Robin Hood 3x13 "Something Worth Fighting For" (Part Two)

 

Alright, here we go. Last episode of season three and very last episode of the show. My heart is still broken from Allan’s death in the last episode, but here goes. It's the end of my rewatch.

Thoughts While Watching

• We start with the gang mourning over Allan’s body. Much immediately feels guilty about doubting Allan. He didn’t just “doubt” Allan though, did he? He accused Allan and fully believed he was a traitor. He turned on him and threw his past mistakes in his face. And then he can’t handle the guilt so he immediately looks for someone else to blame. No, baby. I love you, you’re the only one I still love, but you deserve to feel every single ounce of that guilt. You better live with that guilt every single day until you die. I hope it eats you alive.
• So now the man that Guy claims to have killed is still alive but Robin still trusts him. Granted, I know that Guy really did think he killed the sheriff and wasn’t lying about it, but the point is why the fuck is Robin so quick to trust Guy and defend him and stand by him when he’s Guy of Gisborne, torturer of peasants and murderer of Marian, but couldn’t extend even an ounce of that trust to Allan?
• Vaisey isn’t even phased by Guy and Robin working together. I feel like there should be more of a reaction here.
• Ah, here we go. The return of Byzantine Fire a.k.a. Greek Fire a.k.a. Black Powder. Listen, Djaq deserved to be here for this. I wish she was in season three. She’s black powder girl.
• Aww, I love Much. I still blame him for Allan’s death, but at least he and John thought to have a funeral service before all hell breaks loose.
• “To Allan, our loyal friend.” -Much. Another mirrored scene. In the very first episode Much says “I’m not your friend” whenever Allan refers to him as such. Beautiful. Touching. Heartbreaking. I still hope the guilt eats Much alive for the rest of his days.
• I wonder what Guy’s thinking. He looks a bit sad. It seemed like he was actually friends with Allan in season two, in my opinion. I feel like he's more affected by this than he's letting on. Remember that almost sexual dream he had about Allan? I do. He's probably thinking Allan should have let him look after him. I wish they had addressed Allan and Guy's prior relationship more in season three.
• Okay, obviously Guy doesn’t know them that well if he thinks Isabella would get no mercy from the outlaws. She would. They’re spineless. Even after what she did to Allan, Robin still wouldn’t want her to be outright murdered. Giving her that poison was unnecessary.
• They’re both right. Archer was a greedy douche but Robin really is treating all the peasants like pawns and putting their lives at risk.
• Yay! Robin put Much in charge. So sweet!
• I’m pissed. They really did turn Tuck into generic bargain bin Djaq. They’re trying to make Greek Fire his thing now. Djaq already figured out how to make it. They should have brought Will and Djaq back for the finale. Allan had one of those pigeons, they could have sent a letter asking them for help or something. Djaq is like what you get if you shop at a high end department store and Tuck and Kate are what you get when you order from Wish.com instead.
• Isabella’s guard is an absolute idiot. Her line “men are so easy” is pretty much a recycled version of Djaq’s “men are so obvious” from season two. Cringey both times, but I hate all these lame versions of Djaq instead of the real Djaq.
• So now we find out that King Richard has been captured and held for ransom. Nice historical accuracy and I’m glad that the show doesn’t get a tidy ending where the outlaws get everything they hoped for. I know some versions of Robin Hood do that and I hate it.
• Man, we came so close to Kate dying right there. Too bad.
• It’s so weird watching Guy cheering on Robin’s speech.
• I HATE this. This should be Djaq, not Tuck. She figured out how to make it a long time ago.
• Apparently, Vaisey and Isabella have been working together. Were they in contact with each other? But now Guy is facing the two people who want him dead more than anyone else in the world. Vaisey seems especially offended that Guy tried to kill him after he made him everything he was.
• The important few? Archer and that random guy whose name I don’t know are the important few? Um…okay.
• Isabella cut Robin with the poisoned blade! Guy pushes him out of the way of immediate death and Vaisey and Isabella both stab Guy.
• I have such mixed feelings on this scene. Guy dies in Robin’s arms, who is practically in tears over it. Just…okay. Sure. I mean, it’s a beautiful and touching scene. It makes me sad. But at the end of the day, this is still Guy of Gisborne, you know? The same Guy who killed Marian a year ago. They’ve only been friends for like three episodes and it was too sudden for me.
• Guy: This is the end.
• Robin: For you and me both, my friend.
• Guy: I’m sorry. At least you have someone waiting for you. Marian, the love of my life. She was always yours. I lived in shame, but because of you, I die proud and free.
• How do they not see them hiding there?
• It’s the return of the last man! They don’t say it, but that’s what that guard was. Throwback!
• I LOVE THIS! Robin shoots the flaming arrow into the castle full of black powder and blows the sheriff, Isabella, and their people away. Remember way back when in episode 1x09 when they first learned about black powder and Allan said “you could blow up the whole castle with this stuff!” Well, Allan. You were right. You can. This was the most perfect way to get revenge for his death.
• I am sad about Robin’s death, genuinely sad. But at the same time, he deserves it after turning on Allan. I’m more upset because of Much’s reaction.
• Aww, poor Much!!! Sam Troughton is such a good actor. The Robin/Much and Robin/John goodbyes are touching, especially Robin and Much. I love those two and their friendship. The rest…eh. I think his goodbye scene makes it obvious that he never really cared much about Kate.
• Yeah, I’m sure Tuck will find another leader in himself. He’ll take over. He’s been waiting for the chance. It should be Much and John but it won’t be.
• Ah, the Robin/Marian scene. Beautiful! Is she a ghost come to take him to heaven or is she a dying man’s delusion? No one knows. I’m glad they brought Lucy Griffiths back for this. This scene is very touching and sweet. Even though Robin’s dead, his story still sort of seems to have ended on a happy note.
• Oh, my God. Poor Much. My heart is breaking.
• Tuck, shut the fuck up. Robin might be an idea to you, but to Much he is everything. Robin was his best friend and I’m pretty sure the only person he was ever truly in love with (yeah, I 100% think Much’s feelings for Robin were beyond friendship). Tuck barely knew him or even cared to know the real person that Robin was because he was too busy turning him into a legend. I hate him.
• So now the gang has officially decided to stay together and keep fighting in Robin’s memory. The gang now consists of Much, John, Tuck, Kate, and Archer.
• Why did they even bother putting Robin down and then continuing to carry him? Where are they taking his body?
• End Credits.

