Sherwood S1 E1

## Plot

Robin narrates as we see a timeline of the events leading up to this, let's be honest here, very possible nearly apocalyptic future. In 2020, the Paris Accord is abandoned. In 2036, city wide power failures cause chaos. In 2050, the polar ice disappeared as the planet became warmer. I mean, technically, it didn't disappear, it just melted and turned into water, which would increase the sea level and cause some land to flood, unless it had a huge sea wall or something that could stand up to any and all natural and man made disasters. Anyways, in 2090, the oceans rise to unmanageable levels. In 2160, the economy collapses as nations literally drown. In 2190, millions are displaced, and the world population is devastated. At least we don't have to worry about going over the carrying capacity anymore? Then again, with resources being scarcer in this new world, then the carrying capacity would also shrink as well. In 2203, massive food shortages led to rioting. In what was once London, people thought they were saved when King Richard built Sherwood, but he disappeared in 2264, and since then, Sheriff Nottingham has ruled it with an iron fist, content to let those below die. In 2269, Robin decided to take Sherwood back, and became a vigilante called the Hood, and now I'm getting *Arrow* flashbacks. In 2270, we see three thieves in the Upper City: Robin, voiced by Anya Chalotra from *The Witcher*; the sea pirate Iniko, voiced by Tyler Posey; and the salt miner Gripper, who has a mechanical right arm. I don't want to try pronouncing his actor's name, because it's really long and I know I'll butcher so badly that it will probably be unrecognizable. He's voiced by Adeptokumboh M'Cormack. Gripper tells Iniko to wrap it up, and he does, but not before taking a shiny looking device that he thinks looks expensive. Robin takes a case of medicine and hacks into the Sheriff's pre-recorded speech about her and the other Sea Croppers. She meets Gripper and Iniko when they literally run into her to avoid the security robots, which are called Drobos, and she has to jump off the platform to get her case back. She jumps off, but not before having her face scanned by a Drobo, which recognizes her as the insurgent known as the Hood. It turns out that she has a wing suit that lets her glide to safety. Later on, she meets her Aunt Tui in the marketplace. She knows she's been raiding again. Tui gives a dose of medicine to herself, and then has it smuggled somewhere else for the other Sea Croppers. People suddenly scream and run away from Drobos, who are chasing Iniko and Gripper. They're surprised to see Robin again. They get away, and the Drobos recognize her as the Hood. Before she can fight, Tui shoves her off the dock, and when she gets back up and tries to fight again, a Drobo knocks her into the water *again* and knocks her out, but Gripper saves her. Why though? It just feels like it'd be more in character at this point for Iniko to do something like that. Gripper wasn't exactly thrilled to see her either time. Meanwhile, Gisbourne, voiced by Aneurin Bernard, is informing his father, the Sheriff, voiced by Joseph Fiennes, that something called the Gauntlet was stolen. The Sheriff is abusive, or at the very least neglectful towards his clearly still developing and young son, but he is right whenever he mentions how horrible he is at his job as head of security. I mean, your security force is made up of robots. You should really expect this. I think the Sheriff is either physically or mentally ill, or possibly both, because we see him using an oxygen mask on at least two occasions, one of his eyes is red and the other is brown, and he has metal in his head. It's never explained what, if anything, is wrong with him though, aside from being an arrogant, overconfident, stupid, murderous, narcissistic dictator. The eyes could at least be explained away as heterochromia, which Iniko also has, except he has one blue eye and one green eye. Anyway, Gisbourne assures his father that there's no cause for alarm. Their head engineer designed the gauntlet. It can only be accessed with his DNA. They've captured Tui, and soon their methods, i.e. torture, will convince her to give up the Hood. And yes, it's stupid for any piece of media made today, let alone something that's supposed to take place in an apocalyptic 23rd century, for the characters to stupidly assume that someone is male just because they don't know their sex or gender identity, or to even care about or consider something so trivial. And yes, the male bad guys do show surprise when they learn that Robin is a girl later on. If it was something like being surprised that she's a teenager, I might be able to buy that as an out of universe viewer, but in universe, the stupid assumption and surprise still wouldn't work, because Gisbourne is a similar age and is the head of security, even if he probably only got the position through nepotism. That's so stupid and sexist! Her gender shouldn't matter! Robin wakes up in a submarine, and blames Iniko and Gripper for what happened to her aunt, because they led the Drobos to them. They're pirates, and because of Robin's technical know how, she informs them that the stuff they stole is useless. When she picks up the gauntlet though, it attaches itself to her arm, and she can't take it off. She decides to break her aunt out of the Cube, which is the prison. The guys will take her in their sub, and after they're done, she'll figure out how to take the gauntlet off and give it back to them. They reluctantly agree. Tui is imprisoned with a young girl with fancy clothes. She's in there for "civil disobedience", but she says she doesn't belong here, and Tui tells her that none of them do. Gisbourne enters and remembers that her name is Rose Trefgarne (the e is silent), and she's from the Upper City. She's voiced by Jamie Chung. She's forced to watch as he tortures Tui for information on the Hood. His weapon is basically a giant taser. Iniko tells Robin that he's only doing this for her because he doesn't like seeing families split up. He hasn't seen his brothers in ages. They sailed off after their parents died. Gripper barely remembers either of his. With them gone, he got sent to the salt mines. That's where he got his mechanical arm, which he used to eventually escape. Robin explains that Tui isn't really her aunt, but she is all she has left. She took her in after her mom died, and she never even met her father, who died in prison. They hide the submarine behind a nearby turbine while Robin swims the rest of the way, using a futuristic air mask called an air pendant that lets her breathe underwater. So whatever happened to scuba gear or early 21st century rebreathers? Iniko tells Robin to get back before the storm hits. I love Iniko's design, and I mean that from a biological standpoint. He's barefoot, his hands are webbed, and as we'll see in a few episodes down the line, he can breathe underwater without an air pendant. I thought this was all super interesting, and started to wonder if this was a sign that humanity was slowly evolving to live in a world with nothing but water, or if they're augmentations like Gripper's arm that just look far more natural. Anyways, Robin easily breaks in because the security hasn't been upgraded, and maps out her way to Tui's cell, and then her exit plan. However, her presence is detected and reported back to Gisbourne and the Sheriff, who refuses to let his son handle it himself. They confront Robin in Tui's cell, and the Sheriff is surprised to find out that she's a girl. She disarms Gisbourne, kicks him into his dad, locks them both in the cell, and starts to run with Tui and Rose. Despite the dropping pressure indicating that the storm is coming, Iniko wants to give them more time to show up. Robin can't hack her way to the exit, but it lets her in when it detects her DNA thanks to the gauntlet, because it thinks that she's Thomas Loxley, her father. The Sheriff and Gisbourne see that she got through security using his ID, and realize that she has the DNA Gauntlet and can use it against them. Gripper really hates people from the Upper City and insults Rose, but Tui says she's one of them. Robin refuses to hand over the gauntlet, since it's technically her dad's, which makes it hers as well, and it won't come off anyways. Gripper and Iniko agree to join her in fighting to free Sherwood, as long as they get her to steal valuables for them using Thomas Loxley's security clearance. The Sheriff is tired of Gisbourne's incompetence, and orders him to get the gauntlet and Robin back. She vows to find her dad if he's still alive. It turns out that Rose has a tracking chip inside her neck.