SLEEPY HOLLOW's Prospects "Dark"

Article originally written for Seat42F.

On last night’s SLEEPY HOLLOW on FOX, “Whispers in the Dark,” Ichabod (Tom Mison) and Abbie (Nicole Beharie) try to protect some people being hunted by a shadow. Said shadow has been unleashed by Pandora (Shannyn Sossamon), whom the two begin to realize has been hanging around. Thankfully, they have Ichabod’s memories of an encounter Betsy Ross (Nikki Reed) had with the creature, so they are able to defeat it by the end of the hour.

I am very glad I took notes while watching last night’s installment, something I don’t normally do, because otherwise, I’m not sure I’d remember enough to write about it this morning. The episode had a few fun bits with our heroes, but was mostly a forgettable mess of plot holes and inconsistencies. The hope sparked last week that the third season of SLEEPY HOLLOW would get past the mistakes of the dreadful second year is dying out quickly.

Let’s start with Daniel Reynolds (Lance Gross, House of Payne). He is a mysterious man from Abbie’s past whom she attended Quantico with. Somehow, Abbie attended Quantico and became an agent in the single year between seasons two and three, met an older man who also happened to be in the same program, and that man is now a boss, her boss? None of that sounds the least bit believable.

Abbie’s problems with the FBI don’t end there. Abbie frequently neglects her normal cop duties during the first two seasons of SLEEPY HOLLOW because she’s fighting the supernatural, but this is forgivable because her boss is in on her secret and knows what she’s up to. Now, Abbie is doing the same thing as an FBI agent without that same level of protection from above. There’s no way she can get away with doing what she does and still keep her job, even if somehow, by chance, this shadow is her actual assigned case, which is far-fetched itself. Where are her fellow agents? Who is she working with? She’s a brand new agent, there’s no way she’s given this much freedom.

Also, how did Abbie afford such a nice house as the one she is living in in “Whispers in the Dark?” You can’t tell me her salary as a local cop paid for that, and she certainly isn’t making that kind of money as a newly-graduated federal agent. We know Ichabod doesn’t have any money to help her pay the mortgage (which makes one wonder how he funded his year abroad). Again, the writers fail to think through what is realistic in this situation.

Then, Abbie and Ichabod supposedly defeat the creature the same way Betsy Ross did back in colonial times. Except they don’t. The scene we see with Betsy looks quite different from what they are facing. Why make this parallel if you’re not going to follow through and connect them?

In the ‘B’ plot of “Whispers in the Dark,” Jenny (Lyndie Greenwood) runs into Joe Corbin (Zach Appelman) who apparently has been just waiting around to join the team all this time. She turns down his application, and he is immediately kidnapped and gets drawn in any way. That seems way too big a coincidence to me. Why didn’t we see Joe approach sooner? Why is he kidnapped if he’s not connected? None of it makes sense.

I liked SLEEPY HOLLOW’s first season a lot, especially once the show got going. Now, it seems like a typical crime drama that just happens to have mystical elements, and one in which settings and character relationships are created purely to serve the formula for that genre without any regard as to what makes sense for this world. It’s disrespectful to the fans and lazy for the production to put this type of product forward. The ratings have been poor enough that a fourth season seems unlikely for SLEEPY HOLLOW, which only narrowly got a third run. In my opinion, it cannot be pulled off the air soon enough.

Oh, and since Joe is here for Jenny and Daniel is flirting with Abbie, I guess we won’t get Hawley back any time soon. That’s a shame because he was a cool character with potential. It’s a waste to disappear him.

SLEEPY HOLLOW airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on FOX.

Can I Get a "Witness" (Or Two)?

Article originally published as SLEEPY HOLLOW Review "I, Witness" on Seat42F.

SLEEPY HOLLOW returns for a third season on FOX with “I, Witness.” Ichabod (Tom Mison), gone these past nine months, returns home just as a demon begins terrorizing the town. Abbie (Nicole Beharie) is happy to see him and lend a hand, but her new job as an F.B.I. agent keeps her (sort of) busy, though luckily she’s still assigned to the area. But is the demon an isolated menace, or does a mysterious woman who happens to be fond of boxes portend further troubles?

I will be the first to say that SLEEPY HOLLOW is in need of a reboot this season. Last year devolved into a boring procedural that lost cohesion and became quite full of plot holes. But the way in which “I, Witness” begins could give anyone whiplash. Irving has left town, Katrina and Henry are really dead, The Headless Horseman is destroyed in the opening minutes, and the archive building is about to be torn down. Other than our two leads and Jenny (Lyndie Greenwood), who remains a helping hand, the show has tossed out just about everything that has anchored its first couple of runs.

