#literally a little guy. shes so silly what a sweet pea what a delight!!

[skrunksthatwunk]

LETS GO LETS GO HARUKA HARUKA HARUKA!!!!

ft. kiryu "faildad" kazuma

[jamesginortonblog]

I often jokingly tell friends that Grantchester is my “dishy vicar” show. That is, it’s a Masterpiece Mystery series about a whiskey-swilling, cigarette-smoking, crime-solving, pregnant best friend-kissing, jazz enthusiast country vicar (James Norton). Basically, it is a show about a man who is after my own heart — right down to his crippling need to be alone.

However, it’s also a lot more than that. Grantchester is one of the few shows on television that grapples with morality without succumbing to nihilism. It’s a tender ensemble drama, an understated romance, and a crackling country murder mystery show, to boot. It is, as its third season premiere remembers, a lot.

Grantchester Season Three picks up in what is both the darkest and brightest part of the year: the holiday season. Yes, it’s a Christmas episode, which means that as Sidney, Leonard (Al Weaver), and the rest of the parish prepare to welcome the light of Sweet Baby Jesus, the world is at its literal darkest point. Grantchester is all-too-aware of this dichotomy. The dual themes of light and dark, joy and despair, tussle throughout this episode. One of the murder suspects, a grim toymaker played by good old Grand Maester Pycelle, even gets a pointed couple of lines to fling at Sidney on the matter: “That’s what I loathe about you lot,” he grumbles. “Always looking for the light in the darkness. What if there is no good? What if there is no light?”

Sidney responds to this sass by chasing down the kids haranguing the man’s shop with fireworks and by bringing one of them back — the toymaker’s own estranged little granddaughter. The toymaker is so moved he gives the pigtailed cutie a teddy bear. Sidney’s point? The same as Hugh Grant‘s in Richard Curtis’s seminal Christmas film: “Love actually is all around.” (Sidney doesn’t say this out loud, but he does say it with his eyes.)

But that’s not what you’re here for, is it? You’re probably here to gossip more about that darling dishy vicar and his messy love life. I’m sorry to inform some of you that Sidney does NOT take off his shirt and strip down to his skivvies in this particular season premiere. It’s winter, you fools! He’s stuck in fetching pea coats and spends his time fully collared up. However, he does have an adorable moment wherein he takes on the spirit of a lovelorn cocker spaniel puppy.

Oh, things are dire indeed for dear old Sidney Chambers and his lady love Amanda (Morven Christie)! She has left her dismal life being a rich man’s wife for real love and real passion. The problem, of course, is she is still technically married and knocked up with said husband’s baby. This is the 1950s, and though things are a-changing, they aren’t moving towards the future liberals want fast enough for Sidney’s love life. Amanda is told constantly, first by Mrs. Maguire (Tessa Peake), and later by her own family, that she is a fallen woman and she is on her own. Mrs. Maguire eventually swallows her moralizing when Leonard brings an OFFICIALLY DISOWNED™ and VERY MUCH IN LABOR™ Amanda to the house. The two women become fast friends during the very loud and very painful birth of baby Grace.

Sidney struggles even more with the birth because Sidney feels all the pain of the world. Also, Sidney is completely overwhelmed at the prospect of being in a committed relationship or taking care of a child or even just opening his office door when he’s not vicar-ing or solving murders. With the help of Geordie (and a healthy serving of whiskey), Sidney comes out as an introvert — but not yet as an alcoholic. Geordie (Robson Green) makes a case that “no man is an island” and pours his friend more whiskey. The two slosh together in Sidney’s drunken mind and lo! He solves the murder.

What murder? Oh, yes, this show is actually a murder mystery series. Silly me. I forgot all about the actual plot of the episode. Let’s see. Ah, yes. A rich man gets brutally murdered the night before his wedding. The first round of suspects? His bratty adult son and his bride-to-be Linda (Mamie McCoy). You see, she’s a platinum blonde stripper with an Amy Winehouse smile, but the thing is, she really, really loved this guy. Her son tried to stop the wedding, but to no avail.

The twist comes when Margaret delivers the autopsy reports. Two wedding rings were crammed down his throat. This haunting detail triggers Geordie’s memory because another man was killed in the exact same way years before. That’s where the toymaker comes in. He was the prime suspect in the first murder — he disapproved of his daughter’s husband-to-be and that man wound up dead the night before the wedding. What Sidney finally figures out is that Linda is the killer. She was dallying with the toymaker’s would-be son-in-law and was furious that he would leave her for his knocked-up girlfriend. Later, Linda fell for a rich guy and was heartbroken when he got cold feet about the union. So she killed him and stole his money. Case closed.

There’s also a delightful subplot about Leonard taking over the church’s Nativity play. He introduces the town’s children to the wonderful world of Bertolt Brecht. The kids manage to introduce themselves as a chorus of abstract characters, but they soon lose control of themselves, and their bladders, on the big day. The plastic Sweet Baby Jesus doll is accidentally decapitated and Leonard dashes off in shame (which is how he meets Amanda as she goes into labor – see? I took you full circle).

Grantchester is not merely a show about a weekly murder mystery or the goings-on in a cute little English country town. It is a show that cares about the big picture. And it is a show that bravely says that there will be light even in the darkness.  I love you, Grantchester, my “dishy vicar” show.

