Robin Hood 3x09
May. 30th, 2009 11:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urth3x09: A Dangerous Deal; or Oh God, My Heart Hurts
Seriously, between Much and Guy breaking my heart the plot of the episode kind of escaped me, but let’s get a few such thoughts out of the way before I get to the broken stuff.
As a general observation, this episode looked gorgeous, it looked so moody and textured somehow. Why to stood out this week I can’t say for sure, but it did.
There were some glaring examples of Surprisingly Bloodless Violence this week. Thornton stabs a guy in the middle of the frame and pulls his sword out and sheaths it IN PLAIN SIGHT and there’s obviously no blood.
Izzy’s number of double crosses this week were hard to keep track of. She really doesn’t have any loyalty to anyone but herself; it makes a certain amount of sense that she won’t trust anyone but herself but still, it makes it difficult to kept track of whose side she’s acting one at any given time.
Thornton is damn creepy, if surprisingly hot. And Izzy’s *terror* of him was well done, and he exuded the sort of personality that would justify it. As horrible as he was, I wish we’d gotten a little more of him, because I’m always up for more players in Robin Hood’s game of thrones (and yes, for the record I am half working on some RH/ASOIAF meta)
On that front, Allan should have stayed on Team Castle, he’d get way more to do.
I miss Vasey, now with PJ gone, the absence is more obvious.
Okay, plot A or heartbreak: Much-Kate-Robin
I admit for just a second when Robin mentioned that Much was a factor I thought that there might be some Robin/Much issues addressed (and I got to put my Robin/Much shipping goggles on for a second and think it was cute for that) but instead it just got achy.
Seriously Kate, that’s *cold* to do to Much. Robin was actually trying to be smart because of the lives you guys lead, all living on top of each other in the forest, having to rely on each other and trust your comrades, but no Kate had to make matters worse. Kate, you don’t deserve Much. Robin, you don’t deserve him either.
Someone needs to write AU fic where Robin woke up when Much tried to leave and they actually *talked* because damn, the show hurts me. I hope we haven’t seen the last of this Much and that one of the Robin will realize what he’s doing to his most faithful friend. Because if Much was going to leave the gang, and most of all Robin, that’s huge, I hope he’s starting to realize that he deserves better than the way they treat him.
I was really hoping Much would leave the camp and somehow team up with outlaw Giz and form a new team at the end of the episode. Then we’d get to see the gang actually deal with Much leaving, Guy would have stolen Robin’s right hand man, and there might actually be character growth from Robin.
That or I’m going to go on the theory that Much was going off to find Eve, who actually liked him and he promised to find one day. Yeah, that’ll make it a little better right? Not that I’m not glad he got to save the day, but to much POOR MUCH sentiment goes out to him.
Stupid John shipping stupid Robin/Kate, Robin/Isabella is hot and complicated and has loads of interesting potential still untapped, but no he had to push Robin/Kate and make Isabella pissed and so doom the cool ship for the crappy one.
And I would like to bring up the Robin and Guy similarities cropping up again. In this episode they both are kissing other women besides Marian, and (in one case deserved and the other less so) there were indications that they will/would have actually had a relationship with the new girl. But where as Robin had barely even any subtext implying Marian was a figure in his life now, Guy broke my heart to bits.
And as such: plot B of heartbreak Guy, with added Meg
First, Guy is hot. The biggest flaw in his look this season hasn’t been the Crazy Locks of Grief but the overly-worked armor, I miss the simple black leather jackets. In this episode he was just in a shirt which whenever we’ve seen it this season has made me very happy because it’s hot. Okay, moving past the abbreviated Hotness Report.
So Guy in prison is pretty much exactly how I pictured him. He’s ready to die, we’ve known that since 3x01, he’s already in hell and he knows it’s where he’s going too. And so he’s quiet about it, he’s not even too angry that he didn’t get to kill Robin or Richard, or Prince John, or whatever. It doesn’t really seem to bother him that he’s going to die disgraced and poor and alone; I’d lay odds on him have some serious heart to heart talks with projection!Matrian which brought him to the point where he was admitting that he wasn’t a good man and the like.
