1.  The Prophecy

09/03/1985

Little John is captured by Guy, who has a plan to finally get his hands on all the Merry Men.  After a prophecy from Herne Robin thinks that Little john is the prisoner he is told he must rescue.  While they are planning to rescue John from Nottingham another John turns up, Prince John!  He has his own agenda and his own, hooded, prisoner. someone whose identity will be a big surprise to one of Robins band.  Robin now realises that this hooded prisoner is the person who is in the prophecy and that freeing them from Prince John's grasp will be a daunting prospect.

My Review: The story begins and ends with Herne's prediction that King Richard will die in battle, this is a nice tip of the hat to the end of season 1 which saw Richard preparing for battle and chastising his brother's behaviour. In this story we see Prince John himself as he plots and schemes to secure the crown for himself. While John is portrayed as a fighter he's anything but, he's a cowardly sociopath with a grudge against everyone who's beneath him. He's wonderfully portrayed too, he's not a one dimensional cartoon villain, his motives and moods are as capricious as the wind and he's got a wicked temper if he doesn't get his own way. With the Sherriff away Guisbourne is in charge and he's shown to be very lacking in ability too, however in the end he manages to prove himself loyal to the crown, in some ways he's the Boris Johnston of his day and he ends up in his own dungeon! The Merry Men are caught up in the intrigue, especially when they learn that Prince John has Marion's father hostage. He was though dead, killed in battle, but he was captured instead and then when he learned of Prince John's scheming he was imprisoned by the Prince to prevent him telling the king. Robin and co stage a rescue and discredit the Prince's aide du camp, thus allowing Guisbourne a second chance to redeem himself. This in part he manages, having secreted a spy in the Merry Men, however the spy is revealed the Robin saves the day. However the final moments reveal Herne's prophecy to be true, King Richard is dead and Prince John is now King John, with Guisbourne quickly getting himself back into the new King's good books by leading the cheers. All in all I thought this was a good start to the second season, plenty of action and intrigue and mysticysm, all three elements woven together perfectly.

2. The Children of Israel

16/03/1985

The sheriff returns to Nottingham, passing through Sherwood. Will decides that Robin's plans to ambush him is not good enough and attempts to attack the sheriff and his men with only Little john, Nazir and Friar Tuck at his side. It all goes badly wrong, Tuck is badly injured and Robin is furious, a fury that grows when he discovers tha attitude of the local villagers they take Tuck to.  Back in Nottingham the sheriff is approached by Joshua De Talmont, a jewish moneylender, demanding the money that the sheriff owes him. The sheriff is not best pleased about being challenged for money he owes and 'suggests' to Guy that a tide of anti jewish sentiments may strike Nottingham, as it has in London and other towns, and lead to the death of De Talmont in the riots.

My Review: An interesting story with historical roots and parallels with pre-war Gremany with the Sherriff displaying his anti-Semetic side in a bid to avoid paying his debts. This sid eof the Sherrif was briefly glimpsed in a quick scene in season 1, where he stated he didn't want any Jew living in Nottingham. Well since then he's obviously changed his mind (or had it changed for him) as there is a small Jewish population within the city. Guisbourne is also in another of his lusty moods (see The Witch of Elsden) only this time he fancies the daughter of the money lender the Sherriff owes money to. This dynamic sets the Sherriff and Guisbourne at loggerheads and will pay off later in the story. Meanwhile Robin and co have tried to mugg the Sherriff as he returned back to the castle, they failed and Tuck paid the price. It seems that despite Robin's good deeds helping the poor they refuse to help him when they need him, and this wounds Robin more than any sword or arrow. Scarlet's sudden outburst and storming off seem out of character now, they would have fit more in early season 1 but here it just feels wrong somehow. It seems odd that Herne says there is no other to replace Robin as one will be revealed later on, but maybe this is a double bluff to throw the audience off and keep them guessing? Guisbourne saves the family of the woman he fancies and pretends that they're dead, so he can have his way with her later on. The Sherriff has a fit when he discovers Guisbourne's trechery and resolves to hunt him down. Guisbourne finds the woman and her family (after Scarlett has robbed them) and makes off with her. Robin and Nazir track Will down and he comes around and they all defeat Guisboure. This was a good sword fight, very varied camera angles and better than the usual stand about in a leafy glade affairs. The Sherriff caputures Little Johnand the others but he seizes a holy book and its magical powers curse him with strange visions and voices (or he did some acid) and he seemingly goes mad. This allows Robin to save the day and with his faith restored he helps the family to escape the Sherriff and Guisbourne. I thought this was a half and half story. Some bits were really good, mainly the bits with the sherriff and also thesword fights. The repeat of the Lusty Guy storyline wasn't so good the second time around, although at least here he admits his love for the woman. The scene with Herne was good too, with Robin questioning his calling and doubting himself. However the flaws are there and do detract.

