Robin Hood (S01E01-02)

We cover Robin Hood on MGM+, the gritty new take on the legendary outlaw that trades green tights for darker realism. Set in 1186, before King Richard’s crusades, it stars Sean Bean as a morally murky Sheriff of Nottingham and newcomer Max Woolf as Rob of Loxley, whose father’s execution sparks a familiar rebellion. We talk through the first two episodes (“I See Him” and “A Heinous Devil”), from fairy lore and CGI stags to English politics, over-ripe dialogue, and the long wait Rob's journey from regular Saxon to the infamous Robin Hood. Tune in to hear our rating, comparisons, and other thoughts. Welcome to Today’s Episode!

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:15):
Welcome to today's episode, the podcast, where we
discuss the most recentinstallments of a different
series every show.
It is Friday, November 7th, theday that the elephant was
embraced by the Republican Partyas the symbol for the party in
1874.
What do you think that means?
Like, what do you think?
It was a cartoon to start with,right?
Like a political cartoon.
And the same guy who made theelephant, the Republican Party

(00:38):
status uh party symbol, was thesame person, I think, who made
the the donkey sort of theDemocratic one.

SPEAKER_01 (00:44):
Wait, so they they chose both.

SPEAKER_00 (00:47):
Yeah, within like four years, I think 1870 was the
Democrat one, 1874 was theelephant.
However, they were based ondifferent things.
Like I think Andrew Jackson wascalled a jackass at one point,
fits with his name.
And uh, and then the elephantone, I'm not exactly sure what
caused it, but in 1874, thatwould have been when Grant was
president.
And what's funny about Grant'spresidency was that he was super

(01:09):
corrupt, right?
Yeah.
And uh so for them to be puttingout this like really like a
symbol of strength and smarts,and like they were definitely
trying to sell themselves.
Um, but yeah, another seriesdropped really recently about
the next president, the one liketwo over, James Garfield.

SPEAKER_01 (01:25):
I think that was like was in the middle.

SPEAKER_00 (01:28):
Yeah, and Garfield didn't even want to run as
president.
Like I I'm reading the book thatit's based on so that we can do
the podcast later, but that'llbe a fun one to do.
Why I'm bringing up cartoonsymbols, though, is because when
we talk about Robin Hood, thisnew MGM show, which you watched
the first two episodes of, thefirst two episodes' names are I
See Him and also A HeinousDevil.
Do you know why they're calledthose?

(01:48):
Uh yeah, you you can I can comeup with reasons.
Okay, you'll come up with areason with reasons.
But like my way that I wasintroduced to Robin Hood was
like most kids, the 1973 Disneyfilm, uh, where you see a fox
that's going around singing, uhhaving his merry crew and uh
stealing from the rich.
It was i I still remembermoments, but like my main image

(02:10):
in my head when I think to thatmovie is where Robin Hood is
like setting up a contraption tosteal all the gold in the
palace, and he's like connectedthis rope that's just holding
all these bags of gold asthey're like going out of Prince
John or whatever's uh house.
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (02:26):
Growing up, it was it was my favorite film also as
a kid when I was like four orfive.
I just watch it over and overand over again.
I think that Prince John is alion, little John is also a
brown bear, so it's just it'sall animals.
And I was shocked to see that ithas like a 58% on Ron Tomatoes a
couple days ago.

SPEAKER_00 (02:43):
I don't think a lot of like even the Fox and the
Hound, I don't think got greatuh critical reception.

SPEAKER_01 (02:47):
But like I watched that all the I don't remember
Robin Hood, I should say, the1973 movie, but I will give it
five out of five just because itis such a solid film as a kid.
D felt nostalgic, yeah, justeven thinking about it.

SPEAKER_00 (02:59):
Did you get that same nostalgia while watching
this version of this TV show?
Because you watched the liveaction, it's not the first time
you've seen a live action RobinHood, right?
The BBC version from like 2000,it ran the same time that Merlin
did.

SPEAKER_01 (03:12):
2006.
I remember I was going to seethe 2010 Robin Hood movie
because I asked my dad when wewere driving around when it was
in theaters if we could see it.
He was like, sure.
And then we never did, and thenI didn't want to see the 2018
Terren Egerton version.
If there was ever a time that Iwas afraid I would lose the bet
that we bought up in smoke, itwas probably after that movie
came out.
Because of how like because ofhow bad it was.

