'Grantchester' Recap: Season 10 Episode 8

Grantchester is available to stream. Recap the previous and following episodes and other seasons. 
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It doesn’t take long for Geordie and Alphy to apologize to each other, the latter for tracking down the address of the former’s mother without permission, the former for doubting the latter as a father.

They soon have a common enemy to focus on, when the student union at the university invites the fascist Wilbur Church to speak. Eve de Beauchamp-Berenet-Vaux is spearheading the effort and calls the police when a Union Jack is burned before the event, seemingly in protest. The poetry-writing student Simeon Jones is protesting in a more subdued manner by sitting in the entryway to the hall where the talk will take place. He and Eve hurl insults at each other, and Geordie requests that Simeon not attend the talk.

When Church himself arrives with his son Julian, wife Maude, and bodyguard Eddie, he immediately assumes Alphy burned the Union Jack – because he’s Indian, although Church says it’s because he’s a priest. Alphy takes the abuse with equanimity – everyone deserves a right to speak, he says.

Soon after the Churches arrive, an explosion rocks the building. Maude is dead. Wilbur still wants to give his speech, but Geordie refuses to allow it.

A package had arrived for Wilbur, and Eve handed it to Eddie, who gave it to Maude, even though Wilbur receives plenty of death threats. Eddie should have checked the package himself. Eddie admits his mistake, and is devastated by it: he says Maude was virtuous.

She was wearing a fleur-de-lis bracelet, and a trigger from a train set is found in the remnantsof the package. There was no return address or postmark; it was delivered by hand. Alphy recognizes the writing on the outside from Simeon’s journal of poetry.

Simeon denies involvement. He admits writing admonishing letters to Church, but never went further. And his handwriting does appear to have been taped onto the package, so it could have been cut out of a letter to set him up for blame.

The superintendent orders Geordie to let Church speak despite Geordie’s misgivings – and the police must protect him, even though Church himself says he doesn’t care if he dies. All the tickets for the event have been sold – a bombing is great publicity.

While the police prepare for the speech, the newly married Miss Scott and Larry tell Alphy that Geordie has been working tirelessly to learn more about Alphy’s mother. Miss Scott worries about Larry attending the speech.

Meanwhile, Daniel, Leonard, Mrs. C, and Jack are hosting their own guest who turns out to be noxious. Daniel’s mother Clara, with whom he recently reunited, is visiting. While she is polite to everyone, she finds Leonard alone in the kitchen and tells him that she and her husband blame Leonard for “corrupting” Daniel into a gay relationship. Jack overhears the end of the conversation and insists that Leonard tell Daniel, but Leonard doesn’t want to ruin Daniel’s excitement over the supposed success of the visit. So Jack tells Daniel himself.

As Clara leaves, Daniel forces the issue and defends Leonard, telling her he doesn’t want to see her again if she won’t accept Leonard. After she leaves, he smashes his grandmother’s teapot, which Clara had given to him long ago.

Back at the police station, an arrest of Simeon for throwing tomatoes at a fascist has been uncovered – along with one of Eve for attacking a fascist. Simeon explains that Eve was previously both his friend and a communist, and was seemingly devoted to the cause until a Christmas break, after which she returned as a right-winger. Simeon believes she’s just trying to get the attention of her wealthy parents. When leftist agitation failed to do so, she switched sides.

A phone call to the police station warns that more people will die.

All the previous threats against Church have resulted in nothing, and been dead-ends. So why was this one carried out?

At the university, a student hurls an egg at Church before his talk. Examining the space where it will take place, the detectives notice a photo of the Church family with a train set. They ask Church’s son Julian about it, and he says he doesn’t like trains – or his father. His mother didn’t love Wilbur or believe in his cause, either, and Julian hated her for not stopping his invective.

Despite the danger, Miss Scott shows up at the speech. While Wilbur orates, Larry notices a box to the side of the stage. Simeon runs past the windows and throws a firecracker, leading Geordie to evacuate the audience. Larry opens the box to find a ticking bomb.

Alphy chases Simeon and catches him. The student says it’s all for show; he’s not a real threat. Alphy has a realization and rushes back to the hall, where he announces that Wilbur is behind the bombing. Wilbur tries to trigger the bomb Larry found, but Larry has already disarmed it. Wilbur’s bodyguard Eddie attacks Wilbur, shouting that he didn’t deserve Maude.

Wilbur wanted to kill Eddie, who had grown close to Maude – Eddie is the one who gave her the fleur-de-lis bracelet, a symbol of virtue. Wilbur thought Eddie would take the bomb package, but Eddie knew that none of the threats against Wilbur were real, as demonstrated by Simeon, and so handed it off to Maude. Wilbur also wanted to make himself seem more dangerous and controversial by having a real bomb threat against him.

In the interrogation room, Wilbur attacks Alphy: you’ll never be a true Englishman, he tells him. Geordie gets angry, but Alphy stops him, telling him Wilbur isn’t worthy of his anger.

Alphy finds Daniel and tells him he’s sorry about Daniel’s fight with his mother. Alphy asks Daniel if he regrets reestablishing his relationship with his mother, given the way it ended. Daniel says no.

CeCe’s Boutique is doing well, so Mrs. C buys presents for everyone, including a nice box to hold the letter from Alphy’s mother, which she found in the trash and taped up for him after he ripped it. Alphy worries to her that, if he went to see his mother, she might not love him. Mrs. C reassures him: “Who couldn’t love you?”

Geordie goes fishing with his son David in an effort to grow closer with him and tells him he’ll always be proud of him, and loves him.

Alphy sets off to find his mother at the address Geordie tracked down.