Robin Hood: Season Two (DVD)
The contemporary retelling of the popular legend is back for a second series with more breathtaking archery, incredible swordplay, lots of humour, fun and energy, a smattering of brute force, and the raw determination to right wrongs. The Sheriff is in the final stages of a plot to kill King Richard upon his return from the Holy Land. The Sheriff also wants Robin Hood dead and with his devastating sister Davina, sets about catching him once and for all. It seems only a matter of time until Marian escapes to the forest and she and Robin can be together. Until that is, Gisborne turns up at Knighton Hall and razes it to the ground, seizing Marian and Edward and placing them under house arrest in the castle. Marian and Robin now separate for the good of England, Marian as the castle spy, and Robin leading his gang in the forest and villages of Nottingham...
Amazon.com The Sheriff (Keith Allen) puts Operation Shah Mat (translation: Kill the King) into action. He assembles a garrison of hundreds of men, the dread Black Knights. He commissions the development of indestructible armor that will turn his army into Iron Men. To fund his plans, he plots to cheat a high-rolling Bavarian aristocrat, while Robin (Jonas Armstrong) and company try to pull an Ocean?s 11 and rob his impenetrable Strong Room. But big picture: The Sheriff is determined to intercept King Richard upon his return to England and kill him. Robin receives the clandestine help of Marian (Lucy Griffiths), who, with her ailing father, is being held under house arrest in the castle. After the mostly rollicking romp that was Series One, Series Two of this royally entertaining BBC series takes a decidedly darker, Empire Strikes Back turn (let's just hope that next time around, Robin and his men don't find Ewoks in Sherwood Forrest). Along with the daring rescues, swashbuckling fights, and anachronistic dialogue ("Get with the program, Gisborne") that are this series' stock in trade, Robin?s tireless campaign against the Sheriff gets very personal. In the first episode, the Sheriff's snake-fancying sister is killed while trying to administer "death by fanging" to Robin, and Gisborne (Richard Armitage), still smarting from being jilted at the author, burns Marian's home to the ground. Later, Robin discovers that one of his men, not so merry, is a Gisborne spy. And there is a shocking death in the finale that will rock the series to its core. Despite several cheeky episode titles ("Booby and the Beast," "Show Me the Money"), Series Two mostly keeps a straight face. Purists may blanche at the liberties taken with this centuries-old legend, (Marian, moonlighting as the vigilante Nightwatchman, demonstrates some wicked martial arts moves). But for anyone who, like the kids in the exciting episode, "Child Hood," spent childhood afternoons dashing about the forest pretending to be the outlaw folk hero, then the Sheriff's departing words in the season finale will make you quiver with anticipation: "This isn't over, Hood." --Donald Liebenson
