Robin Hood 2x11 "Treasure of the Nation"

Well, folks...we're at the last episode before the two part season two finale. The last hurrah before the downward spiral. I should have slowed down and savored it, taken my good old time with the rewatch, because we reached this point faster than I expected. This is an amazing episode with a really fun guest character (I LOVE Eleanor of Aquitaine!!!), it gives the Guy/Marian fans some great scenes to support their ship (before sinking it forever in the finale), and gives Allan yet another chance to shine as the hero he absolutely still is and always will be. It also puts the spotlight on Little John for awhile, which I just noticed that two of the John-centric episodes are both the eleventh episode of their seasons right before the finales. I wonder if season three will do the same, but I can barely remember anything about the third season since I very rarely rewatch any of it, so we'll have to wait to find out if it continues the pattern. This is a great one (though unfortunately the last of the great ones in my opinion) so let's get into it!

Thoughts While Watching:

• Okay, remember how I said that I thought a winter passed in between seasons one and two? I definitely think that because now Robin's preparing for winter again ("that will feed Locksley for the whole winter") so I'm guessing that each season starts in spring (S1 definitely started in April) and ends in autumn (even though technically it should all take place in 1192 to fit the historical timeline, but because of the king's birthday episodes, we know it doesn't and that a year has passed between mid-season 1 and mid-season 2). Although, I don't know, because Richard was born on September 8th, so that would kind of jam all the rest of the episodes into three months or less from the middle of the season until the end. You know what...I give up on the timeline of this show making sense. I'm done trying.
• Why did Legrand attack them?
• Djaq reveals that she speaks Latin too, in addition to English and Arabic, so that's three languages at least. I wonder how many she knows total. Although, she may not be entirely fluent in Latin like she is in Arabic and English, but I assume she is because she's Djaq. Djaq just knows things. Almost everything. And it would make a lot more sense for her to have learned Latin than English so if she bothered to learn English, I'm assuming that she definitely learned Latin and probably Greek too.
• Legrand says, "She speaks Latin, what a woman!" And aww, Djaq gets a cute little smile on her face after he says that! She's so adorable.
• This Guy/Allan/Marian scene is interesting.
• Guy: Allan! Where are the supplies? These men are tired and angry and we have no food for them. Tell me this is some kind of a joke.
• Allan: Look, I think I know where it is, alright? There's a food store Robin used to use near Nettlestone and he used to keep the food there in the winter.
• Guy: And you just remembered this?
• Allan: Yeah.
• Guy: Convenient. You're lying.
• Allan: No, I'm not! *Guy grabs him by the shirt*
• Guy: *getting in his face* I am sick and tired of being made to look like a fool by you and your friends when you are in on their secrets!
• Allan: What secrets? *Marian sees what's happening and starts making her way over*
• Guy: You know what I'm talking about. You're gonna tell me everything now.
• Allan: Look, you know about Robin. The rest, they're just peasants.
• Guy: TELL ME! *screaming and raises his fist to punch Allan*
• Marian: What's going on?! *yells as she walks over*
• Guy seems to feel betrayed by Allan here, noticing that he's still loyal to his old friends and possibly wondering if they're working together against him. Loyalty is still a huge theme with him ever since season one. However, he's being disloyal himself by going back on his promise from the beginning of the season that Allan wouldn't have to do anything to get his friends hurt or killed by demanding to know everything Allan knows. Up until this point he's mostly kept it (except the Roger situation where he did use Allan's information to kill someone), because he's known all along that Allan knew where the camp is and respected his decision not to tell him (the sheriff was the one who demanded Allan take them there). Allan is quick to give up the information about the storage area before even being threatened, probably because he's worried about himself and his job, but also because he knows giving that information up doesn't actually hurt the gang. Besides, realistically, the mercenaries do need to eat just as much as the villagers do, so he's probably thinking it's a wash anyway because Robin's willing to starve one group to feed another. Finally, Marian seems to feel some loyalty to Allan for protecting her secret because now she immediately steps up to interrupt what would have become a beating to protect him.
