Robin Hood 3x09 "A Dangerous Deal"

I think this episode is the Meg episode and if so I remember liking it so I'm excited to get started on this one! Let's begin!

Thoughts While Watching

• So Robin’s sneaking in on Isabella in her bedroom and confronts her about becoming the new sheriff and Isabella immediately points out how rare it is for a woman to have a chance to get power like that. I know she’s crazy and going on a downward spiral to the dark side and will ultimately extremely screw over one of my favorite characters (Allan), but you know what, good for her. She’s right. 
• Wait, why would she fall when the prince does when the king returns? Just because Prince John appointed her that means she’s “working with a traitor” and against King Richard? I don’t think so. The previous sheriff is dead (or so they think). A new sheriff needs to be appointed. King Richard gave Prince John the authority to do that. She was legally appointed by the man that King Richard left in charge. Unless she directly helps Prince John in one of his schemes to kill King Richard or try to become king while he’s still alive, which so far she hasn’t, then she hasn’t helped him commit treason. She’s not working with a traitor any more than any other sheriff or other government official in England. What would Robin prefer? No sheriff in Nottingham? Anarchy? Wasn’t he the one who just last episode told Guy not to kill Prince John because England needs someone in the seat of power, even if it’s a traitor, or there would be unrest, civil war, or attacks from other nations who would view them as weak? He’s just talking out his ass here and making threats. Unless the threat is that he would lie to King Richard and claim she helped the prince commit treason when she hasn’t done that yet unless she feeds him information, but that’s even worse. 
• Now they’re threatening each other and flirting at the same time. Okay...
• Yes, girl! Cut that rope! I love Robin but I don’t even care right now. She’s had beyond her fill of men’s bullshit. From her perspective, Robin is a man who helped her at first, then constantly accused her of stuff she didn’t do, accused her of working with her abusers, didn’t trust her but expected her to risk her life to trust him, was rude to her repeatedly and let his friends be rude to her too, said he would protect her but had no real plan in place for that, led her on romantically and then abruptly ended things, and now he’s sneaking into her bedroom in the middle of the night and threatening to rat her out to the king for treason when she hasn’t actually committed treason. Cut. That. Rope. Is it bad when I can relate to the villains and start rooting for them? This must be how Guy fans felt from day one.
• Much and Allan both gave Kate a look like “oh shut the hell up, you’re just jealous and your crush on Robin is gross.” And honestly, same.
• Okay, so Meg is here explaining why she shot down all the suitors her father picked out for her and then she says that men are stupid (she feels like a feminist strawman) and that she believes England would be a much better place if women were in charge. And Isabella clearly loves that response, seeing as how she is now a woman in charge. But it’s Allan’s reaction that I want to focus on. He kind of scoffs and says “Dream on, girl.” So…what exactly did he mean by that? Did he mean, “Dream on, women will never be in power (because society is sexist)” or “Dream on, women will never be in power (nor should they be)” or did he mean “Dream on, women in power wouldn’t be any better than men in power (and Isabella will probably prove that)” because my opinion on that line and Allan as a character overall is different based on what his intended meaning was. If he meant that he didn’t think that women should be in positions of power, then that makes me think a lot less of Allan. But if he meant that he thinks Meg’s dreams for women in power are unrealistic because of how society views women then I think he’s just being realistic for his culture and time period. And if he meant that women in power wouldn’t necessarily be any better, well…historically speaking there are certainly some mixed bag examples, both good and bad female leaders and good and bad male leaders, but the only woman who actually holds power that he’s ever known is Isabella and she’s certainly not going to turn out to be a great sheriff (but he doesn’t know that yet). So I’m really torn on that line.
• So far, so good, honestly. She knows what it feels like to be sold in marriage to a man who mistreated her and she saves Meg from the same fate, she’s pushing for a more fair and prosperous society, kind of taking a mini-stand for women’s rights, she recognizes how the previous regime was corrupt, and she offers up her brother, who committed a lot of crimes against the people, for execution as punishment for those crimes. I’m on board with all of it. And I know Meg doesn’t agree and I know many of the fans don’t agree, but Guy really deserved to be executed for his crimes against the people. He deserved it. Isabella deserved to be the one to do it. 
• Thornton really can’t do this, can he? I mean, I know he’s her husband and it’s medieval England or whatever, but Prince John appointed her specifically. He’s going against the prince’s orders. Isn’t this a real example of treason? And Robin obviously still cares for Isabella somewhat even after the rope incident because he knows how her husband treated her and he looks deeply concerned right now.
