To be perfectly honest, I have been turning my nose up at Sleepy Hollow since I saw the first preview for it. The concept seemed really lame, and I couldn’t fathom how the 193-year-old short story of the Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane could possibly be a television series.
Well, after viewing the pilot episode, you can count me impressed. Created by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Len Wiseman, and Phillip Iscove, Sleepy Hollow is anything but the classic story, instead we find elements of witchcraft and biblical prophecy shoehorned in to the re-imagined legend – and at least for one episode in, it works.
This first episode begins with Crane in 1781 battling some Redcoats in the Revolutionary War. Things escalate quickly when a mysterious masked horseman takes a bullet but keeps on coming towards Crane, so of course, Crane cuts his head off – but not before the mysterious rider was able to inflict injury on Crane as well. Crane is rushed to a medic and then we cut to the present day to see him waking up in a cave. Bad news is, a certain Headless Horseman has also awakened and is wreaking havoc in the present day Sleepy Hollow.
During this premier episode, Lt. Mills and Ichabod Crane race to prevent the Headless Horseman from obtaining his head; along the way we get hints at many more elements in play in this universe: witches, apocalyptic prophecy, more than one horseman (hint, hint), demons, people from Crane’s time period also showing up in the present day, and some hints that the Revolutionary War was more than it seemed and perhaps Washington had some secrets of his own. It’s pretty clear to see how this series is going to expand beyond just the original short story.
Ichabod Crane in the present day presents a lot of opportunity for some “Fish Out of Water” comedy, and the good news is, it’s actually funny. Tom Mison plays a fantastic Ichabod Crane, but if you were expecting the jumpy, nervous personality we have seen from this character in the past, you’re in for a surprise. Mison plays Crane with a bit more rugged hero, but he certainly isn’t fearless. While Crane is pretty quick to accept that he has woken up in the 21st Century, the police are not so quick to accept that he has been asleep for over 230 years – an aspect I appreciated as opposed to everyone just accepting this as true and moving on. In fact, there is only one person who even considers giving him the benefit of the doubt and not just immediately driving him to a mental institution, and that is Lieutenant Abbie Mills, played by Nicole Beharie.
Overall, I really feel like they nailed this first episode of Sleepy Hollow. The story stayed focused on Crane and the Headless Horseman while dabbling just enough into some bigger picture elements to tease the audience. The show has a lot of potential with Beharie and Mison in the lead with a great supporting cast and the writers have a lot of elements to pull from in both present day and the past; if they can keep the story tight without meandering and expanding too much or too quickly, I think FOX may have a solid series on its hands. That said, this definitely seems like a series that needs to have a beginning, middle, and an end – the story does not seem suited for running for eight seasons then puttering out and ending because the quality has diminished.
I wouldn’t say I am “sold” on Sleepy Hollow quite yet, but there wasn’t much that I didn’t like about the first episode. I am definitely in for at minimum three more episodes to see how things begin to unfold. The characters are interesting, the acting is really solid, and a lot of mysteries have presented themselves that I would like to see expanded upon. I can honestly say that after weeks of assuming this series was going to be garbage, I am now very much looking forward to next week’s episode.