Roush Review: ‘Grantchester’ Season 4 Is the Start of a Promising Partnership

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   GoldCorn

   Jul 15, 2019

   I really hated the first introductory episode this season. Sidney looked the same but behaved like a completely different character. Are there new writers? The civil rights preacher’s daughter was quite unappealing, her accent all wrong. She and Sidney’s liaison seemed forced and ridiculous-no character development. If the writers wanted to give us reason not to miss Sidney they succeeded. The erotic poem by Sidney’s assistant on stage? Really? Thank goodness for Robson Green who was the same character as he always was. Gave up on the show halfway through. Will try again later.

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      CyanPin

      Jul 15, 2019

      it was so disappointing. totally agree with your assessment

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      PurpleBug

      Jul 16, 2019

      The American accents were so bad, as per usual. At least they didn\'t have characters from Massachusetts with Texas accents (Lewis?). But must say, glad Sidney\'s finally outta there. His character had promise in the first season, but he just became such a dweeb. I can\'t imagine him in an interracial marriage in 1950s America. He\'d curl up into a little ball and die. Fingers crossed for Leonard & Mrs C\'s characters - they both have room to grow as does Geordie and his wife.

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      CyanAirBalloon

      Jul 19, 2019

      Absolutely terrible. I agree with all you said—terrible accents, unbelievable story line. This is so disappointing. I can’t see him in Alabama marching for civil rights. How does he know she hasn’t been married like his last girlfriend? He chooses the church after such angst and then just decides to fall rapturously (the spinning camera scene was like a Hallmark movie) in love? I hope the new vicar has more sense.

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   CyanCoathanger

   Jul 10, 2019

   I\'m still leery about a new lead joining the show. We\'ll see.

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   GreenBee

   Jul 21, 2019

   Grantchester has always been a bit of a puzzle. It began as an odd choice of source material (actually collections of short stories) which is rather bland with errors in the depiction of their time period settings. The television scripts by Daisy Coulam were far superior to the books but again flaws persisted. The Amanda character was quite annoying from the very beginning and she seemed to exist just to take time out from the mystery at hand. That said, the way things were set up at the end of series three, for her and her baby not to be onboard for series four leaves a pothole in both Sidney’s life and in the storytelling. But at the heart of the problem is James Norton as Sidney. Although he is nice-looking and nice-voiced, he seemed in over his head as an actor. Other than in scenes with Geordie (Robson Green), he exudes no chemistry with his fellow actors. That is precisely the problem with Sidney’s send-off. The race-related plot is quite forced and rather unrealistic but most importantly, Sidney and his new paramour have no chemistry whatsoever. He seems to give no real thought of running off to America with her, when during that time period, that would have been paramount on both of their minds not just a few throwaway lines of dialogue mandatorily addressing the issue. It all seems as though Norton wanted out but he had a contract so the producers quickly spun together some ideas so that he could ill out his time and leave so that someone could take his place. None of it comes across as natural. Still Robson Green is the sort of actor who is so watchable that he may save this disaster all by himself.

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      CyanWeights

      Jul 22, 2019

      I agree that the race-related plot seemed rather phony with little motivation for Sidney to suddenly have a epiphany and trade the English countryside for the horrors of Alabama, (even now that would be a inconceivable choice). However, I disagree with your assessment as to James Norton\'s portrayal of the character, which throughout the series, was central to the success of the show. He brought just the right level of complexity to the character of Sidney that consistently made it interesting and his chemistry with Robson Green kept the wildly twisting plots grounded. I have my doubts his replacement will be able to fill his shoes and this could very well be the last season of \"Grantchester\".

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   CyanDog

   Jul 24, 2019

   Lost me...this season is horrible.

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   OliveGrapes

   Jul 16, 2019

   The series went off the rails early on when it turned Sidney into a drunk womanizer. If you want to see a character with integrity, try reading the novels, which show a priest who struggles with with issues of parish ministry and who actually is married and faithful to his wife and daughter. The series exchanged quiet realism for soap opera early on, and is the worse for it.

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      PurpleBug

      Jul 16, 2019

      Agree! It would have been great to have stories focused on the parishioners and the young minister\'s growth.

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