TVSquad

(S01E12) All things being right, this is an episode of Robin Hood which should have arrived about four episodes ago, bringing about some much-needed dramatic action to the storyline and giving the audience an emotional hurdle before the grand finale.

I've been quite critical of this show, despite the odd nugget here and there -- mostly because of the repetitive plots and corny endings -- but this first part of two (before the series ends next week) ventured into that bleak, cliff-hanger territory we often see in shows like 24, Lost and Battlestar Galactica but rarely sniff in something like Robin Hood.

Of course, I'm under no illusion that things won't be sorted out in time for next week's final hour, but it was fairly entertaining stuff nonetheless, and managed to fit more into one hour of simple drama than the entire series has offered up in the last two months.

This week's premise was kept relatively simple; first, news of King Richard's return from the Holy Land brought about a change in attitude from Robin's men. Some saw it as a sign of good times to come, others saw it as the end of their existence as lovable rogues.

Of course, the return of the king also signaled the time for Marian and Sir Guy of Gisburne to marry, which set Robin off on a quest to prevent them from doing so, firstly by proving that Gisburne had traveled to the Holy Land with intentions of killing the king.

Having never expressed his true feelings for Marian, Robin found himself in a dilemma, while Marian had resigned herself to a life of marriage with Gisburne, but decided to carry out one final robbery as the Night Watchman by robbing Sir Guy himself in Locksley.

Unfortunately for Marian, she ended up trapped in Locksley and suffered a near-fatal wound at the hands of Gisburne, before Robin and his men could rescue her -- bringing about a split in the band of Merrie Men as the group fled for their lives in separate directions.

Why oh why could we not have had such compelling drama five or six weeks ago, instead of the incessant chase and escape sequences we were tortured with for over a month?

Even though I'd pretty much figured out how things were going to pan out next week before the first part came to an end this week, it was still decent enough viewing -- particularly for the night before Christmas Eve -- and I'll now happily tune in next week to satisfy my curiosity.

Given that the BBC has already commissioned a second series for next year, it seems rather unlikely that we'll lose one of the key characters before the end of the debut series -- but wouldn't it be so much more interesting if we did?