• Kate, just go back to the camp, you pathetic, annoying little brat. You only want to stay to throw yourself at Robin and make sure he doesn’t do anything for Isabella. This is when I really start hating Kate. I mean, I never liked her, but I also think some of the criticisms of her before this point were kind of harsh. She wasn’t really useless. But starting with “Too Hot to Handle” she became absolutely pathetic and her whole character became just about throwing herself at Robin and being jealous of Isabella and it never stops. It just escalates. And it’s really coming out now.
• Isabella, don’t let him go. Just kill him. What’s Prince John really going to do?
• Aww, women actually being on the same side and helping each other again! Haven’t seen this since season two. And I know it won’t last. It won’t even last the episode. But I wish it did. Meg steps in to save Isabella, Isabella promises to free Meg and tries to encourage her to stay strong, they’re both crying, and it’s really sweet. I love it. Too bad it’s all going to go to hell here shortly.
• OMG KATE!!!!!!!! NOW I REMEMBER WHY I HATED YOU!!!! WHY COULDN’T YOU HAVE DIED INSTEAD OF YOUR BROTHER?!?! She points out that Isabella’s abusive husband coming to Nottingham is only bad for Isabella, not for Nottingham, therefore she doesn’t give a crap. As far as she’s concerned, Isabella is her enemy because they both want(ed) the same guy so screw her, let her husband beat her or rape her or whatever, because Kate doesn’t care. Robin points out that Thornton is bad for everyone and Kate immediately counters with how she doesn’t believe Isabella would be any better. Even though Isabella literally promised to kill the man who killed Kate’s brother (that was Guy, wasn't it?) and stopped a forced marriage this morning. She has done nothing to prove that she would be a bad sheriff (yet, and maybe if people believed in her and didn’t screw her over constantly, she might have been good) and either way, even if she would be a bad sheriff, that still doesn’t justify just ignoring it when you know there’s domestic violence going on. 
• Robin’s pointing out that he thinks they might be able to work with Isabella, who is the woman he’s been having a fling with, Kate’s just screeching about how he can’t see how terrible Isabella really is (and reminder, she hasn’t done anything yet), and when Robin asks why Kate is so angry with him, she kisses him. This show has never been a really feminist show, but at least Marian and Djaq were good feminist role models and had a healthy relationship with each other even if we rarely got to see it. This is like…the opposite of feminism. It’s anti-feminist. It’s all internalized misogyny and absolute garbage. Kate’s pretty much making it clear that the real reason why she’s angry that Robin wants to see if he can still work with Isabella, make her an ally, and still cares about her well-being is because she has a crush on Robin and she’s jealous. If it were up to her, she’d be just fine with abandoning Isabella to be raped and beaten by her husband and making her out to be the devil even though she’s done nothing yet, as long as she gets to keep Robin. This is so gross. 
• So now Robin pulls away, sees Isabella, obviously is still concerned about/for Isabella, and all he says to Kate is “right…I should probably go.” I wonder what he’s really thinking here. I mean, I know they do form a sort of relationship, but he never really seems into it and it honestly seems more out of convenience. Whether because he views Kate as a convenient woman to be involved with, knowing it won’t lead anywhere, or because it would be too much hassle to break her heart and turn her down, I’m not sure. But it’s just so obvious to me that he’s not that into her. And he just looks like he feels awkward here. Like he’s thinking, “having a woman in the gang worked out well with Djaq, why did it go so wrong this time?”
• I like this version of Meg who just immediately starts putting Guy in his place. I like it better than the version of Meg later in this episode. But I will say, she and Guy do have chemistry right off the bat. But I like her chemistry with Isabella more. 
• Isabella is clearly deeply concerned about Meg at this point and I find it so sweet.
• Okay, so…this Robin/Kate scene is funny to me because it really sounds like he’s using Much as an excuse, like the way some girls lie and say they have a boyfriend to get a guy to leave them alone. It sounds like he does know Much has a crush on her, but regardless he wasn’t interested and planned to just use it as an excuse and Kate just ran with it. She’s so pleased with herself too like she thinks she just found her soulmate or something. 
• How did Meg know what was in that mound if it was still concealed?
• LMAO! I love Allan. So this is a Danish burial mound from the Viking era and Tuck is talking about how they buried stuff with them for the journey to Valhalla and Allan goes, “Where is that? It’s near Norwich, isn’t it?” I’m dying. And Robin has this look on his face like he can’t believe how stupid Allan is, Kate looks up at him like “dude, are you serious?” and Tuck just calmly but condescendingly explains what Valhalla is.
