A horrified Robin realizes that his plan to capture the Sheriff's spy, Henry of Lewes, has failed because he has a traitor in his gang. Fearing for Marian's safety in the castle, Robin sets about rooting out the turncoat. His only clue is supplied by Marian: the spy's meeting place is the Trip To Jerusalem Inn, where the traitor outlaw sells his secrets to Gisborne. With two missions to complete Robin is relieved when Henry of Lewes arrives at the castle unconscious, his vital information about the King's landing sites remaining a mystery.
Robin infiltrates the castle to silence Henry, but help arrives in the shape of wise-woman Matilda, who has known Robin since he was a baby, who has been tasked by the Sheriff to nurse Henry to health. Asking Robin to look after her heavily pregnant daughter, Rosa, Matilda promises that she'll silence Henry using special herbs, but doesn't bargain upon the Sheriff making the connection with Robin Hood and putting her life in mortal peril. Robin returns to the forest with Matilda's daughter, to a confused and hurt gang: they resent being suspected of treachery and it takes all of Robin's leadership skills to rally his outlaws into helping Rosa. Then Marian arrives reporting that Matilda is about to be tried for witchcraft.
The race is on to rescue her before she is drowned. Robin hits Will and chases him away as a decoy, and then goes to the inn, where he finally finds the real traitor, Allan. Although he doesn't kill Allan, Robin does banish him from the gang.
Tropes
- All There in the Script: The tavern girl who works as Allan and Guy's go-between at the Trip is never named on-screen but the end credits identify her as Joan.
- Birth-Death Juxtaposition: As Rosa gives birth to her baby daughter, her mother Matilda is being dunked in the lake. However, this trope is subverted considering Matilda only fakes her death and is rescued by Robin mid-dunk.
- Brick Joke: Early on, Matilda tells the Sheriff: "if you were on fire, I would not damp you with my wet underwrappings." After she escapes the dunking stool with Robin, the Sheriff notices something left behind on the seat. Blight enlightens him: "I suspect they may be her underwrappings."
- Burn the Witch!: A variation — dunk the witch.
- Continuity Nod: This episode is brimming with these. Allan confronts Guy about killing Roger of Stoke in The Angel of Death, Will mentions how Allan tried to talk him into leaving Nottingham with stolen goods in A Clue: No, Marian reminds Guy that she didn't abandon him while he was being drowned in Child Hood, Little John discusses his wife Alice with Rosa, and when Allan approaches Djaq for advice, she compares his situation to his brother Tom's from Brothers in Arms.
- Cool Old Lady: Matilda, who fearlessly stands up to the Sheriff. She wasn't that old, but she is a grandmother by the end of the episode, making her this trope.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: To ascertain whether or not Matilda is a witch, she's tied to a dunking stool and submerged in the Locksley lake.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Djaq knows full-well that Allan is the traitor, but Robin tells her to be quiet just as she's in the middle of telling him.
- Coy, Girlish Flirt Pose: Marian assumes this position when she's trying to charm Guy into letting her leave the castle without an escort.
- Defiant to the End: Matilda, who cusses at the Sheriff whilst she's being dunked in the lake. True to the trope, this occurs as her daughter gives birth in Sherwood Forest.
- Everyone Is a Suspect: Out of fairness, Robin refuses to rule out any of the outlaws as the potential traitor.
- Full-Name Ultimatum: When Allan tries to tell Djaq that he's sorry for betraying the gang's trust, she tells him that she believes he's a good man, addressing him as "Allan-a-Dale" for good measure.
- Gender Reveal: Matilda and Rosa spend the entire episode assuming that the latter's unborn child is a boy due to the amount of movement he's making in the womb — but it turns out she was carrying a little girl.
- If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Matilda is horrified that Robin's first instinct is to silence Henry by stabbing him while he's unconscious, citing a variation of this trope to stay his hand.
- Informed Ability: Gisborne is stated to constantly be several steps ahead of the outlaws thanks to Allan's information, but the changing of the road Henry of Lewes travels by is only the second time such a thing has happened onscreen (the first being the Sheriff knowing about the box lined with pitch in "Child Hood"; Allan's other betrayals have either been insignificant or Robin has no way of knowing about them).