SPEAKER_00 (03:34):
So you said that was 2016?
2018.
2018, it that and FantasticFour.
There were a lot of clunkers.
Yes.
In in the mid-2000s, yeah.
So uh then this version, wheredoes it fall as far as is it
funny?
Is it serious?
Is it a mix of the two?

SPEAKER_01 (03:48):
It's trying to go as serious as possible, it's trying
to go as gritty as possible.
I think that even you both haveSean Bean, but it's trying to be
Game of Thrones, even, at leastfrom what the beginning scene
shows.

SPEAKER_00 (03:58):
And then I have to ask, is Sean Bean dead by the
end of the first episode, or dothey keep him around?

SPEAKER_01 (04:02):
No, he's not dead by the end of the first episode or
second episode.
Oh, still, he's still around.
Pleasant news.
I think that's the longest he'sever been around in anything.

SPEAKER_00 (04:09):
1186 is when it starts, which is a couple years
before most adaptations of RobinHood take place, partly because
they wanted to include KingHenry II, who is the and also
his wife, who are the parents ofRichard the Lionheart and the
evil Prince John or whatever.
And uh and the thing that theydo here though is that they kind

(04:32):
of take history and they spin itand they change it up a little
bit because Robin Hood was not areal person.
Also, he existed in ballad form,and then like he went into
writing, then poems and andstuff.
And so he's adapted in time.
There's been a lot of differentadaptations of Robin Hood.
Maid Marion wasn't always there.
He used to be super Christian inthe early works.

(04:53):
He used to then change intobeing like the son of a nobleman
who then went into disguise.
They've they've changed hisbackstory so many times, and now
they're changing the historyaround him a bit because this is
after, well after the Normanconquest.
It's also well after Saxonswould have incorporated
Christianity or been recruitedinto the Christianity movement

(05:14):
that had kind of gone throughEngland at that point.
But instead, in this show, whatdoes this show do?

SPEAKER_01 (05:20):
It says, Well, through text, it says that
Norman rulers seized Saxon landsand outlawed their traditions.

SPEAKER_00 (05:25):
Again, hundred years or so in the past, Saxons and
Normans actually got along bythis point.
We're not gonna labor too muchon the historical inaccuracies
because it's the point thatmatters.
And what they're trying to tellis the story of this person who
has everything against him, hisland has been taken from him, or
at least from his father, and hefeels like everything has not

(05:46):
gone his way.
How do they present that?
So it's 1186, and what's thefirst scene that you see?
We see a mighty warrior.

SPEAKER_01 (05:53):
His name is Adric, and this is a story that's being
told from Hugh of Loxley.
He's telling it to a young RobinHood.

SPEAKER_00 (05:59):
But around a campfire or something?

SPEAKER_01 (06:01):
No, it's at their house.
But we actually see it play outin front of us.
Like we see Adric.
We see that uh he is he's kindof ruthless.
The first scene, like within thefirst minute, was him shoving an
axe into some guy's face, andit's like something out banshee
where there's just bloodshed.

SPEAKER_00 (06:16):
It reminds me, of course, because I haven't seen
it, but it reminds me of likethe montages that start off.
And what was that uh uh DC guy,Zach Snyder's uh warrior show,
the the cartoon one?

SPEAKER_01 (06:28):
Yeah, uh it was like Gods, Twilight of the God.

SPEAKER_00 (06:30):
Yeah, like something you would start off in that, or
something that you would seemaybe even in the Jason Mamoa
show, just like a montage ofviolence.
And so why is he telling his sonabout a mythological hero?

SPEAKER_01 (06:41):
I was I was trying to ask myself that same question
because it was a weird story totell.
I kind of enjoyed it though,because it was trying to show
how TVMA it was.
The 2010 and 2018 films arePG-13, the 1973 film was Disney.
This seemed like it was tryingto go like hard-edged with it.
And the story is about howAdric, this warrior, was in a
cave.
He had sex with a fairy namedGotha, and then so Gotta lives

(07:05):
in the forest, right?
Yeah, and she's a recurringcharacter in this show.
I I guess so.
We uh I I think we only see herat the beginning of this, but
she's like in complete nudity.
So it seemed like the show.
She's not wearing any clothes.
Yeah, so it seemed like thisshow was really Does she have
wings?
No, that we don't see it.
So when you say fairy, you don'tmean like literal they were

(07:25):
around this campfire inside thiscave and they were like kind of
dancing around.
It almost reminded me of thewitch that that movie, um, when
A trick stumbles upon them.
Okay.
After they have sex, and then hebecomes like a punishment or is
like a reward?
No, I think it's supposed to beas a reward because he becomes

(07:47):
like this symbol of the forestand like one with the forest.
Okay.
It was a very strange way tostart off the world.

