Sleepy Hollow 1.10 Review: The Price of Living

Anyone that has yet to watch Monday night’s episode of Sleepy Hollow, entitled ‘The Golem’, this would be the time to do that. This is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! Proceed at your own discretion.

In my opinion, this week’s episode was incredibly well done. And I say that, despite having to watch it on the Internet because my stupid DVR skipped the recording. This was the perfect continuation of last week’s episode, where Ichabod learned he had a son. We actually got to see a bit of what happened to the boy, and what his name was. The only thing I do have to say, is that his death better not mean they’re done with his character because you cannot just drop a bombshell like that one week, and then just expect nothing more of it the next. I think that the season finale should have the hex lifted to stop his heart, and he’ll be alive for next year, but more neatly written then that.

Alright, so I realize everyone is feeling like Abby and Ichabod, because they are the two witnesses and because of their “chemistry”, is a couple worth shipping, but I am still adamant that they don’t work that way. Ichabod just has way too much chemistry with Katrina for there to be any other woman in his life, romantically speaking. I mean, did no one see these two and their ability to convey such passion between them when they’re in purgatory? And even if Katrina were to eventually die, I don’t see Abby and Ichabod working out as couple, even though they’re the only two they can share their fate with because they have very little chemistry in a romantic capacity. They work brilliantly as friends, and wonderfully as partners, but if they were to start up a relationship it would seem more as one of convenience. Okay, that’s all I’ll see; I’ve made my peace with it now, I think.

When it comes to the characters and the acting, I have to say that Ichabod is brilliant, and someone I constantly want to listen to speak – both because of his accent and his eloquent use of the English language… Why can’t people speak like that these days? Anyways, I also think Irving is my third favourite character (behind Ichabod and Katrina), and that Orlando Jones plays him superbly. My one problem with this series lies with Abby. I just find that her use of tone grates with me and doesn’t make her acting anymore natural – and it wasn’t seeming that way to begin with. And while she didn’t seem to do it nearly as much this week (yay, improvement!), she definitely is one to overact with her facial movements. It’s very distracting having her on screen sometimes; she may even be my least favourite character of this series. Also, I’m still having trouble differentiating Henry Parrish from Walter. I just… don’t think his character is as good, or as unique as he could be.

All in all, this was a very enjoyable episode. I loved the rush to find out what had happened to Ichabod’s son, and then the grief in having to let him go. Also, I really enjoyed Irving’s interactions with his ex-wife, and his apology to her, and especially his daughter (played by the lovely Amandla Stenberg, whose acting abilities will really take her places). This series can definitely be a hit and miss each week, particularly with its pacing of the story, but for the most part I think it was very adept at getting the point across this week. Although, I do think they seemed to wrap up what happened to the son rather quickly, but there are only two episodes left in the season, and that does make for a need to rush. Sure, twenty-two episodes may have meant a few filler episodes, but this twelve episode business is not making the story any tighter, and just increases the need for rushing progression, and I really think that detracts from the overall story. Also, I’m not really caring that it seems Moloch is going after Abby’s soul; I kind of couldn’t care less about her character. Honestly, her sister is kind of more interesting than she is.

My rating: 8 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“If your God has a plan, who’s it for – me or Him?” – Irving asks.

“Without books we have neither a past or a future.” – Ichabod states.

“That is not a choice you were given, my friend.” – Henry tells Ichabod.

“When did irony become a national pastime?” – Ichabod questions.

“You’ve embroidered my name on some oversized hosiery, how… odd.” – Ichabod remarks, regarding the Christmas stocking.

Okay, so I’m going to probably watch Trophy Wife and then call it quits tonight. I am so exhausted still, and this headache is threatening to become a migraine, so I’ll probably make it quick. Stay tuned.

Sleepy Hollow 1.09 Review: Family Lineage

For all those that have yet to watch last night’s episode of Sleepy Hollow, entitled ‘Sanctuary’, this is your last chance to do so before proceeding ahead into spoiler territory. This is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

Now that was an hour chock full of tantalizing and exciting new information. So, Ichabod and Katrina had a son; now that is an intriguingly surprising turn of events that I’m quite happy with. Knowing that now, I’m actually starting to wish we were getting a full twenty-two episode season, rather than the guaranteed thirteen and thirteen. Still, I look forward to how the end of this season is written.

