For The Triumph of Evil: Sleepy Hollow Keeps Me Watching

Well, well, well, this is the first episode that really gave me the creeps and it was exactly what I have been wanting from this show.  Honestly this was the first episode I truly enjoyed!  But, I can't help but wonder if I love this show for the right reasons.  Sleepy Hollow reminds me of so many other things, a lot of it feels unoriginal, reminding me of TV shows and movies that I happen love.  Does it's lack originality make it a bad show?  No, but I would love to see it break away from norms and give us a new and body original plot line.

Keeping in tone with it's Supernatural-like story line, Ichabod and Abbie fight a new demon this week, with the end of the world looming in the over-arching plot line.  The show opens with Abigail Mills being trapped in a weird and super creepy dream.  Dreams obviously play an important role in this series which is great!  You can do literally anything in this dream.  And Abbie's dream was a doosey!  For the first time I was really creeped out by the all white sandman type monster (fyi I typed this before they actually called him the Sandman, I'm pretty proud of myself).  NOW I'm interested!  I got a chill for SURE!  This is the kind of monster I was waiting for, this is the kind of body rocking chill I expected when I started watching.... One question though, Why hasn't anybody gotten Ichabod modern clothes?  He's been wearing the same outfit for awhile.

The dream sequences in this episode kept me going with their delicious creepiness! That wonderful tight nervous feeling you get in you chest when your heart starts to flutter and you want to turn away but you also can't stop watching.  This is the fear we all love!  Creepy Sandman white faceless monster was FANTASTIC!!  This monster is right up there with Leatherman from American Horror Story!  Ooooh, oohh, that part when he walked behind Abbie in Mr. Galezby's house I literally went "woo!" in fear and excitement.  Really it was a beautiful character design, I just adored it.

Beyond the fact that I loved this weeks monster, I am more and more impressed with Tom Mison's ability to move past his good looks and make a bit of a fool of himself as Ichabod.  I grew up with my parents reading me "Disney's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" book.  Ichabod was made out to be awkward, superstitious, smart and butt ugly.  Well they got 3 of 4 things on Fox.  I really do like his Crane.  His bit with the scorpion venom was just precious.

The biggest problem for me with this episode is how much it felt like Constantine.  I mean, it literally felt like I was watching the movie (trust me, I've seen it like 20000 times).  If you haven't seen it, it pretty much follows the plot of this episode.  In Constantine, there is a tough cop named Angela who denies her abilities as a psychic that her twin sister, Isabel, never gave up on.  Isabel gets locked up in a mental institution and Angela does everything to deny the demons she saw growing up.  Enter a tall dark and handsome man, Constantine, who is a psychic himself.  Constantine forces Angela to face the demons she once saw.  Sound familiar?

This episode, despite being so close to Constantine, really impressed me.  Episode 4 here I come.

Sleepy Hollow Premiere (spoilers)

Filled with unnecessarily melodramatic camera angles and tricks, a kind of "I feel like I've seen this before" plot and music that sounds like it was ripped strait out of Sherlock... and the Headless Horseman with a semi-automatic.... Really?! Sleepy Hollow has one thing going for it though... a really engaging cast.  I was able to get past all of the flaws in the plot and filming, just because I wanted to see more of Tom Mison and Nicole Beharie... and I will watch Orlando Jones and John Cho in anything.  I'm kinda glad I watched through, because the episode did have its creepy moments.  I may have had one of two touches of the willies.  Oh get your mind out of the gutter.  

Tom Mison as Ichabod Crane was not a casting choice I understood.  Yes of course, Johnny Depp is sexy, but Johnny plays a great fool.  I didn't see handsome Mison playing kind of awkward scholarly Crane... but he pulls it off.  There is a charming innocence in his performance, combined with his rugged good looks and his lovely lovely accent I fell more and more in love with this portrayal of Crane...  Even if his brush with concrete was a bit Hocus Pocus-y.

Nicole Beharie scored her biggest break in this years Jackie Robinson biopic 42.  I feel like she really is the head and shoulders of this show (man I am just FULL of puns).  She gives a solid performance in a kind of weirdly written show.  I think this a great breakout TV role for her and she seemed to have INSTANT chemistry with Mison.  Since Fringe ended there hasn't really been a super kick ass, no shit taking, no tears woman on network TV and I think Beharie fills the role that Anna Torv left perfectly.

