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Robin Hood 2x08 "Get Carter!"

This episode is super fun and introduces everyone's favorite minor character! There are so many fans that just ignore the fact that Carter is only a two episode guest character and include him in their lists of main characters and he's even in the list of filter options for most fanfic sites. He's an instant fan favorite, an extremely popular character, and I personally think he would've made an excellent gang member. Think of how much better season three could've been if Carter had survived the sheriff's attack and the king would have sent him back to England to recover from his wound! This show continuously comes very close to greatness and then drops the ball and this is just one more example of that. Anyway, let's get started!

The Art of Clothes: BBC Character Costume Study Season 2 Part 1 ...

Thoughts While Watching:


  • Poor Clun...they always get the short end of the stick. Why does the sheriff hate them so much?
  • Marian: LEEEEROOOOY JEEENKIIIIINS!!!
  • I love how Djaq throws her arms up like, "God damn it, Leeroy."
  • Robin is completely out of line to tie her up like that though. I get why he did it. He doesn't want her to be seen with outlaws in case she changes her mind (odd, since he's wanted her to join him in the forest the whole time) and in case she's ever caught, so she'll have deniability so she doesn't hang, and on top of that, it's pretty obvious that she isn't thinking clearly right now and is out of control because of grief. However, no one was staying to watch her and a guard could've found her at any point. What would they have done? Would they have assumed that "the outlaws kidnapped Lady Marian" and freed her? Or would they have assumed she was working with Robin and killed her? He couldn't be sure of which and yet he still decided to tie her up anyway. He could've gotten her killed. Abusive fucking asshole.
  • I don't know why, but I find the way Will said "he's very good" absolutely hysterical.
  • Robin seems so pleased to meet his mini-me and Carter really was doing an excellent little Robin impersonation there.
  • I will say that I do give Robin credit for realizing that Marian isn't ready to be making any important decisions right now in her state, even though she's currently making the one he's always wanted and he could easily just let her reveal herself and be stuck with him, but he doesn't. He doesn't want her to be stuck with him because she left herself with no other choice, he wants her to choose to be with him of her own free will whenever she can think clearly enough about it to decide. That's certainly better than Guy immediately making a move on her five seconds after she finds her dad's body and her life is in danger again, but it still doesn't excuse tying her up. And what was with that excuse anyway? "Well, you didn't listen to your orders." So? Every single member of the gang, at one point or another, has not listened to his orders. Does he tie them up? No. Once they tied him up, but that was different and not in the middle of a fight.
  • Much thinks he recognizes Carter but no one listens to him. He even continues trying to tell Djaq that he knows him and she tells him to let it be. Maybe you guys should actually listen to Much once in awhile instead of brushing him off and laughing at him, you pricks.
  • Why does anyone work for the sheriff? Honestly. He completely set those guards up knowing damn well they'd die and Guy actually seems disturbed by it, but the sheriff is just like, "Send their families a basket of fruit...small." Yeah, a small basket of fruit isn't going to make up for the lost income, especially with the constant tax collection in Nottingham, nor will it replace a loved one.
  • The sheriff always gets the best lines:
    • Sheriff: Oh, and by the way, Marian sent a message.
    • Guy: *jumps up and comes over* What message?
    • Sheriff: Oh, um..."I'm not coming back, get over it, and for God's sake, change your clothes once in awhile."
  • Sheriff: It tells me that the crusty one was the only thing keeping her here. LMAO!
  • Poor Guy, so much sexual harassment in the workplace.
  • Oh, this is so awkward. Everyone's sneaking glances at Robin and Marian arguing, Djaq was standing right in the middle of it at one point, and then Robin kind of groans like he expects them to agree with him or something, but you just know that no one wanted to be in the middle of that.
  • Aww, John! He's so sweet. He goes to check on her. But Marian, do you realize you're asking the wrong person that question? She asks him "Why do you do everything he says?" He really doesn't. He just knocks Robin unconscious when he disagrees with him. You should try it sometime. And John says, "But there can only be one leader." which is a load of crap coming from him because he never follows an order he doesn't agree with. He'll do the same thing in another couple episodes without knocking Robin out.