3. Lord of the Trees

23/03/1985

Gisburne, left in charge of Nottingham by the Sheriff, hires a group of vicious mercenaries to hunt down the outlaws. Unfortunate timing for Robin and company. It is the time of the Blessing when no blood can be shed or the villagers will not have a good harvest that year. The outlaws must use cunning and trickery to defeat Gisburne and the mercenaries.

My Review: Hmmm, a really mixed bag of ideas have gone into this story. On the one hand you have a strong mystic element about Herne and nature and not drawing blood, then you have Guisbourne in even more angry mood than usual and suddenly half way through the story he starts thinking most uncharacteristically! Add to this a convenient blood thirsty band of sociopathic 'land pirates'. The mix of these brutal thugs just when it happens that the Merry Men can't draw blood is the obvbious plot device equivilent of the Hiroshima bomb! The characters are all well acted and the introduction of Hal the Archer I mean the original Boba Fett I mean Edward is a welcome one. The story meanders slowly as it takes its time to set things up and it really takes full advantage of the locations to maximise the sliky gloss that the whole series used to well. One sub story is the rivalry of theologies, with the Christian Normans supressing the paganistic English with blind naked aggression and this story is a sort of Ghandi-esque fight back with Herne revealing himself (in a good way) to all and sundry. The village of Wickham comes to the fore too with Guisbourne first mocking their beliefs and attacking their customs and later on he steals their food and insults them further. All this leads up to the spiritual assault by the forces of nature (the trees) on Guisbourne (will the new series have Ents?) and even the Abbot Hugo takes a step back from Guisbourne's zeal, having cautioned him against going to far. I found some parts of this story to be really good, very enjoyable, the short play was a delight, but the stuff with the convenient rent-a-rablle just seemed too charactured, too fake, too out of place. It might have been better to include them in another story as a threat on their own, without associating them with Guisbourne. I did like Guisbourne's cautious attitude but it was such a swift turnaround that it somehow didn't feel earned, it felt like he was reading the Sherriff's lines and not his own. Still it just say manages to hang together and the finale showdown somehow works, with Robin being forced to surrender the Blessing of Hearne to save Marion's life (and her virtue).

4. The Enchantment

30/03/1985

Robin is bewitched by Lilith, one of followers of the not-quite-late Simon de Belleme, and tricked into helping to bring the Baron back to life. At the same time, the Sheriff schemes to take possession of the Baron's legendary cache of gems.