But then enter Meg to give him someone outside his own subconscious to talk to, someone who doesn’t seem to entirely hate him even though she sasses him. He knows he’s not getting out of there except for his death, but she’s...real with him. There’s no games (and one wonders the last time Guy related to someone like *that* because as much as he loved Marian he knew they were playing power games) just someone to talk to. He doesn’t need to lie about his misdeeds, it’s not going to save him and he wants to die anyway so everytime she pushes that button, he pretty much admits that he’s done bad things.
Except with Isabella, which basically plays on my point last week that he really doesn’t see what was wrong there. Even when he’s about to die he doesn’t offer her an apology, of course he’s probably also pissed at her by then, but I half wanted him to use that as a bargaining tool, and haven’t made up my mind entirely as to what it means that he didn’t.
Anyway, Meg brings up all his Marian issues and he *finally* admits what he did to her, in fact I think “I destroyed her” goes beyond “I killed her” even if he does still sidestep that actual word. He knows what he did to Marian, he knows that Marian kept wanting him to be a better man right up until the moment he sold her out the Sheriff and maybe even until he ran her threw. And here’s someone else who sees, and brings out, his more gentle side and believes it could be the real him. And for the first time since Marian’s death he wants to be that man. When he has nothing less to lose, for Meg, and for Marian, why not be the man they see in him?
And so he does something I’m not sure I’ve ever expected Guy to do, he pleads for someone else’s life. He’s bargained for others before, attempted to protect them for those more vicious, but never pleaded like he did here. Again I think it’s the fact that he’s accepted his own death, but the unnecessary death of one of the few people who has ever actually believed in him is finally too much.
And then she dies anyway, so Guy’s efforts to save her didn’t do much. Nothing ever works out for Guy, of course not. Of course I think it was still pretty much all about Marian, but she gave him a kind of hope, that the small light inside him that Marian brought out in him didn’t die with her and maybe he isn’t as completely damned as he thought he was. Can I finally have my Nightwatchman Guy? Probably not but I’m still hoping.
So yeah, Guy and Much broke my heart this ep which was apparently 90% of what I was paying attention to anyway. Oh and show, you better have some good plans for Guy now, because you’ve brought him to a point where I don’t know how you *can’t* do a redemption plot, but I’ve said that before.
Seriously, between Much and Guy breaking my heart the plot of the episode kind of escaped me, but let’s get a few such thoughts out of the way before I get to the broken stuff.
As a general observation, this episode looked gorgeous, it looked so moody and textured somehow. Why to stood out this week I can’t say for sure, but it did.
There were some glaring examples of Surprisingly Bloodless Violence this week. Thornton stabs a guy in the middle of the frame and pulls his sword out and sheaths it IN PLAIN SIGHT and there’s obviously no blood.
Izzy’s number of double crosses this week were hard to keep track of. She really doesn’t have any loyalty to anyone but herself; it makes a certain amount of sense that she won’t trust anyone but herself but still, it makes it difficult to kept track of whose side she’s acting one at any given time.
Thornton is damn creepy, if surprisingly hot. And Izzy’s *terror* of him was well done, and he exuded the sort of personality that would justify it. As horrible as he was, I wish we’d gotten a little more of him, because I’m always up for more players in Robin Hood’s game of thrones (and yes, for the record I am half working on some RH/ASOIAF meta)
On that front, Allan should have stayed on Team Castle, he’d get way more to do.
I miss Vasey, now with PJ gone, the absence is more obvious.
Okay, plot A or heartbreak: Much-Kate-Robin
I admit for just a second when Robin mentioned that Much was a factor I thought that there might be some Robin/Much issues addressed (and I got to put my Robin/Much shipping goggles on for a second and think it was cute for that) but instead it just got achy.
Seriously Kate, that’s *cold* to do to Much. Robin was actually trying to be smart because of the lives you guys lead, all living on top of each other in the forest, having to rely on each other and trust your comrades, but no Kate had to make matters worse. Kate, you don’t deserve Much. Robin, you don’t deserve him either.
