In Sherwood Forest, Robin and the gang watch Allan leading a company of mercenaries hired by the Sheriff for his growing plans; the gang quickly help themselves to a wagon transporting food supplies for the army. However, when they get it to one of their hiding places, they come under attack from a group of masked raiders. In the ensuing brawl, Robin overpowers their leader and is both stunned and delighted to discover the man is Legrand, an old friend and fellow veteran of the Crusades, who declares he has a message from King Richard.
The message unfortunately turns out to be somewhat cryptic; a sketch of an eye staring down at a King. Legrand explains a wool merchant by the name of Paxton has the next clue, and that King Richard insisted the mission had to be completed by Midsummer's Day, for them to find "Thesaurus Patriae"- Treasure of the Nation, as Djaq translates.
In Locksley, Gisborne is busy turfing out the villagers to turn the place into a camp for the mercenaries, and also chewing out Allan for losing the supplies. The arrival of Marian distracts him, but despite her protests on behalf of the villagers, Gisborne refuses to disobey the Sheriff's orders.
Surprised at the level of detail King Richard has gone to in order to protect 'Thesaurus Patriae', Robin, Legrand and company pay Paxton a visit, who provides the next clue; a drawing of a roaring fire. Recognizing a strange smell on the parchment, Robin holds the messages over a candle, the heat causing an invisible compound applied to the paper to reveal itself, forming a series of dots which, when the papers are placed over each other, form a circle. Back in Sherwood, Marian watches as Allan leads Gisborne to the hidden food store; she heads straight for Robin, but he insists that he has to prioritize the mission for the King and insists she promise that she won't try to intervene on her own. Marian reluctantly agrees...but when Robin is out of earshot, mutters to herself the Night Watchman didn't make any promises.
Robin leaves Marian to find John has worked out the circle refers to a nearby circle of standing stones; at this Paxton begs leave to depart, assuring them he'll arrange a ship to transport the treasure. At the circle, they discover that the stones point into the nearby forest; following the directions, they come to a cave with a trap door housing the next clue- a stylized map of the local area, which indicates the next place they need to go is Kirklees Abbey. Unfortunately, at this point Vaisey chimes in, having been led to the gang by Paxton, who knocks out the trap door, locking the gang inside the cave. Outside, Paxton tries to extort Vaisey for a cut of the treasure: unfortunately the one he gets from the Sheriff isn't the one he wanted.
At Lockesley, Marian, disguised as the Night Watchman manages to get into the barn where the food is being held; Allan walks in to find her and urges her to get out before she's caught, but when Gisborne walks in, Allan is forced to raise the alarm. In the ensuing brawl, Guy manages to overpower Marian but when Allan intervenes when he tries to torture her, Guy is shocked to discover the Night Watchman's true identity. In the cave, John manages to lift the trapdoor enough for everyone to get out except himself; in the nick of time, Legrand helps take the weight, allowing John to get out and leaving the two men with a new found respect. Outside the cave, Robin reveals that the map shows they're looking for a church on the south side of the River Trent, not the north where Kirklees is.
Back at Lockesley, Marian, locked up in the barn, begs Allan to make a distraction so she can make an escape, but Allan refuses to risk his neck on her behalf, even when she offers to try and talk to Robin for him. At this point, Gisborne storms in and orders Allan to take Marian back to Nottingham, having informed the Sheriff the Night Watchman has been caught and furiously refusing to listen to Marian's attempt to defend herself.
At Barnsdale Church, the only one south of the river, Robin and company discover 'Thesaurus Patriae'; Eleanor of Aquitaine, King Richard's mother, who explains that Prince John tried to lock her up in Pontefract Castle after inviting her to spend Christmas with him- Robin figures out John wanted to keep Eleanor captive long enough to convince his mother's homeland she's sided with him and gain Aquitaine's army to fight his brother. Eleanor thanks Robin and his outlaws for their work in defence of King Richard's realm, and she seems particularly taken with Little John...however, the warm moment is interrupted by Vaisey (having worked out he'd gone to the wrong place) and his men storming the church. Upon realising what 'Thesaurus Patriae' really is, Vaisey demands Eleanor surrender to him but she (rather wisely) decides not to go with her son's odious minion and the outlaws escape from a secret passageway leading into the forest, before splitting up.
At Nottingham Castle, Gisborne angrily lambasts Marian, accusing her of working with Robin. Though she protests she was the Night Watchman long before Robin came back, Guy doesn't want to hear it, accusing Marian of leading him on and taking advantage of his feelings for her own ends. Marian insists that she does care about Guy but he is too angry to listen. Some time later, Marian tries to engineer an escape by starting a fire in her chambers and trying to get away in the confusion but Guy and Allan stop her; an angry Guy again berates Marian for manipulating him and bluntly tells her to accept she is beaten.