[norton-addiction]

I often jokingly tell friends that Grantchester is my “dishy vicar” show. That is, it’s a Masterpiece Mystery series about a whiskey-swilling, cigarette-smoking, crime-solving, pregnant best friend-kissing, jazz enthusiast country vicar (James Norton). Basically, it is a show about a man who is after my own heart — right down to his crippling need to be alone.

However, it’s also a lot more than that. Grantchester is one of the few shows on television that grapples with morality without succumbing to nihilism. It’s a tender ensemble drama, an understated romance, and a crackling country murder mystery show, to boot. It is, as its third season premiere remembers, a lot.

Grantchester Season Three picks up in what is both the darkest and brightest part of the year: the holiday season. Yes, it’s a Christmas episode, which means that as Sidney, Leonard (Al Weaver), and the rest of the parish prepare to welcome the light of Sweet Baby Jesus, the world is at its literal darkest point. Grantchester is all-too-aware of this dichotomy. The dual themes of light and dark, joy and despair, tussle throughout this episode. One of the murder suspects, a grim toymaker played by good old Grand Maester Pycelle, even gets a pointed couple of lines to fling at Sidney on the matter: “That’s what I loathe about you lot,” he grumbles. “Always looking for the light in the darkness. What if there is no good? What if there is no light?”

Sidney responds to this sass by chasing down the kids haranguing the man’s shop with fireworks and by bringing one of them back — the toymaker’s own estranged little granddaughter. The toymaker is so moved he gives the pigtailed cutie a teddy bear. Sidney’s point? The same as Hugh Grant‘s in Richard Curtis’s seminal Christmas film: “Love actually is all around.” (Sidney doesn’t say this out loud, but he does say it with his eyes.)

But that’s not what you’re here for, is it? You’re probably here to gossip more about that darling dishy vicar and his messy love life. I’m sorry to inform some of you that Sidney does NOT take off his shirt and strip down to his skivvies in this particular season premiere. It’s winter, you fools! He’s stuck in fetching pea coats and spends his time fully collared up. However, he does have an adorable moment wherein he takes on the spirit of a lovelorn cocker spaniel puppy.

Oh, things are dire indeed for dear old Sidney Chambers and his lady love Amanda (Morven Christie)! She has left her dismal life being a rich man’s wife for real love and real passion. The problem, of course, is she is still technically married and knocked up with said husband’s baby. This is the 1950s, and though things are a-changing, they aren’t moving towards the future liberals want fast enough for Sidney’s love life. Amanda is told constantly, first by Mrs. Maguire (Tessa Peake), and later by her own family, that she is a fallen woman and she is on her own. Mrs. Maguire eventually swallows her moralizing when Leonard brings an OFFICIALLY DISOWNED™ and VERY MUCH IN LABOR™ Amanda to the house. The two women become fast friends during the very loud and very painful birth of baby Grace.

Sidney struggles even more with the birth because Sidney feels all the pain of the world. Also, Sidney is completely overwhelmed at the prospect of being in a committed relationship or taking care of a child or even just opening his office door when he’s not vicar-ing or solving murders. With the help of Geordie (and a healthy serving of whiskey), Sidney comes out as an introvert — but not yet as an alcoholic. Geordie (Robson Green) makes a case that “no man is an island” and pours his friend more whiskey. The two slosh together in Sidney’s drunken mind and lo! He solves the murder.

What murder? Oh, yes, this show is actually a murder mystery series. Silly me. I forgot all about the actual plot of the episode. Let’s see. Ah, yes. A rich man gets brutally murdered the night before his wedding. The first round of suspects? His bratty adult son and his bride-to-be Linda (Mamie McCoy). You see, she’s a platinum blonde stripper with an Amy Winehouse smile, but the thing is, she really, really loved this guy. Her son tried to stop the wedding, but to no avail.

The twist comes when Margaret delivers the autopsy reports. Two wedding rings were crammed down his throat. This haunting detail triggers Geordie’s memory because another man was killed in the exact same way years before. That’s where the toymaker comes in. He was the prime suspect in the first murder — he disapproved of his daughter’s husband-to-be and that man wound up dead the night before the wedding. What Sidney finally figures out is that Linda is the killer. She was dallying with the toymaker’s would-be son-in-law and was furious that he would leave her for his knocked-up girlfriend. Later, Linda fell for a rich guy and was heartbroken when he got cold feet about the union. So she killed him and stole his money. Case closed.

There’s also a delightful subplot about Leonard taking over the church’s Nativity play. He introduces the town’s children to the wonderful world of Bertolt Brecht. The kids manage to introduce themselves as a chorus of abstract characters, but they soon lose control of themselves, and their bladders, on the big day. The plastic Sweet Baby Jesus doll is accidentally decapitated and Leonard dashes off in shame (which is how he meets Amanda as she goes into labor – see? I took you full circle).

Grantchester is not merely a show about a weekly murder mystery or the goings-on in a cute little English country town. It is a show that cares about the big picture. And it is a show that bravely says that there will be light even in the darkness.  I love you, Grantchester, my “dishy vicar” show.