• This Guy/Marian scene is interesting too.
• Marian: How about the women and the children who are being forced out of their homes?
• Guy: There was nothing I could do! The sheriff has ordered it, no arguments!
• Marian: Not long ago you were willing to defy Prince John's men!
• Guy: Yes, but the situation has now changed.
• Marian: Because the sheriff is back?! *Guy avoids her gaze* While he was gone, I thought I saw a different side to you, Guy. Kind, brave. I was mistaken. *Marian walks away*
• That definitely struck a chord with him. She did see another side to him, no mistake about it, but as soon as the sheriff's back, Guy is right under his thumb again. Does he see that this is wrong? Would he do something about it if he could?
• Marian: I promise I won't do anything. *Robin walks away* But the Nightwatchman might.
• There's no way I'd ever be able to follow all these clues and I swear either Robin makes some really lucky guesses or he must know the king really well to know what he'd be thinking with things like how they're supposed to follow that line instead of where the sword points.
• I love how John and Legrand are in this secret war about who's the strongest.
• Don't people know by now what happens when you work for the sheriff? How many people does he have to kill before they get the message?
• Marian, the Nightwatchman is supposed to go out at night, not broad daylight.
• Allan's sleeping on the job again. He wakes up to see this bullshit going on and he's just like, "Oh, great..."
• LMAO "Guy, I've caught the Nightwatchman." But honestly, what was he supposed to do in that situation? Get executed too?
• Yeah, Allan may have just claimed he caught her, but I hardly consider that a betrayal since Guy just caught her and Allan didn't actually do anything except tell her to go and promise to keep it a secret before he showed up. No point in both of them hanging together. When it actually mattered, he stepped up. He stops Guy from torturing her just like she stopped Guy from punching him. 
• Guy's so horrified by the reveal that he literally just runs away. Allan and Marian should have just run away right then too. Although, it doesn't really matter since I know it all has a happy ending anyway (this episode anyway...let's just ignore the next two for now).
• Aww, how cute. John and Legrand are instant friends now.
• See?! This is what I mean. When Will told him it's too late, he took it to heart. Now he's faced with the decision of running away with Marian and she would talk to Robin on his behalf or stay there and keep working for Gisborne and he tells her it's too late for him to go back. He's echoing Will's words from the previous episode. That's what I meant when I said you shouldn't tell people who are trying to change and redeem themselves that it's too late for them to do so because it just encourages them to keep doing the bad things that you don't want them doing in the first place. If you tell people that they're too far gone to be redeemed enough times, they'll believe you and give up on being good.
• Marian: Help me. Distract them long enough so that I can get into the forest.
• Allan: This place is surrounded.
• Marian: Please. We have to do something.
• Allan: I don't have to do anything. I'm sorry. If I mess up with Gisborne now, I've got nothing left, Marian.
• Marian: Well, I could talk to Robin for you.