Final Thoughts

Well, we’re finally at the end! I thought it was a beautiful way to end the series.

Robin’s death is sad, but necessary. I can’t think of a better way for it to end. I’m glad they brought Marian back for his death scene. Guy’s death, in my opinion, was necessary. He spent too long as a villain and needed to pay for what he’d done, even if he was fighting for the good guys at the end. Allan absolutely did NOT deserve to die, but here we are. Much needed to learn that he could continue on and be his own person without Robin. Vaisey definitely needed to die at Robin’s hand for the end to be satisfying and there was no better way for it to happen than to blow up the whole castle as Allan suggested way back in season one. I liked all the callbacks and everything. I’m glad Isabella got her revenge on Guy but I’m also glad that she died for what she did to Allan. All in all, this was a beautiful ending to a wonderful show.

I still don’t really like season three though, at least not in comparison to the first two seasons. The first two seasons are ridiculously better than the third. It would have easily been a million times better if Djaq and Will were still in it. I don’t care that they added Tuck and Kate, that’s fine if that’s what they wanted to do, but they needed to keep Will and Djaq. Personally, I would have preferred it if they skipped Kate entirely or added a different woman to the gang with a totally different personality and role in the gang (something other than “the love interest” of nearly every guy), still added Tuck since he’s important to the original legends but changed his personality so he wouldn’t be Djaq-lite and wouldn’t be so preachy and bossy, and then still kept Will and Djaq and the rest of the gang. It’s probably a budget issue to have that many main characters or maybe either Harry Lloyd or Anjali Jay wanted out, I don’t know, but I hate the decision. I hated it. I probably would’ve actually liked the third season if they’d been in it and if it would have been Djaq to save the day with the black powder, since that was always her thing, instead of motherfucking lame ass newbie Tuck.

Couldn’t they have at least had Robin secretly know all along where Djaq had hidden the ledger, since he knew that she’d stolen it from the fire, and pull it out to give to Tuck and tell him that’s the recipe for black powder? And maybe John or Much could’ve questioned him about it and he could’ve admitted that he saw Djaq pull it out and knew she had it all along? And then Tuck could’ve still saved the day and they wouldn’t have had to bring Anjali Jay and Harry Lloyd back if they didn’t want to, but it still would have been Djaq’s actions and Djaq’s knowledge that really saved the day? And at least then Will and Djaq would have been mentioned. They didn’t get one single mention in season three! It’s bullshit. And my way is about 100 times more believable than Tuck just magically being able to figure out how to make black powder without the ledger. And it would have made sense too because realistically that ledger is still somewhere in or around the camp. They never went back to the camp in between the barn and the Holy Land in the season two finale so Djaq couldn’t have taken it with her. My way is more realistic and would have given my favorite character a nice shout out and would have been a great way to keep the continuity of the show. They dropped the ball. That’s my biggest issue with this show. Every time they have a golden opportunity they seem to drop the ball instead. And why couldn’t they have had Much, John, or Robin make a comment about how Allan had mentioned blowing the castle up before? I mean, it’s not necessary because all the true fans remember that line and understood the parallel, but still. It would have been nice.

Season three suffered from the lack of Will, Djaq, and Marian and the fact that Tuck and Kate were just totally and completely unlikable characters to replace them. They should have never forced Robin/Kate to be a thing because it was completely obnoxious. I didn’t like the whole trashy romance novel vibe of the Ghislaine/Malcolm thing and the surprise brother twist. Archer is actually a pretty likable character in his own right, but the overall storyline is ridiculous. The show was just seriously missing the magic of the first two seasons. I mainly only cared about Much and Allan.

This is still one of my favorite shows of all time though. The first two seasons were absolute pure gold and season three only seems so bad because I’m comparing it to the near perfection of the first two seasons. But this show means everything to me. This fandom is the best fandom I’ve ever been in and I’ve been in a lot of them. I thoroughly enjoyed every second of my rewatch and I would highly recommend this show to anyone. It’s one of the best shows of all time.

This was the best way to spend my time in quarantine. I rewatched all of Robin Hood and worked on writing several fanfictions for it. I can't imagine a better way to spend my free time! I'm glad I got the chance to finish my rewatch before I go back to work in a couple weeks. Now I guess it's time to move onto other shows, but I will never forget the outlaws. 💘