In the forests, Vaisey and his men manage to ambush Robin, the Queen Mother, Much, John and Legrand; Vaisey orders Eleanor taken alive and the rest killed. Legrand tries to stop them, only to be shot by the mercenaries and finished off by Vaisey. At the last moment, Will, Djaq and the rest of Legrand's men come charging to the rescue, much to Vaisey's annoyance; in the ensuing battle, the mercenaries are defeated and Vaisey left out for the count. The gang then show their respects to the dying Legrand, who lives long enough for John to reassure him that Eleanor is safe and his duty done.
Later in the afternoon, Vaisey returns to Nottingham, slightly cheered up after the humiliation of the Queen Mother's escape by the prospect of hanging the Night Watchman. Marian is brought out of her cell, calm, composed and determined to face her death with dignity, save glowering venomously at Guy. Vaisey invites Marian to enjoy the show, unaware that she's the one to be hanged, but before anyone can enlighten him to that fact, arrows start raining down from above; the Night Watchman is standing on the battlements. A bemused Marian can only watch as a furious Vaisey demands to know how the Watchman escaped and Gisborne orders the guards after him; however, the Night Watchman manages to lose the guards by diving down a well, pulling off the hood and mask and revealing himself to be Allan in disguise. Unfortunately, while Marian is saved, a furious Vaisey rounds on Gisborne for this latest failure, pummelling him in a fit of pique before holding Guy at knifepoint and reminding him how much is at stake, finishing with a not-so-subtle warning that this is the final straw; Guy's next failure will be his last.
In Sherwood, Robin and the gang see Eleanor off with directions on how to find safe passage back to France; she promises to ensure King Richard hears of their bravery and leaves them a substantial sum of money to help their work; the gang walk off into the sunset, teasing John about the Queen Mother clearly taking a fancy to him. Back at the castle, Marian thanks Guy and Allan for their help, though Guy warns her the Night Watchman is finished, for her own safety. In exchange for his help in saving her, Guy asks Marian to stay in Nottingham, if only to make it more bearable.
Tropes
- Aborted Arc: It's established several times that Legrand's mission has to be completed by Midsummer, a frequently mentioned plot-point that turns out to be completely irrelevant.
- Affectionate Nickname: Eleanor dubs Little John "Big Bear", much to the amusement of the rest of the gang.Much: WELL COME ON, BIG BEAR!
- Big Damn Heroes: Djaq, Will and Legrand's men arrive in the nick of time to save Robin and the others from being overwhelmed by Vaisey's mercenaries.Vaisey: Why is nothing ever SIMPLE?!
- Circle of Standing Stones: An important locale in the treasure hunt.
- Complexity Addiction: Mixed in with Riddle Me This and a Gambit Roulette. The more you think about the treasure hunt, the more baffling it gets. King Richard has sent Legrand to find Robin Hood and for the two of them to secure the safety of his mother, Queen Eleanor. That's clear enough, but the levels of convolution involved in this plan are just bewildering. Who exactly planned the treasure hunt? Someone who knew the area well, tailored it to Robin's archery skills, and built at least one booby-trapped underground cavern filled with more clues. When did they do all this? And for what purpose? They're also presumably responsible for giving both Legrand and Paxton two parchments with secret writing on them that together point to the Circle of Standing Stones. But why did Paxton have to be involved? Who gave him his part of the clue and the password Legrand asks for? And ultimately the final clue just points to a church where Eleanor has been awaiting rescue. Surely it would have been easier for Richard to simply tell Legrand that's where she would be hiding out, instead of leading everyone on a pointless treasure hunt that the Sheriff just circumvents anyway.
- Eleanor also tells the outlaws that Prince John invited her to Pontefract Castle in West Yorkshire for Christmas — so why did she turn up six months early, given that the episode established it was the middle of June? More to the point, if she managed to escape Pontefract and make it to the church undetected, why did she stay there instead of just heading back to Aquitaine? The episode seemingly wants us to believe that she instead chose to (somehow!) get a message to Richard in the Holy Land that she's waiting in the church, in order for him to send a message back to England with Legrand so that Robin could go and pick her up (a plan which ultimately put her life in danger, since the Sheriff would have never discovered her whereabouts if the treasure hunt hadn't required the involvement of Paxton the traitor). Ultimately, the whole thing is just an Excuse Plot so that the outlaws can have a Treasure Hunt Episode.
- Continuity Nod: On discovering that Marian is the Nightwatchman, Guy brandishes his curved dagger and demands to see the wound on her belly that he inflicted on her back in The Return of the King.
- Costume Porn: Eleanor wears a dark orange velvet gown. Even the Sheriff comments: "nice dress."