Someone needs to write AU fic where Robin woke up when Much tried to leave and they actually *talked* because damn, the show hurts me. I hope we haven’t seen the last of this Much and that one of the Robin will realize what he’s doing to his most faithful friend. Because if Much was going to leave the gang, and most of all Robin, that’s huge, I hope he’s starting to realize that he deserves better than the way they treat him.
I was really hoping Much would leave the camp and somehow team up with outlaw Giz and form a new team at the end of the episode. Then we’d get to see the gang actually deal with Much leaving, Guy would have stolen Robin’s right hand man, and there might actually be character growth from Robin.
That or I’m going to go on the theory that Much was going off to find Eve, who actually liked him and he promised to find one day. Yeah, that’ll make it a little better right? Not that I’m not glad he got to save the day, but to much POOR MUCH sentiment goes out to him.
Stupid John shipping stupid Robin/Kate, Robin/Isabella is hot and complicated and has loads of interesting potential still untapped, but no he had to push Robin/Kate and make Isabella pissed and so doom the cool ship for the crappy one.
And I would like to bring up the Robin and Guy similarities cropping up again. In this episode they both are kissing other women besides Marian, and (in one case deserved and the other less so) there were indications that they will/would have actually had a relationship with the new girl. But where as Robin had barely even any subtext implying Marian was a figure in his life now, Guy broke my heart to bits.
And as such: plot B of heartbreak Guy, with added Meg
First, Guy is hot. The biggest flaw in his look this season hasn’t been the Crazy Locks of Grief but the overly-worked armor, I miss the simple black leather jackets. In this episode he was just in a shirt which whenever we’ve seen it this season has made me very happy because it’s hot. Okay, moving past the abbreviated Hotness Report.
So Guy in prison is pretty much exactly how I pictured him. He’s ready to die, we’ve known that since 3x01, he’s already in hell and he knows it’s where he’s going too. And so he’s quiet about it, he’s not even too angry that he didn’t get to kill Robin or Richard, or Prince John, or whatever. It doesn’t really seem to bother him that he’s going to die disgraced and poor and alone; I’d lay odds on him have some serious heart to heart talks with projection!Matrian which brought him to the point where he was admitting that he wasn’t a good man and the like.
But then enter Meg to give him someone outside his own subconscious to talk to, someone who doesn’t seem to entirely hate him even though she sasses him. He knows he’s not getting out of there except for his death, but she’s...real with him. There’s no games (and one wonders the last time Guy related to someone like *that* because as much as he loved Marian he knew they were playing power games) just someone to talk to. He doesn’t need to lie about his misdeeds, it’s not going to save him and he wants to die anyway so everytime she pushes that button, he pretty much admits that he’s done bad things.
Except with Isabella, which basically plays on my point last week that he really doesn’t see what was wrong there. Even when he’s about to die he doesn’t offer her an apology, of course he’s probably also pissed at her by then, but I half wanted him to use that as a bargaining tool, and haven’t made up my mind entirely as to what it means that he didn’t.
Anyway, Meg brings up all his Marian issues and he *finally* admits what he did to her, in fact I think “I destroyed her” goes beyond “I killed her” even if he does still sidestep that actual word. He knows what he did to Marian, he knows that Marian kept wanting him to be a better man right up until the moment he sold her out the Sheriff and maybe even until he ran her threw. And here’s someone else who sees, and brings out, his more gentle side and believes it could be the real him. And for the first time since Marian’s death he wants to be that man. When he has nothing less to lose, for Meg, and for Marian, why not be the man they see in him?
And so he does something I’m not sure I’ve ever expected Guy to do, he pleads for someone else’s life. He’s bargained for others before, attempted to protect them for those more vicious, but never pleaded like he did here. Again I think it’s the fact that he’s accepted his own death, but the unnecessary death of one of the few people who has ever actually believed in him is finally too much.
And then she dies anyway, so Guy’s efforts to save her didn’t do much. Nothing ever works out for Guy, of course not. Of course I think it was still pretty much all about Marian, but she gave him a kind of hope, that the small light inside him that Marian brought out in him didn’t die with her and maybe he isn’t as completely damned as he thought he was. Can I finally have my Nightwatchman Guy? Probably not but I’m still hoping.
