Sherwood, Season Two

As with Shōgun, it was hard to appreciate just how good the second season of Sherwood was until the last few episodes had run.

The slow build works differently here though. James Graham begins by setting up a series of adjacent narrative bubbles populated with well-defined characters. This makes the initiating drama feel a bit like a British working class soap opera. Quite soon however adjacency becomes intersection, at first in a manner which feels a bit arbitrary, but once the major themes are applied, and the various deeply 'torn' characters have stated their inner conflicts, it all starts to feel that much more satisfying, rather like a classical play.

There was a stage where it appeared to be a blend of the original Sherwood with Roberto Saviano's Gomorra...in a good way.

My one serious objection was perhaps the presence of Robert Lindsay, a creepy left wing extremist playing a creepy right wing extremist. The overall effect was more creepy than I really needed. (With hindsight I suppose we now realise that when we watched him in Citizen Smith, we were laughing AT him and not with him.)

The story also tiptoes (I think necessarily, but nevertheless usefully) around another issue: are individuals with learning difficulties always innocent, and does the visibility of the cognitive impairment affect our judgment on this matter?

There were enough loose ends at the conclusion of part six to suggest that we will yet be treated to a third season.