WRITER: Dominic Minghella DIRECTOR: John McKay
CAST: Jonas Armstrong (Robin), Lucy Griffiths (Marian), Keith Allen (Sheriff), Richard Armitage (Guy Of Gisbourne), Gordon Kennedy (Little John) & Sam Troughton (Much)
The Sheriff arrives in Locksley and demands the townsfolk tell him where Robin is hiding, not realizing that Robin has been captured by a gang of thieves in Sherwood Forest...
After the lacklustre opening episode, the sense of fun picks up with Sheriff Got Your Tongue?, with a more relaxed sense of adventure and the sense that the show is moving into a comfort zone.
This is still amiable and lighthearted stuff, perhaps not to everyone's taste in the wake of gritty mediavel movies such as Kingdom Of Heaven and King Arthur, but it should please the family demographic.
There is the potential for problems further down the line, with the revelation in this episode that Robin lacks the killer instinct following his stint in the Crusades. This could be a method of ensuring Robin simply doesn't assassinate the Sheriff (something that inexplicably never happens in any Hood incarnation), but it could also be a badly-judged way of limiting the bloodshed for a pre-watershed show. If proved true, the sight of arrows harmlessly shooting weapons out of hands and thunking into trees to scare villains could become tiresome and repetitive.
Jonas Armstrong remains charismatic, but the youthful cast don't carry the gravitas some a gang of thirtysomethings would. At times it's like watching naughty schoolboys running around the forest. You half expect them to start having games of conkers and building treehouses, before their mothers call them in for tea.
As such, Richard Armitage and Keith Allen are the most enjoyable presences so far, as Guy Of Gisbourne and the Sheriff respectively. With age comes experience, and both actors chew the scenery with just the right amount of panache. In particular, Allen gets more to work with this week and has quite a few scenes to sink his teeth into.
Sam Troughton as Much is an energetic and likeable character, seemingly playing his sidekick in a similar vein to the Hobbits Merry and Pippin from Lord Of The Rings. Gordon Kennedy isn't quite the physical presence required for Little John, and a subplot about his estranged wife and son seemed a bit forced.
But the really frustrating thing about Robin Hood so far is the quality of the writing. Dominic Minghella's dialogue is a little clunky, but the real problem is the storylines, which have so far thrashed around all over the place from set-piece to set-piece, usually involving the rescue of people from Nottingham Castle.
At the moment I'm willing to put this down to "growing pains" as the series seeks to stamp its own identity on such a well-known story. But, once the pieces are all in place, I hope the series doesn't degenerate into a series of overly-familiar rescue scenarios week after week. It will be difficult, as the Robin Hood story is a relatively simple one that can be sucinctly told in a two hour movie, so spreading the narrative indefinitely for years (while keeping audience interest in the Robin vs Sheriff and Robin-Marian romance) will be tricky.
In summation, there is enough quality in the performances and production to make Robin Hood worthwhile. This episode kept my interest and contained a handful of good scenes, although the lack of violence (Robin's arrows haven't struck flesh) and a haphazard sense of plotting is so far keeping this series from flying high.
