'Grantchester' Season 5 Episode 1 Review: Will Davenport, Geordie investigate new women students for murder
In 1957 England, it has only been 10 years since women have been allowed to enter college classrooms and fight to find their own space at institutions reigned by men – something women students find extremely challenging. In an environment such as this, the women students decide to form their own form of a cigar club which requires the women to lose their virginity to men and sleep with many of them to get included as a member.
All of this, because the leader of the group believes that many of the students would be unable to find space in a profession and fight it out with men. She also feels that most of them would end up getting married to some man in a few years anyway. So she explains that the "sisterhood" is a way for women to enjoy the best part of their lives before they get shackled with babies and charity dinners. Rev Will Davenport (Tom Brittney ) and Geordie Keating (Robson Green) are investigating the murder of one such woman who, at first glance seems to have died due to drowning.
The vicar and the detective speak to many women in order to figure out the timeline of the victim and it is during this process that the two of them learn about the women's sorority, the strange initiation rites and even the practice of collecting cufflinks and other things that belong to men to show proof of having slept with them. This puts the pressure on one of the students who wants to be a member enough to be forced into sleeping with male students. Initial investigations reveal that she was not with her friend and had arrived at the dorm room earlier, however, once the autopsy reveals that the victim did not die of drowning, but was pushed into the lake after she was killed causes further attention to details.
One of the details happens to be the victim's friend's statement. Upon looking into this further Geordie and the Vicar find out that their witness had been lying to them all this while and this leads into an unraveling of sorts of the women on campus. The witness is hiding the truth and all of it is revealed when she is caught trying to claim that she slept with Will. That would definitely get her major points since Will is a Vicar. However, her lies are revealed and it turns out that she had hated the victim for leaving her with the boys alone after a ball.
The two of them were supposed to hang out with the boys together and complete the task to become the member of this sisterhood. However, the victim left her behind and the men behave in a disgusting manner, she claimed. This is when she explained that she lost her temper, and struck the victim with a champagne bottle leading to the victim's death. To cover up this fact, she is pushed into the lake.
The investigation itself is pretty straightforward, but it is the situation surrounding the murder that begs further attention. For instance, the pressure that these women are each under to be a part of the best clubs, meet the best men, try to get the best connections is brought out through the young women. Geordie's prejudice against women wanting to work, study, or do things that goes beyond their families is also shown. He might have accepted his wife working, but that in itself took a lot of convincing. So from here, it would be interesting to see where things go.
'Granchester' season 5 news episodes drop on Masterpiece PBS on Sundays at 9 pm ET.