Episode 9: The Dangerous Deal

Things are looking brighter in Nottingham as Sheriff Isabella takes command of the city. Despite refusing to make a deal with Robin Hood, she plans to be the best Sheriff ever. Her first act as such, is to pardon a girl brought before her for judgement. A girl named Meg, who has refused to accept any of the men her father has wished to marry her to. Isabella sympathizes with her at once, and not only frees her, but makes signs of friendship towards her.

Robin and the gang watch all of this with grudging approval, but are quite concerned when a man interupts the proceedings claiming to be their new Sheriff by virtue of being Isabella's husband. Isabella is instantly terrified, as Squire Thornton forces her inside to have a 'little chat'.

Meg follows them, and is able to save Isabella some discomfort by telling Thornton that she knows where some hidden gold is. As a reward, he throws her in the dungeon, to await punishment should she be telling a lie.

Meg happens to wind up in a cell next to none other than Sir Guy of Gisbourne himself, set to be executed the next day. While Isabella and Thornton leave to search for the treasure, Meg and Guy have some very deep 'heart to heart' conversations through the bars of their respective cells.

Meanwhile, Robin stays back at the castle to watch what will happen after Thornton comes, and Kate stays with him. They see Thornton and Isabella leave the castle, and across a couple of scenes Kate reveals her feelings for Robin. Feelings which he apparently doesn't share, or is too considerate of Much to confess.

After Isabella and Thornton find the treasure, the gang sets up a plan to steal it away. However, Much gets distracted and all sorts of things go wrong. The treasure escapes, and in order to get it back, the gang may have to make another dangerous deal with Isabella...

The Good:

The highlight of this episode, possibly of the season, was the storyline with Guy and Meg. Which is really surprising considering the fact that I'm a lightsider. I've never been a huge Guy fan. As a matter of fact, the last time I felt something akin to 'liking' for Guy, was Treasure of a Nation. Two episodes before he killed Marian. As a result, I'm loath to trust him (or the writers) again. But I can't help it! While Robin is off galavanting (and yes, I do mean galavanting) in the woods with every girl he meets, Guy is tortured and guilt stricken by the memory of Marian. And all of this is brought to a head when he meets Meg, and is stuck near her for about a day.

Meg is the perfect example of a strong, female character that is not annoying or whiny (see:Kate). Despite the odd feminist propaganda they had going this week, Meg was a really interesting character, and the relationship she had with Guy was AMAZING! Those two actors blew me away in all of their scenes. The way they both slowly came around to each other, and how Meg really helped Guy to face himself and deal with his problems was soooooo great. Guy got to talk about Marian, and about how he had destroyed the only good thing in his life, and Meg got to see that not all men are terrible.

I hated the fact that Meg died at the end. I realize the literary signifigance of it, but it still hurt. Guy finally got to mourn for Marian through Meg. He mourned them both. The two women who saw better things in him. One of them he destoryed, and the other brought him back from that, only to die protecting him. He (figuratively speaking) held them both in his arms as Meg died, and brought his struggle with Marian's death to a close as he finally cried for her. He still may deal with it more later, but now that he has accepted responsibility he can truly move towards redemtion.

On to a different subject, anyone who didn't think that Isabella was a very mentally disturbed woman has now been convinced. And I don't blame her! Squire Thornton is by far the most disturbing character this show has had. There is nothing funny about him. I'm actually surprised they had got away with having a character like that on a 'kids' show. He was legitimately abusive and down right scary. Lara Pulver did an excellent job this week playing the slightly insane side of Izzy, and seeing her husband, we are able to see one of the major reasons she acts the way she does. I really felt sorry for her this episode.

Much was absolutely adorable this episode, and I felt so sorry for him! When he left the camp I almost cheered! It's about time that Much just showed them. He's the most abused character in the whole show. Why can't we have some be nice to him?

The Bad:

Allan continues to be completely ignored. It is so sad! He's such an interesting character and he's been completely wasted this season. I'd better stop now, or else I'll just get into a rant about how I'd rather have Allan than Tuck or Kate.

Robin jumped in between being tolerable and down right obnoxious this episode. Apparently this particular writer put all of his creativity creating interesting storys for Gizzy and Izzy, and forgot to pay attention to continuity in Robin's character. At one point he trys to set up Much and Kate cause he knows about Much's feelings, then later he just decides to kiss her. And don't even get me started on his inconsistencies with Izzy. At this point, I don't think the writers know where they are going with Robin, and it really shows. So instead of turning on Robin, as many lightsiders have lately, I'm just going to blame it on the writers and maintain that the real Robin wouldn't have acted in any of those ways.

The Vikings buried treasure was slightly odd, but considering the dramatically good reactions to some character developments, and dramatically reactions to other character developments the actual plot of this episode is rather inconsiquensial.

Squire Thornton was really really creepy. Which gets him a place in both the good and bad sections.

The Ugly:

Ok, Kate is really lucky that I don't live in the 1190's. Because if I did, she would be dead. Kate ruined every part of this episode that she was in. She was obnoxiously jealous of Robin, rude and inconsiderate to Much, self-righteous and know-it-all-y (a word I made up especially for Kate) and then at the end, Robin has the nerve to call her compassionate and brave. Seriously? When?

Kate is the most annoying character this show has ever had, and I really wish that she didn't hog so much screen time. She's just daft! After Robin tells her that a relationship is impossible because Much likes her, she has the nerve to ask Much to tell Robin their only friends. Of course Much agrees, because he's just the sweetest character in the show! Much was slighted by both Robin and Kate so many times this episode, that it was terrible to watch. Why doesn't anyone appriciate him? They don't even use this as an opportunity to develop a relationship with Allan and Much. they just push Much aside.

Now for the Kate/Robin thing that some people are calling a 'romance'. I am so unconvinced about this that it's laughable. Robin has never shown any interest in Kate beyond a little sister type interest. Now all of a sudden, he's kissing her? Despite the fact that this is wrong on so many levels, I just don't think anyone, least of all Jonas Armstrong, is buying it. His scenes with Kate are so bland that I find it hard to believe anyone sees romance in this. Jonas puts much more into his scenes with Izzy or almost anyone other than Kate. Overall, I think that many of the actors are worn out with playing characters that change as quickly and the weather. Much still manages, Allan hasn't has anything to do, and Robin is just tired. I find myself looking forward to his death, because watching this character 'develop' is just painful.

In Summary:

This episode was filled with contrasts. There were parts that I loved, and there were parts that I hated. Unfortunately, my favorite characters had the parts that I hated. They had to go and give the good development to characters that I'm used to disliking.

I'm really looking forward to next weeks episode because it's not going to be a regular episode. Hopefully, we'll be Kate free! The story takes a dramatic turn tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.

~Paige