Sleepy Hollow

Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) is a devoted soldier for George Washington during the Revolutionary War. It's a fight not only against the British but a fight against pure evil. His battle against the headless horseman sends them both into the present. He partners with local cop Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) in Sleepy Hollow to fight evil apparitions. Her sister Jenny Mills (Lyndie Greenwood) is an unscrupulous antiquities dealer. Frank Irving (Orlando Jones) is the police captain. Ichabod's love Katrina Crane (Katia Winter) is a witch. Henry Parrish (John Noble) has a devastating relationship to Ichabod. The fourth season gets a reboot in Washington, D.C. Abbie is gone as Ichabod and Jenny joins a new group to battle tycoon Malcolm Dreyfuss (Jeremy Davies).

This show starts strong. Mison has some fun as a fish out of water. Beharie has a fun platonic chemistry with him. The plot gets more and more convoluted. By season three, the twists and turns have tied the show in knots. The constant injection of new characters left the show in a muddle. The reboot in season four actually works for me. I like the new group and I like Jeremy Davies as the new villain. It regains some stability and good momentum. However, it didn't regain the lost audience.

****ORIGINAL REVIEW****7/10**** This is a non-spoiler review of the pilot episode.

"Sleepy Hollow" is a modern depiction of the "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", a short story by American author Washington Irving.

The name of the main character, Ichabod Crane, is preserved but his persona is very different than the book. The mysterious Headless Horseman is alive and well also, but his significance is altered in a more global way.

The main actor (Tom Mison) is very sympathetic and looks good in the part. Like his accent too. The production has high values, looks very cinematic, with good visuals and fast, interesting editing.

The story progresses rather quickly and after the first episode you will know the whole story. Not any true mysteries after that, but I do hope it'll get more interesting.

I will watch the next episodes. Most of the shows I'm watching are on seasons finale, so not so many alternatives.

Overall (for the pilot): Recommended

****UPDATED REVIEW****9/10**** This is an update review after seeing 1x08:Necromancer

After a couple of mediocre episodes, the series picks up with episodes 1x07 and 1x08 where we starting to get some real answers about what is really happening.

This was a show visually intriguing from the beginning but in the last couple of episodes becomes very artistic and might even become a classic for some of its scenes.

You really see the fight, Good vs. Evil, to become more intimate. More personal. You now see clearly aspects of this, eternal fight, that other movies and series want to avoid.

Ichabod Crane is trying to adjust to his new reality and, between some grotesque scenes and imagery, Tom Mison's performance and style makes it fun to watch!

Overall: If you are bored from all these same-o procedural police series, Highly Recommended.

I just watched the pilot of Sleepy Hollow and was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed it, I like the modern reboot of this classic story. I like the way they have taken the era in which the original Washington Irving story takes place, which gives a nod to the man and story itself and skillfully brings it into the modern day.

Sleepy Hollow blends in elements of magic, horror and mystery. The production values are great, the casting and acting also spot on and I love the creative license they have taken with the story. It's crazy, fun and full of surprises. One of which I really like, is the apocalyptic angle. I also really like the supernatural aspect of it, I'd love to go into more detail, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't watched it yet.

I'm glad to see the networks finally embracing genres like horror -"The Walking Dead" is a great example of how, if done well, and taken seriously, a genre TV show can be a big hit with a large demographic. I'm certain I'm not alone in being over the so called "reality TV" which is neither reality nor proper TV. I'm also sick and tired of the endless cop procedural's that seem to dominate network TV. It's time for new ideas, even if they come from old stories.

If they keep up the good writing, develop the characters properly, keep high production values and hold onto the show runner for more than one season without replacing them, I can easily see this show be a success.

Seasons 1 & 2 are awesome. Great cast, great writing.

The Season 3 cast and writing is a huge down grade. About halfway through Season 3 it becomes almost unwatchable.

Constantly repeating the whole storyline and the current story arc in the dialogue of every episode (I'm now in S2E3) ....another sign of the increasing simplicity of the human race, who don't register this or in fact, need it to follow the series. Thank goodness for double-speed play! Yaaawn.