In Its Sixth Episode, 'Grantchester' Season 9 Finds Its Roman Empire

If the latest episode of Grantchester is anything to go by, that recent internet trend about men being obsessed with the Roman Empire has been true for much longer than TikTok has been around. The discovery of some Roman-era remains in local farmers Marcus and Della Blakely's (Cavan Clerkin and Laura Jane Matthewson) field sends the village into a tizzy: Archeologists from Oxford arrive on the scene, hinting at more extraordinary discoveries to come, locals are rubbernecking at the dig site, and everyone's suddenly an expert on the intricacies of life in first century Britain. Except for Jack, of course, who somehow actually is an expert on Roman-era Cambridgeshire, who has worked archeological digs in Egypt and may or may not have traded in some sketchily acquired antiquities. 

Readers, when I say I have never wanted a bottle episode focused on a single character's history more in my life more than this moment...Whew. In more realistic dreams, Grantchester really should let Nick Brimble do more than play the straight man to Tessa Peake-Jones; he steals this episode out from under literally everyone. For a long while, it almost looks like the murder-of-the-week will be little more than a history lesson. This would have been fun in an on-the-nose way: there's a dead body but no real case to solve. Instead, everything's thrown into chaos when Professor Henry Waddingham (George Asprey), the lead archeologist, turns up dead after a talk (complete with a blatant plea for money) at the Village Hall. 

In theory, this mystery should be more interesting than it is. The trio of characters at its center — Waddingham, an archeologist turned black market dealer; Billy Randall (Curtis Kemlo), his hero-worshipping sidekick with daddy issues; and Kate Farnshaw (Natali Servat), a former curator of the Ashmolean Museum who got fired for stealing artifacts — should be fascinating, the type of figures we rarely get to see on this show. Instead, their interpersonal tangle of lies and artifice feels forced and uninteresting.

Part of the problem is that Kate, the aforementioned thieving museum curator, seems to exist not to be part of the episode's primary mystery but to flirt aggressively with Alphy, frequently making vague comments about his quest for answers and troubled soul. Even when she's being questioned at the police station as a suspect in a murder, she diverts most of the conversation to weird observations about how lost he looks and how he has some dark secret in his past. Why she's so interested in him (beyond the fact that he's attractive) is anyone's guess, but the distractions don't do a dull mystery any favors. 

She's not entirely wrong, however. For what it's worth, Alphy is moping rather aggressively, confused about what path his future should take in the wake of the news that he's about to be out of a job. We finally get a glimpse of his prayer life as he asks God to send him a sign about whether he should fight for his parish and acts far more attached to Grantchester than he's given any indication of being thus far. 

But, hey, the infamous sermon at the end of the episode returns, and it's delightful, full of heartfelt platitudes about finding signs and portents in every aspect of daily living and the comforting nature of God's plan for us. Alphy somehow manages to sound resigned to his fate and wistful about the whole thing. As I said last week, all of this would be much more emotionally affecting if we'd known Alphy for longer than five minutes or if there were any chance that the threat of him being forced out of Grantchester would come to pass.

It's also unclear why this episode needed to waste so much time with Alphy's meaningless bar hookup with a Cambridge student. However, it's obvious we will see the woman who calls herself Petra (Lizzie Black) again at some point, if only because the show was so cagey about her real name. Is she going to be someone we recognize's daughter? A murder suspect? A surprise wife? A victim? Place your bets. 

Elsewhere, Geordie struggles to deal with Cathy, who is suddenly on mood stabilizers. If you've ever watched cautionary afterschool specials about the dangers of mommy's little helpers, then you already know what to expect. Mrs. Keating is dead-eyed, monotone, and tired all the time. She's no longer lashing out at her husband or her children, but she barely seems present in her own life. (Does anybody else find it weird that literally no one reaches out to Esme after her work bestie got murdered? Just me?)

Geordie even buys his wife an (admittedly darling) new dress in an attempt to cheer her up, so you know it's terrible. But, naturally, Cathy also doesn't appear to have told anyone she's on medication — she's a woman, after all, and we're supposed to be able to handle these things — so everyone's treating the symptoms of her strange behavior rather than whatever the root problem is. Is this about her kids growing up? The fact that she'd rather be working than a housewife? Who knows. 

The Keatings aren't the only couple in crisis in Grantchester, however. (And no, I'm not talking about Mrs. C. finally sussing out Jack's favorite spot for some peace and an afternoon pint.) We haven't seen much of Daniel and Leonard together since the former decided he needed to get in touch with his emotions with the help of street preacher Sam, but things are not going so well for the only Grantchester couple that matters. 

Daniel, who is definitely not being conned by a grifter of some type, decides to hit up Jack for money because he saw the older man donate to the archaeologists' dig fun. Ostensibly, this is meant to be for his "work" with Sam, whatever that is. But as the entire halfway house operation is basically being funded by Jack already, he's side-eying the whole being treated like a human ATM thing and says he's not a bottomless cash pit. Daniel, firmly in his Pod Person era, gets real bitchy about it and snarkily remarks he's sure he'd have forked over the money if Leonard had been the one asking. 

Unsurprisingly, Leonard is horrified and embarrassed when he finds out about this but covers for Daniel because he is a literal angel and too good for this world. The subsequent fight the two have is pretty ugly, involving Daniel telling his boyfriend that his whole life is built on Jack's handouts and Leonard calling Daniel paranoid and bitter. (I hate it here.)

In all honesty, this relationship drama is more than a bit forced. Beyond one conversation, it's wildly unclear what Daniel's seeking from his relationship with Sam or why he's supposedly having so much guilt about his family situation. If the show's going to threaten Leonard's happiness, shouldn't it be for a story that's...actually compelling in some way? Because this isn't it. 

Grantchester Season 9 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 August 4, 2024. All eight episodes are available as a binge for members on PBS Passport. As always, check your local streaming service/listings.