That may or may not be a good thing. “I, Witness” is certainly an interesting episode. The demon is but a brief distraction, with the majority of the plot focused on more ongoing tales. There’s lots of banter between Abbie and Ichabod as they catch up, having not seen in each other in nine months, and the aforementioned mysterious woman, Pandora (Shannyn Sossamon, Wayward Pines), is definitely present to stir things up. That gets SLEEPY HOLLOW back to its strong roots, a sweeping mythology story of the two witnesses trying to stop the seven tribulations.

Where things fall apart a bit for me is the inconsistency in the way the story is laid out. Aren’t the seven tribulations basically supposed to be hell on Earth? How come almost no one has noticed the world is in serious peril yet? Abbie says she has a new job that keeps her busy, but she gets to run around with Ichabod as much as she wants during the day. (The fact that the demon gets mixed up in her unconnected case is just ridiculous.) And SLEEPY HOLLOW can’t decide if it wants to stick with history or not, bringing Betsy Ross (Nikki Reed, the Twilight films) into the story as a super spy. It’s a bit more jumbled than it needs to be.

Killing the horseman is the biggest miss. This is someone who has been a dangerous foe and has a lot of history with our heroes, and there isn’t even any set up to get him to this point. To wipe him out in a brief scene with Pandora feels wrong. He deserves more than to be written off without even getting the chance to fight back. I could be wrong in thinking he’s permanently deceased, but that’s what seems to happen when his powers are taken and he dissolves in the black smoke.

That being said, I’m willing to give this year a chance to make up for past wrongs. Betsy and Pandora are but two of the four new main characters, the other two sitting out this episode, though we’ve seen one of them before. The story seems poised to get back into longer arcs and more personal backstory. And Abbie and Ichabod are back to doing what they do best, saving the world with the same chemistry any other crime procedural duo has. So it looks like “I, Witness” gets things off to a mostly good start.

SLEEPY HOLLOW airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on FOX.

SLEEPY HOLLOW Resides in the Past

Article originally written for Seat42F.

This week’s SLEEPY HOLLOW season (series?) finale on FOX, “Tempus Fugit,” finds Abbie (Nicole Beharie) in 1781. She must convince Ichabod (Tom Mison) to help her take down his evil witch wife, Katrina (Katia Winter), who has come back in time to kill Ichabod, and thus save their son’s life. Ichabod is hesitant to believe Abbie, as one might expect, but Abbie is nothing if not smart and resourceful, so she gets the job done.

“Tempus Fugit” is a very fun episode. Fun is the best word I can use to describe it, as story continuity has been lacking, but we’ll get to that in a moment. This finale, really a stand-alone-ish adventure, basically mirrors the pilot, with Abbie now the one out of time who must seek help from her partner in his element. This role reversal is satisfying for the fans, played well by the two actors with excellent chemistry. Toss in an appearance by Benjamin Franklin (Timothy Busfield), who of course believes everything Abbie says, and have Abbie encounter her ancestor, Grace Dixon (Onira Tares), and one gets almost everything one wants from this episode.

But here’s the thing: the set up of “Tempus Fugit” is lacking. Abbie knows Franklin is much more likely to believe her than Ichabod, so why not go to him in the first place? She may need Ichabod’s help and time is short, but surely it would be easier and quicker to get Ichabod to do what she wants with Franklin’s intervention. That she eventually succeeds in proving herself doesn’t take away from the fact that she wastes valuable time doing so.

This lack of thinking things through extends to the characters, who sometimes act without sufficient motivation. Katrina’s descent into villain is swift and complete. She doesn’t hesitate to kill innocents, such as Colonel Sutton (Marc Menchaca, Homeland). She’s acting without any regard for who she was in the first place. I know she wants to save Henry’s life, but doesn’t she feel bad at all for trying to wipe out the man she supposedly loved? She’s reduced to a very two-dimensional persona, and I don’t like it.

The biggest problem “Tempus Fugit” has by far is the lack of any stakes to care about, making the events of the hour, while entertaining, meaningless. It’s true that if Abbie and Ichabod do not manage to reverse Katrina’s spell, much would have been damaged in the world of SLEEPY HOLLOW. But there can’t be any viewers who seriously believe that’s a possibility, given how the story is presented. From early on in the episode, even before the Headless Horseman (Jeremy Owens) decapitates Ben Franklin, it’s very obvious that whatever happens in this 1781 doesn’t count, and it will all be erased. That basically ruins any tension the installment might build up, providing much simmering frustration as I watch scenes that would otherwise be very good.

Don’t get me wrong; I mostly enjoy “Tempus Fugit.” If nothing else, the pain Ichabod feels when he stabs Katrina to death is real, and Henry (John Noble) returning to escort his mother into the afterlife is very moving. As I’ve said before, the chemistry between Beharie and Mison is absolutely fantastic, and it is well used in this hour. But that’s not enough if the story can’t play out in a cohesive, logical manner. I’d say SLEEPY HOLLOW has Glee syndrome, doing the emotion well, but frequently dropping the ball on its larger arcs, not taking the time to make each new week match up with what has already been established.

