Warning: spoilers for Robin Hood episode 5 ahead.
We’re officially halfway through MGM+ series Robin Hood, and I’ve been in two minds about what we’ve seen so far.
I love Rob’s (Jack Patten) new backstory and his wholesome yet blossoming relationship with Marian (Lauren McQueen), and I think Connie Nielsen is in her best role in years as Eleanor of Aquitaine.
However, there’s a downside. I hate to sound like an 80-year-old prude, but there’s just too much gratuitous sex in the series. Entire conversations take place in explicit positions, and for me, it does nothing to drive the narrative forward.
But it’s taken me until episode 5 to work out that it’s one character continuously bearing the brunt of this decision: the Sheriff of Nottingham’s (Sean Bean) daughter, Priscilla (Lydia Peckham).
While I’ve got no idea how Peckham herself feels about Priscilla’s portrayal, it was one of my burning questions when I got the chance to speak to Robin Hood creator John Glenn.
Interestingly, they take the complete opposite view to me – where I think steamy scenes are unnecessary, they seem them as “grounded.”
“We’re all a multitude of things”: Robin Hood creators on why Priscilla’s steamy scenes are so vital
“I think with Priscilla, she starts out as this quite sexual type of character, almost like a femme fatale of sorts,” Glenn tells me. “And you think that’s going to be all that she amounts to. But, of course, in life, we’re all not just one thing. We’re a multitude of things.
“So, we slowly start to peel the onion of her character and reveal what’s inside. Maybe what she really actually wants versus what she claims to be about. It’s a very grounded, personal, human story.”
Do I think this is being achieved well enough as a viewer? Absolutely not. I’m hoping Priscilla’s arc changes for the second half of the series, actually showing that she has more to bring to the table aside from using her body as power.
As the Sheriff of Nottingham seems to grow angrier by the minute, I think this is completely possible. She’s going to solely bear the brunt of his rage, and that will likely cause a irreparable rift between the two.
I know there’s more to offer here and that female characters in the series can be dealt a better hand – look how well Marian and Eleanor have been written. I just hope we can peel back the onion without peeling back the clothes for no reason too.
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