My Review: A rather good story that starts off slow and just builds and builds. Lilith is the former acolyte of Simon de Belleme (although for this story the de is dropped!) and she plans to seduce Robin by sorcery! It works too, while the Merry Men are polaying the spoon game Robin suddenly comes over all funny and just walks away. Meanwhile Sherriff and Guisbourne and random noble of the week are interrogating de Belleme's other acolyte ala the Spanish Inquisition, in order to locate the lost treasures of Castle de Belleme. The Random Noble eventually decyphers the dying womans last words and eagers tells the Sherriff to gain slight political advantage over Guisbourne. Sherriff dispatches them both to retrieve the gems. Robin meanwhile meets up with Lilith and she takes him back to her hovel, which is enchanted to look palatial inside (I wish I could do this as it would save a fortune and I could sit about eating choccies instead of hoovering and dusting) Marion realises that Robin is possessed and she goes off to ask Herne what she can do, which distracts Herne as Robin sneaks into his cave and steals his silver arrow. Robin takes the arrow to Lilith, who in turn takes him to Castle de Belleme and together they resurrect the dead Baron. The Baron tells Robin some bogus stuff about Herne lying to him and instructs Lilith to cut out Robin's heart. Lilith goes off to have some wild sex with Robin before killing him. Guisbourne and Random Noble meanwhile have snuck into the castle and located the hidden jewels. To do so Random Noble has had to absail outside the caste and now Guisbourne gets his revenge by cutting the rope and murdering Random Noble. The Baron then appears to Guisbourne and regains his jewels. He spares Guisbourne and instructs him to return with Sherriff. Back in Chez Witchy the Merry men led by Marion rescue robin and thwart Lilith. The Sherriff and co arrive at the Castle and are confronted by the baron. Robin then leads everyone back to Castle de Belleme and he confronts the Baron. Sherriff and Guisbourne take this opportunity to escape. The Baron tries to kill Robin with Herne's silver arrow but Herne appears suddenly and catches the arrow out of the air! The Merry Men escape and Baron Belleme promises that they haven't seen the last of him. All in all this is a good story, well told and it serves as a coda of sorts to the openig tv movie. Baron de Belleme really is a good opponant for Robin and it's a pity he doesn't return in season 3, but I;m getting ahead of myself. It's almost a pity that the Baron is left out of half of the story, as he's a much more interesting character than the weakly acted Lilith who's a one trick wonder. The Baron is a much stronger character in every sense and alas half the stuff with the Sherriff really is just story padding, but it's done so well that I didn't really notice and I certainly don't mind as it's well written and well acted padding.

5. The Swords of Wayland (TV Movie)

06/04/1985

A group of pious and well-respected nuns are in reality a coven of witches. They need all of the Seven Swords of Wayland for some very heavy-duty conjuring. The only sword they don't have is Robin's Albion.  Robin and his band battle to prevent Morgwyn of Ravenscar from harnessing the power of the sword of Albion.

My Review: Part One - An interesting story this, there's no Sherrif, no Guisbourne and no Hugo for the first time the triumvirate of evil is missing from a story and what a story it is. It's very cinematic, fantastic visuals, the Hounds of Hell costumes look amazing. Putting one satanic story right after another however is one thing that does go against this imho, it's too similar. The idea of the Merry Men going off to fight evil all around the country is a bold one and perhaps could have been a bold direction for the series to follow in season 3. The concept of the covern being disguised as a convent of nuns is a bold one and allows for the contrast of the light and etherial convent and and dimly lit rough hewn cellers of the cauldron. Marion mentions that her father is still dead, yet in an earlier episode he was found alive. This is due to the episodes being broadcast out of order, but it could also be that she's protecting her father by continuing the pretense that he's dead, although who the elderly serf is going to tell is a mystery best left unresolved. There's a lot of intrigue about the arrival of the Merry Men in Uffcombe and it becomes obvious that the village has been infiltrated by spies. The Miller is an agent of the Cauldron and one of the villagers is a spy for the local nobles. Both are dealt with, one apparently kills himself and the other is killed by Will Scarlett. The ending of the story is quite effective, even though the story was originally broadcast as a TV movie, with Robin captures and hauled away to be hanged for murder, it is a very strong visual as the scene freezes and the credits roll.  Part Two - And so the conclusion, it's actually quite a simple second half, Robin is jailed, Albion is confiscated, evil nun steals the sword by lying and makes off, Marion helps Robin escape, evil nun possessed the rest of the Merry Men, Robin is captured, escapes, Marion is taken to the nun and the spell removed. The nun summons her mates and start to summon satan. Robin frees his mates, they stop the summoning, save the day and the evil nun is killed for her failure. The real joy of the second part is not the saving of the day, it's not the amazing location shots or the cinematic filming. It's the simple message that even on his own without any powers or magic swords Robin has found his inner strength, the drive, the zeal, to overcome terrible odds and save those he cases about the most. This is Robin's story and shows him at his best, perhaos that's why this story was kept back? It gives us the perfect hero, strong, determined, the champion of injustice and protector of the helpless. If just one story was needed to show who Robin was and is then this is the one.

