YMMV / Robin Hood S 03 E 05 Let The Games Commence

• Ass Pull: Where did the outlaws get the giant net that they threw over Prince John's elite guards? And why was Isabella carrying two satchels of mustard powder of all things? It's also unclear where Kate got the new dress that she wears in this episode (and for the rest of the season) since she arrived in Sherwood with nothing but the clothes on her back.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: Due to promotional material most of the audience already knew that Isabella was Guy's sister, but between their physical resemblance and the close-ups of her reactions whenever she sees him, it was an easy conclusion to draw.
• Fanfic Fuel: Guy returns from Prince John's court with a garrison of elite soldiers and a man-eating lion with which to hunt down the outlaws. His absence for the last two episodes was due to Richard Armitage's commitments to Spooks, but it throws up a lot of possibilities as to what exactly he got up to in London.
• Fight Scene Failure: Isabella overpowers one of her pursuers with a Groin Attack, followed by a kick to the face. Then she pulls his sword from its sheath and uses it against her second opponent, dragging him from horseback as she does so. That's all well and good... except this is blatantly the exact same fight choreography that was used with Kate back in Cause and Effect.
• Narm: Guy is in possession of a large box that's said to hold a dangerous weapon, one that's introduced with an ominous musical sting and presented to the quivering outlaws with much fanfare...then it opens to reveal the oldest, tiniest, mangiest, most worn-out lion you've ever seen in your life. The outlaws react with terror as the decrepit beast waddles toward them at a snail's pace, looking like it just wants to find a quiet place to lie down and die.
• Nightmare Retardant: The lion. A good kick would have probably killed it.
• Strangled by the Red String: Robin and Isabella's first good look at each other is accompanied by a musical cue that lands with all the subtlety of an anvil. At the end of the episode, Robin is so angry and betrayed by the fact Isabella is Gisborne's sister that he steals her purse, grabs her by the face, pushes her into a tree and accuses her of lying to him — a rather over-the-top emotional reaction to a woman that he's known for less than a day.
• Trapped by Mountain Lions: Little John running into Bertha's circus and getting recruited into her Gladiator Games has absolutely nothing to do with anything else going on in the episode, but it's an odd example since a lot of viewers actually preferred it to the main plot. It gave some focus to the oft-ignored Little John, featured the very cute Walt and didn't contain any of the more bizarre elements found in rest of the episode.
• WTH, Costuming Department?: Kate's forehead braid is mercifully gone, but she's now wearing a bodice with odd little tassels all over it and an ankle-length dress in a forest that clearly impairs the actress's ability to move agilely.

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