This episode definitely had it’s good and it’s bad. Bad was definitely the shaky, uneven cinematography as well as the terrible lighting that made it far too difficult to orient where everything was. Also, I kind of liked the bodyguard, so it’d have been nice if he hadn’t died, although that’s more my disagreeance with the writing rather than the overall episode. Good was both the segue into the title sequence with Abby’s statement about being in a haunted house, and the perfection that was emotional Crane.

Tom Mison was beyond brilliant in this episode. I mean, honestly, for the tearing up and catching in his stance upon hearing Katrina had been pregnant was absolutely phenomenal. The man made me feel for him in such a real, gritty kind of way. And then to tack on his anger towards the creature that had threatened his wife and child was fantastic, although it could’ve used some instrumentals behind it, little, or some type of noise. Then for him to come out covered in blood was just the cherry on top of the cake, so magnificent. This man deserves an award for merely that emotional moment inside the house as they looked for Lena. Honestly, it was so wonderful.

Otherwise, I am curious to learn more about Irving and his daughter. I’m guessing it has something to do with her being in that wheelchair, but that’s just me assuming. Maybe it was because of a car accident, or the man had someone come after him and his daughter got in the crossfire, I don’t know. The young actress does seem to make the character interesting, so I would like to see her around some more. Also, I find it very interesting that they seem to be pushing Irving and Jenny towards each other. Jenny may not like the guy now, but it’s cliché how often that leads to eventual romance. While she seems like she’s young enough to be his daughter, it might be an interesting pair. But then, any pair is more interesting than those that are delusional enough to think Abby and Ichabod are anything more than just partners. The man is married, for Christ’s sake, stop acting like that doesn’t mean anything, especially now that there was a child involved.

Anyways, for the most part this was a good episode. This series certainly has its pitfalls, but what show doesn’t? I do feel like this series does, at times, take itself too seriously, and also the young woman that plays Abby (whose name currently escapes me, and I don’t feel the need to look up) over exaggerates her expressions, as well as when she speaks, but otherwise this series can be good. For the first two minutes, though, I did think Lena and her bodyguard were better than the leads, but I still love Ichabod.

My rating: 7 out of 10.

Best Line:

“You’ve surely come to realize by now, lieutenant, that when the two of us are involved, rarely is a coincidence, a coincidence.” – Ichabod shares his wisdom with Abby.

Okay, I’m off to watch The Blacklist in a minute, so stay tuned.

Sleepy Hollow 1.06 Review: Sometimes We Need to Forgive Ourselves

Anyone that has yet to watch yesterday’s episode of Sleepy Hollow, titled ‘The Sin Eater’, then I suggest that now would be a good time to do so before reading ahead. This is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! Proceed at your own discretion.

For a series with only thirteen episodes in a season and thus cannot throw away episodes, this one sure felt like a filler to me. Sure, it introduced the character Henry Parrish and his ability to eat sins, and it dissolved the connection between Death and Ichabod, but otherwise there wasn’t an overall movement to the episode. And besides, it seemed a bit early to cut the connection between Death and Ichabod, but that could just be my opinion.

I was really disappointed with this week’s episode. Other than the flashbacks that showed how Ichabod came to fight under General Washington, there wasn’t much I liked about this episode. To me it felt kind of blah, like not much thought went into it. I knew after the pilot episode going into this series that each episode would basically be resolved by the end, but that’s not helping it to blend together very well, and it’s beginning to cause me to lose interest, which is sad because I absolutely adore Tom Mison.

The writing isn’t completely working with this series. Other than my belief that the individual episodes aren’t quite stringing together well enough, the idea that Ichabod could be as cheery as he is sometimes when his wife is held captive in some sort of purgatory astounds me. Perhaps following a miserable Brit would be less than fun, but I’d like to at least see him trying to find a way to her, or subtle hints that add up each episode. Also, it’s my fear that if she is ever rescued, all that means is that her soul is set free to go to heaven, or wherever, and that this series will move forward with a relationship between Ichabod and Abby. And let me tell you, they have no sexual chemistry with each other, at all. Until recently I didn’t even consider them a possibility, until websites like TVLine gave a refresher on how couples were doing and all I could say was no. Every time I look at them with those subtle looks in this episode, the romantic chemistry felt forced and wrong. They’re partners, they work well as friends, they fit together as sibling-like characters, but they don’t have any romantic chemistry together. And this is not me in denial, I just don’t see any form of spark.

