Out of the three episodes that have aired so far of series 8 of Doctor Who, “Robot of Sherwood” is the best one so far.
As a big fan of Robin Hood and all the things that I have seen of him (whether it’s in literature, live-action movies, the classic Disney film), it was really exciting to hear that he was going to be on the show.
Tom Riley was a very classic Robin Hood so that was fun to see, but was even funnier was the outstanding banter that he had with Capaldi’s Doctor. I can’t recall from the past seasons of the rebooted version where the Doctor has have a hilarious interaction with someone like Robin. The closest one I can think of was the banter he would sometimes have with River Song, but that was more adorable than funny.
Who had ever imagined that two classic heroes like these two would be able to fight that much? The scene where they as well as Clara were thrown into the dungeon is without doubt one of the best scenes of the entire rebooted series. I’m wondering now if this is the kind of relationship the Doctor would have if he ever met Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes on Sherlock (a show that Doctor Who show-runner Steven Moffat also runs). The duel they had at the beginning was comedic for one reason only: the fact that the Doctor would go up against someone who was using a sword, by using a spoon.
I love the fact that the reason why the Doctor and Clara went to Sherwood was because she wanted to and can’t we just all agree that Clara fangirling out over Robin Hood was sweet? It would be fun to see the Doctor and Clara travel to see more legends like Robin Hood and hopefully that’s something we will get to see later in the season or even in Series 9.
The whole plot with robot soldiers invading Sherwood and getting in cahoots with the Sherriff of Nottingham was very fascinating and I liked how it was done since it was based in a time where technology didn’t exist. The other characters from the Robin Hood mythology were adapted pretty well, even though we didn’t get to spend time with them that much.
I was intrigued by how quick the Doctor was able to realize that something was wrong in Sherwood. There was one point where I was concerned that he was going to prove that Robin Hood and his Merry Men weren’t real and that they were part of the whole Robot story. That almost happened and that’s when I thought that the episode was going to be a total downer, but luckily that wasn’t where writer Mark Gattis went.
I think what “Robot of Sherwood” really had going for itself was the fact that it was a very bright and fun episode. The way that this episode was written, almost felt like a David Tennant episode if you think about it in depth. There were some similar moments in terms of the comedic tone that felt like something that we felt during Tennant’s run on the show.
Overall, “Robot of Sherwood” is one my favorites episodes of series 8 and as the series progresses, you start to love Capaldi more and more. It’s all about evolution as a newly regenerated doctor and it looks like the road they are walking on so far is a very good one.
Doctor Who airs Saturday nights, 9/8c on BBC America.
[Photo via BBC]
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