[SPOILERS] As good as Toby Stephens has been as Prince John, his preening panto villain felt rather stale in writer John Jackson's hands. He's a bit too much of of a leering cheeseball in this episode (overdoing the "do you love me?" catchphrase), and the storyline itself takes a decent idea and flushes it down the privy...King Richard is dead; his body fresh back from the Crusades under the supervision of Lord Sheridan (Robert Pugh), intended to prove to Archbishop Walter (Ian Gelder) that his brother John must ascend to the throne in a near-immediate coronation in Nottingham, as the prince intends to shift the capital of England to the north. Of course, Robin (Jonas Armstrong) and his gang smell a rat, and they quickly discover that Richard's corpse is just a clever wax effigy, and that Sheridan (Robin's mentor) is in league with Prince John in a plot to oust his brother from his throne...
Like I said, this was a good jumping-off point, but what a shame nothing hangs together as well as it might. There's a lot of distraction -– particularly from a subplot with Isabella (Lara Pulver) trying to capture her brother Guy (Richard Armitage) in order to demonstrate her loyalty to the prince. The attempts by Robin's gang to retrieve the faux-Richard and show it to the Archbishop inevitably goes awry, and they resort to Plan B: steal the coronation crown from a booby-trapped dungeon chamber (a medieval version of those criss-crossed laser beams that only exist in spy capers.) The story's agreeable enough at times, but it's an episode of half-decent moments that don't really hang together.
What was most disappointing was the ridiculous climax, with Prince John having retrieved the crown Robin's gang stole and about to be crowned king by the Archbishop in a big ceremony at the Abbey. And what's Robin's plan to stop Prince John? Why, burst into the Abbey mid-ceremony with his gang all holding reflective shields and, er, pretend to be King Richard! Needless to say it doesn't work (did they seriously think it would?), but then they just tell the Archbishop that Richard's body was a dummy and he seems happy with that explanation. So there was no need for any proof, after all!
Overall, "The King Is Dead, Long Live The King" wasn't terrible, but it was underwhelming given the decent set-up for a story, crippled by a frankly ridiculous ending, and resplendent with daft moments. In the end, Isabella becomes a human shield for Prince John (taking the arrow fired by her brother, who arrives to threaten John's life), the crown is stolen by Kate (Joanne Froggatt) to be returned to the Archbishop afterwards, and Prince John leaves Nottingham "defeated", but not before proving himself progressive in sexual politics by making Isabella the new Sheriff of Nottingham as reward for her bravery.
Not great, not awful, just weak and forgettable.
23 May 2009
BBC1, 6.35pm
Writer: John Jackson
Director: John Greening
Cast: Jonas Armstrong (Robin), Richard Armitage (Guy), David Harewood (Tuck), Gordon Kennedy (Little John), Sam Troughton (Much), Joe Armstrong (Allan), Lara Pulver (Isabella), Toby Stephens (Prince John), Joanne Froggatt (Kate), Robert Pugh (Lord Sheridan), Ian Gelder (Archbishop Walter) & Andy Hefler (Deschamps)