• Allan: You don't get it, do you? Even if I wanted to go back, I couldn't. It's too late. I've helped you wherever I can, Marian, you know that. But this- *Guy opens the door*
• If Allan thought he could safely get Marian out of there, he would. He has helped her wherever he could. He protected her secret, he stopped Guy from torturing her, he prevented her dying in the tree, he was willing to let her go when she snuck in today, he's helped her get a message to Robin, he's been helping her every step of the way. Now she wants him to risk his life to cover for her for making a really stupid mistake. And it was a stupid mistake. If she had done this at night, she would've probably gotten away with it. If she would've waited a day or two until Robin could help, they would've almost certainly got away with it. Doing it now in broad daylight was stupid as hell and now not only is her life in danger, but she expects him to put his life in danger too to clean up her mess. Which he will by the end of the episode, but he's not exactly eager to put his head on the chopping block here and I really don't blame him. If he left her alone to distract the mercenaries, which would be hard enough as it is because there are hundreds of them, Guy would know that he was either extremely incompetent or more than likely would figure out he was intentionally helping her. If he stays, he's likely a dead man. If he goes, as far as he's concerned, the gang doesn't want him. He's back to being on his own, nobody to help protect him, without a penny to his name, on the wrong side of the law, after having personally betrayed the second most powerful man in the shire who has a nasty vengeful streak when it comes to betrayal and loyalty. If he goes, he's likely a dead man. And if Robin would've been persuaded by Marian after refusing to give Allan a second chance when he begged for it, after refusing to spare his life when Djaq begged for it, after all of that just because the woman he's engaged to said something, I'd be disappointed in Robin because it would be obvious he's favoring Marian's opinion over his gang's. Unless his only reason would be because he saved Marian's life and he would've been willing to let him back after saving Will's life if he'd known about it, but it's impossible for us to judge that since Will was a little prick who didn't tell anyone that Allan saved his life. And another thing, if Marian is willing to speak for him now, why wasn't she willing to earlier? I mean, yes, she did save his life and stopped Robin from killing him, but couldn't she have spoken up to get him back in the gang before now? She knows he's not as bad as the others (besides Djaq) think he is. Unless she didn't know he wanted back in and he only told that to Will and Robin. I don't know. I don't know what to make of this. If I were Allan, I wouldn't be too eager to die to save people that are probably just gonna turn their back on me after I help them either. He might be thinking, "Well, if Robin didn't let me back after I saved Will, why would he now?" because he might not even realize that Will never told Robin. As far as he's concerned, Will didn't even want him back after he saved Will, Robin probably knows and still didn't want him back, they're just gonna abandon him and Guy will track him down and torture him to death, so what's the point?
• Guy's whole world just got flipped upside down. I can't even imagine what's going through his head. His whole life is a lie. 
• IT'S THE QUEEN! Everybody bows except Djaq. Hmm...remember back in 1x10 when it was a Saracen prince and Djaq bowed and asked the others to do the same and Robin yanked her up by her armpits and said "Nobody bows down to anybody. Not in this forest." (I don't remember if that's the exact wording, but it's close.) Guess that was a lie. Robin's a hypocrite. But I'm guessing she remembered because she's not bowing here. She also respects their decision to bow because she's not yanking anybody up by their armpits, but it'd be funny if she did.
• I love this woman. "So, you are Robin Hood's famous outlaws. It appears you have been doing most of the work for my son, King Richard." Your sons are both useless lady, but I'm glad you see it too.
• She goes over and stops right in front of Djaq who is staring at her with wide-eyed wonder and awe and a bit of fear too since she stopped when she saw her.
• Eleanor: And who is this?
• Robin: This is Djaq, from the Holy Land, your majesty.
• Eleanor: Interesting. *Djaq definitely looks a bit alarmed here* You're a long way from home, Djaq. Why did you choose this particular battle here?
• Djaq: It chose me, your majesty. I fight here with my friends.
• Eleanor: *smiles* I should like to know you better.
• I love that scene. Unlike everyone else who just walks right past Djaq without noticing her (looking at you, Guy, who somehow stopped to talk to a Saracen woman with extremely short hair in a dress in the castle and it still didn't click, you dumbass), Eleanor notices her immediately and wonders how she came to be in Robin's gang. Djaq is obviously afraid though she's strong enough to hide it, but Robin can either tell she's afraid or he's afraid the Queen will start something (I think it's the first one, he seemed calm in his explanation so I don't think he's afraid the Queen will do anything), so he steps in immediately to explain for her. I wonder if anyone else was afraid. I bet the rest of the gang who don't know the queen were getting a little nervous there for a second. John seemed a little worried there in the background. But, yay! There's no reason to worry! Because Queen Eleanor is amazing. I wish we had gotten more of an explanation from Djaq, but I totally get why she wouldn't be ready to open up to the queen right away. She looked nervous to even say the little bit she did reveal. But I want to know the real answer. Why did she choose to stay in England and fight in Robin's gang? I have theories of course and I've discussed them before, but I wish we had a real canon explanation. And then the queen says the one thing I can relate to more than anything else, "I should like to know you better." Yes! We would all like to know Djaq better. Someone should've told that to the writers. I would like to know far less about the Robin/Marian/Guy love triangle and far more about Djaq, but the writers failed me. Maybe we could've gotten more in the third season had they not written her out of the show in the season finale of doom. God, I am so not looking forward to these next two episodes. I wish that the queen would have actually gotten the chance to know Djaq better. I think they would've liked each other. I like that cute smile Will gives her once the queen turns her attention away. He definitely seemed relieved.