John Cho seemed to be the budding Renfeild of the show and BOOM dead.  At first I was sad to see him killed off so quickly, but from the preview it seems that he may not be as dead as... as well having your head pretty much torn off by a demon.  I hope to see more of Cho, I think he is a brilliant and all too underutilized actor.  The real eye catcher for me though was Orlando Jones.  I just love him, he can do no wrong in my eyes.  I don't know what it is but I find him so engaging... And though he didn't exactly fit the character description, he was a kick ASS Ford Prefect.  They seem to be spinning his character towards something sinister which I find all too exciting!

All and all I will give the show a few more episodes before I really decide.  It could go either way, the plot was engaging enough to keep me on, but it felt like they ripped a bunch of other shows apart and glued them into prime time.  I kept thinking, this reminds me of something Supernatural did or, this feels a bit American Horror Story.  I guess we shall just have to wait and see.

Fall Premiers, The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

It's that time of year my friends!  That time of year that makes me feel like I'm  getting ready for the Sadie Hawkins that my high school never threw.  The time of year where I am a wizard and my wand is my remote control.  That's right friends, it's fall premiers.  And while of course I am pumped for my returning faves, it's time to try out some new shows.  Now, I'm a bit terrible when it comes to giving new shows a chance, I generally know within one of two episodes if I'm in or out and 90% of the time I'm out.  But, this year it looks like we have some good'ins, but just my luck I'll get stuck with midseason cancellations (I'm lookin' at you Alcatraz).  So here are the top 5 shows I'm going to give a go, from least likely to keep watching to what will probably be my new favorite.

Sleepy Hollow

9/16 Fox

I have been a fan of the Headless Horseman Story since I was a kid and forced my parents to read Disney's Legend of Sleepy Hollow book over, and over, and over again.  You know, this one:

On top of that, I am probably Tim Burton's biggest fan and watch Sleepy Hollow on loop starting every October, so of course it would only make sense that I would check out Fox's spin on the legend.  Honestly, I don't have much faith in this show.  Ichabod seems a little too hott and waaaayyyy to brave.  And, come on, do we really have to modernize everything....?  Is that the only spin on stories people can think of?  Well, I plan to watch tonight despite my lack of faith, but then again, I had no faith in Fringe and it turned out to be one of my all time favorite TV shows.

Dracula

10/25 NBC

I am a sucker for Vampires, pun not intended.  No, wait, pun totally intended.  This show can go either way.  Dracula is one of my all time favorite novels, so it's going to hard to impress me.  I have been into the vampire genre since before Twilight was a dream in a Mormon mother's mind and Anne Rice was the reigning Queen of the Damned.  I just can't say no to Vampires.  Besides, Jonathan Rhys Meyers is oh, so pretty to look at.

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland

10/10 ABC

Okay, now it should be said I am only watching this show for one reason.  Just one.  Michael Socha, AKA Tom from Being Human. I am just so happy to see some of my favorite actors across the pond make it onto American network TV.  Actually Lenora Crichlow (Annie) also made it on a network show, but it looks so bad even her appearence on it couldn't get me to watch.  Anyway, I really don't enjoy the show Once Upon a Time, so I'm hoping Wonderland is different.  If not I really don't give it one or two episodes... Even if I do love Michael Socha.

The Originals

10/3 CW

It's a Vampire Diaries spin off with all my favorite characters with the exception of Damon.  Need I say more.  No I didn't think so.

The Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D

9/24 ABC

I can't.  It's just impossible to tell you how excited I am for this show.  It's Marvel and Joss Whedon.  It's the perfect combination.  How do I know.... HAVE YOU NOT SEEN THE AVENGERS?!  Get off this page right now if you haven't and watch it.  I'm not even kidding that is an actual command.  Beyond the fact that its a Marvel/Whedon collaboration, this show is an amalgamation of all things I have loved that are now gone.  It's like Fringe meets Heroes meets Torchwood meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets The X Files.  It's perfect... its... its... 

So that's my new fall line up which I am somehow going to cram in the already too many shows that I watch.  Have any suggestions?  Happy to hear you out!

Happy Watching Friends!