‘Grantchester’ Drops Major Family Twist for Geordie — How Will He Respond?

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Grantchester Season 10 Episode 2.]

Grantchester Season 10 may be set in 1962, but its second installment dove into issues of race and gender expression that are timely for today. Vicar Alphy Kottaram (Rishi Nair) and Detective Inspector Geordie Keating’s (Robson Green) case brought up a sensitive topic for the vicar and one of their suspects, an Indian woman combatting racism and sexism in the workplace but taking high-risk measures to succeed. Meanwhile, Geordie was hit with an unexpected twist involving his young son, David (Carter-Jae O’Neil), and the father failed to meet the important moment. Green previously teased to TV Insider that “past belief systems come to the surface, and that’s difficult for him to deal with” in Season 10, and that has come to pass with his son in this episode.

The case of the week involved a murdered university student whose death was made to look like an accident. She was killed by accident, as it turned out, but it wasn’t by her boyfriend, Peter Grayson (Joseph Potter), whom Alphy and Geordie thought might have been involved due to his connections to a gang, nor was it angry science Professor Aldo (Guy Henry), who was caught screaming at Professor Joshi (Maya Sondhi) for publishing her scientific findings before he did. Joshi wasn’t guilty of murder, but she was guilty of plagiarizing Aldo. But as it turned out, his results were doctored, which was wrong of him to do. But the key difference was that he didn’t publish the false findings, which explained his fiery display of dissent in her classroom earlier in the episode.

While explaining the racism she experiences at work, Joshi doubted that being a vicar allowed Alphy the space to truly embrace his heritage. But he explained that he didn’t convert to the Anglican religion like she assumed. He “chose this” and “grew up with it,” he said. “Bible stories before bed every night.”

“You think that what the church has made you into, that’s true to who you really are?” Joshi questioned.

“This is who I am,” Alphy replied.

“It doesn’t get more quintessentially British than the vicar of a quaint little village,” she went on. “You’ll tell me next that your police friend accepts you, too.”

Alphy defended his work partner, saying that, “Geordie’s a good man.” Joshi replied, “He’s using you. Walking around with a handsome Indian vicar, everyone assuming he’s moral and accepting and not the fist of the status quo. Raised by the church. Seeing the world through their eyes. You trust all the wrong people…I wish you could see how much you’ve been skewed.” She later admitted that she was projecting her own struggles onto the vicar. But Geordie did have a very small-minded moment in his own home near the episode’s end.

After the case had been solved, Geordie arrived home to the sound of music playing in the TV room. When he went to see who was playing that “racket,” as he called it, he walked in to see his 10-year-old son twirling around the room in a dress covered in yellow flowers, seemingly belonging to one of his sisters. Geordie scared David with his angry response.

PBS

“What the hell are you playing at? Get that off. You’re not a bloody girl!” he sternly said. David ran out of the room in fear.

Related

Is Alphy Finally Getting a Serious Romance on 'Grantchester'?

It’s no surprise that a parent in 1962 would have a reaction such as this, but it’s sad to see how even this one interaction is clearly going to impact young David in a negative way. The boy was having fun and feeling good when dancing around the room in the dress before his dad walked in, making clear that this made him feel good. But now, with his father’s angry reaction, David could fear being himself around his dad. Hopefully, Geordie evolves for the better as Grantchester Season 10 goes on. This will certainly be one of his biggest challenges of parenthood yet.

Outside of work for Alphy, his courtship of Meg (Christie Russell-Brown) continued but hit an unexpected roadblock when he found out that her father is Bishop Aubrey Grey (Stuart Bowman), with whom he shares a troubled history at work. Meg insisted that she had no idea her father tried to make Alphy lose his job in the past, but Alphy got stuck in his defensiveness and didn’t fully believe her at first. He made up for the lack of trust in her honesty at the episode’s end with an apology and the following through on his promise to take her on a proper picnic. Alphy used to find reasons to give up on women quickly with past romantic prospects. Working it out with Meg shows that his feelings for her, while new, are serious.

Grantchester, Sundays, 9/8c, PBS

From TV Guide Magazine

How 'Countdown' Recruited Jensen Ackles to Go Full 'Die Hard'

Countdown boss Derek Haas talks creating the character around Ackles, and the cast teases the “Avengers”-like team of the crime thriller. Read the story now on TV Insider.