- Informed Flaw: When Matilda returns to the camp, the outlaws complain that they haven't had "a moment's peace" from the newborn baby... who is silently sleeping in Little John's arms.
- Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: Done with the outlaw tags when Allan is banished.
- Living MacGuffin: Everyone is scrambling to get their hands on Henry of Lewes, who knows where King Richard plans to land on his return to England.
- Meaningful Echo: When Allan tries to tell Robin he didn't have a choice in working for Gisborne, Robin shouts Marian's words back to him: "everything's a choice. Everything we do."
- Meaningful Look: Djaq turns around to look directly at Allan when she tells him: "I believe you're a good man." His guilt makes him unable to sustain eye-contact with her.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Casually throwing aside his "no killing" policy, Robin is unhesitatingly ready to kill Henry of Lewes while he's unconscious. Matilda puts a stop to it.
- "Near and Dear" Baby Naming: Rosa decides to call her daughter Alice, after the wife of the man who safely turned and delivered her.
- The Only One I Trust: Knowing that there's a spy in the outlaw camp, Marian becomes this to Robin. She's the one he shares this realization with, telling her she has to come with him or risk exposure as his spy within the castle.
- Oh, Crap!: All over Allan's face when Robin banishes Will as part of his ruse to flush out the real traitor.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Robin being so gung-ho about assassinating Henry (while the man is unconscious, no less!) is completely at odds with his adherence to his "no killing" rule. If it had signaled the start of a Start of Darkness arc for his character it might have been justified, but after this episode Robin continues to declare that he only kills when necessary while hypocritically doing no such thing.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Robin wanders into the castle undetected with nothing more than a hat, a limp, and a different accent. The guards even usher him into the room where Matilda is being held, who recognizes him immediately.
- Red Herring Mole: Averted. When the outlaws realize there is a traitor amongst them, everyone realizes that Allan is the obvious suspect.
- Revealing Cover Up: Gisborne switching the road Henry travels by clues Robin in to the fact that there's a spy in his camp. Allan also very narrowly avoids exposing Marian as a spy in the castle (for the second time) by giving Gisborne this information.
- Rule of Symbolism: When Guy sends payment to Allan for his information about Henry of Lewes, he changes it from the promised gold coins to silver due to Henry's condition. Silver for a traitor? Hmmm, what does that remind you of?
- Screaming Birth: When Rosa gives birth to Alice amidst a group of uncomfortable-looking outlaws.
- Single Tear: Little John drops one of these when Rosa decides to name her baby Alice.
- Slasher Smile: It's Matilda of all people who gives one of these to the Sheriff, having survived multiple dunkings in the lake (thanks to Robin's submersive breathing apparatus) and getting lowered once more with a mad grin on her face. The Sheriff is suitably unnerved.
- Sudden Principled Stand: Averted. Allan makes a brief protest against Gisborne having killed Roger of Stoke in the previous episode, having been able to kid himself that he's not been hurting anyone up until now, but it subsides when Gisborne points out that he knew what would happen to Roger but didn't want to admit it to himself, and the only reason he's met with Gisborne is for more money. Allan immediately tells him that Robin knows about the planned arrival of Henry of Lewes and complains about the small amount of money Gisborne gives him in return. It is only when it is clear that Robin is on to the fact there's a traitor in his gang, and there are going to be serious consequences for him personally if he's found out, that Allan tells the tavern girl working as their go-between to keep the money and tell Gisborne he's done.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: Yes, Robin and Matilda are kept alive underwater by use of a long tube and pair of bellows that are pumping oxygen to the pair of them — but this would still require a great deal of endurance, particularly while they're sharing it underwater.
- Truth in Television: The dunking stool really was a method of rooting out witches in the Middle Ages.
- We Need a Distraction: Robin ends up killing two birds with one stone by rescuing Matilda, then using her escape as a distraction so Will and Allan can abduct Henry whilst everyone realizes she's escaped.
- Wham Episode: Allan is found out as the traitor and permanently expulsed from the outlaws.
