs that they are) finally saying the l-word to each other? That hug? Their teary faces?? That their entire goodbye takes place in just three minutes? (Yes, I timed it.)

I'm sure that incoming vicar Alphy Kotteram (Rishi Nair) will be lovely, charming, and an excellent addition to this show's cast, just as Will Davenport was when he rode up halfway through Grantchester's fourth season. But right now, his character is set to take on what feels like an impossible task from the start. (But then again, did anyone think Sydney Chambers/James Norton could be replaced?) Here's hoping they make some new and different choices with these relationships, otherwise we'll end up comparing the poor man to Will forever. Guess we'll find out next week!