Robin Hood - Season 2 Part 1 - DVD

Content: The adventures of Robin of Locksley (Jonas Armstrong) aka Robin Hood enter their second round. After the first season featured Robin's faithful companion Much (Sam Troughton), and the rest of the outlaws from Sherwood Forest - Alan A. Dale, Will Scarlet, Little John, and Djaq - were introduced, they continue to join forces in an attempt to thwart all the dark plans that the Sheriff of Nottingham and his right-hand man, Guy of Gisborne (Richard Armitage), are concocting to oppress the people and prevent the return of King Richard the Lionheart from the Holy Land. But the sheriff also has many an ace up his sleeve. For example his sister Davinia, who supports him in founding the secret society of the Black Knights. However, her encounter with Robin has fatal consequences, through which the sheriff's hatred for the outlaw also grows ever greater. A new suit of armor and valuable information from the Holy Land should help him to finally push the king from his throne. And as much as Robin tries to prevent this and is able to thwart many a plan of the sheriff, he makes a few mistakes that could have fatal consequences in the end...

Robin Hood remains true to his line in the 2nd season. The makers blithely mix elements of the traditional saga with set pieces of modern adventure series, combine adventure, suspense and humor to an entertaining whole and thus create a series that younger, but also adult lovers of adventure series can enjoy. Even if some things seem a bit superficial and some set pieces seem to be repeated more often, the high entertainment value prevails in the end, which is also supported by the very own way of staging.

Because there are again quite a few historical liberties in the second season, which the creators have taken to distinguish themselves from other interpretations of the saga of the outlaw from Sherwood Forest. For example, some of the men Robin and his friends fight with in the very first episode wear very modern-looking berets - even though this headgear was probably invented almost 400 years later and certainly didn't look that modern back then. It's also amusing that in the German dubbing the accent of a German count was turned into a quaint Bavarian - which of course is only partly authentic for the early 12th century. But one should not be bothered by such inconsistencies. On the contrary. Somehow these quite obvious liberties make up the charm and character of the series.

Next to many humorous moments, however, there are again some dark scenes to offer, especially in this second season, which give the series a certain dramaturgical depth that can make up for some of the weaknesses in the actors and the structure of the stories. So all in all it can be said that this first part of the second season can be warmly recommended to all those who already liked the first season, because on the one hand the new episodes stay true to the style established in the first season, but on the other hand there is also a certain dramaturgical development recognizable, which makes the whole thing still exciting and entertaining despite repetitive elements.

Picture + Sound: The first episodes of the latest Robin Hood interpretation have left a very good impression for a TV series. And this one presents itself again with the new episodes: The clean picture pleases with its good, with only isolated scenes that look a bit washed out. In the darker sequences, slight blurring and minimal image noise can also be made out. The color scheme, on the other hand, appears very warm and coherent. Also the sound available in Dolby Digital 5.1 can convince with the new episodes with some good surround effects, but is overall dominated by the dialogue and music. Good!

Extras: As with the first season, also with season 2 the first DVD box is very meagerly equipped. Only an audio commentary fans of the series get offered as a bonus. Let's hope that the second season box has more to offer.

Conclusion: Robin Hood offers in the first episodes of the second season again entertaining entertainment between classic adventure and modern TV entertainment, which can score with humor, a little action and family-friendly suspense. The episodes are presented on the two DVDs in good technical quality, only the very meager bonus material (in addition to the division of the season into two parts) has a negative impact. Who liked the first adventures of the new Robin Hood, which can also access here confidently. Recommendable

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp