Why Sleepy Hollow is the Best/Worst Show on Fridays

We are back after Spring Break and work! Thanks for being patient everyone and settle in, and keep the light on, this one is spooky.

Tom Mison and Nicole Beharie as Ichabod Crane and Abbigail Mills in Sleepy Hollow. Image: FOX

Alright now this is one of those posts similar to the Cutthroat Kitchen post I made about a month ago expressing some bias as to why I think you should watch what I (Wood) watch. In freshman year of college, Fringe got cancelled by FOX and two new projects were picked up to take it's place. One was called Almost Human, helmed by J.J. Abrams (creator of Fringe), a sci-fi police drama that failed miserably  and the other was by the other creators of Fringe  Robert Orsi and Alex Kurtzman which became Sleepy Hollow. The show's title however and what you expect it to be about are completely different. I will explain this further but buckle up because this isn't the story of the headless horseman vs. Ichabod Crane...kind of.

Sleepy Hollow starts us off in the Revolutionary War as continental army man Ichabod Crane portrayed by Tom Mison, is on the battlefield fighting when he sees a masked Hessian fighter. 

Ichabod vs The Hessian aka The Headless Horseman

Charging towards each other, the two engage in combat and the pair both land killing blows on their opponent, the Hessian slashing Ichabod's chest open and Ichabod cutting his head clean off. Both crumple to the ground but their blood mixes and the two's destinies become entwined. The Hessian Crane kills becomes the headless horseman as he made a deal with a demon to become the Horseman of Death, one of the 4 riders of the apocalypse, and so when he rises in present day 2013 in a small town called Sleepy Hollow in an ambiguous location on the East Coast but close to Boston area. When the Horseman awakens from his death he takes refuge in a barn slaughtering the residents. The police respond by sending Sheriff Corbin and his Lieutenant Abigail Mills to investigate the killings and Corbin is killed off screen with Abbie witnessing the axe going through the wall. The horseman charges off into the knight on his white horse and Abbie finds the severed head of Corbin, the man who basically raised her after her mother died and her sister got sent to a mental institution. 

Meanwhile Crane awakens in this strange new world of a free United States. Wearing his continental army garb he walks into town and immediately sticks out like a sore thumb before getting sent to the sheriff's office. Abbie eventually has to handle him and he warns the "Leftenent" (Liutentant) that an evil force descends upon Sleepy Hollow and that he needs her help. Long story short as this is just a setup, Abbie eventually believes Crane and the two start to work together to fight the monsters and demons of Sleepy Hollow that all exist. This can range from banshees, wendigos or even the sandman. 

Now why is this show the best yet simultaneously worst show? Well it's simple...really really cheesy. I am all for having fun with the adventure fantasy and having a take on "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and I even prefer it not be a retelling of the story known already. Where I start to audibly laugh is how the demons date as far back as the Revolutionary War and that all the pivotal events of it were the Freemasons fighting against a Witch coven called the "Hellfire Club" who were trying to summon their demon master Moloch (basically the devil). Benjamin Franklin's key on the kite to test lightning experiment was scientific? Nope. It was to prep the key to be able to lock a chest of Hellfire artifacts. Common Sense? Nope really it was a code for how to defeat a valkyr that was terrorizing the town at the time. The commitment to it though is where it pays off especially if you are watching it with a friend and you start betting what event they will take on next and how it has some supernatural relevance.

For instance, two weeks ago, was about how the Star Spangled Banner was a code to get into a secret vault for Betsy Ross's first flag which has a map to the underworld on it.

The Infamous Flag

Whoa.

So let me get a little more focused telling the benefits of watching this show first.

Season 1 was truly special and fantastic following Crane trying to figure out how to adjust to modern day life from working a microwave, to understanding electricity or how automatic doors work. While he is still discovering things about the modern day world, like how to drive and that you need to be a citizen if you want to have a day job, he is becoming more knowledgeable and losing his charm in that respect. His every episode rant about a character from history that he met and is thought of vastly different today than how they actually were from his perspective create humor even in serious situations for the show. When the characters feel trapped, lost, afraid he is their rock who inspires them and provides words of encouragement and hope to overcome the odds no matter what they may be. Tom Mison carries the show throughout all three seasons and is the main reason I still watch it today as he is funny, heartfelt and badass in the fight scenes with whatever monster it is this week. Hopefully more people than me have recognized his talents and that he can get some more mainstream jobs soon as Sleepy Hollow just got its lowest rating of the series with .6/3 this last Friday.

