Sleepy Hollow: The Complete First Season

Excellent combination of history and supernatural.

Two hundred and fifty years ago in the town of Sleepy Hollow, scholar and Revolutionary War spy Ichabod Crane is killed on the battlefield by a masked Hessian soldier, but Crane manages to decapitate the Hessian in his final dying moments. However, Crane is somehow resurrected in the modern age of smartphones and Starbucks, finding that his headless Hessian foe has also returned, but as one of the the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse.The end times are near, as witches, ghosts, and demons rise. If the Headless Horseman is reunited with his head, the other three Horsemen will ride as well, and it will be Hell on Earth. Crane, accompanied by street-wise police Lieutenant Abbie Mills, find they are the biblical Witnesses, destined to battle the forces of evil and save the world.Sleepy Hollow takes a number of interesting and rather fun liberties with Washington Irving's classic ghost story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, blending it with elements of Irving's other work, Rip Van Winkle, as well as shows like Supernatural and The X-Files. There's even a reference to comic book character Captain America, as both he and this version of Ichabod Crane are "men out of time." The show utilizes horror and supernatural elements very effectively, and also blends these elements with historical elements that cast a new spin on the American Revolutionary War.The show also uses humor very well, as Crane must adapt to a modern world that he finds bewildering and baffling. Tom Mison's performance as Ichabod Crane shines here, as he doesn't overplay it, his subtle reactions to things like automatic car windows (not to mention cars themselves), and his seemingly legitimate outrage over a tax on donut holes is sheer gold for the viewing audience. His uncanny chemistry with Nicole Beharie's "Leftenant" Abbie is truly the emotional backbone of the show. (Side note - Beharie is exiting the show before its fourth season next fall, so I cannot imagine this show without the Team Witness chemistry of Crane and Abbie.) The great John Noble joins the show halfway through the first season, adding even more depth to the impressive acting talent on display.If there are any flaws with the show, it's that the season is too short, lasting only a paltry 13 episodes. Also, the subplot involving Katrina, Ichabod's wife who is trapped in Purgatory, lends little emotional heft to the main story. Yes, Ichabod wants to reunite with his wife, but we don't get to spend much time with her or get to see them together often enough to feel anything emotionally for their relationship.Though the show has fallen off in quality in subsequent seasons - you get the feeling they had a good idea with this show but didn't know where to take it - the first season is still one of the best first seasons for a show in recent memory. It made me a fan, so much that I visited the actual Sleepy Hollow in upstate New York (I live an hour and twenty-minute drive away) and had to enjoy some Apple Pie a la Mode at a diner named The Horseman while I was there. Watch the pilot and you'll get the reference.Filmmaker Len Wiseman (the Underworld series, Live Free or Die Hard, the Total Recall remake) is a producer on the show and directed the pilot episode, and it exists as probably his best work. Welcome to Sleepy Hollow. The Headless Horseman awaits you.

Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) is killed in 1781 during the Revolutionary War by a Hessian mercenary, but since his wife (Katia Winter) is a witch, he rises from the dead in modern-day Sleepy Hollow, New York. Unfortunately, his killer has become the demonic Headless Horseman, so Ichabod teams up with police officer Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) to find out what’s happening, stop the supernatural bad guys, and save the world.There’s horror — all kinds, from outright monsters to haunted houses to more subtle mental fears — and comedy (particularly when Crane encounters a particularly odd part of modern life), suspense, mystery, and teamwork. Mison plays admirably old-school heroic (the British accent helps) while Beharie is determined and strong and caring and fearless, with a mystical history of her own. They’re truly partners, helping each other to win through against the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, trusting each other in spite of their very different backgrounds. When they first meet, Crane gets off on the wrong foot by referring to her as an emancipated slave, since that’s the only thing he can assume about a black woman with a badge, but he soon learns much more about our world.It’s also great to see Abbie with her sister Jenny (Lyndie Greenwood). They have severe disagreements, but eventually, they’re able to appreciate each other, and it’s a pleasure to see such a complex relationship between two strong women. The interactions among the cast are outstanding, particularly with Orlando Jones as Abbie’s boss, a man who slowly comes to accept the weirdness while trying to protect his daughter and atone for the times he left her and her mother alone.The show does a good job of balancing the overall mythology — the battle against the Horseman — with specific challenges in individual episodes — such as when a boy from the lost colony of Roanoke carries a plague to Sleepy Hollow, or they fight that episode’s demon or other supernatural threat. As the season continues, we learn more about Ichabod’s history, with flashbacks to his prior life and time with his wife as he seeks to free her from Purgatory.There’s a lot in this series. They’re not skimpy with ideas or revelations, making for an enjoyable roller-coaster ride with characters you can care about, spooky twists, and some gorgeous scenery.

The main plot of this series is great. The acting is far from perfect and the script makes me cover my face in shame once in a while, but there's enough good in the series to make it watchable. The character of Ichabod is fantastic, even if he's ridiculously progressive for a guy from the 18th century. I wish John Cho got more screen time.I recommend skipping episodes 2-5 if you don't like filler. Sure, they contain some information that's relevant to the plot, but for the most part they're boring monster-of-the-week stories that fail to excite. Several of these episodes are filled with bad/pointless/boring/just plain stupid dialogue, often between Abbey and Ichabod ("I don't believe anything unless I see it, though I saw crazy supernatural stuff last week--hey, I must have imagined it") and Abbey and Irving ("don't even bring up that horseman, detective"--"But sir, something weird is happening!").As of episode 6 (and continuing through episode 8), they're back on the Headless Horseman plot, which I hope plays through nicely to give us a satisfying season finale. I also hope the writers wrap up the show in one season, instead of trying to get a few more seasons by bringing in bigger baddies (where do you go from Moloch? Could Abbey and Ichabod just work through the list of Judeo-Christian demons? Would the show even get approved for another season? They're supposed to spend seven years as witnesses but I can't see how that could possibly happen unless they do a few time jumps between episodes).