Robin Hood: Thieves With a Purpose

You know, I thought the title “Thieves With a Purpose” was promising, one that suggested Robin and the outlaws would finally hone in on what they stand for and what they want to achieve – but instead, the writers decide that it’s time for more love triangles!

Small consolation is that they don’t waste any time when it comes to Marian confronting Robin with what she knows about his involvement in her brother’s death. He knows straight away what she’s referring to, which means he’s been feeling guilty about it, which also means that he knows damn well he should have fessed up when he had the chance (preferably before they slept together). I’m glad Marian also mentions Priscilla’s injury and other collateral damage that the outlaws have left in their wake – at the end of the day, she’s still a Norman, and it’s her people that Robin has been maiming and killing.

Any resistance, no matter how justified, will see innocent people caught in the crossfire, and that’s the reality all stories dealing with this subject matter should keep harking back to. What is the cost of revolution? Currently, it’s Robin’s relationship with Marian.

We may as well get the love triangle stuff over with, as Marian’s departure leaves Robin bereft, and Ralph leaping to take advantage of this opening. (I’m going to keep calling her Ralph instead of Rosemary, as that seems to be the name she prefers). Along with dropping hints the size of anvils, she lets him get a good look at her naked body while she’s disrobing for a wash in the river, and eventually approaches him in a dress before forcibly kissing him and ordering him to take her to bed.

All this is remarkably tedious since we know how this story ends and it’s not with anyone other than Robin and Marian as the official Super Couple. This just feels like a waste of time on the path to their reconciliation, and also inevitably means that Ralph is heading for a broken heart (place your bets now: will she storm off into certain death once she realizes Robin’s heart still lies with Marian, or pull a Woman Scorned and betray the outlaws in a pique of anger?) It’s a shitty role to cast your other significant female lead into.

I generally like the character, and I could argue she’s a girl who simply knows what she wants and goes for it, but shades of Kate are creeping in here, especially regarding how aggressive she’s being in her pursuit. “Notice me, please! Notice meeeeeee!”

Come on girl, he’s clearly not that into you, and why would you want someone else’s cooling leftovers before he’s even had a chance to get over her?

Meanwhile, Marian opts to walk disconsolately back into London and inevitably gets attacked by thieves – but what’s this? Option B Love Interest comes galloping in to save her, and it turns out to be Prince John. Prince John as Prince Charming? That’s certainly never been done before, and it was so convenient that for a second it made me wonder if the rescue was all a setup to get into Marian’s good graces… but that’s deeply unlikely. He didn’t even know who Marian was, much less know she would decide to walk back to Westminster on a whim.

Queen Eleanor scopes out the situation and decides to act quickly. She elevates Marian to the position of lady-in-waiting, and promptly asks her to continue her newfound acquaintance with Prince John in order to get more information about what he’s up to. Marian doesn’t demonstrate much hesitation when it comes to following the Queen’s orders, so I suspect she’s throwing herself into this new type of work in order to distract herself from Robin.

I’m just happy she’s getting some fresh material (though I had a real “d’oh!” moment when I realized that all this time I’ve been assuming she’ll be a spy in the Norman court for Robin. But of course, it’s going to be Queen Eleanor instead).

There are some good scenes between Marian and John throughout the rest of the episode, my favourite being the one in which he invites her to a party “in his rooms,” during which his heroic persona (which I think she was a little attracted to) becomes something rather seedier. There’s some great acting from Lauren McQueen in which she forces herself to flirt with him, clearly doesn’t feel comfortable doing so, and then continues lighting the candles on the candelabra with a slightly shaking hand.

Taking an opportunity during the party to search the papers on his desk, she finds a letter from the Archbishop of León, only to get caught by John. She’s not quite as smooth this time around, and informs him that she can’t read – so having established that lie, she’s now going to have to pretend she’s illiterate whenever he or his associates are around, and you know it’s just a matter of time before she’s found out.

But she dutifully takes this information back to the Queen, who now knows what her son is up to (though she largely intuited it from their straightforward conversation earlier in the episode). He’s got his eye on the throne.