• Aww, Much and Will are so cute and nervous. The smile Will gives the queen is super adorable!
• Oh, my ship! It might only be a one episode ship, but it's fantastic. Robin introduces the queen to "Little John" and she says, "Little? I can't believe there's a part of you that's little." He looks so uncomfortable and Legrand is just cracking up in the background. And Will nudges Much like, "dude, get a load of this!"
• And then she calls him "Big Bear!"
• "Alas, one can choose one's friends but not one's family." I agree with this statement here from the queen, but honestly, these are her two sons fucking everything up in the world, so maybe she kind of failed as a parent too. But I do live my life by that sentiment. I've cut out family members and never looked back and I have friends who I consider to be family. Family is who you choose, blood has nothing to do with it. I couldn't choose who I'm related to, but I can choose who to surround myself with and who to care about. Probably why I like the found family trope so much.
• LMAO SHE SHOVES HER BOOBS RIGHT IN JOHN'S FACE!
• I mentioned this before back in the early season one episodes, but it's getting brought up again so let's look at it:
• Guy: You were in league with Robin Hood. An outlaw. I warned you the sentence would be death.
• Marian: I was the Nightwatchman years before Robin returned.
• Guy: Don't take me for a fool.
• What she says is 100% true. Everyone acts like she's just copying Robin or helping Robin or that the Nightwatchman is a lackey of Robin Hood, but she's not. She was the Nightwatchman years before Robin returned and she gets no credit for it. That's bullshit. Although, he might realize that that part is true, but that her using it as a way to explain away his accusation that she was in league with Robin is bullshit. Which it is. He remembers who helped her out of his house the night he stabbed her. He has to know that Robin knew who was underneath the mask. Like he says, all the pieces of the puzzle just fell into place for him. All of the "omg how can Guy be such a dumbass" moments all just clicked.
• I actually believe her when she says, "I cared for you. I still care for you." I think she did care for him, just not to the degree he wanted her to care. She has shown that she cares about his life (1x08, 1x12, even after being stabbed by him, and I believe her actions in 2x03 were done both to save him and to help Robin, even if helping Robin was her top priority) and I think she was genuinely proud of him last episode. I think she does believe that he has the ability to be a good man and that there is another side to him and wants to try to bring it out (in 1x09 I think she felt so betrayed by his actions because she genuinely thought she had gotten through to him and that he would care about his friend more than he did, in 2x06 she saw that he was willing to put himself at some risk to try to save her, and of course in 2x10 when he gave up a chance to escape to be willing to die with her and worked to try to protect the entire town all day). I also think she genuinely worries about him with his connection to the sheriff, recognizes that the sheriff hurts him and manipulates him, and knows that the sheriff doesn't actually care about him (though actually...I think the sheriff in his own twisted way does care about Guy to a certain degree, but I don't think she sees it that way). They obviously aren't real friends in the sense that they don't fully trust each other and he's never truly known the real her before this episode, but I think she does have some faith in him and his ability to be a good man and has relied on it several times and feels comfortable enough with him to be honest about her feelings on the sheriff's plans and I think she does genuinely care, to a certain extent, about his life and well being. Do I think she has romantic feelings for him? No. I honestly don't. I think she may have some physical attraction to him (in 2x03 it was obvious), but I don't think she has feelings for him beyond a desire to save him from himself and to bring out the good man inside of him. But I don't think, as he accused here, that she was laughing at him behind his back. I think she felt bad about manipulating his feelings for her and leading him on, but was willing to do what was necessary to save lives, and that's respectable. I know a lot of fans have a problem with her doing that to him, but if its the only way to save your own life or someone else's, you do what you gotta do. She obviously didn't take pleasure in it and feels some remorse for it and didn't consider it a big game or anything. That being said, I can understand why he thinks that.