SPEAKER_00 (07:53):
He becomes a patronus or whatever from Harry
Potter.

SPEAKER_01 (07:57):
So then uh, so that was the first thing, and I was
like, okay, I guess they'rereally going to, whenever we get
action, have like thisincredibly bloody series.
Show never becomes as uh likeedgy as those first five
minutes.

SPEAKER_00 (08:09):
I did hear that the end of the first episode ends
with quite a violent scenario.
Yeah, yeah, both of them.

SPEAKER_01 (08:14):
But um that but I'll get there.
Hugh of Loxley, he is going touh the Sheriff of Nottingham
because he wants to get his landback.
I think William the Conquerortook it, and ever since William
the Conqueror has taken thatland, uh he that it's always
been the Sheriff ofNottingham's, but a lot of the
Saxon land I think is comingback to people.
So Hugh of Loxley is hoping toget some of that luck, but the

(08:36):
Sheriff of Nottingham is notbudging.
He is not going to get thatland.

SPEAKER_00 (08:40):
Is there a reason because he's been called a
reluctant villain in this?
So he's not playing it as cornyor evil as a lot of Sheriff of
Nottinghams have been, as fromwhat I understand.

SPEAKER_01 (08:50):
Yeah, I mean, like it's it's hard to tell because I
see him just clearly, and maybeit's the way I see Sean Bean as
being such a good villain thatusually I can only see him being
villainous.
But I guess there are certaintimes throughout the series
where he's not as villainous ashe could be.
That being said, I don't thinkhe's ever really nice to anyone.

SPEAKER_00 (09:09):
What does it mean when it says that his daughter
Priscilla is her own can ofworms?
Like, how does she humanize him?
She doesn't really, becausePriscilla is evil in and of
herself.
I know, but maybe it'scontrasting how evil he could be
versus like he's actually taminghis daughter, like versus what
you know.

SPEAKER_01 (09:27):
The thing about Priscilla is that uh they do a
time jump about like 15 minutesinto the episode.
So we see her when she's anadult, and the only thing she
really does, aside from beingmean to people, is have sex with
someone named LaFour.
But that seems to be like themost evil that she gets at that
point.

SPEAKER_00 (09:42):
Do you see her as a contrast or foil to May Marian?

SPEAKER_01 (09:45):
Uh yes, she's supposed to be.
Even though they have a closebond together that we see in the
second episode, they're friends.
Yes.
Marianne is uh is definitelylike kind of the good-hearted
person.
It's the person that Robin Hoodends up liking.
We even see when Robin Hood is akid, he went to the outside of
the castle and met with Mariannewho was.
Did Robin Hood know Priscilla asa kid?
I don't think so.

(10:06):
Okay.
I don't believe so.

SPEAKER_00 (10:07):
I thought it was like one of those ones where she
was jealous, and then later onwe're gonna get this love
triangle.

SPEAKER_01 (10:12):
You know, I I have problems with this show, but
thankfully I can say I don'tthink that romance is really
that much of a detractor forthis series.
Okay, but it still exists.
Yes, no, it's still definitelyin the show because like even
from the first scene that we seewhen they're kids, Robin Hood
and Marianne have uh a likingtowards one another.
Right.

SPEAKER_00 (10:29):
So it's either gonna end up with Maid Marion, like
you're saying it's not that biga deal, but in my mind, it's
either Maid Marion, Priscilla,or this gata lady that he ends
up with.
Okay, so Maid Marion, he helikes her.
And the funny thing about MaidMarion is that she's been
presented, well, I was about tosay in the comics.
Um in the past, she used toactually be a maid, but like

(10:50):
maid means maiden, as in someonewho's unwed.
Right.
Um, so like, yeah, that thatstill tracks her dad, though.
Isn't he worse than Sean Bean?

