TV is the New Reading

‘Robin Hood’ returns with a few surprises

A noble is asleep alone in his bed. His eyes snap open as an arrow splits the headboard inches above his head.

The archer is Robin Hood, enraged by the death of Maid Marian (you heard me). The noble, Sir Guy of Gisborne, had pursued her to the Holy Land to secure her hand in marriage, as she, Robin and his Merry Men traveled there to warn King Richard of a plot against his life. When it became clear to him Marian was irretrievably devoted to Robin, Gisborne betrayed the group to the Saracen army and in the very moment of their escape, she died.

Welcome to the avant garde treatment of the Robin Hood mythos in “Robin Hood,” a BBC America presentation starring Jonas Armstrong in the title role. Lucy Griffiths has played a strong, assertive Maid Marian for two seasons, while Richard Armitage played Gisbourne, the dark horse enforcer for Keith Allen as the twisted Sheriff of Nottingham.

The show is simply the latest reinvention of the character. I remember the painfully politically correct update in “Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves” with its far-too-noble Robin mercilessly spoofed in Mel Brooks’ “Robin Hood, Men in Tights” and of course, the Question of the ‘90s, which was “Why Bryan Adams?”

This too is a product of its times, wish-fulfillment driven by a legendary hero rising to fight dark forces aligned against the little guy. The Robin in this “Robin Hood” is an action hero with intelligence and a quick wit. He’s a top strategist and plans the most remarkable capers in championing the interests of the peasant classes from a craven sheriff and the evil Prince John.

Robin pushes himself as hard or harder than he would ever ask of his team. And while he’s enlightened enough to bring the extraordinary Djaq into his team -- a Saracen woman with medical training -- he was still something of a lout when it came to Marian.

Heroes

Jumping back to that opening scene for a moment, it’s hard to know if Guy would be alone if he hadn’t killed her. Despite her secret engagement to Robin, Marian was running out of ways to plausibly keep Gisborne at bay. After all, as a female noble in 12th century England and Gisborne’s ward following the death of her father, her will was not entirely her own. She had to find more excuses to resist, and Guy was hardly the nastiest specimen in Nottingham.

Of course, Marian had secrets of her own. Robin Hood was only one hero sprung up in desperate times. “The Night Watchman,” Maid Marian’s creation, was another. The model noblewoman by day, by night she put on the garb of a woodsman and covered her face to slip about the castle and the town to bring food, supplies and medicines to people oppressed by the sheriff.

What makes this show work was the complexity of storytelling that allowed for instances where unholy alliances could spring up -- Robin and Marian vs. Guy, Robin and Guy vs. the Sheriff, Robin and the Sheriff negotiating for the release of prisoners, etc. etc. While everyone’s got a part to play in the political and dramatic intrigue that unfolds and the roles and cast of characters are familiar, the show is written with a long enough view that they get more complicated than the usual storylines -- Marian’s death, to mention only one.

Not that “Robin Hood” is all palace intrigue. The scenes set in Sherwood Forest are among the most beautiful on television, and the energetic heists pulled by Robin and his Merry Men are filmed brilliantly. Together with computer-animated arrow flight and forced perspective photography, “Robin Hood” is an eye-catching. exciting production.

It all starts up again this weekend with an encore of the thrilling final moments of Season Two Sunday afternoon starting at 2 p.m. The third-season opener finds Robin still mourning the loss of Marian when a shadowy figure approaches the brooding hero with a new mission. Will he accept? You’ll have to tune in to find out -- 8 p.m. Sept. 12 on BBC America.

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