Main cast: Michael Landes (Hooten), Ophelia Lovibond (Lady Alexandra Lindo-Parker), Jessica Hynes (Ella Bond), Shaun Parkes (Clive Stephenson), Jonathan Bailey (Edward), Anton Lesser (Hercules), Olivia Grant (Valerya), and Jane Seymour (Lady Lindo-Parker)
Director: Julian Holmes

Well, the naked Hooten scene is quite the disappointment. It’s a rear view from a distance, so sadly, it’s not like I can evaluate the girth and firmness of such a scene in a proper, objective manner. However, this episode has so much character development and advancement that it almost makes up for that disappointment.

Unfortunately, the bulk of the “action” part of this episode is underwhelming.

Well, the story first. Hooten is contacted by his mentor, Hercules, in Moscow, and the latter informs him that he has found a valuable relic. He needs Hooten’s help to locate a buyer that can offer a good price on it.

Naturally, he calls Alex to chop chop, come find him. She agrees, actually relieved to be away as her mother is taking over the entire wedding preparations for her and her fiancé and she’s too nice to tell her mother to go choke on a wedding cake.

Oops, Hooten is soon abducted by people that predictably enough want whatever it is that Hercules has, and Alex has to locate and save him.

This “action”, “rescue Hooten”, or whatever one call it—this part of the show is the pits. The bad guys are led by Valerya, Olivia’s nemesis from the university, and she and her two henchmen are so dumb that I don’t know whether this episode is going for slapstick comedy or something else.

Hooten & the Lady always has this problem of tonal consistency, as it veers from a more down to earth kind of comedy to outright cartoon-y tomfoolery in a pretty extreme manner that sometimes an episode feels like it’d been spliced together from a few different ones. This effect is especially evident here, as aside from Valerya and her goons acting like Boris Bodenov and friends, there is a very sober undertone to the rest of the show.

Hooten’s past is further revealed here, explaining more and more as to why he’s constantly putting on his asshole front, and he has to deal with some pretty heavy drama here. Alex, meanwhile. is pushed to the limit both by Hooten and her mother taking her for granted that she’s just a rules-abiding nice lady that will always put everyone over herself because she needs to make everyone happy, and she finally snaps, politely of course.

So, all in all, this is a pretty below average “action adventure” episode, but it’s also a solid one for advancing the main characters and making them more like real people. Three oogies seem just about the right rating for it, then.