Okay show, but we need to know why this is a bad thing. Why is Richard the one we should be rooting for, even though he hasn’t been seen yet? Just because Eleanor wants him over John isn’t a good enough reason, and there’s enough subversions going on  throughout this little drama that makes me suspect Richard won’t get the hero-edit either. Sometimes bad men make good rulers and visa-versa, so why chose a warmonger over an administrator? And which one is going to be best for the Saxons, the oppressed protagonists we’re meant to care about most?

***

Everyone else has a few little plot-threads woven throughout the episode, many of which don’t have much purpose but to remind us that certain characters are still around:

The Sheriff is astute enough to realize that Robin isn’t just going to take the money and get out of dodge. His father was hanged on the Sheriff’s orders, so he knows this is personal.

Robin visits Uncle Gamewell early on in the episode, who also floats the possibility that he just leave Nottingham and start a life somewhere else, ironically asking his nephew if he’s staying for “the girl.” The fact that Robin is driven by dual forces of love and vengeance remains nicely ambiguous at this stage, but now that Marian has dropped out of the picture, taking with her Robin’s motivation for leaving, he’s only got his desire for revenge to cling to – which involves staying.

Yay, more Priscilla sex scenes. Honest question: is she angling for power by establishing sexual relationships with men, or does she just enjoy sex for its own sake? Because although she does seem to be having a good time with the Marshal (as she did with Lefors), she’s rather taken aback when he floats the possibility of a long-term commitment.

But the Marshal is serious enough to approach the Sheriff and ask permission to officially court Priscilla, which rather caught me by surprise. He has a reputation as a lady’s man, and we’ve already seen him in bed with Celine, so this feels like an unexpected step. Still, the Sheriff gives him the go-ahead, describing Priscilla as “my heart” (so he’s over the whole sleeping around/defying him over the nunnery thing?) and then wishing him a rather pointed good luck. Heh.

Milange and Ralph have a rather sweet moment in the cave, and I’m inordinately amused that the gay character has not only scoped out the only woman in his midst but also immediately clocked her crush on Robin. He tells her he can make her a dress after explaining that his father was a cobbler (er, dress-making and shoe-fixing are two very different skillsets) and rather bizarrely asks why she dresses like a boy. That’s not obvious?

Well, apparently not, because Ralph answers that she does so because she’s been looking after her brothers for years – not because it’s the safest option in a forest full of men. Apparently it’s just a lifestyle choice!

Will gets one more scene than he did last episode (in which he didn’t appear at all) but it is still only one scene. They’ve really got to figure out what they want to do with this character, though I do like his allyship with Marian, and that they both still clearly love Robin despite everything. In fact, Will even tries to defend his cousin to Marian despite having parted with him on bad terms, and it’s good to get a character witness statement from an individual who’s been so far removed from all this outlaw drama.

(That said, they really gotta get Will back in the plot, stat).

Elsewhere, in what feel like a couple of “please remember these characters exist” scenes, Huntington plots sedition and the Bishop tips off the Sheriff, who then hurries off to confront him. In the beatdown that follows, we also catch a glimpse of the servant that saved Robin’s life by intervening back when Huntington caught him proposing to his daughter. (I’m actually impressed that the show is keeping tabs on these bit players – over on the BBC’s Robin Hood, you had a litany of one-shot characters who simply ceased to exist after their episode was done).

The episode ends with Robin stepping into the leadership role for the first (or at least, the most overt) time with a bonafide Rousing Speech, telling those gathered in the forest that it’s time for the Saxons to take back what’s theirs – starting with the estate of Warrick. He checks off every slogan and catchline that exist in speeches of this kind: don’t tread on us, it’s worse to live as slaves than die as freemen, if they’re going to be called thieves, they may as well act like them (but with purpose) and so on.

It's a little cliché as far as character-defining speeches go, but it does its work. The outlaws have officially reached the “rob the rich” part of the equation, but this episode is deeply interested in the theme of motivation, and Robin’s isn’t exactly pure. Although Tuck tries to be peaceable, telling him that they’re “attempting to build a home here,” and that “God’s hand is always for peace,” Robin insists that they’re doing this for vengeance and nothing more.

But that’s not strictly true. Having learned his lesson from not divulging the whole truth to Marian when he had the chance, he tells Little John in private about his meeting with Queen Eleanor and the deal she offered him: to cause enough trouble that the King will be forced to travel to England to quell it.

