Sleepy Hollow

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.

The television series Sleepy Hollow is very loosely based on a short story written by American author Washington Irving. First published in 1820, 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' is the tale of Ichabod Crane - a school teacher who unsuccessfully competes with Abraham Van Brunt for the hand of Katrina, the daughter of a wealthy farmer. On the night of his rejection by the girl, he is chased by a headless horseman, and is never seen again. This leaves Abraham (who it is later implied was the horseman) to marry Katrina.

The story has been adapted to the screen many times, but with the very little success. By far the best being director Tim Burton's 1999 version - Sleepy Hollow, starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci.

That being said, I was looking forward to seeing what direction this show would take after first reading about it a few months ago. I wasn't expecting too much, but I've always been a sucker for a new sci-fi or supernatural show.

As is the case with most screen adaptations of Irving's story, the only resemblance to the original is that it is based in the fictional town of Sleepy Hollow,and that some of the characters share the same names. As I said earlier, very loosely based.

Without giving too much away, Crane and the Horseman rise from their separate graves at the same time some 250 years after they killed each other in battle. The Horseman (as is pretty standard) is after his head, and it is up to Crane to stop him. The kicker in this, is that the Horseman is actually one of the biblical Horsemen (Death), and if he gets his head back, it will somehow trigger the beginning of the apocalypse.

Naturally, immediately after his resurrection, the Horseman starts beheading people and Crane is arrested on suspicion of the murders. After his arrest, he meets Officer Abbie Mills (who witnessed the Horseman kill her partner), and realising that Crane is important, goes against her superior's orders and teams up with him to stop the Horseman.

After just watching the pilot, I have to say, I'm pretty impressed. While perhaps a little far-fetched, the premise of the story is interesting, and open to many possibilities further down the track. The production values were high. The script seemed pretty solid and the acting and interaction between the actors was surprisingly good considering it is just the first episode. Tom Mison in particular did an excellent job as Ichabod Crane.

Sleepy Hollow definitely shows lots of promise, and if you're a fan of shows like Supernatural, Grimm, Once Upon a Time and the like, I highly recommend you give it a try.

Its witty , funny, fast paced and the action scenes are quite impressive and it does share the same pace and chemistry as the Tim Burton movie. It seems to be going the way of the X files complete with their own version of Deputy director Skinner ( Orlando Jones) and a plot leaning toward a conspiracy that not only threatens the town of Sleepy Hollow but the entire world. The problem with this series may lie with the limitations it seems to be setting on itself by drawing a lot of reference to the Bible. Is there going to be a connection to the Illuminati? There is a lot material that could be explored and the two main characters in Officer Abbie and Ichabad Crane seem to have a lot of questions surrounding them which is a good thing because it gives us the rest of the season to explore. Now with the way the horseman's appetite for heads is going it is safe to say that everyone except the two main characters are going to be expendable (yet another parallel to X files). I for one would like to see how far this series can go.

****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.

As soon as I heard about this new show, I marked it in my phone to remind myself to watch it. As a big fan of the supernatural, I was looking forward to this for a few months now. As a heads up, if you go into this expecting something serious and believable, well, just walk away now. It's meant to be entertaining, and boy is it ever. I thought this show was going to revolve around strictly the headless horseman..but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there's more involved, such as demons and whatnot. And as a huge fan of demonic movies such as Insidious and Sinister, I am now really looking forward to where this show takes us. I don't expect it to win any Emmy's or anything, but if you're bored on a Monday night, this is more than good enough to fill an hour out for you.