Sleepy Hollow, Season 1

[selenak]

Having had the chance to watch the finale now, some thoughts about this show's first season that aren't about Hessians. First of all, something nobody told me when advertising the show to me but which I spotted at once when reading the opening credits was that it was created by that enterprising duo, Orci & Kurtzman, whom I started to notice as scriptwriters for J.J. Abrams in Alias, who also contributed scripts to Lost and Fringe and who did, of course, write the scripts for both Star Trek Reboot outings at the cinema. With this in mind, it was easy to guess what the virtues and flaws of Sleepy Hollow might be.

It's highly entertaining, fast-paced, and stands by its crack. This is a show where a character can ask "Father of the Nation George Washington or Zombie George Washington?" and it's both a serious question and an intentional quip. The partnership that develops between its leads is lovely to watch, all the more so because the female partner isn't treated in anyway as subordinate to the male one by the narrative, and she has other important relationships in her life, notably the one with her sister. Both powerful friendships and messed up family reationships are what I expect from Orci & Kurtzman & their fellow Abrams-schooled scribes, and they delivered. Which is also why I'm totally on board with Henry Parish turning out to be Jeremy; my original guess back when the character was introduced had been that he'd turn out to be a Jeremy and thus an Ichabod descendandant, because I didn't think the fact that a damaged/traumatized man with psychic abilities and the notion that Ichabod had a son with psychic magical abilities who went through hell, and that they cast John Noble as the former, straight after his turn as Walter Bishop (and Walter Bishop's alter ego), would be a coincidence. What I thought, though, was that Henry would give Ichabod a chance to have the family he had missed out on in the present but with the challenge that their seeming biological age was reversed, i.e. Henry was a descendant but because of Ichabod's 200 years in the grave also a replacement father figure. Given how Walter Bishop was both a father and a child quite often on Fringe, I thought, oh, type casting? However, having Henry turn out to be Jeremy is type casting of another kind and even better, because frankly, Moloch, the Horseman and asorted minions, even poor Andy Brooks, are so Evil McEvil that the need of our heroes to fight them is emotionally uncomplicated and their victories narratively assured. Whereas where Orci & Kurtzman in the past in tv, though not so much on the big screen, went above and beyond was when they wrote villains with complicated emotional ties to the heroes whose own pov turned out to be understandable and/or partially valid - Alias with Irina Derevko and Arvin Sloane, the entire Redverse in Fringe and over at writerly cousin Damon Lindelof's Lost Benjamin Linus. That Jeremy after a tortured childhood and two hundred years locked in a grave of which he, as opposed to Ichabod, was conscious, not sleeping, would turn out to be maddened for payback is understandable; and because it's a show produced by the above mentioned gentlemen, of course he blames his parents.

It also works as a mirror/contrast to the story of Abbie and Jenny Mills. Jenny's various stints in institutions, both prison and psychiatric institutions, were partially due to Abbie; both due to Abbie's original refusal to tell the truth about what they'd seen, and later due to Jenny's desire to protect her. But Jenny comes to forgive Abbie; not instantly, but through working together, and the sisters' reconnecting through the season was a great subthread. Incidentally, my money is on Jenny to the rescue as to how at least two of the season's cliffhangers will be resolved. By laws of tv, she's not dead, solely unconscious after the car crash, and the just buried alive Ichabod still has Abbie's phone with a working GPS, which the episode pointed out a couple of times for a reason. Therefore, Jenny will do a Marshal Flinkman in Tuesday (which was an Alias episode in which supporting character Marshall, among other heroics, tracked down buried alive show heroine Sydney Bristow just in time to save her life; those Abrams-schooled scribes like certain tropes!), and she'll also be instrumental in getting Abbie out of purgatory for thematic resonance (Abbie finding herself in a safe place that is also however a prison, the memories she and Jenny lost visualized in the house which she and Jenny talked about earlier in the ep). As to how Frank Irving will be exhonarated, well, I might misremember but I think it was possessed!Morales who actually killed the priest, and thus the DNA would implicate him, not Irving or his daughter. Incidentally, Irving as a character who starts out as a standard boss-of-police-department only to gain dimension and an emotional background later on is also something I expected from O & K, because of Broyles from Fringe and Dixon from Alias. (Though the later was only Sydney's boss as opposed to her partner in s3 by which time he'd long been fleshed out, but you know what I mean.)