• I don't buy her excuse that she stayed by his side when Prince John's men were there and she could easily have left him. It's true, she could have, but she wouldn't have because she didn't want to abandon Nottingham. Her decision to stay had nothing to do with him. He's the one who could have easily left her, but he didn't. 
• LMAO Eleanor pulling John down next to her.
• I love how she doesn't care when people shit talk her son. She knows he's a little shit.
• I know John's strong and I mean no disrespect to her, but that's a large woman to have to carry while running. 
• "You say you love me and you don't know me." YES! This is what I've been saying. And the thing is, she has showed him this side of her over and over again. She has shown him so many times over the past two seasons that she thinks the sheriff's methods are cruel and unnecessary and she has pleaded for people's lives, she openly made a fuss about how starving the villagers was wrong in 1x04 and got caught helping them then, she begged him to stop torturing his lieutenant in season one, begged him to do the right thing and protect Lambert, openly made a fuss about how horrified she was by the festival of pain in 1x11, revealed her and her father's loyalty to the king in the season one finale, made a fuss about how they were abandoning a whole street to die in 2x04 and about how they were treating her father by starving him, begged him to help save Matilda from what she knew was a death sentence based on a false claim that she was a witch, and probably more examples that I can't think of. She never revealed her association to Robin or that she was the Nightwatchman, but nevertheless, she has shown this side of her and her willingness to break the law before. She's told him over and over how she disapproves of his actions that hurt the villagers and begged him not to go along with the sheriff's plans and pleaded with him to help her. This side of her was not a secret that she hid from him, she only hid the extent that she was willing to go because of her beliefs. If he had paid attention to the things she says, he would know that. Instead, as I pointed out in several posts in season one, he'd listen to her beg for the villagers or beg him to show mercy to someone, ignore everything she said, and then show up with some stupid gift and expect her to fall head over heels. He was shown this side and chose to ignore it and just do whatever he likes anyway. He never understood that giving gifts or having a large fortune wasn't the way to Marian's heart and that she was telling him exactly what he would need to do to win it the whole time but he wasn't willing to do any of those things. He loved the version of her that existed in his head that he'd placed on a pedestal even though she continuously showed him who the real her was every step of the way. He made the choice not to know the real her. Sure, by now he knows what she really values, unlike in season one, but he still won't do what she wants. He knows how opposed she is to the sheriff's plans but continues to follow him anyway. He knows full well that helping people is what matters to her, but it doesn't matter to him (except in 2x10) so he doesn't go out of his way to do it very often.
• "This, my lady, is an ambush." The sheriff used the gang's line!
• Where are the mercenaries supposed to be from?
• "GET DOWN AND STAY DOWN...my lady." 
• "Well, come on, big bear!" Hahahaha
• Nobody in this show knows how to do a death scene. They're always hilarious. R.I.P. Legrand.
• I get that it would've ruined the twist, but I do kind of wish we had seen a scene of Guy and Allan coming up with this plan to save her. If Allan had been caught, he would've been killed. He was willing to risk his life to save her after all. I don't think Guy would've been able to protect him had they caught him. Which reminds me, why didn't he make sure his cloak was pulled down too when he was hiding? He's damn lucky those guards are idiots!
