4 out of 5

Created by: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Phillip Iscove, Len Wiseman

Covers season 1

I’m not sure what prevents me from jumping head-first into a five star rating for this, but there’s just something that holds back on the show that keeps it from being a non-stop kick in the pants.  Considering how amped up selected moments can get, it might actually be some wise planning by the creators to try and pace things out for a couple seasons worth of plotting.

I think we were all a little surprised by how the premise was adapted: this isn’t a retelling of Sleepy Hollow, nor is it simply a ‘Ichabod Crane of Sleepy Hollow fame wakes up in the present’ time twister, rather its something a blend between the two.  The tale of ‘Sleepy Hollow’ doesn’t exist in the world in which Crane wakes, so a headless horseman isn’t seen as an inevitability.  It seems odd at first but it was the right decision, as it gives the show a chance to twist things to its own mythology, making the horseman – womp – one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, bid forth by demon guy Moloch.  As we learn more about Moloch’s plans – and about the role of Lt. Abbie Mills, an officer who gets wrapped up in the Crane nonsense early on and end up believing his story about dying in the 1700s then waking up in the forest in present day – we also get sensible (relative to the supernatural world of the show) explanations as to the Why of all of this – Why now?, Why him?, Why headless? and etc.  The show doesn’t take a clear divide between monster-of-the-week eps and world-building eps, which is nice but part of that held back feeling – you’re never quite sure how much to invest in the details, if they’re going to be dismissed as distraction or end up tying into something larger.  I do not want to discourage this (WORDS FROM ME AND THE SHOW TURNS INTO A ROMANTIC COMEDY) because I think it’s allowing for things to develop a bit more organically overall, building Crane and Abbie’s relationship pacedly instead of forcing them right away into ‘this is fated to be’ territory,  and here I feel the need to try and justify my four star vs. five star again but, uh, I won’t.

The effects and creepos on the show are really well done.  Yes, there are some things that have that light touch of CGI, but they sprinkle it about in an already ‘heightened’ looking world of gloomy colors and heavy shadows and dramatic angles, so it works.  The creature design has been aces, especially because they get the whole ‘unseen’ aspect of creepy, never really reveling in glory shots of golems or demons or etc, and using an easy but effectively disconcerting technique of blurring Moloch when he’s on screen – something I’m glad they stuck to through the season.

Tom Mison and Nicole Beharie as our principles have wonderful chemistry, and props to Mison for committing to the out-of-time persona – I never once felt like I was watching a sassy Brit just act like he lived during the Revolution… total immersion in the role, and that was key for this quirky plot working.  It helps that the writers kept the “how do these modern contrivances work” jokes to a minimum, but also make Crane human – he learns how to use cell phones and about modern fashion, but prefers his old clothes and methods, since they’re comfortable to him. It also helps that John Noble is on the show, because he’s awesome.

Overall, some of the point A to B to C negotiations of the leads piecing together the story (and thus expositioning it to us as well) get a little wayward, distracting from the relatively tight plotting at the core as well as undercutting some week-to-week events, but Sleepy Hollow is one of the smartest, most fun, well-rounded (casting, design, action, actors) and interesting of the modern ‘supernatural’ shows, giving us an ideal blend of popcorn and plotting for a rewarding weekly viewing experience.