'Grantchester' Recap: Season 7 Episode 5

Grantchester airs Sundays at 8:00 pm and is available to stream. Recap the previous and following episodes and other seasons. WTTW Passport members can stream the whole season now. 

Will is popular—especially among the women—at a local nursing home. The matron of the home likes him less than do residents such as the boisterous Ida Merryman: when Will criticizes her for being too harsh on the misbehaving Clem Preston, who locks her out of her office to blast a rock ‘n’ roll record over the intercom, the amtron sternly tells Will that the residents are lucky to be there and should offer her respect.

When the matron turns up dead in Clem’s room the following morning then, with both Clem and Ida missing, it’s easy to suspect that the two residents had enough of the matron’s bullying. But the death could have been an accident: there’s blood on the sink, where it seems the matron knocked her head. She could have fallen.

Everyone in the home was accounted for at 8:00 pm; the matron wasn’t discovered until 8:00 am, when the staff returned. A loud bang was heard around 9:00 pm. The handyman Pat Wyndham says everyone was like family despite the strict rules, and can’t imagine who would kill the matron.

But some glasses of moonshine in Clem’s room paired with a discovery by Miss Scott of paperwork signing over his guardianship to the matron from his daughter due to “mental incapacity” seems to further point to violence. There are several applications for other residents doing the same thing. Perhaps Clem’s daughter Clara found out that she would be losing her inheritance and confronted the matron.

But Clara is estranged from her father—and she was on a date at a restaurant the previous night. She didn’t even know Clem was in a home. She cut him off after a lifetime of stories and schemes—and now it sounds like one of his stories has gone too far.

Geordie and Will have discovered the source of Clem’s moonshine: a hidden bottle of “turpentine.” That leads them to the handyman, Pat, and a locked closet in his shed containing a still. Pat insists that only Clem knew about the still. Pat had a drink with Clem around 8, and then watched TV at 9 with the residents, who confirm details of the show they watched.

Clem and Ida have finally been sighted: they robbed a man of his car and cash with a gun. Clem always told Clara that he’d take her to the Ritz for afternoon tea in a flashy car if one of his schemes cashed out, so Geordie and Will search nearby fancy hotels and find Clem and Ida happily dining. Clem reveals that he faked having a gun and submits easily to arrest, announcing that he “slayed the dragon.”

But at the station he says he was just entertaining the guests. Ida, instead, confesses to killing the matron. She witnessed Clem confront the matron over the forged guardianship papers, which he had seen when he locked himself in her office. The matron was always a monster to Clem, and Ida finally intervened, pushing her. But she says the matron hit her head on the pipes, not the sink. Ida doesn’t know about the murder; she’s lying.

Geordie is called away to deal with some “Communist” disruption at the department store: Cathy is leading a strike for equal pay for the women clerks, who are paid less than the men. She has chained herself to the door, with handcuffs supplied by her new friend Miss Scott. Geordie brings her and her comrades in to the station.

Geordie tells Cathy he understands her frustration—Miss Scott is better than Larry but paid less, too. They begin talking about their relationship, and Cathy tells him he needs to stop dwelling in the past; things change. He admits that he holds on to her and their past together as an anchor; without her he doesn’t know who he is. Imagine we’re meeting for the first time and writing a new story, she says, and they flirt—and kiss. Geordie finally sleeps at home again, for the first time in months.

Will has also had a lover return: immediately after he patches things over with Bonnie and they agree that they will just be friends, Maya reappears at the vicarage. She has decided she wants to live unexpectedly and travel with Will. She has left her fiancé Elliott—Geordie’s boss, who now recoils from any sight of Will at the station.

But Will tells Geordie he’s swearing off women. Geordie accuses him of running away whenever things become real.

Will is at least supporting Mrs. C, doing all her work for her so that she can relax. She tells Jack that she’s afraid of her treatment, and he tells her that it’s her choice whether to go through with it: he’ll take whatever time he has with her.

When she tells Will she has decided to forgo the radiation, he tells her not to give up. She responds that he’s just a boy telling adults what to do and walks away.

Geordie’s comment as he hugs Mrs. C and moves out of the vicarage and back in with Cathy and the kids is more helpful. He’d do anything for more time with his family, he tells her after thanking her and Will for keeping him sane and alive in this tough time.

Geordie also has sage advice for Clara after the matron’s death is solved. Realizing from the broadcast schedule that Pat lied about watching TV, he goes to the handyman, who admits that he loved Clem and his stories. Pat tried to calm things when Clem confronted the matron and then shoved her when she turned on himself—he didn’t mean to kill her. Ida and Clem wanted to protect him, so they fled and took the blame.

Geordie tells Clara that Pat and Ida both risked everything to help her father—perhaps there’s some good in him. Ida has also praised Clem to Clara, who bails out Clem and Ida and gives her once-estranged father a hug.

Will also decides to take a step forward in a relationship. He calls Maya and tells her he wants to go on a trip through Europe with her. They spend the night together, and Bonnie arrives early the next morning to tell Will that she has realized she has strong feelings for him and wants to be more than friends. But then she sees Maya. She calls Will an “entitled arse” and leaves. Maya heard everything and agrees with Bonnie; Will has led both of them on. I have been kidding myself about the kind of man you are, she tells Will—and so have you.