SPEAKER_01 (11:00):
He's yeah, no, I mean he probably is the biggest
villain that they have.
Earl of Huntington.
He's very, he's very strict.
He even yells at Robin Hood whenhe sees him outside the castle
when very young.
No, but I mean, like, you youreally get a sense of how
villainous he is when he's likehitting his daughter for being
out too late.

SPEAKER_00 (11:16):
Oh, and he's also the guy who took Hugh's land.
Yes.
Who and then and then relegatedhim to being a gardener, like a
fancy gardener.
So what happened was yes.

SPEAKER_01 (11:27):
Uh what happened was uh Sheriff of Nottingham offered
something to Hugh because he'snot giving the land back.
He's he can be a glorifiedforester and basically uh royal
forester, yes.
Yes, have a future for his kids,is how he kind of sells it.
And so uh so it turns out thatum I like how that's like a
janitor back in the day.

SPEAKER_00 (11:47):
It's like you want to be a fancy janitor, you'll be
the royal forester.

SPEAKER_01 (11:50):
Well, the thing is Robin Hood's mom, uh Joanne, is
like really mad about it.
She doesn't like how uh Hugh iskind of working for the king.
So so it turns into this bigfight, and that's when we get
the time jump where Robin Hood,he kind of runs out uh because
he's been caught kind of goingto the castle and he's shooting
arrows at the trees, and thensuddenly the camera pans and

(12:12):
he's older.

SPEAKER_00 (12:13):
He's a little Aladdin-ish, you know?
He's got that little rebelmentality, and he's also learned
how to shoot so well from hisfather.
Who I mean, we should get aprequel series where it's just
Hugh.
I'm trying to think of becauseit's Rob of Loxley turns into so
like Hewlin of Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (12:29):
Yeah, no, but Robin Hood, uh, when they do the time
jump was shooting at the sametree.
So I thought that that was acool stylistic choice.

SPEAKER_00 (12:36):
Right.
But his dad is still stuck doingthe same thing.
When does that like when doesthe thing bubble up?
When does the tension explode?

SPEAKER_01 (12:43):
Yeah, so there's this hunt, a hunt that Robin
Hood is finally going to be apart of.
In fact, Joanne kind of uhconvinces Hugh because
eventually Robin was gonna haveto join the hunt, but he wasn't
sure when to join this hunt.
And this hunt is going toinclude the Sheriff of
Nottingham, Earl of Huntington.
I think Priscilla and Marianneare there, guess some noblemen
basically around, and they'regoing to be hunting for deer.

(13:05):
And there's a scene wherethey're almost about to get the
deer, Robin shoots at one andthen ends up hitting a poacher.
Now, what this was yes.
Robin Hood's not supposed to bebad at shooting.
Well, this is I think he thoughtthat it was going to be a deer
because they were all runningand then it was it just ended up
being someone.
But it reminded me a lot of thebeginning scene.
They've nerfed Robin Hood.

(13:25):
Well, the first scene of uh ofRobin Hood, the 2006 version.
Because do you remember what thefirst scene was?
No.
Okay, well, it was I do knowokay, go ahead.
There was it was uh there waslike a ton of um people that
worked for the Sheriff ofNottingham, and they caught
someone stealing food, aka apoacher, and they said, Okay,
well, we're going to have totake your hand in a court of
law.
And then that he ended up likekind of benaggling his way into

(13:47):
it just being a finger andwhatever happened there.
But here it was the same thing.
Uh the Sheriff of Nottinghamwants to get this done with
because there's two poachers,and he's like, you know what?
We're gonna take it.
Oh, so the poachers are likeillegal poachers, they're not
supposed to be there.

SPEAKER_00 (13:59):
So when he shoots one, he doesn't do it on
purpose, but he's actually donethem a favor because he's caught
this guy for them.
Right.
And so they are about to enactsome serious justice on a guy
who's already gotten shot withan arrow.

SPEAKER_01 (14:10):
It's going to be a hand and someone that was with
him, yes.
Oh, so and uh, and then whathappens though is that Hugh
stands up for them and is like,wait, sir, Sheriff Nottingham,
don't these people kind ofdeserve a trial?
And in order to save face,because the Sheriff of
Nottingham was kind of mad aboutthat, but he's like, Yes, bring
them back to my castle.
But that was the sign, that wasalmost Sheriff of Nottingham's

(14:32):
uh entryway into hating thehoods and wanting to get revenge
for that.