  • Aww, John's big bear hug! So cute! I think he's only partially right though. It is definitely grief over her father, but it's also Robin being a dick. And the fact that Marian just isn't a follower. 
  • I actually kind of have a theory about this. I think that some people are naturally better leaders, naturally better followers, or naturally better loners, and it's something that's just in their personality. Robin and John are both natural leaders which is why the rest of the gang tends to look at John as a second in command, why he was able to lead men before, and why he so often ignores Robin when he disagrees with him and insists on doing it his own way. Robin may need to desperately improve his leadership skills, but he's still a natural leader because he definitely has issues with following and he has the confidence and charisma needed to lead. Even if he's not 100% sure about a plan or only has a half-plan, he can fake the confidence and convince others to trust his plan. The only person we've ever seen him follow was King Richard and even then, he was part of the king's guard which made him higher up than a lot of other soldiers and he still openly criticizes the king's mission. Much, Djaq, and Will all kind of seem like natural followers. None of them seem to have the skills or confidence required to be a leader and at least Much definitely seems more comfortable following someone he trusts and respects. Guy also seems like a natural follower. He clings to someone he thinks has the confidence, power, and ability to lead him to greatness and lets himself be constantly put under that man's thumb rather than having the confidence to forge his own path when he disagrees. Allan and Marian, on the other hand, both seem like natural loners. They work best alone, not as a follower or a leader, and I think that leads to a lot of their discontentment when it comes to following Robin. Marian especially lacks what it takes to work well as part of a group, whereas Allan is laid back enough to work well with the group, but he'll still bump heads with the leader of the group and grow resentful of not being able to do things the way he thinks they should be done. I think that's why Marian doesn't work out well as part of the gang (because she was great at being the Nightwatchman and a spy, both of those were things she did alone, she was helping Robin but not working for him) and ultimately part of why Allan grew resentful of Robin enough to be led into betraying him. That's also why I think in season three, choosing Archer as the leader after Robin dies instead of John will be a huge mistake, although the show doesn't continue for us to see it. Archer is a natural loner for sure and John is a natural leader (Tuck might be too, I'll have to analyze whether he's a loner or leader when I get to season three, but regardless, John has seniority), plus Archer hadn't been there that long. Choosing Archer, in my opinion, would have proven to be a huge mistake had the show gotten another season for us to see it play out. But anyways, I'm not a psychologist or anything so I don't know if my theory is right, but it's something that I've observed that I believe to be right, especially regarding these characters.
    • For what it's worth, I think I'm a mix of a follower and a loner. I'm definitely not a leader, that's for sure. I tend to kind of look to my parents, my husband, my coworkers that have more seniority over me, and even sometimes my friends for guidance or for them to take the lead most of the time because I'm a bit afraid of responsibility, which would make me more of a follower, but as soon as someone tells me that I have to do something or I disagree with what they tell me to do, I go off and do my own thing, even when it's not smart, because I do NOT take orders well. And then if I end up making a mess of things and can't get out of it, I end up sliding back into a follower role and expecting someone else to help me clean it up. It's a bad combo, to be honest. Not a very good way to live at all, wouldn't recommend it lol
  • Couldn't Marian simply NOT be a part of Robin's gang and ONLY continue being the Nightwatchman but still live at the camp anyway as a roommate to the gang and Robin's girlfriend? Wouldn't that be a good way to work out the issues she has with teamwork? 
  • Carter just really figured out how to overpower every single member of the gang. The "make them trust you and then divide and conquer" technique is pretty good. But why doesn't Carter do the same to Robin? He could've had Robin tied up too so he couldn't fight back and then this plan would've actually worked.
