Episode 3: Lost in Translation

The Abbot of Kirklees has a secret. A very dark secret. The Abbot is translating the Bible into English.

Being a person of no scruples, the Sheriff is the first to jump at the chance of using this little tidbit of information to blackmail the Abbot. The penalty for such sacrilege would be certain death, not to mention the destruction of ten years worth of work.

With such terrible consequences looming, the Abbot agrees to publicly condemn Robin Hood as a heretic, and accuse him of attempting to rob the abbey of Kirklees. As a result, none of the people around Nottingham will have anything to do with Robin Hood the next time he comes to visit.

The only person who is willing to risk hiding the gang from the Sheriff, when he rides unexpectedly into Locksley village, is Kate, who seems to have warmed up to the outlaws (just a little.)

Brother Tuck, confused by the Abbot's deceptions, remembering him to be a man of honor, and decides, against Robin's orders, to visit Kirklees and find out what's going on for himself. As a result, he is captured, and turned in to the Sheriff, who tells the people he was caught trying to steal sacred articles from the abbey.

Robin, of course, cannot allow Tuck to be captured and killed, so he comes up with a plan...

The Good:

The plot for this episode was much better than last week's. There were (of course) glaring historical inaccuracies, but if these are no so flagrant that they draw my attention away from the story (as they did last week with the hang-gliding) I don't mind them too much. The Bible being translated into English was a wonderful idea, even though the actual feat would not have been accomplished until a few hundred years later, when more people were actually literate.

This storyline also allowed for some positive Christian story elements, like Tuck quoting Bible verse, which were a nice touch. As a Christian myself, I've been slightly annoyed that the BBC has done everything they can to highlight the other religion's of the world, while glossing over the fact that England was a Christian nation at the time, and religion would have been a part of their lives. Seeing a character like Tuck quoting Bible verses in proper context, is not something this show has had very often.

Then you have the Abbot. I found him to be one of the better drawn guest stars this show has given us thus far. A real grey character. A character who was, in essence, doing the wrong thing, for the right reasons. Yes, a very interesting character indeed.

Kate was (in my opinion) better this week. If her character had been introduced to us in the way she was portrayed this week, I might have liked her. However, right now she is only working to negate the bad impression she left on me last week. She had some nice moments, and at this point, if she continues this way, I could end up liking her. If they don't try to match her up with anyone.

Allan finds his spot in The Good, again. He is pretty much a permanent fixture. He had a very nice fight scene. I mean very nice. Two swords... taking out, like, ten guards. It was sweet. Plus, he's always good for a glib comment. He even makes puns work!

Robin was good this episode, bringing some of his lighthearted banter with the Sheriff back to the show. However, other than that, he didn't stand out too much. Keith Allan, on the other hand, was marvelously villainous. Striking the perfect balance between creepy and comical. It really will be a shame to see him go.

The Bad:

Though I liked the plot, I think they need to come up with some other stories. Every episode is becoming: Sheriff does something bad, Robin tries to help but something goes wrong, Robin tries again and succeeds, Repeat. I did enjoy this episode more than the last one, but they need to come up with something to liven the story up. Quick. It is possible that the addition of Izzy (Gisbourne's sister. You know, Gizzy and Izzy. :) will provide that extra spark that's needed.

I thought there were several missed opportunities for character conflicts, most notably between Allan and Tuck. Allan is not shy about his distrust for the monk, and the writers actually paired them up at one point in the episode. I would have liked to see more conflict there, with Tuck being the moral one, and Allan being the skeptical, distrustful pickpocket that he is. The dynamic between them could be very interesting, if the writers would only clue in.

Robin had another (borderline) inspirational speech. Between him and Tuck, the inspirational speech minutes for the entire season have all been used up. Give the extra talking to Little John. I don't think he's said a full sentence yet this season.

The Ugly:

On one of the other Robin Hood message boards, someone proposed starting a Protect Much Club. He really needs it. Of all the characters on this show, he is the sweetest, and yet he is also the most abused. No one is nice to him! He basically told Kate that he likes her this episode, and instead of leaving it at, 'Sorry, things would never work between us,' she has to throw in, 'you smell bad, etc.' Really, I think the b.o. back then would have been equally bad on all of them. They didn't exactly bathe everyday.

Ok, who else was totally creeped out by the Sheriff's interaction with that little girl. Was she Kate's sister? That was really weird, and wrong. I felt so sorry for her.

In Summary:

This episode was definitely up from last week, but still below the first episode which was touching in it's reverence towards Marian. In my opinion, the writers have made a mistake in, figuratively, burying her too soon. She was a big part of the show for most people, and to just ignore the fact that she was ever there leaves the show feeling hollow. Since the writers decided to kill a main character is such a dramatic way, they should have been prepared to deal with the consequences of that over more than one episode.

Let's just hope the next episode continues the upward trend, and this season will be alright.

~Paige