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“There will be no peace in here, until there is peace out there.”
- Harold
We begin in Locksley, where a man is running and stacking wood in front of the church. It quickly becomes obvious that he’s trying to burn down the church. He seems to have succeeded when the villagers see him, and after they beat him to the ground, they attempt to drown him. But Robin arrives and saves the man’s life. The man appears to fight and act like a Crusader, and Robin barks out a couple commands that get the man onto Robin’s horse. They get back to camp, and the rest of gang is unsure of what to do with their new addition. He doesn’t speak much, and he’s just staring straight ahead. He’s got Eastern markings on his chest (like tattoos), but Djaq says she doesn’t know what they are. Robin puts Much in charge of caring for the man.
In Nottingham, Gisborne is watching Marian with her horse, a bit jealous in fact. They’re apparently still in argument land from the Lambert incident. The Sheriff makes comment that Gisborne should just give her a gift since all women can be bought. And then he heads off to dine with his latest guest, a Saracen. That’s new! Gisborne heeds the Sheriff’s advice and gives Marian a new horse. She’s hesitant to accept given how expensive it is, but he says money is no issue. So she rides off to put the horse through its paces.
Meanwhile, Robin, Little John, Allan and Will find a really ornate cart in the woods. Pretty soon John and Allan are freaking out, as there’s a creepy mask with arrows sticking out of it that Robin finds amusing. He can’t believe everyone else is freaking out over it. Back at camp, Much is teaching his new ward to cook and names him Harold. Harold seems to be doing okay until Robin arrives with the mask and Djaq gets hold of it. Something clicks in Harold’s head and he attacks her. John saves her by throwing a rock at his head.
In Nottingham, the Sheriff is sitting down a meal of brain of goat with his new guest. [ed. note: sounds tasty…or not] It looks absolutely revolting and I have a feeling the Saracen doesn’t really eat it either. They’re apparently doing some work together, and the Saracen is getting impatient that they can’t begin their work.
Little John refuses to leave the camp to go pull the wagon out of the mud. He’s sitting beneath a cross on a tree, scared out of his mind. Robin tells Will to go to Nottingham and see if he can find out who the guest is to help assuage John’s fears. Meanwhile, Robin’s paying Marian a visit to ask her to do the same thing. Don’t quite know why when he’s already sent Will. But I guess we needed our little conversation that devolves into Robin griping about the latest thing Gisborne’s done to impress her. But like always, she agrees to do what she can.
Harold comes to in a makeshift cage of branches, and he and Much bond a little over their time in the Holy Land. Clearly it’s affected Harold more than Much. He didn’t really do much fighting. Much starts to release Harold from the cage, but Harold insists it is safer for him to stay inside. He’s too dangerous otherwise. Meanwhile, at the castle, Marian brings a basket of apples to give to the guest and learns via Gisborne that the guest doesn’t like that kind of food. She manages to find out he’s a Saracen (she hears him during prayers). The next morning, the sheriff is awoken very early by the Saracen. He wants to go find his carriage. So, he, Gisborne and some men go and find it. And the Saracen is promptly kidnapped by Robin. And it turns out he’s not just some random guy. He’s a Prince. He’s here to broker peace with Prince John and the Sheriff. Yeah, that’s not happening.
And the Prince doesn’t know that he’s really a hostage. He storms back to Nottingham and the Sheriff continues to play nice. Back in the woods, Djaq has made a concoction that allows Harold to sleep, but he doesn’t want to take it after a few doses. He says it’s not sleep. And he deserves to die and go to hell for what he’s done. He was captured and tortured until he killed his own men. Robin works out that the Prince is a hostage when Marian arrives to share her intelligence, albeit it’s old news now.
Robin and company ends up finding what they believe is the ransom. There are four women doing what appear to be prayers of some kind. Djaq insists they’re assassins and Robin doesn’t believe her. Until he sees the women in action. Yeah, don’t piss off the chicks with pointy throwing stars. The Prince is growing even more impatient in Nottingham. He wants to get negotiations underway. But, he gets locked up for his trouble. So now Robin is planning a rescue. The rest of the gang is iffy about it, but they aren’t going to let the assassins kill the Prince (the ladies don’t do rescues, apparently). Harold wants to help, and it seems he’s going to be able to stop the assassins.
The assassins and their escort arrive, and the Prince gets a brief visit. He begins to freak out and is dragged to the Great Hall. He knows what’s coming. And the Sheriff and Gisborne get more than they were expecting. The assassins attack and they barely escape. The escort corners the Sheriff, but Robin shoots him. All hell breaks loose and the Sheriff temporarily joins forces with Robin to protect the Prince. We get a really awesome fight sequence (well that’s to be expected on “Robin Hood”). In the end, Harold manages to stop all the assassins. The Prince is heading back to the Holy Land, and he takes Harold with him, but not before using the mask to help his mind
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