6. The Greatest Enemy

13/04/1985

Threatened with the loss of his position, the Sheriff pulls out all stops to find Robin. He captures most of the band in Wickham and hunts down the rest with hounds. Finally, only Robin, Marion and Much are alone on a hill, facing an army.

My Review: Brilliant, utterly brilliant. From the mysterious opening with Nazir talking to two cowled figures (no doubt to hide tht fact they're British actors and not Arabian as the credits claim) the episode just adds layer after layer of mystery and danger. The Sherrif is ordered to get rid of tRobin and his Merry Men once and for all and so his devious mind comes up with a grand scheme to trap them in Wickham. Meanwhile Hearne appears to Robin and warns him in a very murky and roundabout way that his time's up, his number's been called, he's about to shuffle off this mortal coil. All this mystery does add because its so vague and cryptic and yet so obvious once it's happened. The trap is sprung but it's only a partial succcess, Little John is captured by what looks like every extra they could muster on set and Scarlett is captured in a similar way but with different costumes. This is the first time since the first episode that there's been a really dangerous feel to the series, where once it was known that they'd all escape by the end of the story now nothing seems quite so certain. Nazir is still talking to his associates when they decide to kill him? Was he telling really bad jokes? This segment of the story could really have done with subtitles imho, because I didn't have a clue as to what was going on until much later. Nazir kills them, of course, as he's one of the heroes of the series. Tuck is tuckered out and can't run anymore so they hide him up a tree but he's caught when one of his shoes falls off. That leaves Robin, Much and Marion standing on top of a hill and all the Sherriff's horses and all the Sherriff's men and indeed the Sherriff himself trying to get to the top. There's a tense stand off as they prove the superiority of the longbow over the crossbow until finally Robin realises that it's time. He tells Much to leave and take Marion, gently lying to him so as not to upset him. He knows he can't do the same to Marion and so he's honest with her and tells her to take Albion with her and escape. This is such a tearful goodbye and full of emotion and sorrow and unsaid things. Then a very haggered looking Robin kills a couple more soldiers to buy Mariona nd Much time to escape and then in a symbolic final act he fires his last arrow over the heads of the soldiers and then as he's surrounded he breaks his bow and stands defiently as the sky turns blood red he's shot off camera by a dozen crossbows as the Sherriff valiantly leads the charge up the hil to make sure Robin's really dead. Nazir has been captured trying to free Little John and the others, but Guisbourne lays a trap of his own for him and Nazir is tied up too. He explains to the others that the men he met were assassins and he was once one of them, but now no more. He says more lines of dialogue in this episode than he has in every episode prior to it! The Sherriff returns and tells Guisbourne the good news. At first the captured Merry men refuse to believe that Robin is dead, then they break down in tears and lament their fallen comrade. However a mysterious hooded man has been called to Herne, to meet with him in the forest and become his son! WOW! This is the coolest part of the whole story, we hear the old Robin's voice and indeed the figure looks vaguely like him but he's dressed differently and carries himself in a different manner. This hooded figure rescues the others and escapes into the forest as the soldiers think he's a ghost. Everyone meets up with Marion and Much and she tells them that Robin is dead and shows them Albion as proof. They fire burning arrows into the lake (last seen at the end of RHatS) and clips from past stories and this one play out as memories of the downhearted unMerry Men. Then the Hooded Man returns and fires over them into the lake and they're all delighted and shocked that Robin is seemingly alive after all! This is the perfect finale to the Michael Praed era, a last mythological heavy story that tells us all about his Robin and his love for Marion and all the others and his noble sacrifice to ensure their safety becomes of much importance when his successor rescues his friends. This is possibly the best story of any TV series ever, nothing is forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten.