Robin's gang aren't too happy when Robin announces he's teaming up with Guy rescue their half-brother Archer (Clive Standen) from York dungeon, at his father's behest -- particularly Kate (Joanne Froggatt) and Little John (Gordon Kennedy); the former because Guy recently killed her brother in cold blood, the latter because the monosyllabic oaf has simple morals and is beginning to doubt Robin's leadership.
For the most part, this episode took us away from the Nottingham locale, as Robin and Guy travelled to York castle, devising a plan to get Guy inside the dungeon to make contact with the incarcerated Archer, before Robin can rescue them both. It's a plan that requires explicit trust, which doesn't come naturally to either man. Still, it's not long before Guy's arrested for brawling in a tavern and fortuitously thrown into Archer's cell, and Robin goes undercover as a nobleman to pay for his wayward friend's release.
Archer himself is revealed to be a mix of Robin and Guy's personalities; rakish, handsome and a seducer of women, but with a slither of humanitarian decency tucked away beneath his cheeky con man swagger. Archer is already bedding the Sheriff of York's (Anthony O'Donnell) beautiful wife (Tracy-Ann Oberman) under his jailer's nose, while simultaneously manipulating his own release by pretending he's an alchemist using some distractive "magic powder" and sleight of hand.
Back in Sherwood Forest, Isabella (Lara Pulver) appears to have transformed herself into a Disney-level villainess, making sinister asides like "I want them alive..." after sending a henchman to track down Guy and Robin to see why they're suddenly partners. The reason, beyond a sense of familial honour, is that Archer has access to weapons Guy and Robin can use to defeat Isabella's forces, but that's a development that feels a little hard to swallow. It's also a shame that Pulver's gone from being an interesting and conflicted love-interest for Armstrong to pantomime baddie so quickly, as the actress deserves better.
What permeates the entire episode is trying to appraise Archer as a character, mainly because he's rumoured to succeed Jonas Armstrong as the titular hero when Robin lays down his arrows. Commendably, Archer doesn't appear readymade to takeover as "the new Hood" if the show returns for a fourth year, but I suppose there's time for rehabilitation. It certainly kept things more interesting than it might have been with Archer a mischievous womanizer and not above threatening his brother's life to save his own skin. Perhaps the episode's biggest success was keeping Archer's destiny cloudy, too -- does he have Robin's righteousness in his veins, or is he more allied to Guy's selfish nature? Right now his thirst for wealth and power gives him more in common than the series' villain...
Plot-wise, "The Enemy Of My Enemy" was only ever interesting when it focused on Robin and Guy, and I can forgive the episode ending with another variation on the gang rescuing people from the gallows. The B-story with Isabella and Robin's gang wasn't very involving, with most of the actors (particularly Joe Armstrong's Allan and Sam Troughton's Much) having a particularly bad year – snacking on plot scraps thrown their way. A particular disappointment has been Tuck (David Harewood), whose introduction was enigmatic and substantial, but his role has shrunk to just being an underused, sanctimonious tit.
Overall, this was easy enough to watch, fun in parts, but ultimately too undercooked and not entirely successful. Still, I enjoyed seeing Armstrong and Armitage wrestle with their mutual hatred while trying to function as a jail-breaking twosome, and it set things up for what will hopefully be an exciting two-part finale...
13 June 2009
BBC1, 6.45pm
written by: Timothy Prager directed by: Graeme Harper starring: Jonas Armstrong (Robin), Richard Armitage (Guy), David Harewood (Tuck), Gordon Kennedy (Little John), Sam Troughton (Much), Joe Armstrong (Allan), Lara Pulver (Isabella), Clive Standen (Archer), Joanne Froggatt (Kate), Tracy-Ann Oberman (Gweneth), Anthony O'Donnell (Sheriff Of York), David Sterne (Old Man), Chook Sibtain (Isabella's Guard), Matt Devere (York Prison Guard) & Peter Takatsy (Lipscomb)