- Deadpan Snarker: Eleanor of Aquitaine is very much this.Legrand: You're meant to be in France!Eleanor: No wonder it's taken you so long to find me, Legrand.
- Death Glare: Marian directs a fair few at Guy for turning on her.
- Exact Words: Robin extracts a promise from Marian that she won't do anything reckless while he's busy helping Legrand. She agrees. The Nightwatchman on the other hand...
- Fauxshadow: Paxton is an obvious spy for the Sheriff, given plenty of Traitor Shots and an inordinate amount of interest in Marian's whistle that calls Robin away from the rest of the outlaws. Audiences would be forgiven for assuming that he's going to be the one who gives away her status as the Nightwatchman and Robin's spy in the castle... but instead he's killed by the Sheriff at the halfway mark of the episode, and Guy discovers Marian's true identity in a completely unrelated way.
- Fire-Forged Friends: John and Legrand.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: It lasts only for a second, but when the gang hunker down on the verge to spy on the supply train, Will hesitates for a moment before resting his arm on Djaq's shoulder.
- Historical Domain Character: Obviously, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.
- Idiot Ball: Quite a lot. Why do Legrand and his men attack Robin Hood for no reason? Why do the outlaws continue to use a secret hiding place as a food storehouse when they know Allan knows about it? How does Marian plan to get all those sacks of food out of the warehouse by herself during broad daylight in a village that's crawling with mercenaries?
- Marshmallow Hell: While assisting Eleanor down through the trapdoor in Barnsdale Church, Little John's face ends up smushed in her cleavage (not that she minds).
- Never Mess with Granny: While hardly old, Eleanor of Aquitaine is not to be messed with.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: It's hard not to wince when Guy viciously attacks the Nightwatchman, punching "him" in the stomach, kicking him when he's on the ground and throwing him into tables, knowing all the while that it's Marian on the receiving end of it all.
- Obviously Evil: Eleanor recognizes that Vaisey is obviously this, and that it's a better idea for her to go with Robin and the outlaw's rather than her son's odious Dragon.Eleanor: [at Vaisey] Are you always this odious, or have you just practiced for me?
- Oh, Crap!: Marian, when Guy unmasks her as the Nightwatchman.
- The Oner: At the beginning of the episode, the gang sneak up on the supply train and gradually take out the mercenaries from behind before requisitioning the wagon, all in a single panning shot.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Paxton. Trying to extort the Sheriff was not a good idea.Paxton: About the treasure...I deserve a cut, for services rendered.Vaisey: A cut? Very well, if you want a cut, a cut you shall have! [Vaisey stabs Paxton] Payment in full!
- Series Continuity Error: This episode takes place on Midsummer Day, which is in June. The sixth episode of this season (Ducking and Diving) explicitly took place on King Richard's birthday, which was the 8th of September. This would mean that the last five episodes have taken place across a ten month period, stretching from the end of one year into the middle of the next. This seems unlikely, but could hypothetically be possible... were it not for the fact that Guy confronts Marian with the dagger he stabbed her with at the end of the first series, and says that event took place "a year ago."
- What makes it all even weirder is that the next episode takes place on Robin's birthday, stated to be the 14th of October, which means that four months pass between this episode and the next.
- Super-Strength: Little John seems to demonstrate this when he lifts the boulder blocking the entrance to the underground cavern on his shoulders.
- This Cannot Be!: Guy's reaction to finding out Marian is the Night Watchman.
- Traitor Shot: Paxton gets plenty of these before he betrays Robin and the rest of the gang.
- Treasure Hunt Episode: In which the treasure in question is the Queen Mother.
- Walk-In Chime-In: Vaisey does this when the gang are looking for clues.Robin: [examining the next clue] It's a cross, it's at Kirklees.Much: Sign of the Cross at Kirklees...Kirklees Abbey!Vaisey: [from behind them] Kirklees Abbey? How interesting! Last one there's a rotten egg! Bye Hood!
- Whole-Plot Reference: The main plot is one to the British Game Show Treasure Hunt
. - You Have Failed Me: After Guy (who unbeknown to the Sheriff is Marian)seemingly lets the Night Watchman escape, a furious Vaisey shouts this at Gisborne before threatening Guy with death if he screws up again.Vaisey: Good news, Gisborne, only good news. Tell me you've caught him, tell me you're ready to string him up, tell me I can have my execution!Gisborne: He escaped. The Night Watchman is gone.Vaisey: You have failed me AGAIN! [Vaisey punches Guy and holds a knife to his throat] I will NOT tolerate incompetence! There is too much at stake now! A KINGDOM! [in a deathly quiet voice] Last chance, Gisborne.
