YMMV / Robin Hood S 03 E 09 A Dangerous Deal

• Ass Pull: How did Meg know there was a Viking treasure buried in an Ancient Tomb in the middle of Sherwood? The script offers no explanation, and it's particularly strange that in all their years of living in the forest, the outlaws never stumbled upon it themselves.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • One theory that was floated in an attempt to rationalize what Little John was attempting when he encouraged Robin to hook up with Kate is that he’s actively trying to sabotage any lingering influence Isabella has over him, cutting his ties once and for all to the aristocratic class. (A more sardonic explanation is that he's tired of Kate’s sulking and will do anything in his power just to make it stop).
  • Robin’s decision to start a relationship with Kate is sometimes chalked down to emotional exhaustion, with him figuring it’s easier to just give in to what she wants instead of having to deal with the drama of rejecting her.
• Base-Breaking Character: Isabella. The fanbase was largely divided over her characterization in this episode, with some accepting that this was the culmination of her Protagonist Journey to Villain arc and deeming her responsible for her own choices, and others believing she had been Driven to Villainy due to the Domestic Abuse she suffered, the questionable way in which she’s treated by Robin, Kate and Little John, and her tenuous grip on sanity, thereby rendering her an Unintentionally Sympathetic Villain. Either way, most conceded that it was in very poor taste to have a woman who had escaped domestic violence as the show’s Big Bad after last season’s brutal murder of Marian at the hands of her Stalker with a Crush.
• Designated Hero: There’s a reason this is the most contentious episode of the entire show, surpassing even We Are Robin Hood! in the controversy it sparked, and it’s largely down to Robin's treatment of the ostensible villain. In fact, the whole episode is so jampacked full of Double Standards and Protagonist-Centered Morality on the part of the so-called “heroes” that it’s mind-boggling.
  • Robin wants to negotiate a mutually beneficial deal with Isabella, the new Sheriff of Nottingham. Due to the fact he’s been a Master of the Mixed Message for almost the entire time she’s known him, Isabella is not particularly enthusiastic about this alliance and is quite justified in pointing out she has little reason to trust him. Not helping matters is that Robin approaches Isabella to discuss a deal by breaking into her bedroom at night, seemingly just to prove that she’s not safe in her own quarters and while at her most vulnerable. He also demonstrates that he’s armed, which inevitably comes across as an implicit threat.
  • When Isabella’s Abusive Spouse arrives on the scene, she’s beside herself with terror and agrees to work with Robin if he disposes of Thornton. To be fair, Isabella reneges on her side of the deal first (though it's brought on by Little John's needless baiting) and lays a trap for the outlaws, though Robin’s plan to get rid of Thornton is absolutely pitiful – he ties the man up, puts him on a cart, and threatens him with death should he ever return to Nottingham. Naturally Thornton frees himself and promptly returns less than ten minutes later, chasing Isabella into the castle with the clear intent to kill her. Robin follows them into her bedroom, but arrives too late to do anything as Isabella has already dispatched Thornton herself – at which point Robin denounces her as a murderer and claims: “I only kill when there’s no other way”. This is infuriating for three reasons:
    • For Robin to say he only kills when there are no other options is Blatant Lies at this point. Robin has killed indiscriminately throughout this season, including not more than eight seconds ago when he shot dead an executioner even though a disabling shot would have clearly sufficed.
    • Robin tells Isabella they should only kill in self-defense, even though her killing of Thornton clearly WAS in self-defense. He stood on the front steps of Nottingham Castle and yelled: “I've come to take what's mine – your life!” in full earshot of everyone, and was advancing on her with clear murderous intent when she initiated a Wounded Gazelle Gambit to save herself.
    • Robin accusingly calls Thornton’s death “your first murder”, even though murdering Thornton was LITERALLY WHAT HE WAS COMING INTO THE ROOM TO DO. He had already promised Thornton he would kill him if he ever returned to Nottingham (as part of the deal he made with Isabella) and would have shot him dead not five seconds earlier had Kate not physically prevented him from doing so.
  • In the physical altercation that follows, Robin grabs Isabella by the face – the exact same thing we’ve just seen her abusive husband do to her – and shoves her violently down onto her own bed.
  • Then there’s Kate. Based on how the episode plays out, the writers would seemingly have us believe she’s the virtuous Betty in this Love Triangle and a poor put-upon Cassandra whose gut instinct concerning her rival’s true nature goes foolishly unheeded by Robin. Unfortunately, this reading does not translate at all since:
    • Kate has responded with undisguised animosity towards Isabella from the very second she appeared, well before there was any just cause for suspicion, which naturally calls into question the motivations behind her Irrational Hatred.
    • Given her pursuit of Robin throughout this episode, it’s obvious that Kate’s vindictiveness is rooted almost entirely in romantic jealousy, even though Robin repeatedly asserts that he's not looking to rekindle the relationship, but simply work with the new Sheriff for the betterment of the entire county.
    • Her complete lack of empathy for Isabella as she’s being terrorized by her sadistic psychopath of a husband is disturbingly callous, culminating with Kate physically preventing Robin from shooting Thornton while he's pursing his wife with clear murderous intent.
  • Yet the script doesn't seem to realize how appalling her behavior is, and by the end of the episode she's rewarded when Robin initiates a Relationship Upgrade between them, conceding that she was right the whole time.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Unsurprisingly, Meg was wildly popular among audiences and fan-fic writers, not only for her rapport with Guy, but due to being a much more appealing female character than Kate.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: On the basis of this one episode, Guy/Meg became a hugely popular pairing, supplanting even Marian as the Love Interest in some Guy-centric stories.
• Informed Wrongness: Once again, Robin is severely criticized for wanting to broker a deal with Isabella, even though an alliance with the new Sheriff of Nottingham is a sensible enough strategy, and at least worth a try, especially when the alternative is attempting to do the same with the obviously-unhinged Thornton. However, Kate spends the entire episode complaining about the prospect, and the audience is not only meant to be on her side, but think that Robin is an idiot for not listening to her straight away.
  Robin: Thornton’s dangerous.
  Kate: For Isabella, maybe.
  Robin: No, for Nottingham, for everyone.
  Kate: Whereas your Isabella is an angel.
  Robin: No, I just think we can work together with her, unlike him.
  Kate: (yelling) You are SO WRONG!
• Retroactive Recognition: Holliday Grainger plays Meg, an actress now better recognized as Lucrezia in The Borgias and Robin in Strike.
• Romantic Plot Tumor: In an episode that charts the course of Isabella Jumping Off the Slippery Slope and the beginning of Guy’s Redemption Quest, an inordinate amount of time is spent on Kate’s relentless pursuit of Robin, her obsessive jealousy of Isabella, and the interminable Robin/Kate/Much Love Triangle. It's difficult to fathom how anyone could have thought audiences would be invested in Robin and Kate as a pairing — Kate was a deeply unpleasant character, the actors had little chemistry, and Robin himself clearly wasn’t an enthusiastic recipient of her affection, but what makes it even more bewildering is that Robin/Kate becoming a couple has no further bearing on the plot. Of the four remaining episodes, Kate isn’t even in the next one, and the final three have them spend most of their screen-time in completely separate locations. In short, this episode devotes a huge amount of screen-time to a Relationship Upgrade that nobody wanted to see, which also ends up being a completely pointless addition to the remaining story.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Despite her charm and likeability, Meg ends up as yet another Disposable Woman in order to facilitate a male character’s arc. Making it especially grating is that she could have served this purpose without dying — Guy could have just as easily rescued her from the castle guards, dropped her off at Kirklees Abbey in secret, and still emotionally attained what he needed from her to start the next phase of his Character Development.