SPEAKER_00 (14:36):
They're not called the hoods, they're they're
called the Loxleys.

SPEAKER_01 (14:38):
I say, I say the hoods, but yeah, the Loxleys.
Yes, that's what I meant.
Yeah, yeah.
And so by the end of theepisode, um, it turns out that
Earl of Huntington figures outthat Hugh is keeping poachers,
they bring him to prison.

SPEAKER_00 (14:50):
The other poachers that uh Hugh actually stood up
for Are they really poachersthen or are they people who they
have like resisted the Empire,who've resisted the Normans?
Uh Earl of Huntington calls thempoachers.

SPEAKER_01 (15:00):
Okay.
Yeah.
And so the poachers thatactually Hugh helped, yes, uh,
they are promised freedom ifthey're able to kill Hugh inside
a prison.
And uh and as this is going on,the guards come in and they
accidentally stab a guard, thepoachers, and then they blame it
on Hugh, leading to Hugh'sexecution at the end of the
first episode, which Robin Hoodsees.

SPEAKER_00 (15:20):
Does Sheriff of Nottingham know any of this
backstory?
Sheriff of Nottingham is likehe's the one that's complicit?
He's the one that acts theimprisonment of Hugh.
Right.
But does he know that likethey've actually framed him a
bit?
Yes.
Okay.
So I'm trying to find some legalroom for being here, but it
doesn't sound like there is alot of uh stuff going on.
His pr his his daughter is evil,he's evil.

SPEAKER_01 (15:40):
I think I think that he's he I from what we see, I
don't think he knows 100% thatHugh uh killed the guard.
Right.
That's what I was led tobelieve.

SPEAKER_00 (15:50):
But he's but he's like fully ready because he
hates he signs the death warrantand Hugh, I assume is it kind of
like uh Arya's thing?
Uh Robin just watches his dad.

SPEAKER_01 (16:02):
No, it's almost exactly that.
And uh and then he prays Robin'sdad right before he's hung uh to
Adrick, the god of the forest.
And that's how it tied into theend of the first episode.
Then the second episode just aheinous devil.
Yes, it threw in the kitchensink.
Robin Hood struggles with griefas his mother, Joanne, dies soon
after his brother.
Yeah, where's where's the momand you have mentioned Joanne

(16:25):
several times?
The mom got sick and she endedup dying.
There was also I should mentionthat Robin Hood and Mary Ann in
the first episode, uh, shetracks him down and they go to a
forest wedding and they end upkissing.
That was kind of the sign oftheir romance.

SPEAKER_00 (16:37):
A forest wedding.

SPEAKER_01 (16:38):
Yeah, it was it was a wedding in the forest, and it
was very strange.
I had a problem with this, whereMarianne turns to Robin and is
like, my dad, if I'm out toolate, he's going to become
suspicious.
And then Robin Hood just says toher, You are 33.
No, I think that like theearliest, uh, the earliest they
are is like I know I know I knowthat.

(16:59):
I think they're in the early20s, though.
But the problem I have is thatRobin Hood then says, um, it's
fine, you can stay.
And she ends up staying, andthen she goes back home late at
night.
And gets hit by her father.
And then gets hit by her father.
And I was like, whoa, wait, holdon.
Robin Hood should know just fromthe hunt that Earl of Huntington
is like an aggressive dude.
And she should know because it'sher father that she's gonna get

(17:21):
punished for it, but for somereason she stays out late
anyways.
And I'm not in favor of it.
Do they have like a plan to runaway together?
Yes.
That is episode two, becausehe's lose he's lost every but I
wouldn't think he has much tolive around there for.
It's it's it's a line he says itwas so out of the end of the
fucking world pilot where uhwhere Robin Hood goes to Mary.

(17:41):
Well, no, his love interests.
I I was saying more the more thescene where he's just like, we
have to run away together.
We can go and we can leave, andshe even agrees to it.
Say, but I gotta do one lastthing, and then he's like, he's
like kill Sean Beat.
He's just he's just like, wehave to get out of here.
Uh-huh.
But the Earl of Huntingtoninterrupts and starts beating
Robin Hood, and he barely getsaway.

SPEAKER_00 (18:01):
Okay, so it's interesting because the Earl of
Huntington is played by someonewho was actually in the BBC
Robin Hood series who playedKing Richard there.
So he played a good guy in thatseries, and then yeah.
I I would not have been able toput two into the uh was the
Battle of the Mohicans, or uhyou know I'm talking about that
that famous movie.
Uh, anyways, so yeah, so this isthe aftermath.