  • Oh, fuck you, Robin. Fuck you. First of all, beating him up is a great idea. It's not "torture" like what you were going to do to Guy when you had him tied up, you hypocrite. But this is bullshit:
    • Robin: Just go and cook something.
    • Marian: What, because I'm a woman?
    • Robin: No, because I'm hungry!
  • So...is he being sexist or isn't he? I want to take a deeper look into this for a second. 
    • On the one hand, he doesn't ever dare say something like that to Djaq, but on the other hand, it could be because she's already more submissive to him. Like I said, natural follower. The only time we've ever seen her directly disobey him was with the ledger, and even then, I don't think he actually wanted to burn it either. Even when she deeply disagrees with something, like killing Allan, she asks him not to do it and then does what he says anyway whereas Marian got in his face about it to save Allan (thank God, for these girls though, I'm glad someone still cares about Allan). 
    • Could he be more sexist to Marian than Djaq just because she presents more feminine, so even though he knows they're both women and he knows Marian is just as capable, he subconsciously sees her as more of a woman and therefore takes her less seriously because he is sexist? He had nearly a year of Djaq fully dressing as a man to realize how capable she is and met her while she was still pretending to be a man whereas he's used to seeing Marian being ultra-feminine, so maybe he views Djaq as more of an "equal" because of that (as much as he ever sees anyone as his equal, because I don't think he does, I think Allan's right about that). Or maybe it's because he views Marian as more of a woman because he's romantically attracted to her/involved with her?
    • Is he genuinely not being sexist and only wants to get her to walk away because he thinks she's out of control and just randomly suggested cooking something without realizing the sexist implications of that suggestion? Because I don't buy that. I think he knew exactly how sexist telling her to go cook something was and did it anyway. I don't necessarily think he's viewing her differently because she's a woman, because if a man were that out of control, he would do the same, but I think the way he treats her as a result of that is sexist. He would likely send a man away too, but he wouldn't brush them off with a "just go and cook something" comment.
    • It's interesting that both Marian and Djaq feel like they aren't taken as seriously because they're a woman when they first join the gang. Is it because they're both paranoid about it or is it because the gang is actually sexist? I think they're actually sexist, even if they don't necessarily mean to be.
    • I wish we had some kind of reaction from Djaq, even just a facial expression, at Marian's outburst about Robin brushing her off because she's a woman and Robin's "go and cook something" comment. She had to have some kind of opinion on that.
  • Poor Allan, such a bad way to wake up. Guy doesn't tolerate sleeping on the job. Guy also seems batshit crazy there.
  • If I were Marian, I'd leave. I'd just up and leave. Leave Robin, leave Guy, leave Nottingham, fuck them all.
  • Maybe Robin should look back more often then and realize that by supporting the king so much, he's essentially still going along with the killing in the Holy Land even if he's not the one doing it anymore.
  • I love this Allan/Marian scene and the Allan/nun scene that follows it. "I'm good with nuns." *cuts to a scene where he tackles a nun* "Say a little prayer for me." I absolutely love Allan.
  • Well, look at that, Robin. Carter got loose because your plan sucks. 
  • Robin finally realizes that he should've listened to Much. Took him long enough.
  • Oh, how convenient...Thomas and Marian did the same thing. *eyeroll* 
  • This Robin/Carter scene is so homoerotic and oddly sexual...
  • So what I'm getting out of this "vow of silence" scene is that Guy at least partially suspects that Allan is helping Marian. He might just be worried that Allan lied to him because he couldn't find Marian, but I think there's too much evidence that Marian was working with Robin for him to rule that out. I think he suspects, he's just deep in denial. I think he suspects that both Allan and Marian are working together against him, but as soon as Allan gives him a believable excuse that he heard it from the Mother Superior, he's willing to accept it because he doesn't want the alternative to be true.
  • "GET MY HORSE!" Oh, geez, Guy...
