Robin of Sherwood: The King's Fool

 "We're his pets. The wolves clever Richard trapped and tamed."

I'm impressed. For the second episode in the row we riff on a traditional tale, this time the one where King Richard returns and pardons the outlaws and, indeed, at firat it appears that this is happening. The fact that this is the last episode of the series makes it feel plausible, and John Rhys Davies certainly has presence and charisma as King Richard- at once larger-than-life and utterly believable, not an easy combination.

Yet all, as ever, is not as it seems, and the episode gives us a fascinating meditation on the ethics of compromise versus not selling out... and comes down firmly on the side of the latter. If this episode were a band, it would refuse to join a major label or learn a fourth chord, and rightly so.

Robin, blinded by hope, is the last to see Richard for who he truly is: a warlord, who knows and wants only war. A king who spends little time in England and sees it only as a cash cow for his dynastic wars, wars in which he wishes to involve the merry men. Oh, it may seem at first that Robin has royal favour and the Sheriff does not, but the natural order soon reasserts itself.

The ending, too, is fascinating. Gisburne, surely, is dead. And at first, by the evocative surroundings of a stone circle (let us gloss over the fact that there are none in or near Nottinghamshire), it seems that Marian does too... yet, at the last we have the atmospheric, vaguely Celtic magic of Herne the Hunter. Let us not think too hard about the provenance of these myths, shall we?

A triumphant ending to a promising first season. I'll shortly be resuming with series two, but first I'll be doing something else in this "slot"...

Robin of Sherwood: Seven Poor Knights from Acre

 "You'll get too big foryour boots, you will."

"Then I'll get bigger boots."

This episode impressed me. In theory, I'm annoyed by stories in which someone is famsely suspected of something they didn't do: it's frustrating , and the frustration tends to overwhelm any sense of drama or peril unless handled with great care. And here we seem to have a tale in which seven crusading knights- looking very, very High Middle Ages- falsely suspect Robin and his outlaws of stealing some fancy MacGuffin.

But that's not the point at all, really. The episode deconstructs the idea of the crusading knight. Friar Tuck pretty much tells us that, yes, they're fighting monks, with a vow of poverty and everything, Yet they are violent,pitiless, overbearing, known for massacring both "Saracens" and Jews. Even the Sheriff is wary of these vioilent warriors who are accountable to no one but the Pope himself.

The pace is slow in places, Marian and most of the Merry Men are sidelined a bit, and that same old incidental music is getting a bit samey. Yet it's all so well shot in its action sequences and the look is so wonderfully gritty. There are moments that really hit home- the Sheriff deciding to put out Siward's remaining eye for thieving in particular. Yet the episode works, and it's truly rewarding to see the knights getting their comeuppance.

Robin of Sherwood: Robin Hood and the Sorcerer, Part 2

 "If I should fail, one of you shall take my place, and Herne shall choose him."

A confession, dear readers: I watched the wrong bloody episode. I saw the first episode a couple of months ago, ahem, somewhere, but stopped there as the second episode didn't have subtitles. Now Robin of Sherwood is on Britbox, though. I can carry on. Hooray. But I forgot I hadn't seen this second part so yesterday I watched the episode after this. Today I've finally seen this second part and I can blog them both in order. Bloody annoying, though. Grr.

Anyway, there's so much to fascinate here. I'm loving the direction, the lived-in mediaeval look, yet contrasting with a very '80s mystical paganism that goes beyong the Clannad soundtrack. Herne the Hunter is fascinating. The legend isn't as old as you think, with no evidence beyond Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor. But here he champions the English against the Normans, their ancient protector, his muythical arrow kept by Robin's father. Ironically, the Normans mention Gildas. Gildas, of course, was no friend of Angles or Saxons.

The vaguely pagan/devil-worshipping baron is fascinating; it doesn't feel as though this series is going to be heavily fantasy-based, but this is a world where dark magic exists. Yet so does hope, humanity and a genuinely Robin Hood feel, this time including that famous and almost cliched archery contest.

Nazir is interesting, too- a friend? He is, I believe, the accidental beginning of a new tradition of including a Muslim man from the Levant among the Merry Men. The romance between Robin and Marian is already going at full pelt, and the chemistry is great. Interestingly, Michael Praed is far from a conventional hero, but it works.

This is a strong start and, it seems so far, a strong foundation.