TV Review – ‘Grantchester’, Series 5, Episode 5

Whoa! What an emotional rollercoaster of an episode this was!

I’ve seen Series 5, Episode 5 of ‘Grantchester’ recently. It’s the penultimate episode of the season and it sees our main character Tom Brittney as Will Davenport having his faith challenged in a way he didn’t expect. This is especially when he’s been getting to know certain characters in this season.

The episode has Will cheer Jim Caesar as Mathew Butler on in the boxing ring. Mathew is a character that’s been in Series 5 since the beginning. He was first a troubled young man that Will encouraged to become better than he is. Sadly, Mathew’s time training to be a boxer in the series might be a misstep.

There’s also Ross Boatman as Vic Morgan, who’s also been in Series 5 since the beginning and was Mathew’s trainer in boxing. For a while, Vic was a compass of moral support to both Will and Mathew in the series. But as this episode unveils, things turn its ugly head regarding Vic’s character.

But yeah, this episode features the big day of a boxing match between Mathew and another boy. As well as Will, there’s Robson Green as Geordie, Al Weaver as Leonard and Nick Brimble as Jack Chapman, Mrs. C’s husband. Lauren Carse as Ellie is also there but Will avoids her since the last time they met.

After the boxing match, which had Mathew suffering for a bit, both he and the other boy are found near death when locked up together in the boxing ring. Will and Geordie investigate this matter further, but Will has to face his own part of the tragedy that could be his greatest test of faith yet. 😦

Before I get onto Will’s character journey regarding Mathew and Vic, here’s some certain points about the episode to mention. As I mentioned, Will’s relationship with Ellie continues to be rocky, especially when he promised marriage to her. Not certain how this is going to be resolved next time.

There’s no news about Cathy Keating’s mother in this episode after Gerodie sent her to an asylum, though that does get mentioned. Leonard also rekindles the heat between Tessa Peake-Jones as Mrs. C and her husband as well as sharing to Oliver Dimsdale as Daniel he’s had a letter from his dad.

Going back to the Mathew and Vic stuff, there seems to be this homosexual activity going on to what caused the boys to end up locked up in a boxing ring that led them to almost committing suicide. It angers Will to discover what kind of man Vic is once his true colours have been revealed. 😦

The episode also features Rupert Holliday Evans, who I recognised from the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Sontaran Stratagem’/’The Poison Sky’, as a potential suspect in this matter. There’s also Sandra Huggett as Marie Morgan, Vic’s wife, who hides something that Will eventually works out in the tale.

I found the episode’s ending pretty dramatic and gut-wrenching, especially when Will loses control and lets out his anger, even during a church sermon he gives. The familiar ‘Grantchester’ theme music in the episode’s end credits doesn’t feature as a helpline for the episode’s sensitive issues was made on ITV1. I’ve no idea what will happen in Series 5’s finale. Hopefully things will be alright for next time.

With hope, my review on Series 5, Episode 6 of ‘Grantchester’ will be up on my blog next week.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim. 🙂