(18:21):
His dad's dead, he runs toSherwood Forest.

SPEAKER_01 (18:24):
His cousin, his cousin has ended up leaving
Will, who he's had a tensionist,but also like it's kind of like
some point.
There's been tension between thetwo of them, but it's also like
sibling rivalry.
And then Will, he's off for ajob.
So he Robin Hood at this pointis just kind of completely on
his own, but he's told by hisuncle, because he moves in with
his uncle and aunt after his momdies.

(18:44):
Luke Skywalker style.

SPEAKER_00 (18:46):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (18:47):
That uh that there is this shooting competition,
archery competition.
So that's when Robin Hooddecides that he's going to
enter.
He goes to the Sherwood Forest,he got a new bow because he
broke his, because he was so madthat Marianne has left for
London at the behest of herfather because the father
doesn't want her near RobinHood.
And he goes to the forest andhe's about to be on his way, and

(19:07):
then he runs in to Norman'ssoldiers, one of the soldiers
being the per Priscilla'sboyfriend who she's sleeping
with.
And they end up egging him on.
They come up with this bet abouthow he has to shoot one of their
targets and he'll get 10 penniesfor it.
If he misses, he has to give uphis like great bow that is that
his aunt made for him.
And uh, and they choose a deer.

(19:28):
And he's like, I can't shootthat deer.
That's the king's deer.
If I shoot it, then they'regoing to be after me.
And they're like, You're notgonna hit it anyways.
So he ends up shooting it, hehits it, and then they're like,
You gotta get the fuck out ofhere.
That was the king's deer.
So they were actually helpinghim, they didn't just
immediately arrest him oranything.
At very, very first it seemedlike they were, but then he's
like, No, I want my 10 pennies,and then they don't give it to

(19:48):
him.
As he's running away, LaFour,again, Priscilla's boyfriend,
pulls out an arrow, misses him,Robin Hood shoots one back,
LaFour ends up dying.
You see the arrow pierce hisheart, and then he runs into the
forest as arrows are shootingafter him.
That's how the second episodeends.

SPEAKER_00 (20:04):
Interesting.
So you said Marianne was sent toLondon, right?
The Royal Court of London.
Do you see the other villain ofthe series, Queen Eleanor of
Equitaine, who wouldn't actuallybe a villain back in that time
because she had already likedone some pretty crazy stuff and
they had like put her in jailfor a while and then they
released her.
But yeah, by then I don't thinkshe was as well.
I don't I don't think she's inthe I don't remember seeing her

(20:24):
in the first two episodes.
Okay, she's because I from whatI understood is like Marion's
sent to kind of shadow someone,and that is her Yes, like to the
Queen's Queen's Northernsomething.

SPEAKER_01 (20:33):
Yeah, okay, so that makes more sense.
Eleanor of Beckwith, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (20:36):
Um, and uh and you would have recognized her
because she was from Gladiator,like both movies and Wonder
Woman.
She's very used to playing aQueen Empress type.
Um, but it kind of reminded meof Sirens or Hunting Wives
Becoming Elizabeth, where you dohave like the new naive person
coming in and being under thetutelage of someone who's kind
of in a way evil.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (20:55):
Let me ask you something.
So, out of all my likecomparisons I can make, what do
you think I'm going to comparethis to first?
And I'll give you a hint, theyjust came out with a sequel to
this movie about a month ago.

SPEAKER_00 (21:06):
You know I could be I just know that Spartacus is
coming out pretty soon, thesequel series to that.

SPEAKER_01 (21:11):
And uh it's it's Tron Legacy.
Okay.
And the reason for thecomparison is I feel the exact
same way about this TV show andI do that film, where everything
works in this project, I feellike does it?
I think in some areas more thanothers, but it, you know, it's
shot well.
I think that this show does agood job of tricking the
audience into feeling like thisis a vast story, even though

(21:31):
really the uh it's a lot offorest shots and the outside of
the castle and inside thecastle, like inside the castle
reminded me a lot of likeWinterfelt, just kind of without
the snow.
It's supposed to be politics atthe front and center.
I thought that I thought thatthe uh acting was good.
I didn't think anyone was astandout, but I thought that I
got the job done.
Thought that the music was good.