• Also, weren't there guards who know the truth and know Marian is the Nightwatchman? Did Guy pay them off to stay silent? That's a lot of people who have now put their life on the line to protect Marian from her own dumb mistake.
• This shows that Guy really does trust Allan and the two of them make a pretty good team.
• "Remember your invitation, big bear." I'm pretty sure she grabs his butt. Oh my. 
• Djaq does a little head bow at the end. Not a full bow or anything, but she bows her head to the queen. I think this is significant because it shows that even though the queen isn't her monarch, she has earned Djaq's respect and admiration simply because of who she is. She had no intention of bowing to a monarch that wasn't hers when she first met her but she came to respect her as a person and now shows her that respect here.
• The queen can afford to give more than one small bag of money. Why doesn't she send more later on?
• Aww, John's embarrassed at being caught checking her out!
• I LOVE this Guy/Marian/Allan scene at the end. Allan is so adorable. Does Marian ever tell Robin that Allan saved her life? Does he ever find out how Allan saved both Marian and Will? Does Djaq ever find out? Poor Allan never gets the credit he deserves. Once again he's the hero of the episode. I love that little like "hey, what about me?" gesture he does when she tells Guy he saved her life. "What's being chased by angry soldiers between friends, eh?" And that cute Marian/Allan hug! It's adorable. 
• Guy asks her to "stay and make this place bearable" which shows that he's obviously unhappy with his life and his job, so why doesn't he just leave already? But she agrees to stay with a smile, a hug, and a kiss on the cheek. I think she genuinely does feel something for him here. I think she realizes that both Guy and Allan are her real friends and genuinely care about her, but I still don't think she has any romantic feelings for Guy. If the next two episodes from hell hadn't happened and they'd continued on this path, maybe someday there could have been. Robin would have to do something major to fuck up bad enough for her to ever consider choosing Guy over Robin, but if Robin had fucked up that badly and if Guy had continued on this path that he's currently on, I think there may have been a slim chance somewhere down the road. We'll never see that happen though. Everything's about to go to hell.
• This end scene:
• Much: You know, there's something about Sherwood.
• Will: It's home. 
• Me: Remember that you just said that in two episodes, Will! It's home. It's your fucking home. You were right here. 
• Now they're trolling John. I love it.
• Djaq: So, John...planning on visiting Aquitaine anytime soon?
• Much: Queen Mother fancies you.
• Everyone: *laughs and starts yelling "Big Bear!" and tackling him*
• John: You're all jealous.
• I wish we could've seen John/Eleanor become a thing.

Final Thoughts:

Well, there you have it, folks. It's the end of the last great episode of Robin Hood. Hey, you know what would be fun? Stopping the rewatch right here and pretending the last 15 episodes don't exist. Just kidding, I'm gonna finish it...I'm just gonna complain about it the whole time. Maybe someday I'll write a fanfiction that just picks up where this episode left off and I'll change everything about the rest of the show. Seriously though...we're at the point where everything starts to spiral out of control. This show's about to jump the shark big time in the finale when they kill off Marian, and then just to make damn sure their show can never recover from that mistake they're going to write Will and Djaq off the show too. It's almost like they were trying to lose fans. Like I'm pretty sure the writers said, "hey, what can we do to piss off our fanbase? Kill Marian? Great idea! But what if some people weren't Marian fans to begin with? Have Guy do it? Great idea! That'll piss off the Marian fans, the Guy fans, and the shippers of both ships. But what if there's fans who don't care about either of them and only watch for the gang? Oh, get rid of half of the gang in the same episode and then have the audacity to replace them with the worst characters ever next season? Perfect. That's sure to kill our show." Like, dude, come on... As soon as they wrote Djaq off the show, my emotional investment in the show left too. I only cared about Much and Allan in the last season. Everyone and everything else could go to hell. And straight to hell it went. Well...I guess I'll see you next time for 2x12 "Jump the Shark Part One." Wait, what? That's not the real name of the episode? It should be.