Sleepy Hollow 1.08 Review: Selling Your Soul for Vengeance

For all those that have yet to watch Monday night’s episode of Sleepy Hollow, entitled ‘Necromancer’, now would be a good time to go and do that before reading ahead. This is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

This week’s episode was more of what I was looking for: continuity, strong character development, and no focus on the delusional romantic chemistry between Ichabod and Abby. Now we know who the Horseman is, and while it might’ve been better if they kept Death as this eternal Horseman, it does make a lot of sense concerning who they went with. And this will certainly make things more interesting as the apocalyptic battle moves forward.

Can I just say how much I love the Captain? The pilot episode made it out to be like he might be some villain type character, but I’m quite happy that that’s not the way they’ve chosen to go. The actor does a phenomenally hilarious job in his role; I’m just completely surprised this is the first time I’ve seen this guy around. He’s fantastic!

There are a few other things that need to be commented on. First, Abby’s sister looks so much better with her hair down because it’s not completely flattened down. Every time it’s up, it makes her face look dramatically sharp. Also, how did no one think about what if the power got cut off? That was the first thing I questioned when I started the episode, so how could they not think of it. Also, it was pretty obvious Abraham was Death as soon as Ichabod left him and didn’t see for certain that he had been killed.

Overall, this is definitely the way I prefer this series going. This was a much stronger episode than in weeks before. I really loved the way all the good guys were able to come together this episode in a cohesive unit. If they keep things up this way, I will definitely get excited over a second season.

My rating: 7.5 out of 10

Best Lines:

“Seriously?” – the Captain states, regarding Brooks’ unrequited feelings for Abby.

“Nope! Apologies, it’s this way.” – Ichabod remarks, after leading Abby and Brooks in the wrong direction.

“Check your math, Adolph.” – the Captain tells the Hessian.

Okay, apologies for not posting this after the review of Almost Human, but I didn’t feel like watching this last night. Here it is, even though my Internet is currently down, so I don’t know when this will exactly be up…

Sleepy Hollow 1.07 Review: The Regulars are Coming

Anyone that has yet to watch last night’s episode of Sleepy Hollow, entitled ‘The Midnight Ride’, I ask that you do so now before reading ahead. For this is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

This week was much of a continuation of last week’s episode, aside from not having Walter – I mean Henry Parrish – around. We got more of the Headless Horseman these last two episodes than we did in four episodes combined. At least this week it was somewhat resolved by catching the Horseman and he now appears locked up in that supernatural jail cell.

My one big problem with this series is that they appear to resolve things and move the progression of the story along unnecessarily fast. This series already has  a second season pick up, so I don’t understand the need for that. I mean, why kill the other Masons so soon after introducing them? It’s like I can’t even get attached to characters before they’re killed. It’s becoming annoyingly tedious that this series seems to wrap things up all too quickly. Getting progression earlier than necessary is just as bad as having to wait indefinitely for it. Then we just begin to expect things will resolve themselves and we’ll get instant gratification. It’s not a good way to sell a series.

Aside from that, this series had progression with the Captain finally seeing the Headless Horseman, and thus now believing in his existence. I’m happy he found out if only that it means we’ll see more of this guy, and not just more of his constant disbelief. John Cho was also back as Andy Brooks, this time apparently trying to keep Abby safe. I don’t quite understand that angle just yet; it seems a little unbelievable. He also seems to have somehow bewitched Morales as well, Abby’s ex. I’m not sure where they’re going with that either. This series isn’t really predictable, if only for the reason that it seems to be all over the place with its writing that I never really know what’s up, even in the episode sometimes.

The one great thing this series has going for it, aside from maybe the Captain, is Tom Mison and all his British glory. I mean really, the man’s voice is beautiful, he’s always written to speak so eloquently, and the garb he dresses in and long hair actually works for him – and that’s coming from someone who notoriously despises men with long hair. Aside from the decently written episodes, he’s probably what keeps me coming back each week because he really is enough. I love this guy, and think this role is perfect for him, if only the writers knew the direction they were going in with this series, and it had gotten a full twenty-two episode season. Where it is now, we only have six episodes left and I’m really not sure how this season wraps into an overall story arc. But I digress.

As it stands, this was a pretty decent episode, wrapping American history into the writing of it, with Paul Revere’s ride through the colony. It was enjoyable having a nice plug in about how this and the previous few generations have really screwed up the environment. Nice little messages that are easy to write in when a character such as Ichabod exists from one period of time to the next. His character’s breaking of the word smartphone was perfect for him, and his strong dislike of incorrect facts helped make this episode. All in all, it did pretty well this week, although this series seems to be more or less a toss up at times.

My rating: 7 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“Rumours of my demise have been… pretty much true.” – Brooks says to Morales.

“I got you, you headless son of a bitch.” – Irving mutters to himself.

“For further questions, please call Ichabod Crane; the man who beheaded him in 1781.” – Irving sarcastically explains what he’d say to the governor.

“It’s apocryphal what this man is telling these children.” – Crane complains. “Let it go.” – Abby tells him.

“I’m the only one amongst you who doesn’t require medication.” – Crane yammers on, after having told the museum the true account of Paul Revere’s ride.

Alright, that’s going to be all for tonight probably. I will be watching The Blacklist tonight and taking notes, but I don’t think I’m going to be awake enough to post it afterwards. Check back in tomorrow around five or six and it should be up.