Little John is not thrilled about this development, as naturally he can’t see how it benefits them to get involved with the politicking of Normans. To muddy the waters even further, Robin also admits that he made the deal in order to free Marian from Eleanor’s service, which is not only a supremely selfish thing to do (why not ask what King Richard will do for the Saxons?) but also moot at this point, since Marian no longer has any reason to want to leave the Queen’s service.

Still, Robin describes his decision to act as: “the only thing I have left to give [Marian].”

That’s a lot of motivational balls in the air. It’s worth pointing out that straightforward vengeance against the Normans and getting supplies in order to build a community in the forest are achieved with the same attack on Warrick’s estate. Two birds, one stone. It’s what Tuck wants, just not in the way he wants to get it. Furthermore, Robin reminds us that there are more reasons at play in attacking Warrick than most of the outlaws realize: it’s to benefit Eleanor’s masterplan and achieve Marian’s freedom (if she should so choose).

Macro reasons, micro reasons, selfish motivations, altruistic motivations… it’s a nice conflagration of incentives and aims and goals all crashing together.

Before the attack commences, the show ensures that we’re well aware Warrick is a dirty old man, if not a full-blown rapist, as he has a reluctant Saxon woman up in his bedroom. That the outlaws essentially engage in a home invasion is a rather surprising development for this retelling, as their traditional M.O. has always been to waylay travellers in the forest – which means I wish they’d depicted a bit more of the preparation when it came to organizing this attack. That’s always the fun part, where you can see the team start to work together, pool their resources, and argue through the elements of what could go wrong (*gestures at the Aldani heist in Andor*).

As it is, they just turn up and start shooting at people, though there’s a nice touch when the aforementioned girl that Warrick was taking advantage of is discovered and immediately directs the outlaws to his bedroom. They pretty handily win the fight, yet despite killing most of the guards that were on patrol, Robin opts to keep Warrick alive. With all the supplies they need, the outlaws leave with no small amounts of swagger.

But of course, retribution isn’t far behind, and the episode ends with the Sheriff rounding up the Saxon Elders, including poor Uncle Gamewell. (But where’s his wife when this went down? The show has been good at keeping track of its minor characters, so her absence feels like a big oversight). And the Sheriff makes a weary: “I tried” comment before dragging them all away…

And that’s why planning is important. Because a three-year-old child could have foreseen that these would be the consequences to such a brazen attack on a Norman castle.

Miscellaneous Observations:

Our Christmas brunch at work was yesterday, and I swear the waitress was the splitting image of the actress who plays Ralph.

An interesting web is forming between this vast array of characters, and it’s largely through the women. Robin and Marian are both working for Queen Eleanor. Priscilla is seemingly now engaged to the man that Celine was sleeping with. Ralph is the one that killed Marian’s brother, and now Robin is romantically involved with both women. Nobody is yet fully aware of this linkage, but hopefully it’s only a matter of time before things become clearer.

I’m glad the outlaws are thinking about practicalities, with a discussion about where to get food, permanent shelter and so on. It didn’t last long, but it was there. As it happens, I’m fascinated whenever stories delve into this sort of thing; it’s the reason why Andor and Black Sails were so good – because the necessities of a solid infrastructure were treated seriously (Game of Thrones did it too I guess, but with much more gore and rape).

When Eleanor elevates Marian into the role of lady-in-waiting, she says she’ll no longer be Marian of Huntington, but “Maid” Marian of Locksley. Huh? I don’t understand that at all. Aren’t Huntington and Locksley the same place? (That is, Marian’s father is the Earl of Huntington, and on taking possession of Locksley, that estate now also exists under the banner of Huntington?) And if not, then why is Marian said to specifically be from Locksley and not Huntington?

And although the term “maid” was sometimes applied to a person to signify their rank, it was generally only in Scotland, for the eldest daughter of a chief or laird. (Why then do we traditionally call this character Maid Marian? Well, for a number of reasons that no one can quite pin down: partly because the alliterative appeal is too good to ignore, partly because of the character’s associations with the May Queen and the Virgin Mary, partly to assure olden-day listeners of her virginity despite spending so much time in the forest with outlaws, and partly due to a minor legendary anecdote in which she vowed never to marry until Robin Hood was pardoned. In other words, nothing to do with her position or title). Basically, it was a Mythology Gag that didn’t really land.

