This is my favourite episode for Marion's character. She rescues her husband and she is so capable. ❤ Ray Winstone is brilliant as Scarlet too. And I love the costumes and atmosphere.
I agree that this story really captures the spirit of the show, and we get a suitably epic conclusion here. The scenes where the outlaws are under Morgwyn's spell and turn on Robin are chilling, and the climax is very tense. I thought the realisation of Lucifer was quite effective, as it feeds into the idea of him being a fallen angel; the one thing I could have done with was more of an explanation for why Wayland made the swords in the first place.
My memory's a bit foggy but the spider webs might have been a reference to Robert the Bruce, whom I believe finally managed to climb out of a cave after numerous attempts upon watching a spider do the same when it kept failing and never giving up.
Richard Carpenter was excellent at myth making and combining; Robin Hood was really a knockabout character in historical tales, here he becomes an avatar for Herne and the forest.
I agree, this was the most visually stunning episode and the one that best illustrated the relationships between the outlaws. I am reminded of a story about Rula Lenska (Morgwyn): Apparently she shot to fame after she appeared on TV in an ad for an unrelated product and said "I'm Rula Lenska" with such confidence that people just assumed that she was already famous.
A true and historic fact: Nottingham is the East Midlands..the center of the country the North sea is a good distance car drive away. That said, the village of Robin Hoods Bay is named so because legend is, Robin Hood used the spot to smuggle goods into and out of Britain. Robin Hoods Bay is also very much Witch Country and looks like a flipin' Walt Disney set.
I've watched this episode both in the UK & US. It was shown on PBS as a feature length movie & in the UK, I think. That false mother superior raising Satan & the zombie, Horror Express, merry men was the stuff of nightmares! 😈😫 A great distraction from the Sheriff. 🙂
One the one hand I tend to be uncomfortable with the plundering of mythology and folklore for fantasy because I am concerned about the original source material being lost under the weight of popular culture, and culturally or historically misrepresented. On the other hand I tell myself that these stories were once the popular culture of their time and they hardly existed in consistent or unaltered form even in pre-Christian Europe, so I should just let it go.
@@frankshailes3205 I haven't, but thanks for the suggestion. For some reason those passed me by at the time, and at this point, I have so many books to read or re-read, it's unlikely I'll ever get round to most of them.