  • This Carter revealing his backstory to Robin, Much, and Djaq scene could've been so much better if the show actually paid any attention to Djaq at all. Can the fans just rewrite the whole fucking series? Honestly. Think of how much better this could've been if Djaq said something about being able to relate to him. Listen to his story. He did whatever his brother did, he joined the Knights Templar because his brother did, as soon as he joined, his brother died and he wanted vengeance...damn, sound familiar? She could have talked about the real Djaq (do Robin and Much even know that her fake name was originally her brother's or did only Allan know that?) and how she joined up to fight against the Crusaders as a man after he died. This scene could've been great. Look at her face. Anjali Jay clearly made the connection and is acting this out as though that's what's going through Djaq's mind even though the writers refused to give her the lines to express it openly. I like that they only included the characters who were actually involved in the war though and left Will and John out of it. That was a nice touch.
  • Aww, that little wink Robin gave Much! So cute!
  • But Djaq really can't fully relate because she would never go batshit crazy and kill everyone for personal revenge and she seems horrified at the thought. Her joining the war effort is different because it was to defend her people, but she's still able to actually form friendships with Crusaders on an individual level. I think she can relate to his backstory before that point though. 
  • So does Robin figure out that it's Allan's fault that Roger never made it? He doesn't say anything about it here. How much time has passed in the last four episodes that Roger would be expected to arrive in the Holy Land before Carter left and Carter would have time to make it all the way back to England? Has to be at least like...3-4+ months then since 2x04, right?
  • Robin and Djaq can apparently read each other's minds now. I guess they've discussed using a plan like this before.
  • "You never held me like you held him." AWW, MUCH!!! OH, MY SHIP!
  • "Whatever I say, you never listen to me anyway." Aww, poor baby Much! And he's right. 
  • Would he listen to Marian though? He hasn't been listening to her at all so far this episode. I think he brushes them both off and treats them both like shit but Much can't see that through his jealousy. And he is jealous because he has a crush on Robin for sure.
  • Marian sees Carter and asks what he's doing there and Robin tells her not to worry about it. Um, excuse me? She has every right to be concerned and he should offer up an explanation without brushing her off considering the last time she saw Carter, earlier that very day, he tied her up and threatened to kill her. A good leader would address the valid concerns of their followers.
  • AWW! DJAQ'S FACE when Marian says that Allan was at the camp!!!
  • Robin, if someone says "I bow to your authority," they almost never actually mean it. She's mocking you. Keep up, asshole. Honestly, fuck Robin so fucking hard with a sandpaper dildo.
  • Is Djaq a witch now? What the fuck is that? How does she know how to do this?
  • "I lied. What are you going to do about it?" I love that Marian at least stands up to Much and Much immediately backs down.
  • This plan could've backfired so badly and it would've without Marian so maybe Robin should keep this in mind.
  • Allan seems suspicious immediately. Does he recognize the gang? He doesn't seem to buy that Robin's dead at all.
  • How does Guy not suspect that Robin's still alive and Marian only did that to save him? Seriously? How deep in denial is he? He has to just be the world's biggest dumbass.
  • Maybe she rejects it because whether you regret it or not, you still burned her fucking house down and kept her as a prisoner in the castle, asshole.
  • LMAO at Allan raising his eyebrows at Marian kissing Guy.
  • So Carter's saying that Djaq's potion is something that Saracens know how to do. Is there any historical evidence of Muslims being able to do that during this time period?
  • Oh, geez...Why exactly does Robin tell the sheriff to kneel before him? I've read fanfictions where there's a disturbing missing scene here...
  • All she needed to hear was that she was being forbidden to do something for her to do it. Love that.
  • Robin is suddenly readopting his no-killing stance for Carter's sake even though he's spent the last few episodes killing or wanting to kill everyone. Okay...
  • Aw, another use of Robin's "Where would be the fun in that?" line that he used in 1x04.
  • I'm annoyed that Marian was the only one who apologized in the last scene and Robin didn't. There shouldn't be a truce until he learns to apologize too. He clearly recognizes he did things he shouldn't have, but he can't bring himself to apologize? Fuck that. Also, why does he laugh when she holds his hand? I get that it's supposed to come off as cute but it kinda fails. It comes off as condescending. 
BBC - Nottingham - Robin Hood - Get Carter! gallery

