Fall TV First Impressions : Sleepy Hollow

The Show: Sleepy Hollow

Time: Mondays 21:00/20:00 c on Fox

Premise: Ichabod Crane (Tom Mision) wakes up in modern day Sleepy Hollow and partners up with Sheriff Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) in order to stop the Headless Horseman (Headless Horseman).

Pros: Both Mision and Beharie are very charismatic and good in their respective roles. They can also actually deliver the sometimes ridiculous dialogue without seeming too force or worse cheesy.  There is also instant chemistry (romantic or otherwise) between the pair which makes their scenes a delight.  The pilot was a breezy fun ride with a good pace that added in new levels of crazy whenever the story threatened to get dragged down from exposition.

Cons: Ahh yes the exposition, poor Katrina Crane (Katia Winter) has so far been lumbered with the role of being the spiritual exposition character (who is also a dead witch). I know that pilots have to get through a certain about of back story and explain how the basic mythology works but it was kind of hammered home a bit in this opening episode.  Another con is the death of Andy Dunn (John Cho), when will John get to star in a show that last more than a season? I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of his devious character before he was killed off.

Overall: Lets not beat around the bush this is a silly show with a ludicrous premise that somehow by the end of the pilot became even more ridiculous by adding into the crazy mix the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse oh and the Book of Revelation.  Yet even though by all rights Sleepy Hollow should be dead on arrival the kind of show you watch purely to play drinking games to it actually to my complete surprise works.  I don’t expect it to be the greatest supernatural show ever but as long as it doesn’t get too serious and embraces the fun (and having Abbie roll her eyes at the crazy certainly helps) then it could turn into an enjoyable piece of TV .

Will I watch it again: Most definitely just to see how it will work on a weekly basis. I’m not sure if I will last the course of the season (assuming the good ratings stay)  this depends on a couple of factors – I hope it doesn’t turn into a ‘will they won’t they’ love triangle relationship drama because that isn’t my kind of show. Also I hope it stays at the right level of crazy and doesn’t go into Under the Dome, The Following category of characters making dumb decisions for the sake of an even dumber plot.

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