Another glimmer of genius are the special effects and costume designers for the monsters. This show has consistently scary/creepy and gross monsters that look and act like things you would see in your nightmares.

Headless Horseman. Image: FOX

Sandman. Image: FOX

The Ghoulish Protectors. Image: FOX

The Deserting Soldiers. Image: Fox

Demonic possession of Abbie's sister. Image: FOX 

All of these made me actually sit up and look feeling a little creeped out as they are better than some of the horror films effects as the score helps them feel menacing and threatening putting you in the action and fearful for what they could do to the heroes battling them. Now why is this the worst show? Terrible characters outside of the main ones and trying to do too much.

The really good example of how bad Sleepy Hollow's writing for others is shown by one character that I absolutely despised (my former roommate Bryan will attest to my apathy of her) was Ichabod's wife Katrina Crane played by Katia Winter

Katrina Crane. Image: FOX Promotional

Her story arc started off very promising. Katrina is originally engaged to the Headless Horseman when he was a man, who is also Ichabod's best friend from England. When Ichabod sides with America he takes this as a giant betrayal. Before the two fall in love but the Horseman finds out and ambushes Crane. When Crane defeats him he can't kill him and so he leaves him to die alone. The Horseman is found by "Hessians" who are really demons(all Hessians were demons in the show) and made him the Horseman of Death. But back to Katrina.

Katrina worked as a field nurse during the battles and by the cover of darkness aided George Washington in mystical matters.She was a witch who was helping the freemasons during the war but she also loved Ichabod. Not telling him she was a witch, the two began to care for each other secretly and she eventually saved her husband by casting a spell on him and tying his life to that of the Horseman's through blood. She then disappears from history and it is found that she is trapped in purgatory, taken there by Moloch to get Crane to release him eventually. Season 1 revolves around Crane trying to free his wife as the two can finally be together again. Romantic right? Wrong. 

Midseason finale comes along and we find out that she lies to Ichabod that they had no descendants. They ended up having a son that she had to send away as she knew she was being hunted by Moloch. She also continues to not devulge secrets to Ichabod that could help him defeat Moloch on earth and just perpetually says to free her else-wise Moloch will win. When he finally frees her at the end of season 1, we find out that their son is really the Horseman of War as he made a deal with Moloch as well to help him escape a grave that he was placed in as a teenager. Katrina knew this and didn't say because she "didn't think he would betray his mother and father." Really? That's your reasoning? 

The following season, she is again held captive this time by the horseman and the Cranes' son. Ichabod and Abbie come to get her but she willingly wants to stay to try to plead to the good of her son. At this point she just continues to break Ichabod's heart and he reluctantly agrees. However the bad guys now are able to move on with their plan as they intend to impregnate her with Moloch. Yeah impregnate her with Moloch. Katrina escapes once she learns of this but it's too late and much like in Game of Thrones she has a shadow baby thing that eventually becomes Moloch and has to be killed. 

MFW This is the direction they went in season 2.

Thankfully Katrina only lasts two seasons (no spoilers) but season 3 is just grasping at straws now due to how bad season 2 was they thought a new direction would work and, SPOILER (not really), it doesn't. It isn't the twist on a tale some of us may have read in high school or for fun but now just a fantasy drama for the sake of being fantasy. Without spoiling too much, the legend of Sleepy Hollow is basically non-existent and Pandora's Box is the main story line as the Headless Horseman character is sucked up by her box in the opening scene of season 3's first episode. Katrina was a universally hated character by fans and so they don't even mention her in season 3 anymore (which is for the better) but now she is just replaced by Ichabod who loved another woman during the same time period but never cheated on her? I say question mark because it's never explained when or how this worked out.

Betsy Ross becomes the new love interest and turns out to be the first American Woman Spy in history. I almost want Katrina back with how boring she has been of a character thus far.

You Go Girl

Sleepy Hollow's season and potentially series finale, as FOX hasn't renewed or cancelled it yet, premieres Tonight April 8,  at 8/7c and will be available to watch tomorrow on Hulu. I hope that they pull off a good finale and let the show fade away or get a reduced season to give a satisfying ending for characters that I have loved to watch in my sophomore to senior year of college.