• Okay, so Robin’s talking about getting rid of Thornton, Kate immediately makes a comment about how that would make Isabella sheriff again, which of course she hates because she hates Isabella for hooking up with Robin (I’m sorry but I’m convinced that’s 100% her reason for hating her), and Allan scoffs about Isabella being sheriff and compares it to making a donkey the archbishop. That comment in combination with his comment earlier is really starting to make me a little unsure about Allan. It could just be a comment on how he doesn’t like Isabella or feels she’s not qualified for the job, but it feels like a misogynistic comment about a woman being the sheriff, especially considering how he made the other remark earlier. He’s made sexist comments before but it looks like he’s really upped his game this episode. It’s not cute, Allan. Shut up already. I still love you and you’re still one of my favorite characters, but it’s enough now. I’m starting to understand why neither Djaq nor Kate picked you.
• Okay, but Allan is really cute though in this scene where he’s faking an accent and pretending the guards are on his land. He looks adorable. I forgive too easily. He’s so hot though.
• Well, Guy, it is kind of your fault that everyone hates you. They didn’t just all decide to up and hate you out of the blue one day. Their opinion of you is a direct result of your own actions. I think it’s sad that he thinks so little of his own life that he doesn’t even care about dying and I know part of that is because of Marian, but I don’t feel bad for him. I think it’s sad, but I think it’s his own fault. He repeatedly had opportunities to change and ignored them. His mistakes aren’t little mistakes, they’re huge mistakes that hurt and killed a lot of innocent people. And he’s shown that he’s not sorry for them, even in this very episode. He still refuses to accept responsibility for what he did to Isabella. Why should I feel bad for him? Am I supposed to suddenly think he’s so great because he’s showing a tiny bit of compassion to Meg?
• I wouldn’t eat something just because the maggots had been wiped off. They were still there a second ago and I would know it.
• KATE! CAN’T YOU JUST GO FUCK OFF SOMEWHERE?! I CANNOT EVEN FUCKING BELIEVE THAT WE LOST DJAQ AND GOT YOU AS A REPLACEMENT. HOLY HELL. Poor Much. Again I repeat, I do NOT think she’s obligated to give Much a chance just because he has a crush on her. I don’t. I 100% support her decision to reject him. But friends aren’t supposed to date their friend’s crushes or exes. And Robin knows that (and I still believe he was using Much as an excuse anyway). But she’s just like, “hey, I know you like me and your friend was trying to do the right thing by saying he wouldn’t be with me because you liked me, so could you go lie to your best friend and say it’s okay for him to be with me, right in front of you everyday, living in the same camp, so you can listen to your best friend banging me in the bunk right next to yours? Thanks, Much!”
• Much, please just go find Eve. You’re better than this whole gang.
• Much! Get with the program! She’s not worth this! Pay attention!
• Look at Kate, looking at Robin hugging Isabella who he actually has chemistry with and has interest in and getting all pissed off about it. I wish Robin had fucked Isabella on Kate’s pillow and that she’d walked in on it.
• Seriously, Kate. Robin’s right. JUST LEAVE IT. JUST LEAVE THE WHOLE SHOW. He clearly likes Isabella more than you. He clearly likes being alone more than you. He’s obviously still mourning too. Just shut the hell up already. He’s annoyed with you because you’re a pathetic, jealous whiner!
• John…do you have eyes and common sense or are you intentionally lying to try to make Isabella lose interest in Robin? Because it’s clear that Robin “has eyes for” Isabella WAYYYY more than he does for Kate. It’s Kate that has eyes for Robin, not the other way around. Unless Robin really kept it a secret from everyone that he was sneaking off to meet up with Isabella and make out for two episodes?
• I wish Robin would’ve just killed Thornton. He’s killed people for far less.
• YASSS. Sorry Meg, but Isabella’s right. That is the poison of men. Maybe not all men, but definitely Guy. He shows the tiniest little bit of compassion and all the sudden you’re willing to forget all the people he killed, had tortured, sold into marriage, tried to force into marriage, stolen from, terrorized, maimed, allowed to starve, threatened, his own child he abandoned in the woods to die, etc.? I mean sure, she may not have known about *all* of those, but she knew about enough. And what? Because he was kind of a bit nice to you and wiped some maggots off your food and told you to suck on a stone you’re willing to forget all that? I’m not. Seriously, he sold Isabella into an abusive marriage, refuses to take responsibility for his actions, and refuses to apologize for it, and Meg is seriously going to choose him over Isabella. I get why Isabella gets so upset later and feels so betrayed. She saved Meg from going through the hell that she went through and then Meg sides with the man who put her through it.
