Sleepy Hollow continues the tale begun in Washington Irving’s short story about a moderate man and a headless horseman. The show transplants a confused Ichabod Crane into modern time and pits him against the coming signs of the apocalypse. Here is a recap and review of the pilot.
Recap:
Hudson Valley, New York. 1781. The Revolutionary War is afoot. Ichabod Crane finds himself battling an eerie masked man – a man impervious to death – on a white horse. With an axed divot in his chest, Crane falls, still alive because the laws of the universe ignore men who look like him, and manages to cleave the rider’s neck. Welcome to the world, Headless Horseman.
Fast-forward to 2013 in the Village of Sleepy Hollow. Crane awakes from an epic nap and crawls out of a cavernous grave to gawk at modern transportation that almost struck him down on a foggy road. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Abby Mills and Sheriff Corbin get called to investigate something funky at a stable. Of course a storm is brewing and there’s no one around. Abby finds the resident, headless in the stable, and open fires on the other figure. But you can’t kill an immortal Headless Horseman. He decapitates the sheriff and rides off into the night.
The police backup runs (almost literally) into Crane, who still doesn’t understand traffic. They assume he’s the killer because … someone needed a way to move the story forward. At the police station, Crane is hooked up to a polygraph for a clever way to deliver exposition. He defected from the Queen’s army to work under General Washington. His wife, Katrina, was a nurse. He lost consciousness and woke up over 200 years later. Naturally, everyone except Abby thinks he’s insane.
She transports him to the psych ward via the cavern. They find a Bible that a priest gave Crane before his slumber with the book of Revelations marked. That headless man impervious to death … he is death and one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. And the Revolutionary War … it was going to determine the world’s fate.
Finally making it to the psych ward, a perfect location for their chat, Abby reveals that when she and her sister were in high school they encountered something strange in the forest: four white trees, voices, an emerging figure. Her sister went crazy, and now Abby occasionally doubts her perception.
Later on, Abby sneaks into Sheriff Corbin’s office and stumbles across a key leading her to the ever-popular secret file cabinet. It contains recordings about witches being killed, papers on occultism, her and her sister, and other weird stuff. But, her research is cut short when Captain Irving barges in.
Crane envisions his wife, who is trapped in limbo by the Dark One, and she tells him that her grave, protected by her coven of witches, hides the Horseman’s skull. When Crane killed the Horseman, they became linked. When the Horseman was awakened, so was Crane. Whatever happens, the Horseman cannot get a hold of his head or the world is doomed.
Officer Andy Brooks, not as surprised as one would assume when finding a Headless Horseman in one’s home, leads the Horseman to the church graveyard where Abby and Crane are digging up the skull. The good guys live to fight another day since the Horseman started smoking in the sun. Abby reveals she’s no longer leaving for the FBI, because you know, there’s a headless horseman on the loose. Crane believes they are the two witnesses brought together for seven years of tribulation to defend humanity from the forces of hell. No pressure.
A horned beast appears at Andy’s cell saying, “You failed.” He begs for another chance but loses his head. Abby sees the beast in a mirror, which promptly spider cracks.
Review:
Sleepy Hollow delivered a laudable pilot that sets up all the basics while still containing a captivating story of two people bonded together to become heroes against the supernatural. Rooting the idea in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow along with the Bible and American history is a genius mash-up that gives the show a unique potential.
The relationship between Abby and Ichabod, grounded in common goals for the greater good, is arguably of central importance because of their status as witnesses to the signs of the coming apocalypse. The amusement and slight annoyance that they each have towards one another slowly built throughout the episode into a subtle trust. The two leads, Nicole Beharie and Tom Mison, seem to have a natural chemistry that worked to cement the believability of this trust despite her coworkers differing theories. Their bond is not so much a tale of unlikely friendship as it is a tale of taboo understanding allowing the opportunity to build Abby’s strength or reveal more of her own self-doubt when others question her faith in him.
With Ichabod being displaced in time, there are plenty of possibilities for humorous instances that the pilot seized. Between Ichabod’s fascination with car windows, confusion at the number of Starbucks that exist (a number I appreciate), and shock at women wearing pants (also appreciated), the writers shaped his character into an intriguing social commentator. These quips, if included sparsely enough not to become too goofy, would be an enjoyable recurrent idea.
The world’s look was beautifully captured in this episode – the grand and vivid scenery from the Revolutionary War to the Horseman rising out of the river to the spooky cavern and graveyard. It contained some interesting camera angles, which could be attributed to director Len Wiseman being more versed in directing movies. As odd as it is on television to see the screen flipped upside down as a police car drives by, to have a point-of-view shot from a dying priest, or to observe an apartment from the door’s peep hole, these shots contributed to the distorted world in which the character’s now live and worked well as creative choices under the story’s circumstances.
But, the pilot was not without its flaws. Abby’s storyline of considering the FBI seemed like too obvious of a way to show her greater job aspiration – the audience knew better than to believe she would actually leave. On a more opinionated level, the fact that Ichabod’s time-travel and vision of his wife was simply explained with magic took away slightly from the legend. While I’m sure magic, and Katrina, will prove to be valuable aspects, the lack of clarity in the original short story gave room for more reader imagination.
All in all, Sleepy Hollow has the potential to grow into an enthralling series. What was with Captain Irving’s suspicious look after finding Abby in the sheriff’s office? How is Andy connected to all of this? Will Crane discover electric razors? Is it going to take them seven years to tell this story? Judging by the preview for episode two, it appears they’ll be following a “case of the week” formula with the central story brewing in the background. I, for one, am looking forward to this season.
What did you think of the pilot? Come talk about it on our Sleepy Hollow forum! And if you missed it, you can find it here: iTunes – Amazon Instant Video
