Spoilers. The nasty Sheriff (Keith Allen) is capturing peasants to form an army for two Irish mercenaries, brothers Finn (William Houston) and Tiernan (Martin Delaney), who intend to train these villagers and take them back to the Emerald Isle to fight. Spirited villager called Kate's (Joanne Froggatt) brother is part of a crowd rounded up by despicable Guy (Richard Armitage), so she joins forces with Robin's (Jonas Armstrong) gang to mount a rescue mission as the conscripts are shipped to Nottingham Castle.Said rescue doesn't go according to plan when the gang are overwhelmed by enemy soldiers during a forest attack, and Robin finds himself mistaken as one of the conscripts, to be transported to Nottingham along with them. Tuck (David Harewood) assumed leadership and devizes another rescue mission, but Kate makes the mistake of trusting that Guy will free her brother Matthew (Matthew Forbes) if she reveals he's accidentally captured outlaw Robin Hood. Inevitably, Guy does no such thing, and the Sheriff throws Robin into jail to await a slow and painful death. But salvation may be at hand for the outlaw, when Finn offers to help him escape if he'll promise to help him inspire his own countrymen...
"Cause And Effect" starts off rather awkwardly, asking the audience to play catch-up with the presence of two Irishmen, but Simon J. Ashford's story reveals itself to be slender but sufficient. A few sequences are again mired by the show's irritating use of the same music to provide a heartbeat to its action -- which, after three years, just make you appreciate the fresh composing that goes into Doctor Who's score. It's not that Robin Hood's music is bad, just that every moment requiring an atmospheric melody feels predictable and repetitive when edited to the same tempo's.
Regardless, somehow the story makes us forget we're seeing yet another variation on an escape from Nottingham Castle. Breaking in or out of the Sheriff's stronghold is Hood's bread-and-butter, but there were a few welcome twists on the formula here: for once, the gang are unsuccessful in springing their leader from jail, so Robin joins forces with Finn and they essentially enact a mediavel version of Prison Brea. Nitpicks are par fot the course, as ever -- why don't the guards check on Robin every so often? Why doesn't Robin realize he's been taken up a tower? Would you really build a sewer pipe next to a jail cell? And I wasn't convinced by Robin's chain somehow managing to snare the ramparts above a tower window!
Most notably, this episode introduces the female lead to replace Marian, in the determined shape of village girl Kate -- who is later given her own reason for hating Guy, when he stabs her brother to death. Froggatt should be a fine addition to the show (resembling Marian from the Maid Marian & Her Merry Men children's series, don't you think?), and fresh blood is just what this show needs. Robin's gang already feel more cohesive with Tuck as a strong anchor (although I hope he tones down his pretentious speeches about the Robin Hood myth leading everyone to deliverance.) Beyond Allan (Joe Armstrong), the gang are various degrees of comic-relief, so it will help having someone of Tuck's gravitas and Kate's spirit in the mix. We may finally be able to take this forest posse seriously.
Overall, this was decent entertainment, and I found the climactic "hang-glider" escape using a tower's covering quite cathartic as a means to embarrass the Sheriff. Also interesting to note Guy's change in attitude; prowling around the screen, glaring from behind his fringe, like some kind of zombified wrestler. He's clearly had enough of being treated like a lapdog of the Sheriff, who later dispatches him to explain their latest failure to Prince John -- essentially a death sentence, but we know he'll be back to avenge the Sheriff's treachery all too soon...
4 April 2009
BBC1, 6.25pm
Writer: Simon J. Ashford
Director: Douglas Mackinnon
Cast: Jonas Armstrong (Robin), Richard Armitage (Guy), David Harewood (Tuck), Keith Allen (Sheriff), Gordon Kennedy (Little John), Sam Troughton (Much), Joe Armstrong (Allan), Joanne Froggatt (Kate), William Houston (Finn), Martin Delaney (Tiernan), Teresa Banham (Rebecca), Matthew Forbes (Matthew) & Mike Kelly (Sergeant)