So yeah, Guy and Much broke my heart this ep which was apparently 90% of what I was paying attention to anyway. Oh and show, you better have some good plans for Guy now, because you’ve brought him to a point where I don’t know how you *can’t* do a redemption plot, but I’ve said that before.
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-31 06:59 am (UTC)Such a big suprise! And a nice one!
Nightwatchman Guy?????? BRILLIANT IDEA!!! I LOVE it!
no subject
Date: 2009-05-31 04:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-31 04:51 pm (UTC)*new fangirl*
no subject
Date: 2009-05-31 10:34 am (UTC)I agree with everything you said. And WOW for NWM Guy. I want to go to there!
I don't want a redemption plot. I don't
wantthink anything can get him out of hell.And so he does something I’m not sure I’ve ever expected Guy to do, he pleads for someone else’s life. He’s bargained for others before, attempted to protect them for those more vicious, but never pleaded like he did here.
I didn't notice that! OMG you're right.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-31 04:34 pm (UTC)Hee, I love 30 Rock.
Also, I've been wishing for NWM Guy basically since s2 ended, but then I thought Marian's death was his low point, apparently he had so much further to fall before it could (hopefully will) happen.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-01 01:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-02 02:52 am (UTC)And I won't deny that they're going have to tread carefully with the "should" issue for it to feel acceptable. Because he can't be, and shouldn't be, easily forgiven but given a chance he could become a better person, but that requires time and better writing than I'm confident about this team being able to do.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-31 04:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-31 04:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-31 04:37 pm (UTC)I agree, I mean imagine the wonderful confrontation we could have with these two. Then maybe Robin would agree to get rid of Kate to save his relationship with Much.
Hey, a girl can dream right?
no subject
Date: 2009-05-31 09:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-01 07:21 pm (UTC)I hear ya.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-04 07:25 am (UTC)I agree on most points. But then Kate has bugged the crap out of me since day one. And Robin/Kate is BORING. And feels a little pasteded on. At least Much/Kate has a little chemistry.
Isabella? Was interesting for like a minute, but ever since she's become sorta evil and definitely all out for herself, I begin to yawn whenever she's on screen. Still, she has more chemistry with Robin... But I can't quite ship them.
As for bloodless violence? It bugs me just how many hapless guards Robin shoots in the back. It's seemed to have increased lately. By a lot. Isn't that like, you know...bad?
no subject
Date: 2009-06-04 05:06 pm (UTC)I love the dysfunction of Robin/Isabella, but yeah Isabella's kind of been all over the map character wise which isn't helping her stay the awesome character she could have been.
And YES, Robin's newfound complete ability to kill and yet be stay so sanctimonious when Isabella kills her abusive husband who was about to kill and/or rape her is just...bad all around.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 09:12 pm (UTC)I am a chronic lurker, but Nightwatchman Guy?!?!! Too good of an idea to pass up!!!! Brilliant!!!
no subject
Date: 2009-06-12 02:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-12 01:41 pm (UTC)But it is a brilliant idea - he would honor Marian's memory, right wrongs, make up for his previously wicked ways, etc etc etc. They should definitely do that - surely the Nightwatchman wouldn't just vanish without anyone questioning it!!
The only downside is the mask would cover up his beautiful face :) But him sneaking around to do good would probably make up for that!
no subject
Date: 2009-06-13 02:55 pm (UTC)Well yeah, that's a big one ain't it? It's just that the way my mind works it says "okay, so not killing Marian, what sort of story does that come from? Or lead to? Got it, now take that plot to the n-th degree." This it how I get so many epic fic ideas and never seem to actually write anything.
And I only started watching it about 2 weeks ago
That could also do it.
he would honor Marian's memory, right wrongs, make up for his previously wicked ways, etc etc etc.
Yep, yep, and yep. It totally works, in a way joining the gang (especially as long as Robin's around) doesn't. They can be allies in the sense that they are more or less on the same side, but being on the same team...
The only downside is the mask would cover up his beautiful face :)
Oh nos, I hadn't thought of that. Still we'd probably still get a decent amount of mask-less hotness, so we could probably deal.