Wednesday 18 September 2013

Sleepy Hollow


At last the t.v series is here and what a show! It was non-stop action from the get go, featuring Ichabod Crane, killed by a horseman on the battlefield who he turn beheaded, only for both of them of to be resurrected in the present time in the town of Sleepy Hollow. Paired up with Abbie Mills a cop with a dark past who was initially try to flee the town but changes her mind when her partner is killed by a headless horseman, and she is the only witness. Convinced by Ichabod that they aren't suffering madness but that everything happening to him and her is real, she pairs up with him in an attempt to thwart the horseman.

Of course it's more complicated than that with witches, cults, demons and a potential apocalypse involved as well as conspiracy and betrayal, this show manages to have it all in one episode. Throw in some humour, a few scenes of horror and a horseman swapping his axe for modern day gun power and something that sounds so ridiculous turns up to awesome and according to the ratings, the latest hit.

Perfect for approaching Halloween, though I don't know how they can turn this plot in a show I really hope they can. Ichabod is wonderful, cute and funny, originally an English man he was a teacher turned soldier turned spy, a fish out of water he proves to be a fast adaptor not just to his entire world shifting a couple of hundred years in the future but to the fact that the undead can also rise up in the future and that demons and witches exist. Abbie is the leading cop with a history in the woods involving her sister who's followed a different path now (sound familiar? I think it borrowed a little from the Tim Burton film), she's a pretty good lead, adapting to her situation steadily enough and matching Ichabod's wit and scorn, and accepting his challenge to stay and save Sleepy Hollow.

Of course this show is flawed, there are inaccuracies and plot holes but one can hope it's just teething problems. Too many people witness are headless villain and one wonders how this is going to be explained away to the average folk and the press as the body count rises. Senior cop Captain Frank Irving seems oddly complacent with the events and letting Abbie and Ichabod handle it despite his initial protests, he goes awfully fast from a non-believer suspicious of Ichabod to someone desperate for these two questionable people to fix things for him.

The show was created by Len Wiseman (Underworld series, Live Free or Die Hard, Total Recall) who also directed the pilot. Given his gothic, modern style in Underworld I think this show could be under good guidance. Let's just hope it goes for horror over comic style (hard too after having the headless horseman wielding guns, which did manage to be as awesome as it was hilarious), and doesn't compromise on the plot by throwing too many twists and turns at us to divert from the fact that there is no real plot.

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