SPEAKER_00 (21:50):
It's been called the most realistic version of Robin
Hood yet.
Do you agree to that?

SPEAKER_01 (21:54):
Well, yeah, and I think even the costumes work,
but I think probably the partthat I disagree with, the story.
I think that the writing forTron Legacy, but especially for
Robin Hood, is really atrocious.
From everything with like thedialogue, the setup, the
overexpository lines, the twoepisodes are completely
backstory.
We could start where thisepisode, episode two, ends with

(22:16):
him in the forest.

SPEAKER_00 (22:17):
Just have a guy in a green suit running through the
forest being like, Oh, that'sRobin Hood.

SPEAKER_01 (22:20):
Yeah, and yeah, I mean it would be uh uh
interesting scene too, with likearrows coming after him.
Give us a couple scenesexplaining everything, and it'd
be fine.

SPEAKER_00 (22:27):
But I bet you're just doing the beginning where
it was like him having runningthrough a forest with arrows
going, and he'd be like, I betyou're wondering how I got it on
the situation and doing thebackflash.

SPEAKER_01 (22:35):
No, but like even details with secondary
characters that I did not careabout.
Like it just there was so muchproblem, I feel like, with just
the writing of the series wheneverything else I thought worked
out fine.
And I just I was wondering, doyou know if people feel the same
way?

SPEAKER_00 (22:51):
Yeah, I mean, uh okay, so like um uh Guardian
gave it three stars and said,Sean Bean gifts us with the most
gloriously bad TV offering ofthe year.
Uh it was like a hate watch forthem, but also like they enjoyed
how bad it got.
I mean, it doesn't make a lot ofsense.
However, there were some goodreviews.
Collider Paste really liked it.
It has a 67 on Metacritic, soit's it's mixed for sure.

SPEAKER_01 (23:13):
I think my problem is that it's so sluggish, it's
so boring.
And when you take into account,I know I'm bringing up a lot of
like superhero things, but whatdo Superman, Spider-Man, I'm
talking about the most recentiterations, the Batman, and
Fantastic Four all have incommon.
They all had dark versions madeof it.
Well, that that is true, but Iwas also thinking the newest
iterations 86 the backstory.

(23:34):
Like, we don't really need abackstory or as much backstory
as they give us in Robin Hood asto who he is.
He's one of the most famouscharacters of all time.

SPEAKER_00 (23:41):
Right, but like I said, there's so many different
versions of him.
Was he a nobleman's son?

SPEAKER_01 (23:46):
Was he like, or but you're saying that they could
tell this along the way ratherthan Yeah, and I mean like they
could also shave off like atleast 15 minutes by getting rid
of some of the expository lines.
I got examples from bothepisodes, but this is at the
very beginning where Sheriff ofNottinghale is talking to Earl
of Huntington, and again, thisis just one of the plethora I
could choose from, but he says,Nottingham is not mine, it is

(24:06):
the king's.
I send his governance only.
We provide taxes and loyalty inreturn.
We enjoy the benefits of theking's generosity, his lands are
our own so prosper.
And I was thinking, what aboutNottingham is the king's?
We serve him in exchange for hisland's prosperity.
I'm sorry, Nottingham is theking?
What Nottingham is the placethat is him is the king's
because he was trying to saythat like he's just kind of

(24:28):
taking it uh for himself rightnow.
But that's 35 words compared to13.

SPEAKER_00 (24:33):
Were they speaking in like old-timey limerick
English?
Yes.
Saying they were trying to likebe all fancy.

SPEAKER_01 (24:38):
Every character has huge lines and they just like
Shakespearean dialogue, yes,drops so much exposition.
It was it was crazy to listento.
It's almost like if LukeSkywalker, imagine the new hope,
right?
But Luke Skywalker, when hedecides that he's going to go on
his journey uh as early as hedoes in that film, imagine they
stretched out everything,including his parents' style.

SPEAKER_00 (25:00):
You're sounding a lot like I think Roger Ebert,
which says it's hard to justifyits existence.
Right.
Because like it they did talkabout how they stretched things
out, but they were talking overthe course of like whatever 10
episodes it runs.

SPEAKER_01 (25:12):
If a new hope went with how long this does, because
both are around two hours long,Luke would just be starting his
journey as the credits rule.