Celine was only vaguely present in this episode, though it’s amusing she’s now at odds with both Priscilla and Marian – the former because her lover is now seriously thinking about marrying her, and the latter because she’s very quickly becoming Queen Eleanor’s favourite. Not looking forward to whatever cat fight they wring out of this.

When Marian brings wine to Prince John’s chambers, he tells her that he’s playing a ballad about “Luthen and Berian.” Er… is that reference to The Silmarillion? Because if you switch around the first syllables of those names, you’ve got Beren and Lúthien.

What to make of Prince John, who provided a good first impression (especially to Marian) but who… well, is still Prince John. Yet like the Sheriff, he’s not strictly a bad guy, and even Marian says: “you’re not as one would imagine.” Perhaps the show is going for a more nuanced view of him, with a few positive qualities to offset his inevitable comparison with Richard.

(I mean, you could argue that the historical John was in fact a better king than Richard, in that he didn’t lead England into a holy war that had long-term aftereffects that echo to this day.)

Not sure why I should care about Priscilla and the Marshal’s love/lust affair. My general opinion on original characters that are introduced into an old story like this one is that they should really only interact with the familiar characters – otherwise, what’s the point of them? It’s their proximity to the traditional cast that make them interesting, not any original material.

Priscilla is most interesting when she’s with either her father or Marian, but her scenes with the Marshal feel just like reading a fanfic of two OCs off doing their own thing. Their little mini-arc in this episode ends with Priscilla chugging back wine in a truly massive goblet and making dire remarks about how the Marshal is leaving again for London. He seems to want to take her with him, but it all ends before a decision is reached. Again, I’m not entirely sure why I should care about this.

There was a Spragat and Isabel sighting at the outlaws’ encampment. Does this mean that Isabel has left her snitch of a husband? Spragat was involved in the attack on Warrick’s estate, as was Milange (who had some rather nifty fencing moves) and Ralph, who saved Robin’s life at one point. I also liked the fact that when the Saxon girl was liberated, it was Ralph that stood with her and ushered her through the gates, and that when they return to camp, Tuck provides her with food and a blanket.

It doesn’t escape my notice that when it comes to the sex scenes on this show, the nameless extras (the Saxon girl with Warrick, the castle maid with Will) are required to show off more flesh than the regulars (Marian, Priscilla, Ralph and Celine). It’s pretty yuck actually, as it demonstrates that one set of actresses clearly have a lot more control over how explicitly their bodies are presented on-screen.  

In fact there were a number of iffy moments throughout this episode, from the rather pointed use of the phrase “don’t tread on us,” (maybe to contrast with Marian being repeatedly told to “tread carefully?”) to Robin saying that the Normans help themselves to “our women.” Urgh. They’re not YOUR women, Rob, or in fact ANYONE’s women.  

Before initiating sex with Robin, Ralph tells him: “I want you to see me as I am,” presumably referring to the dress she’s wearing and her more feminine appearance. It’s a little funny since, hon, you gave him a full-body flash earlier in the day. He has very much seen you as you are.

I suppose we don’t yet know whether Robin will in fact sleep with her – despite crushing Marian’s marigold in his hand, there’s every chance he’ll stop it before it goes too far… but probably not. What’s he even thinking in this moment? Trying to forget Marian, or replacing Ralph with her while his eyes are closed?

Either way, this episode certainly wasn’t Robin’s finest hour, and it annoys me that Marian clearly isn’t going to become sexually involved with anyone else, whilst Robin makes the most of Ralph in such a way that doesn’t bode well for her. As stated, she’s now likely to be killed off or to end up betraying him out of anger at being rejected.   

It was Prince John who ended up being the big surprise this week, and I liked what the show did with him (at least so far). Throughout Robin Hood retellings he’s almost invariably characterized as a spoiled manchild, but this one is more cunning and subtle than usual. He appears like a knight in shining armour, and it’s only after he’s saved Marian and returned her to Westminster do we realize who he really is. How long will those positive first impressions sustain him before we see his true colours?

Whatever happens, it was interesting that both Prince John and Robin are called “a fool” in this episode, by people who are genuinely trying to scope them out and provide good advice.