Writer: Dominic Minghella
Director: David EvansCast: Jonas Armstrong (Robin), Lucy Griffiths (Marian), Keith Allen (Sheriff), Richard Armitage (Guy Of Gisborn), Sam Troughton (Much), Gordon Kennedy (Little John), Harry Lloyd (Will Scarlett), Joe Armstrong (Allan-a-Dale), Anjali Jay (Djak), Agost Zord (George), Paul Usher (Ellingham), Gabor Nagypal (Mercenary Messenger), Rela Gados (Innkeeper), Abhin Galeya (Nasir), Mark Smith (Karim), Nadima Sawalha (Bassam), Konnie Huq (Konnie), Joseph Kennedy (Carter), Steven Waddington (King Richard) & Berna Illyes (Soldier James)
Robin and the gang are trapped in a barn, surrounded by mercenaries, while the Sheriff and Guy head to the Middle East to assassinate King Richard...Warning! Spoilers! Warning! Spoilers!
Robin Hood's much-improved second year sprints to a close with a double-bill, both written by series creator Dominic Minghella. The first episode, A Good Day To Die, is essentially a cost-cutting exercise with the gang trapped in a barn surrounded by mercenaries, led by Ellingham (Paul Usher), on Robin's birthday...
The insurmountable odds of a 5 against 100 situation references 300's Battle of Thermopylae, before Djak (Anjali Jay) manages to keep the mercenaries at bay by threatening them with "black powder" explosives. From there, the bulk of the episode is taken up with Robin (Jonas Armstrong) trying to celebrate his birthday, whilst simultaneously thinking up a last stand attack that will likely result in their deaths.
Djak proposes a customary truth-telling game before they attack at dawn, which gives her the chance to tell Will (Harry Lloyd) how much she loves him. This is all very well, and a plausible development for their characters, but it just comes out of nowhere! I can't remember any foreshadowing of Djak/Will even fancying each other, so their mutual declaration of deep love rings very hollow.
Meanwhile, the Sheriff (Keith Allen) and Guy (Richard Armitage) are planning to assassinate King Richard themselves, leaving England from Portsmouth. Marian (Lucy Griffiths), now unmasked as the Nightwatchman by Guy, hears of the dastardly plot by snoop Alan (Joe Armstrong) and tries to kill the Sheriff herself. Unfortunately, she fails in her own assassination attempt, and and Guy is forced to tell the Sheriff about her treachery and true identity.
At the barn, Much (Sam Troughton) once again gets upset about how his close relationship with Robin has deteriorated since they both returned from the Crusades, Robin tells the gang he's engaged to Marian, and Little John (Gordon Kennedy) regrets not being around for his family.
Later, the Sheriff, Guy and Alan take Marian as their prisoner to Portsmouth (via a "Road To Portsmouth" that, handily, runs directly from Nottingham?) The Sheriff expects his mercenaries to slaughter Robin's gang when the barn standoff reaches its inevitable end, but Alan's good side bubbles to the surface after talking with Marian, and he returns home to rescue his old friends -- seconds before their last stand gets underway. However, Ellingham quickly realizes he's been hoodwinked and the reunited gang are forced to fight to the death.
A Good Day To Die is okay, but merely the appetizer for the finale's main course. The sudden romance between Djak and Will is badly crowbarred into the story, Much's incompetence and whining has twisted his character's role as comic relief into an irritating liability, and we get another allusion to the Sheriff and Guy having a sexual relationship in a weird dream sequence!
Still, I appreciated the efforts to put more characterisation into the episode, and there were some worthwhile developments for Marian and Allan -- but the episode ultimately just laid some foundations and focused your attentions on where each character's relationship stands right now, before episode 13...
We Are Robin Hood is where the double-bill's real action is to be found. Having survived their encounter with the mercenaries, Robin and his gang have followed the Sheriff to the Holy Land, briefed by Allan about the plot to assassinate King Richard (Steven Waddington) as part of operation Shah Mat.
At Acre, the Sheriff outlines his plan for a Saracen called Nasir (Abhin Galeya) to pose as Saladin's messenger and convince the King to meet Saladin -- alone. With the King drawn out into the open to secure peace and end the Holy War, the Sheriff will kill his own monarch and secure power and importance under the kingship of Prince John.
Robin's gang soon bump into blonde warrior Carter (Joseph Kennedy), from the Get Carter episode, and they all head off to warn King Richard that his life's in danger. Unfortunately, the Sheriff has already primed the King to expect an assassination attempt from a "trusted friend" -- so, despite Robin's apparently good intentions and personal history with the King, his gang come under suspicion and are later strung up in the scorching desert... left to die, if God wills it.
