Sir Guy buys Marian several pretty silk dresses and they argue over which one she should wear. She decides on blue. The sheriff is gathering the Black Knights together to sign a pact to kill King Richard and put Prince John on the throne. Meanwhile, the traitorous Allan breaks into Locksley Manor and gets a job from Gisborne. Robin tries desperately—and fails—to stop the signing of the pact and kill the men involved.
When the traitorous Lord Winchester claims Marian as payment for his signature on the pact, a horrified Sir Guy comes to her rescue, stabbing the old man in the gut and thus killing him. Sir Guy whisks Marian back to Nottingham Castle on his horse, while Robin watches dejectedly from the bushes, having arrived seconds too late to rescue her himself.
Tropes
- Bad Habits: Robin briefly poses as a monk in order to speak to Edward in his jailcell.
- Bait-and-Switch: Robin and the outlaws are preparing to ambush Winchester's carriage and whisk her away into the forest... but when the carriage stops, it turns out that the Sheriff and Gisborne got there first.
- Blow Gun: Will turns a flute into one of these, which Much utilizes in the courtyard battle.
- Chickification: The usually assertive and proactive Marian spends this entire episode ping-ponging helplessly between Robin, Gisborne and Winchester, eventually ending up in irons as she's dragged away.
- Combat Haircomb: Marian is wearing a hairpin that Robin uses as a lockpick. More pertinently, when she's hastily packing to escape the castle, she gives it a foreboding stare (clearly intending to use it as a weapon if need-be) before sliding it into her bun. It ends up being Foreshadowing for the next episode...
- Continuity Nod: Robin mentions Roger of Stoke to Winchester, still completely unaware that he was murdered by Gisborne two episodes ago.
- The Sheriff also notes that Edward was his predecessor in the role, a fact established in Series 1.
- Daddy's Girl: Winchester calls Marian "Daddy's little girl" as he's taking her away in chains.
- Distressed Damsel: Marian, who is targeted by Winchester on account of her resemblance to her mother.
- Dressing as the Enemy: On his way to assassinate the Black Knights, Robin knocks one of them out and steals his clothing.
- Evil Costume Switch: Allan enters Gisborne's employ and immediately switches to black leather.
- Evil Former Friend: Winchester is this to Edward, and has apparently been carrying a grudge against him for many years now, ever since he married Marian's mother.
- Gladiator Games: The Sheriff pits Robin and Allan against one another above a pit of boiling tar.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: The guards at the gates of the castle not only don't recognize the outlaws in their Paper-Thin Disguise, but are unable to notice that their instruments are concealing weapons, despite a hands-on inspection.
- Held Gaze: Robin and Marian watch each other as the latter is taken back to the castle on the back of Gisborne's horse.
- Idiot Ball: On breaking one of the lutes and revealing a sword blade concealed inside, one of the guards shouts: "who's is this?" Not only has it just been handed to him by Will, who is still standing right in front of him, but the guard fails to notice the sword, giving it back with an apology for having broken it.
- Robin learns from Edward that Winchester is a traitor, which spurs him to change his plan from saving Edward to assassinating the Black Knights, ignoring the fact that Winchester has almost certainly told the Sheriff about Robin's presence in the castle (and sure enough, they use this information to thwart Robin's plan).
- On being given the window of opportunity to escape the castle safely, Marian wastes time by changing into a bright red outfit and is promptly seized as she tries to leave.
- Improvised Lockpick: Robin grabs Marian's hairpin out of her hair in order to use it to open the door to the Council Room.
- Instruments Of Murder: Will makes these as part of a plan to break into the castle in For England..!, including a dart-shooting flute and a lyre that conceals a bow for Robin.
- Both played straight and subverted at the same time, as each outlaw gets a weaponized instrument except for Little John, who gets... bells. Just regular bells. Not even the big bells you can use to hit people, no, just tiny, cutesy bells. So he promptly tacks them on the top of the staff he regularly wields.
- Improvised Weapon: After Much pulls his sword and shield out of the sitar, Will then uses the actual sitar part to smack a guard over the head.Will: Told you I was
good with wood.
- Lady in Red: Marian inexplicably changes into a bright red (and highly conspicuous) riding outfit before trying to escape the castle.
- Long Last Look: Believing he's about to die in the attempt to kill all the Black Knights, Robin takes one last sorrowful look at the outlaws, who have no idea what his plan is.
- Love Mother Love Daughter: Lord Winchester wants to marry Marian because of her resemblance to her mother, who turned him down to marry Edward.
- MacGuffin: The Pact of Nottingham, which the Black Knights are signing to swear their allegiance to Prince John.
- Obviously Evil: The Black Knights turn up to sign the Pact wearing black cloaks and dark hoods, with their faces concealed.
- Out-Gambitted: In his meeting with the Sheriff, Winchester effortlessly leverages his land, influence and "a sweetener" (Robin Hood's plan) to attain control of Sussex. Of course, the Sheriff turns the tables on him by the end of the episode.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: The outlaws dress up as minstrels, which just involves funny hats and Morris dancer apparel.
- Pre-Sacrifice Final Goodbye: Thinking he's going to his death, Robin writes Marian a goodbye letter and instructs the outlaws to give it to her.
- Protagonist-Centred Morality: Robin decides to assassinate a room full of Black Knights, Gisborne and the Sheriff of Nottingham — and would have succeeded if Winchester hadn't forewarned them and made sure they were wearing protective armour underneath their clothes. Not only does this ignore the fact that Prince John's edict would have seen Nottingham razed to the ground in the event of the Sheriff's untimely death, but it goes completely against Robin's "no killing" creed. Had the show decided to explore this darker side to Robin, it would have been one thing, but instead nobody ever calls him out on his actions and the attempted mass-murder is completely forgotten about.
- Shirtless Scene: Guy switches a black shirt for another, identical-looking black shirt, in a scene which seems to exist only for the sake of him switching shirts.
- Strong Family Resemblance: According to Winchester, Marian is the splitting image of her mother Kate.
- Suddenly Shouting: "I HAVE LOST SUSSEX!! SUSSEX!!!"
- Troll: The Sheriff, the Black Knights and Gisborne don't just shrug off Robin's attempted assassination attempt when he throws daggers into their chests, but instead go to the trouble of sliding to the ground and crying out in pain, making him believe he's successfully killed them all... before getting to their feet and revealing they had protective armour under their clothes the whole time.
- The Voiceless: Guy has had a mute scribe draw up the Pact of Nottingham, to ensure its contents are never leaked (though the Sheriff makes doubly sure by throwing the man off the parapets).
- A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Winchester initially comes across as a reasonable man and a potential ally to Robin, only to let his true colors shine when he visits Edward in his jailcell.
- Women Are Wiser: Out of all the outlaws, it's obvious from her Reaction Shots that Djaq alone realizes something is wrong with Robin after he privately decides to assassinate the Black Knights.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Having completed the Pact of Nottingham, the scribe is promptly pushed from the castle walls.
