In the 'Grantchester' Season 9 Premiere, Will Confronts His Own Complacency

It's the end of an era. (Again.) Mystery series Grantchester is once again undergoing what is rapidly becoming The Time-Honored Tradition of The Changing of The Vicars (three times in eight years!) as star Tom Brittney hangs up his collar. This first episode of the new season simultaneously serves as the start of a heartfelt farewell and a nod to a new beginning. Well...sort of.

The hour sees Will decide — after a long, drawn-out metaphor involving a girl robbing people to help her quit the traveling circus she's outgrown — that it's time for him to move on from Grantcheser. (That this story also involves some painfully on-the-nose platitudes about constantly seeking new challenges and refusing to coast through life isn't terribly out of the ordinary, but it's certainly not subtle.) Despite confirming with the bishop that he's down to take this more complicated position in a new parish, Will can't seem to manage to tell Geordie, even as his BFF enthuses about how they have to make the most of the summer together. Pack tissues for next week, is what I'm saying.

The Season 9 premiere is technically about a murder at a circus; in reality, it's one of those delightful installments where the episode's mystery isn't important. We know this is the last time we'll be seeing these particular characters on our screens together, and getting to watch all our faves on a family together is utterly charming. Leonard's quoting Chekov, Will's making remarkably off-color jokes for a vicar, Geordie's flirting with one of the magician's assistants, and Jack's busy buying all the Davenport/Keating kids candy. It's honestly lovely, and everyone looks so happy; you just know it can't possibly last. (Even without knowing the cast moves that will inevitably dictate much of the episode's plot.)