Why I don't like Grantchester
Cool male lead! Post-War British mystery! Fun times for all!
I thought I would like this show, but I don't. I watched a few eps with my dad before giving it up in disgust.
I feel like it's too old fashioned in the wrong ways. It's not a happy and lighthearted mystery, really, and the focus is all wrong for me in several ways.
1) Kills the gays / makes them seem disgusting or sad. I've become a lot more "aware" of LGBT issues in the last few years, and it bugs me to see the same old tropes of "aw the poor gay people always dead by the end of the show and they kind of disgusting anyway." That was what I got out of the episode that featured a gay person in it anyway; maybe not everyone would.
But that was only part of the problem for me.
2) Lack of female characters who last more than one episode or aren't relegated to the extreme background, or being a stereotype of "damsel in distress, whore, girl-of-the-week love interest, victim, or long-suffering wife." It's the 21st century. They could at least try for a couple of well-rounded female characters with agency who aren't just there as "aww will he fall in love with this one? such angsty!!" plot devices. Pisses me off. It's not the 1970s, people. You can literally write women with agency on a TV show and the world won't end. (And frankly, I've come to expect better from the BBC at least a few times, so when they fall short here I feel like it's a big step backwards.)
3) The bromance. I love bromance, why is this a problem??? I mean, I LOVE male friendship in fiction, probably more than I should. It makes me feel warm and gooey, happy and optomistic. I like female friendship, too, but there's something about seeing men let down their guard, rely on each other, etc., that I warms my heart. I feel like it's a good example and a good message. So why don't I like this one?
Well, it ties into the negating of female characters. A priest and a cop who solve mysteries often work together, rely on each other, trust each other, and help each other. Great! They also spend a lot of their off-hours together, even though one of them is a married man with several children and a clearly overworked wife. He seems to find lots of ways to play hookey from being a father and husband so he can go hang out with his single buddy and play...I forget, backgammon? Whatever, some stupid game. Or drink. Or talk about angsty things. Or solve crimes. Any excuse to leave everything to his wife. Because he's doing Such Important Things (as well as his job, which clearly does take up a lot of his time and has to if he wants to do it properly). There's basically an episode where one of his children is dying and he leaves it all to his wife and acts like a gigantic asshole who won't be there for his family in any way. But it's OK! He apologizes at the end, after the child recover. But he leaves it all to his wife the rest of the time and neglects his children and/or yells at them because "he can't deal with it." Uh huh. Great excuse! She's one of those longsuffering Strong Female Characters who takes care of everything and loves him anyway and he's never really held to account for his actions or lack thereof.
Then there's the long walks together, the heart to heart talks, the beautiful staring into each others' eyes as they contemplate life, share special moments of male bonding which involves sweet in-jokes and...yeah, just stop. Please.
Can you either give us two gay men as protragonists or just stop? This is the 21st century. People will not die of shock if there are gay men who fall in love with each other. What I for one am fed up with is this "It's totally straight and I spend alll my time with you but neglect my family" and "no woman will ever be good enough to be actually in his life even though he's totally straight and has a Sad Past, but there's always his strong, sweet bond with his Totally Straight Friend, and they put each other first even in situations where they shouldn't. Because it's manly and straight!!!"
It feels like a step backwards to do that especially when one of the men is married. Because if they're not straight, he's cheating on his wife. If they are straight, then he's "just" neglecting his family. And his best friend in the world, who needs most or all of his time and attention and emotional energy, well, what's he get out of it? He can have a few crushes / flings / kisses, just to keep him straight, but he can't actually commit emotionally to any woman. Because he's Sad and Angsty and Perpetually Single.
Ugh. They just both come across as gigantic assholes to me. I don't think the narrative means for that to be the case, and maybe not everyone sees it that way, but I can't get past it.
Let them be gay, and fall in love with each other and NOT be married to women. Or let them be straight and give some women a bit of actual freaking screen time and authentic characterization and relevance.
In the meantime, this is a show that makes me curl my lip...even though it "should" hit all my buttons for something I'd like.