Imprisoned Marian can do very little to help anyone, but she appeals to Guy's sense of decency to stop the assassination. As a final resort, she agrees to marry him if he kills the Sheriff, but Guy is too focused on his thirst for power, and his loyalty to the Sheriff has now become unbreakable.
King Richard agrees to meet Saladin alone in the desert, believing the fake messenger sent by the Sheriff (who was in possession of a genuine seal and password). In the desert, the gang face certain death together (not for the first time, eh?), before the Sheriff arrives with Marian (in a true Lawrence Of Arabia horizon moment) and enjoys a good gloat... before leaving Marian behind with them to die. This gives Robin his last opportunity to exchange marriage vows with Marian, with his friends as witnesses...
Just when it seems the end is nigh, heroic Carter arrives and frees the gang from their bonds, believing they've been framed by the Sheriff -- and they all head off to thwart the King's assassination. Indeed, with the Sheriff and Guy watching from atop a sand dune, their assassin approaches King Richard -- only to discover England's monarch is actually Robin in disguise! A mass fight ensues, with everyone eventually riding off across some epic sandy landscape to a nearby town, for a final standoff...
During the ensuing fight in the deserted town, the Sheriff takes an opportunity to kill Carter, before managing to shoot an arrow into the King's back (I'm so glad they've made the Sheriff more pro-active in his villainy lately!) Guy rushes over to finish him off, but Marian appears and pleads desperately for him stop -- also revealing her love for Robin Hood. Unable to accept the shocking news, Guy plunges a sword into Marian's stomach and leaves her for dead.
With the King receiving medical attention, Robin comforts Marian, but it becomes clear that removing the sword will end her life. They proclaim their undying love for each other, before she takes the sword out herself... and dies. The King make a full recovery and attends Marian's funeral in the Holy Land. As Robin and his gang prepare to leave for England as the King's official representatives back home, Will and Djak inform Robin of their intention to stay behind and carve out a new life for themselves.
And there it ends, with a surprisingly emotional climax. We Are Robin Hood was pretty epic at times, making great use of the real locations (with minimal need for special-effects). The story was pretty thin, but it moved fast and kept you guessing. Above all, it was just nice to see the season as a whole come into sharp focus in the finale, with the year's more cohesive plots all leading up to this point.
People and ideas set-up earlier in the season -- Carter, the Black Knights, Allan's treachery, Marian/Guy's strained romance, the assassination plot, the pigeon messages, Robin/Marian's engagement -- they all had some degree of pay-off in the finale, which was great to see.
Steven Waddington was a fine choice for King Richard; macho, noble, handsome, and a plausibly charismatic man who would command respect from his people. The supporting cast of ethnic actors were also solid and the script was careful not to give in too easily to stereotypes (and did you spot Blue Peter's Konnie Huq in a small role?)
Not everything worked brilliantly: plucky Marian was disappointingly marginalized for most of the finale, the gang encounter certain death so often it no longer has any impact, and over-emotional Much spoiled the touching Robin/Marian moment during their "marriage", but for the most part the finale worked perfectly.
Of course, the talking point is going to be the brave (foolhardy?) decision to kill Marian. I don't know for sure, but I assume Lucy Griffiths asked to leave the show -- probably because she was only contracted for 2 seasons and didn't fancy spending half of 2008 filming in Hungary again. Likewise Anjali Jay and Harry Lloyd. I can understand the actors' reasoning for wanting out now, but it's a massive blow to the show. A big part of the Robin Hood myth is the Robin/Marian romance, so can the show cope without that?
In terms of characterisation, Robin Hood has been most successful with the Marian/Guy/Robin triangle, which will now be obsolete. The only positive is that Marian's death will make scenes between killer Guy and "widowed" Robin even juicer next year -- but the cost of losing the underrated Griffiths is a high one. Perhaps most alarmingly, it's the end of the Robin/Marian relationship that always underpinned the Hood legend and helped make it one of the great folk legends.
So it's with mixed feelings that I leave Robin Hood's second season. It was an undoubted improvement on the stilted first year; the quality was mostly consistent, the storylines were more original, the production looked fresher, the locations became more expansive, plots were more cohesive episode-to-episode, and the finale was the cherry on top...
But the loss of Anjali Jay, Harry Lloyd and especially Lucy Griffiths has me concerned about what season 3 has in store: a miserable, grieving Robin seeking revenge on Guy... before a rosy-cheeked Marian replacement turns up, I expect. But Lucy Griffiths will be hard to replace... and is anyone else disappointed Carter was killed, too?
29 December 2007
BBC1, 7.00 pm