Final Thoughts:

I want to go back in time and SCREAM at these writers for not utilizing Djaq enough. I really do. I want to tie them up in the forest and let Marian loose on them. This is a really fun episode and I really like it, but it is seriously lacking because they don't use Djaq enough. There needed to be some sort of reaction from her about the Robin/Marian possible sexism and there needed to be some sort of scene or dialogue addressing her brother in the Carter backstory reveal scene and maybe something about how she feels dealing with another Crusader that isn't Much or Robin. And her and Marian needed to be given a chance to interact either in this episode or the next one and they dropped the ball here hard. Marian should've stayed in the forest longer than she did and should've been given a chance to interact with all of the outlaws, but she definitely should've had more interaction with Djaq specifically. We get a sweet Marian/John moment in this one, some good Marian/Will scenes in "Walkabout," plenty of Marian/Allan stuff throughout the whole season, a few sort of tense Marian/Much scenes throughout the whole show, but very little Marian/Djaq. They work together a bit in 2x02 and have a lot of interaction in 1x12 because Djaq's saving her life, but very little overall and practically none at all while Marian's actually part of the gang. It seems really unrealistic and like a total waste. 

We're talking about two women who now both live in the forest, who both have had to dress up like men to fight for what they believe in and be allowed some freedom to do so (Djaq full-time in pre-series and season one and Marian only as the Nightwatchman), who both deal with sexism from the gang themselves and society as a whole and share a fear of not being taken seriously because of it, who are now the only two female members of a gang full of men that they live with, and we get no interaction between them? What the fuck? I want to see them have a chance to bond. How is it that we now have two female members of the gang at the same time and still don't pass the damn Bechdel test? Come on, show...get it together! (I say knowing full well that they never get it together and never will since it's been cancelled now for like 12 years.)

And another thing...we have Marian mourning her father and feeling like it was her fault because of what she said to him which is something that Will just went through four episodes ago. Why couldn't we have had a moment where he reaches out to her to try to help her through it since he understands what she's going through? That would've been a perfect and very natural way to have her interact more with the gang. Such a major missed opportunity. 

Honestly, that's the biggest problem with this show. It has a great premise, amazing characters, lots of fun episodes, but there are just way too many missed opportunities to ever achieve true greatness. I mean, it is great in my opinion and still one of my top 3 all time favorite shows despite it's flaws, but it will never reach that level of greatness of my other favorite shows (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel), because say what you will about Joss Whedon (and I'll be the first to say he's kind of an ass), but he knew what the fuck he was doing. The Robin Hood writers appear to be trying to race through all their plot ideas way too quickly and missing everything that would actually make it truly special on the way and I believe it's what ultimately cost them their fanbase and their show. The main reason I love this show as much as I do is because of the fandom. The fanfiction writers in this fandom really picked up the slack where the real writers failed. These characters are so absolutely wonderful that I couldn't let them go and needed more of them and the fandom didn't let me down. Even now that the fandom has died down significantly, I still write my own fanfic just for me. I was more invested in this fandom than any other show, including the Buffyverse (where I mostly only ever read Spangel sporadically), and that's a big reason why this show has left such a lasting impact on me. When this fandom was at its peak and there were tons of fanfictions being written and fanvideos and gifsets/photo edits being made and active forums of fans discussing the show, it was truly something absolutely amazing and even though the fandom has always been kind of small, it was a tight and vibrant community that was truly something special. If it weren't for all that and I only had what was in the actual show itself to go by, I don't know that it would have left the impact on me that it did. I wish the show itself would have taken that extra step, you know? Slow down a bit, drag out the Allan-as-a-spy storyline and the Marian-in-the-gang storyline so they have the impact on viewers that they're supposed to have, focus more on the characters in the gang instead of always spending so much time on the Robin/Marian/Guy storyline, focus more on character development and the characters' relationships to each other more, just take the time to focus on the little details like that. This show had so much potential and a lot of it just feels wasted, like if they would have tried a little bit more, we could have had something epic.

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