Why Crime Shows Should Pattern Themselves After Grantchester

Alternate Title: Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Police Brutality

Note: I did not write this blog. This is a guest blog written by my sister, JoJo. She has lots of thoughts about this show and this topic, so I encouraged her to blog about it.

In the months since the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by American police officers, TV shows featuring cops have come under much scrutiny. Much of this scrutiny pertains to the glorification of police brutality as a means to solve the mystery and serve justice. More specifically, those against this type of representation argue that these shows glorify cops who go rogue and break the law in the name of justice. This then normalizes the real-life actions of cops who kill unarmed black people and are not held accountable for their actions. For a fuller explanation of this phenomenon, I suggest this Daily Show clip.

Since this criticism has arisen, many wonder what we should do with cop shows. Some even wonder if we should get rid of them altogether. While I agree that the American portrayal of police brutality is harmful and wrong, I don’t agree that we need to get rid of police shows altogether (although, we could maybe use a few fewer CSIs and Law and Orders). What many don’t realize is that Britain has provided us with a template for how to represent the police without glorifying them or police brutality. One of the best, though not perfect, examples of this is Grantchester.

Will is on the left, Sidney is on the right, and Geordie is in the trenchcoat.
Continue reading “Why Crime Shows Should Pattern Themselves After Grantchester”

And Now Our Watch Has Ended: Why We Should Relax about Game of Thrones’ Finale

SPOILERS for the Game of Thrones series finale, “The Iron Throne.”

Well, after eight seasons and a whole lot of shocking deaths, Game of Thrones has ended. Naturally, the entire internet has opinions about it, and publications are flurrying to write think pieces about it. Lots of think pieces. I kind of love how the writer of the Vox GoT piece says it feels like “a slap in the face.” Really, Zack Beauchamp? You didn’t like a TV series’s finale, so it feels like the show hit you? Okay, then. That’s not melodramatic at all.

Dany with Her Troops

Continue reading “And Now Our Watch Has Ended: Why We Should Relax about Game of Thrones’ Finale”