• Much…if you’re going to throw a tantrum and leave the gang, don’t do it without telling anyone. Seriously. Not as an outlaw. If they think you’re missing because you’ve been captured then they would probably try to rescue you and might get caught and killed in the process. Do you really want that to happen?
• Good for Guy sending Meg away and telling her she’s done enough. The best thing he could do is accept that he deserves to die and try to convince her that she’s helped him, she’s done enough, and to just move on. He did the right thing here and I’m proud of him for that, but of course she won’t listen. And then he allows her to do it and Isabella catches them.
• Okay, so…I feel really bad for Isabella, first of all. She thought she found a woman who understood her and a woman she could understand and that they could be themselves around each other, accept each other, and sort of fight for women’s rights together and that would have been beautiful. And if someone I considered a friend went behind my back to help my abuser escape justice, someone who arranged for me to raped and abused for over a decade, I’d be extremely hurt and pissed off too. Especially after I’d just saved them from a forced marriage like how I went through. I actually completely and totally understand how she feels and honestly, it was a shitty thing for Meg to do to side with an abusive man just because he seems nice to her over the woman he abused. Abusive men do tend to seem nice to people that aren’t their victims and that’s why so few women are ever believed. I’ve been in a similar situation to Isabella (not that a family member put me in) and I’d straight up end a friendship or cut ties with a family member over the shit Meg just pulled. I would. I have. And with Isabella being sheriff and Meg trying to release a prisoner who is a murderer that has hurt literally hundreds of people in Nottingham and breaking the law to help him, this is a much more serious situation. Meg deserves to be punished for this. She does. She deserves to face a legal punishment. However, she’s a young girl and young girls tend to be naïve when it comes to men even if they spew out feminist strawman arguments and scream about girl power. It’s just a fact. I think her age should be taken into account here. If she were older and she did this, I actually don’t think Isabella would be out of line to have her executed. Sorry, that may be an unpopular opinion, but I don’t. But I think given how young and naïve Meg is, Isabella should be more understanding. She should be punished, seriously punished, but not with execution. And that’s my unpopular and controversial opinion for the day.  
• Yeah, Robin’s right, you do need to sort some things out. And that 100% sounded like he wanted to permanently break things off with Kate. He doesn’t seem interested at all. And I don’t know what John’s smoking. Why does he think Robin’s interested? I think Kate pressuring him, mixed with John pushing him, Isabella turning on him, and the fact that he’s still in mourning all created a perfect storm here to confuse him on his own feelings. Honestly, I blame John not being able to butt out and mind his own business for a lot of this mess. He fed that crap to Isabella and now he’s pressuring Robin. I think he just wants Robin to want Kate so that he doesn’t try to be with Isabella because John doesn’t trust or like Isabella for being Guy’s sister and he does like Kate. 
• So now Isabella has fully turned on Robin. And I am blaming her for her own actions and decisions, however, a few things. 1. John is partially responsible for this by making her think that Robin was leading her on while actually being interested in Kate, which really isn’t even that true. 2. She’s 100% right here when she says that Robin didn’t offer her friendship, he threatened her. That’s how I took that scene too. It was a threat to have her eventually punished, likely by execution, for a crime that she hadn’t even committed yet and hadn’t yet showed signs that she planned to. And 3. The Meg situation has really got her thinking about how easily men can convince women that they are good and trustworthy when they’re not. She just saw Meg make that mistake, despite being an otherwise strong and intelligent woman, and she doesn’t want to fall into the same trap herself. She just got rid of her husband and she thinks she’s about to be rid of her brother and she’s ready to stand on her own and doesn’t want another two-faced man who threatens her to hold her back. I can relate to Isabella.
• OH SHUT UP, KATE!!! Holy hell. I hate her more than any other character on this show. 
• Much is obviously not alright and both Kate and Robin can see it but they don’t really care and honestly just screw them both.
• Ugh…now Robin’s partnering up with Kate on purpose. Ughhhh….
• Good for Guy trying to stand up for Meg.
• That axe was so close!!! Was Robin trying to have it land on Guy? Hmm...
• And of course Thornton is back because Robin is useless.
• KATE!!!! SHUT UP! Yeah, you know what, she doesn’t deserve to be beaten by her husband either. I really hate Kate.
