Legends Collide!
In this outing of Doctor Who, Clara gets to live out one of her dreams: meeting Robin Hood. However, the Doctor doesn't believe Robin Hood exists. But when the Doctor tries to prove his stance, it turns out there is a jolly green archer named Robin Hood going about doing good deeds for the poor. And that is where the whole mystery begins. Is this Robin Hood the real deal, or is he part of something sinister? And why is it that the Sheriff of Nottingham and his army of black knights are only taxing for gold instead of other valuables? Something is afoot here, and only The Doctor can solve it... while at the same time trying to ruin one of Clara's fantasies.
This episode does a couple of things that New Who fans are used to. Extremely great humor with a whimsical tone. A lot of people, like myself, have been calling Peter Capaldi's Doctor the Dark Doctor. However in this episode, while he's still pretty much a darker Doctor, this one shows his more comedic side. A side that was slightly mishandled in the Pilot due to him having to emulate Matt Smith's Doctor for the first half. Then it continues to not be shown in the follow up episode, Into the Dalek, by showing just how sinister he can be. That's not to say there wasn't humor, its just that Capaldi's humor is effective when it is dry and sarcastic. This episode however, shows his dry and sarcastic humor on steroids mixed with acid. And it is brilliant. The Doctor that the reboot fans have enjoyed seems to have returned.
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| If you can't tell, he brought a spoon to a sword fight. |
Most of that humor arises from his interaction with the man claiming to be Robin Hood, played wonderfully in full satire by Tom Riley. The devilishly charming rogue definitely rubs the Doctor the wrong way. We see The Doctor in complete disbelief of Robin's existence, even though he's standing right there in front of him. But as The Doctor knows from experience, seeing isn't always believing. Which leads to several humorous exchanges between the two British Icons. The first notably being an Errol Flynn inspired sword fight between the two. What makes it genius is Capaldi's dry sarcasm mixed with the fact that he's fighting Robin Hood with a Spoon. Their hijinks and continuous bickering will definitely be the highlight of the show. Especially since one can compare Robin Hood to the past eccentric Doctor's of the reboot series versus Capaldi's more serious and easily annoyed Doctor. It is just great comedy all around.
Given that situation, Clara has to once again step up as the better person in the episode. I'm not entirely sure if this was common with her and Matt Smith's Doctor, but her interaction with Capaldi's Doctor has so far been the one of the two who still has a sense of wonder. This can be attributed to Smith's Doctor spending a thousand years on Trenzalore fighting a war meant to kill him, causing Capaldi's Doctor to be a bitter man, but it is also nice seeing a switch of having Clara being the more optimistic one while The Doctor is now straight forward and pessimistic. It allows Clara to really show just how clever she is, because although The Doctor is still very clever, Clara has definitely stepped her game up to counteract with Capaldi's rendition. This shines from her unrelenting belief in Robin being the real deal, as well as her handling of the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham.
This rendition of the Sheriff is pretty much what one would expect from Robin Hood's classic archenemy. There is a reason why everyone in this particular time period acts the way as they do in the legends, and it does have something to do with the title of this episode. The Sheriff has aligned himself with robots who first appear in this episode as knights, until their helmets open to reveal their metal faces beneath. These robots are an alien race that operates a spaceship that requires gold as their source of power, which ties in nicely with the Sheriff's goals of wanting to be powerful. It is a nice way of weaving a science fiction element into a classic tale that could only work in Doctor Who. It also brings up that common trope of "the truth behind the legend," stories which is handled surprisingly very well in this episode mainly thanks to writer Mark Gatiss. However the solution involving a Golden Arrow was kind of... stupid. Still good though.
While one can pretty much predict how this episode will end in terms of the validity of Robin Hood and his Merry Men, there is enough twists and turns to make one question if their gut feeling is correct. And that really is one of the points of this story: legends are more powerful than history. The Doctor, who has a long history, is better remembered as the legendary space warrior he is rather than the crazy lunatic history dictates. It is a nice parallel to his disbelief in the legendary figure, and it also helps to have robotic knights spicing up the story to make things a little more interesting. This episode is really an exploration of what the Doctor represents to Clara rather than an exploration of his new personality. It is a nice contrast to his dark nature in the previous episode as this is surely The Doctor that New Who fans miss since Capaldi took over. And the fact that they brought out this humor in the third episode should be a message to the fans. The Doctor may be serious now, but that doesn't mean he's incapable of being funny or the hero we remember. He always will be The Doctor.
SCORE: 8.8/10 - A return to the whimsical mixed with brilliant dry humor
STATUS: Continue to Watch - Capaldi's Doctor is really taking shape now as he shows more sides to his "attack eyebrows" personality
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