If SLEEPY HOLLOW gets a third season, and that’s a big if at this point, we’re in major need of a reset. That is sort of telegraphed when Jenny (Lyndie Greenwood) shows up with a “cured” Irving (Orlando Jones) at the end. In this reset, real care needs to be taken to craft a structure for a new serial story that pays homage to the past, but basically begins a new adventure for the Witnesses. If the writers can do this, I’d be happy to see it renewed. If not, “Tempus Fugit” feels like a good place to put the show out of its misery, a decent enough episode capping a very uneven, inconsistent season.

SLEEPY HOLLOW Needs An "Awakening"

Article originally written for Seat42F.

Last night’s SLEEPY HOLLOW on FOX is titled “Awakening,” and if anyone in the audience is falling asleep, this hour is sure to correct that. Henry (John Noble) and Katrina (Katia Winter) team up to revive those with witchy powers in the area, intent of setting themselves in the middle of a powerful new coven. Ichabod (Tom Mison) and Abbie (Nicole Beharie) are freshly committed to their mission above everything else, but that is sorely tested in this particular situation.

If taken on its own, “Awakening” is pretty great. The drama of a family torn asunder is compelling, Ichabod prepared to stop his wife and son by any means necessary. The stakes are high, and the pacing is quick. For quite a bit of time, the outcome is murky, those with the upper hand shifting back and forth. By the time Henry is killed, a major event for the series, viewers are sure to be emotionally invested and on the edge of their seats. Tossing Abbie and Katrina back in time at the end is icing on the cake, a heck of a cliffhanger for next week’s season finale.

But I can’t take this episode all on its own, and that’s where the problems lie. Having Henry die in the penultimate episode of the season and posturing Katrina as the Big Bad is fine, and certainly fulfills the wishes of many a fan. But starting an all-new, time-traveling adventure with only an hour left is regrettable. Even more than exploring Purgatory at the close of season one, the past in SLEEPY HOLLOW begs for further examination. Abbie should spend some serious time there, and by not allowing her to do so, as I can’t imagine the season finale will end without her getting home, the series is squandering a heck of a third season premise.

Far worse, though, are the inconsistencies in character motivations. Katrina is a big offender, having hinted at changing sides during her captivity with Henry, but then seemingly recommitting to Ichabod and Abbie’s team later. Standing by Henry’s side makes sense, since she is his mother, but we need to see her wrestle with the decision more and understand why she is changing her mind again. Similarly, Henry has almost nothing but distain for both of his parents (Katrina far more deservedly than Ichabod) right up until the moment he decides to work with his mom. I assume he’s only using her, as it makes no sense for him to forgive her, but we don’t see that.

Ichabod is much better handled, as he has been struggling with putting down Henry, and in “Awakening,” finally agrees that it must be done. With the fate of the world at stake, Ichabod would like to save Henry’s soul but realizes he doesn’t have the means or the time to do so. Being OK with Henry dying, yet still running to his side as he slips away, is the perfect way to end Ichabod’s indecision, completely consistent for the role.

After Henry dies, Irving (Orlando Jones) seems to become good again. Sadly, Jenny (Lyndie Greenwood) accepts this far too easily. It’s likely Irving really is cured of Henry’s control over him now that Henry is dead, but Jenny has no way of knowing that. Why does she give in so easily?

Finally, as Abbie is arrested in the past, quite appropriate for the time and circumstances, she asks for Ichabod Crane. This makes absolutely no sense. Abbie is there prior to Ichabod’s hibernation and he would have no knowledge of her, nor his role as a witness. Why not ask for Thomas Jefferson instead, whom is part of the group guiding Ichabod to his destiny? It seems much easier to get someone already mostly in the know to believe her story than a man who has never met her, no matter how close they end up being in the future.

Which brings us to next week’s season, possibly series, finale. What do I want from it? Well, I want Katrina to succeed in saving Henry, at least partially, so John Noble doesn’t have to leave the cast. I also want a reset, possibly with a changed set of circumstances in our present day because of what happens in the past. This will allow the writers to play with the familiar, bring back beloved characters who’ve died, and hopefully clear out a lot of the missteps they’ve made this year in story and character. Above all, I want consistency next year, something SLEEPY HOLLOW sorely lacks in its sophomore run, with a mythology-heavy plot, not case-of-the-week crap. But those are simply my wishes, so we’ll see.

At this time, as a fan, and not a fair-weather one, as I’ve stuck it out and rooted for the best, I almost think the show deserves to be canceled, even if it ends without tying anything up, as it likely will next week. If season three is going to be like season two, I’d rather it not go on. However, if they can get back to what made the end of season one so special, then I’d like to see that.

SLEEPY HOLLOW airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on FOX.