On the downside, while partnerships and messed up family relationships are usually their forte, romances rarely are. (Says she whose opinion on Sydney/Vaughn and Olivia/Peter went from toleration to dislike depending on the season.) Nothing to dislike so far on Sleepy Hollow, it's just that while the show keeps mentioning Morales is Abbie's ex, he's an incredibly bland character, there is no sense as to what might have drawn her to him in the first place or of any lingering emotional connection, and thus both his and Brooks' fixation on Abbie comes across as more Because Why Not than being believable or a valuable part of her backstory. And poor Katrina through the season is saddled with being the Exposition Witch, delivering warnings and backstory to Ichabod, helping to convert him to the Rebel's cause in the past and giving him someone to rescue in the present, but not as a character in her own righ. Mind you, this could change; it's nothing that's not fixable if you give her scenes that aren't about providing backstory to Ichabod or being a damsel, and I really DON'T want the show to kill off the character because that would smack of taking the easy way out (not to mention it would make me suspect we're headed for an Ichabod/Abbie romance, and I appreciate their platonic partnership - and am burned by Fringe, so badly burned, because I had originally liked Olivia's relationship with Peter Bishop before it turned romantic).

Much in the way of logic is also not something you want from an O & K plotted tale. I mean, never mind the operetta Germans, I may have missed something but I'm not clear as to why Moloch & Co. were ever invested in the victory of the Loyalists/the British Army. Not that I'm against the idea of the British Empire being supported and ruled by demons! (Though it's a tad unfair to Mr. Pitt and "Farmer" George III., about whom Byron memorably wrote I grant his household abstinence; I grant/His neutral virtues, which most monarchs want/I know he was a constant consort; own/He was a decent sire, and middling lord./All this is much, and most upon a throne;/As temperance, if at Apicius' board,/Is more than at an anchorite's supper shown./I grant him all the kindest can accord;/And this was well for him, but not for those/Millions who found him what Oppression chose..) I just think that any self respecting demon would soon realise the empire with a future to support is the American one. Also, when our heroes went through the requiste old books and came across a depiction of Moloch, it suspiciously resembled a William Blake painting, despite the book in question being supposedly medieval. (Though it wouldn't suprise me to learn William Blake was a time traveler. Would totally explain his claim to have chatted with the Prophet Ezekiel!) (Incidentally, wasn't Blake pro American and French Revolution?) As is most show's want when having a character from Olden Times (= any time predating the 20th century), Ichabod Crane manages to have magically escaped any bias of his time of origin. He was anti slavery and has no problem working with a woman; he was best buddies with the Indians and is shocked to learn of their post American Revolution fate. (Because clearly, all that land grabbing by settlers only started after the Brits were gone.) The only time the show addresses the fact that maybe not all of the American Revolution was about Truth And Justice For Everyone a bit is when Ichabod, Abbie and Frank Irving have that chat about Jefferson, which was all very well but Jefferson was hardly the only Founding Father or American Revolutionary who owned slaves. But hey - history is also not something one expects out of a O & K produced how. (I do hope for a Rambaldi tie-in one day, though. The red ball must turn up SOMEWHERE!)

In conclusion: charming and entertaining tv. I look forward to the next season and more partnership and convoluted family relationship goodness. I also expect that come s3 at the latest, fannish disgruntlement will start, but who knows? The pattern could always change. As Abbie pointed out to Ichabod, there is always another way.

Comments

[ratcreature]

I think what would be cool in a show with such a time traveler, is if the character was say progressive for their time, and thinks of themselves as such, but actually had the time appropriate attitudes of the forward thinking crowd then. And then has to struggle to adjust even if they think of themselves as open-minded. That would take research though. I mean, Ichabod could have been against slavery, but still think Europeans were inherently more advanced and have trouble with black people in leader positions, and then become aware and cope with his racism.