• Screw Robin too. That remark about how she committed her first murder was SOOOO OUT OF LINE. Yeah, she did. As she should have. She’s right that she should have done it years ago. She’s right that Robin wasn’t man enough to take care of him like he said. He claims he only kills when he has no other choice but that’s an outright lie. He’s killed MANY times when he didn’t have to. Robin had NO RIGHT to give Isabella shit for killing the man who has been raping, beating, and abusing her for years. How many guards has Robin killed when it wasn’t a life or death situation? How many of them were just working as guards to feed their families or were practically still boys? How many Muslims who were just minding their own business and trying to live their lives with their families did he kill on the crusade? Knowing the history of the Crusades as I do, I have to ask, how many Muslim women and children did Robin kill? How many people did Robin kill just for supporting Prince John over King Richard? Isabella had a truly good reason for killing her husband, to save herself from further abuse. Her husband made it perfectly clear that he was about to kill her unless she submitted to his abuse for the rest of her life. She already tried the nonviolent option of running away from him and it didn't work. Robin already tried the nonviolent option of having him committed to an insane asylum instead of killing him and that didn't work either. What are her options now? Option A: Just keep running for the rest of her life while he tracks her down and destroys any chance at a normal life that she'll ever have and continues to abuse her every time he catches up to her (and she has no one left who can help protect her at this point). Option B: Stay with him and submit to his abuse while he beats, rapes, threatens, and controls her for the rest of her life. or Option C: Kill him. It's clear to me which one she should choose. It was self-defense, which is what Robin claims is the only thing he considers to be a good enough reason even though he doesn’t practice what he preaches. He’s a self-righteous hypocrite. Screw him.
• Aww, this scene is so sweet and sad with Guy kissing Meg and Meg dying in his arms. And now he’s breaking down crying and it really is truly heartbreaking.
• And what sort of woman is that, Kate? What “sort” of woman is Isabella? One who has been abused by men all her life and wasn’t about to just roll over and take it when Robin started threatening her? One who decided to kill her abusive husband rather than let him continue to abuse her? Sounds just fine to me. And what sort of woman are you? A pathetic, jealous, whiny, self-righteous little asshole that’s overflowing with internalized misogyny and doesn’t care about anybody but yourself.
• And here goes Robin with his crap now. They have no chemistry and he obviously doesn’t actually like her. The woman he really loves is dead, the woman he was truly attracted to and had some feelings for has become his enemy, and Kate is just this convenient woman who happens to live with him so its easy access, she’s practically throwing herself at him, hounding him for attention, thirsty as all hell, and requires little effort and she knows that there’s likely no happily ever after marriage waiting for them or if there is, it won’t be for a long time. She’s convenient. And he’s being pushed by both her and John to be with her so he just kinda goes with it. It’s pathetic really. But he says she’s brave (true), compassionate (not at all, the exact opposite of compassionate, literally couldn’t be further from the truth), and beautiful (that’s in the eye of the beholder, but she’s certainly not his usual type, unless you count Sarah from 1x01 as his type, because his usual type seems to be brunette noblewomen). They have the worst kiss ever. And he completely stops caring about Much or his feelings even though he really really should. Much deserves better friends.

Final Thoughts

I seriously just can’t…this has to be Kate’s worst episode...at least so far, I don’t remember what she’s like after this. Honestly, so far in this rewatch I was honestly thinking that maybe I’d judged her too harshly before or remembered her as worse than she really was. I was starting to change my mind about her in the early episodes, but all the hatred has come right back. I honestly can’t stand her. I truly cannot stand even looking at her face right now. She doesn’t fit into the gang and she really shouldn’t have joined. She should have been one of those characters that gets outlawed and takes their family and the belongings they can gather up and moves onto someplace outside of Nottingham like everyone else. So many minor characters do that and that should have been her fate too. She could have had those few episodes at the beginning of the season and then moved on. Just like Annie, just like Little John’s family, just like Eve, just like all the countless others. I really went into this with an open mind thinking that maybe my mind would be changed about Kate this time around. It's not. If anything, I think I might honestly hate her more this time than I did originally. My reasons have changed somewhat, but I hate her so much more passionately this time. I really, really, really, truly, completely, and fully despise Kate with all of my heart and soul. Hatred is too tame of a word. The absolute worst character on the show. She's awful. No offense to Joanne Froggatt, because I think she did the best she could with what she was given.

I was also way more invested in the Guy/Meg storyline the first time I saw it and was much more sympathetic to them back then. Now...I don't know. I just really understand where Isabella is coming from now. I've been in her shoes. The first time I watched this at 18 or 19 years old, I was a Meg. I was naive, I fell into the trap of "aww, but Guy's being sweet right now" like she did, and I felt sympathy. Now, at 30, I'm Isabella. I've been through some shit. I see things differently. And as a mother, I will still always look at Guy and think about how he left his own child in the woods to die. I can't forgive that.