A Piercing Golden Arrow: On 'Robot of Sherwood'

Series 8, Episode 3

Written by Mark Gatiss

Directed by Paul Murphy

 

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Other notes:

·        A recycling of ideas, or recurring motifs? The "aliens/robots making massive computer chips in ancient/medieval society" thing is a little too reminiscent of 'The Fires of Pompeii', which of course is a very important episode for Capaldi's Doctor. But 'Robot of Sherwood' picks up that plot hook and... doesn't do much with it. There's no half-memories to Pompeii, just an eerily familiar narrative beat.

·       Clara's outfit here features a golden jewellery piece on her forehead — a third eye, if you'll allow me. Clara has more to do than The Doctor here – she extracts large tracts of Plot from the Sherriff, and Gets Things Done while Robin and The Doctor are locked up in the dungeon. She can see from the very beginning along that Robin Hood is real. 

·       It seems that – so far! – only robots and androids are attempting to make it to The Promised Land, which gives us a hint to its function. Is The Promised Land where half-formed cybernetics go to become actualised, where Pinocchio turns into a real boy?

·    Even if it isn’t going to set the world on fire, ‘Robot of Sherwood’ feels like the right episode at the right time. After two weeks of setting up the Twelfth Doctor as a little more difficult to work with, and a week before a story being billed as the successor to 'Blink', we have something brighter, a comedy outing.