While I was looking forward to the introduction of Henry Parrish, after missing the actor since the conclusion of Fringe, there wasn’t much the intrigued me about him other than the sadness I got from his situation. The man looked miserable, all secluded with his plants, and I felt for him, but I didn’t see much he could add to this series. Besides, it felt like this sin Ichabod felt he had clung to was just randomly thrown in to bring this guy in. No mention of it before, but suddenly it’s there. Like I said, I’m growing quite disappointed in this series. And I loved Fringe, so I can’t understand why the creators of that series could seem to make a mess of this one. At least on Fringe there were little hints to be had that strung the episodes together, but I’m not getting that here. But again, that’s more to do with the writing – which I seem to be running back to – then anything to do with Henry Parrish.

All in all, these actors envelope their characters well enough, although I do find Abby’s expressions are over exaggerated, but the writing doesn’t seem to match to their abilities. Basically what I’m saying is that the acting is good, but the writing just isn’t up to par. Maybe I’m expecting too much of these creators, maybe it’s like with Fringe where the first season was a bit slower than the rest. If that’s the case, I will try to give them the benefit of the doubt and wait to see how season two goes before I fully commit to letting go of this show. I mean, I love the gothic style to it, but the police part is less than interesting.

My rating: 6 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority agrees.” – Katrina wisely states.

“The love of power is the demon of all men.” – Arthur Bernard says to Ichabod.

Okay, just one more show to catch up on with a review. Before I do that for The Blacklist, though, I have to go run over to Shoppers, so check back in about an hour.

Sleepy Hollow 1.02 Review: A Long Burning Revenge

If you don’t have this routine down by now, let me reiterate. All those that have yet to watch the second episode of Sleepy Hollow, titled ‘Blood Moon’, that aired last night, and wish to do so spoiler free, now would be a good time to exit this review. As with all my reviews, there is a chance that there are spoilers ahead. THIS BLOG MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

Jumping right into things, I’ll begin with a couple things I liked about this episode. I’m definitely happy to see John Cho still kicking around. When I heard he wasn’t going to just be a one-off character, I thought maybe it would be due to flashbacks of some kind, or perhaps a spirit of some sort, but he’s back in the flesh, neck wrinkles and all. I do think he was a little monotone in this episode, for the most part, but otherwise he wasn’t too bad. I particularly liked when he disappeared from behind Abby when she turned around, typical scary movie kind of stuff.

I was really excited to see that this series has opening credits, although they could’ve been longer. Too few shows nowadays have more than just a title credit, especially network shows in this day, and I may be one of the few that enjoys having them, but I think they help to illuminate the type of show a person is watching. I am surprised there are only four series regulars evidenced in the opening credits, and also seeing Irving in there, he wasn’t all that present in this episode, but perhaps he will in future episodes.

While very little to do with the episode overall, I am excited to see Len Wiseman as an executive producer of this show, backing up a couple of the Fringe series creators. Helps me think I can expect great things from this series. I definitely get the Fringe vibe off this show, being that it is a procedural type series with something more, although this time is more supernatural than sci-fi.

From this episode alone, the make-up department deserves some type of award. I’m guessing they were in charge of the burnt witch, because it doesn’t look like computer graphics to me, and I applaud their capabilities. So many times people go the CGI route, and on TV it doesn’t often look that natural because it’s too expensive to do that. If this was TV make-up, I’m happy to see them going the Buffy route, using props and make-up to make it appear realistic, especially being that this is ten years after that series concluded. The villainous witch in this episode just looked so realistically like burnt flesh that it helped to immerse myself into the episode.

Compared to the pilot, I don’t think this episode was quite as good, but I understand that this show still kind of needs to find it’s footing, in which way it’s going to go, direction wise. It was good enough that I expect to continue watching, and there were parts I greatly enjoy, but I do think there could have been a bit more. Particularly with the ingredients the witch needed for her spell to be made flesh again, I think only needed the ashes of two people was a little lacking. I would’ve expected more deaths than that would be needed to bring someone back to life. Especially since family trees after two hundred plus years can end up stretching to encapsulate a large group of people.

Just a few questions before I sign off. Why is Death the only horseman that came to town? Why was he the one to come first? Being that this headless horseman ties in with the four horsemen of the apocalypse, why Death? He is first introduced during a war, so shouldn’t War have been the first horseman? I expect we’ll get answers to these questions as the series progresses, but they’re just something to ponder.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Best Lines:

“Something got in there and snapped his head backwards like a Pez dispenser.” – Abby, referring to Dunn’s death in the previous episode.

“I will literally pay you to stop talking.” – Abby to Crane, after he explains things in great detail.

All right, I’m now off to go watch and review The Blacklist, so check back in an hour or so for that. Then follow up later with my reviews for New Girl, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Trophy Wife, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.