SPEAKER_00 (25:21):
Like, you know, I mean they also compared it to
Peaky Blinder, the showcreators, co-created by John
Glenn and Jonathan, not thatJohn Glenn, but Jonathan John
Glenn and Jonathan English, theycompared it to Peaky Blinders.
Why did they do that?

SPEAKER_01 (25:32):
I am wondering why.
Maybe you just have no maybe.
I mean, like there were likekind of forest people, the tone
kind of gritty.
I can actually see.
You didn't actually meet theMerrimen though yet.
No, I know we're not.

SPEAKER_00 (25:44):
So it's a TikTok star they cast.

SPEAKER_01 (25:46):
That's what I'm saying.
It's like we it was so muchstuff that we know about Robin
Hood we haven't even gone toyet.
I was wondering why they were sofixed on the story.
One thing I will give props tothe show for, though, is that I
do always love that MGM logobecause you get the famous line
in the roar and then the cool,like immersive, weird camera pan
to the golden white text at theend.

SPEAKER_00 (26:05):
What had they stayed with the animal thing, live
action, and kept that lion beinglike Richard the Lionheart, you
know, just like in theoriginal '73 adaptation.
He jumps out of the circleMetron Goldenmeyer.
Puts on a little hat or littlethe crown, and yeah, he's he's
running things.
Uh, no damsels in distress, nomenonites.
That was their methodology goinginto it.
Um, production began in 2025,but in Serbia, uh, in Belgrade,

(26:29):
they shot most of the things,and then they used a lot of CGI,
I'd assume.
Um, and then also Definitely forthe stag.

SPEAKER_01 (26:35):
The stag was again a weird story to tell, but you
could tell that that was thatwas CGI.

SPEAKER_00 (26:39):
Right.
And I think that they're reallycombating the whole like
Christianity versus the pagansand their religion and how you
have to respect the fairy lore.
Um, so it would be I would becurious to see how much Robin
channels his inner magic, hisinner fairy to fight the uh the
Normans and I did, I did likesome things like when he's
shooting arrows because you wereable to missed.

SPEAKER_01 (27:01):
Yeah, well, he missed one, but like by the he's
definitely uh has his skill, youknow, like he's supposed to be a
rebel.
Okay, but it's just by the endof the we're like a fifth of the
way through the series rightnow, and he's just starting his
journey.
There's too many characters,there's too much happening, it
feels too dense.

SPEAKER_00 (27:16):
On the shows, on the show side, do you have the same
motives that he does when yousee his father killed so
unjustly?
Do you feel for Robin Hoodenough to be like, I'm rooting
for this character to move on?
Or are you just like, I wantthis guy to die?

SPEAKER_01 (27:28):
No, no, no, no.
I didn't I didn't find RobinHood like too annoying.

SPEAKER_00 (27:31):
This is one of his first roles, the person who
plays him, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (27:33):
Yeah, I thought, and I thought that he did fine.
This is purely just everythinghaving to do with the writing
was bad.
Everything else I thought wasfine, though, which is why I'm
going to give the series fourand a half out of ten.

SPEAKER_00 (27:43):
Okay, that's fair uh rating.
Do you have a favorite characterbesides Sean Bean?
Hmm.
Priscilla, Marion, Robin.

SPEAKER_01 (27:51):
I actually like Marion, come to think of it.
Yeah, she's probably the onewith like a gold heart.
So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (27:56):
Okay, cool.
She is mostly just from likeEnglish stuff, you know, British
soap awards.
She's done that.
So this has been compared alittle bit to a soap opera, too.
So I'm not completely surprisedthat you're giving me a four and
a half out of ten.
Any other points?
Oh, Frederico Hughes scored uhthis series, which I found
interesting because he's donelike 60 films, which include The

(28:16):
Secret in Their Eyes, which islike noted as one of the best.
Not the remake, right?
The the first one.
I think the first one.
Okay.
Now that you say that, I'mscared.
Uh Ridley Scott's X Disc, Godsand Kings, and a gentleman in
Moscow.
So he's on TV too.
All right.

SPEAKER_01 (28:31):
Uh yeah, and I like I said, I thought the music was
good.

SPEAKER_00 (28:33):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Uh anything else?
No, that's very good.
All right.
Well, thanks for listening.
We'll see you on the nextepisode.
Hope you enjoyed this one.
Bye.

SPEAKER_01 (28:39):
Bye.