[selenak]

I hear you. I think this show, like many others, is afraid of subtleties because they think that would brand their time travelling character as unsympathetic, i.e. he's either completely free of racism, or he's evil and racist. But he can't be anti slavery and thinking of himself as progressive while still subconsciously expecting black people to be in subordinate, not leader positions. Or someone who has read Mary Wollstonecraft (and is in favour of her ideas) but still takes some adjusting to the reality of Abbie as a cop, or many women in every day positions that they simply didn't have in his time.

ETA: incidentally, this is why I was so impressed when the film Agora let Hypatia be a progessive heroine in terms of philosophy and science...but also someone who owned slaves and saw absolutely nothing wrong with it, whereas the narrative did (there is a difference) and called her on it.

Going back to the late 17th century, two famous rl examples of how whom British citizens sympathized in the revolution didn't mean they were also progressive (or not) in other areas: James Boswell rooted for American independence but was also firmly pro slavery, whereas Dr. Johnson, completely a Tory who had no sympathy for rights for women and none for revolutions of any kind, was also completely anti slavery and famously and devastatingly said re: American Revolutionaries, "how is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty from the drivers of negroes?" It was never clear cut.

[ratcreature]

I think it's also avoided because more nuanced prejudices would have to come closer to confronting current racism, and not just put it into the past.

[thirdblindmouse]

As much as I'd love to see that combination, I think the likelihood that we'll ever see a time traveler with progressive views appropriate to their time periods are slim. When characters are asking "Father of the Nation George Washington or Zombie George Washington?" it's a sure sign that subtleties of human prejudice aren't going to be examined, even though there is no reason zombies inherently conflict with historical accuracy.

[saturnofthemoon]

You know, I liked the idea of Ichabod/Abbie before you pointed out that this show was from the creators of Fringe. Since I'm not down with Ichabod having to choose between Abbie and Katrina for the fate of the universe or Abbie giving up her memories of Jenny to be with Ichabod, I'll cross my fingers that their relationship stays platonic. I really hope that Katrina isn't a damsel in distress for all of next season and that we get to see her use her witch powers.

[skywaterblue]

I'd actually like to think that it's not 'faux Whedon-style flippant dialogue' that's inherently holding us back, since that's an issue of genre convention and form, not content.

[thirdblindmouse]

...I meant the zombie George Washington.

[nenya_kanadka]

As glvalentine keeps saying, this is a show that enthusiastically flings itself into its tropes, gives no shits, expects you to keep up, and skates by on its delightful characters and buckets of charm. :D I have basically given up on any of the plot making any damn sense (other than "of course we need $thing to defeat Moloch and the End of Days" and "of course Ichabod will now namedrop another Founding Father") but the emotional beats are wonderful, and I'm there for the Abbie-Jenny interactions and the platonic Ichabod/Abbie (I'd say I ship them, except I don't want the women fighting over Ichabod and I do love those rare platonic f/m friendships!). And also Captain Irving, who is getting so much more development than I expected. (It doesn't hurt that Orlando Jones is a cracktastic fandom troll himself IRL.)

As far as historically progressive attitudes go, I thought they were doing well (for TV) with that one conversation about Jefferson. That was well done. But I agree with ratcreature that it would be fantastic to have a character who, while progressive for their time, was not au fait with current understandings of equality.

I am glad I wasn't the only one who expected Henry to be Jeremy's descendent! I was disappointed that they didn't do that in the golem episode, but delighted that they picked that up again here. Though I had really liked Henry as a sidekick, and how he seemed to be coming out of his shell as well as being a help to them. Knowing it was a fakeout all along makes me sad. Though it does explain why suddenly he was in every episode!

I am not worried about anyone's fate except for Irving's. I'm sure they will all be okay : there are enough signals that they will be, given the kind of show it is, it's just going to be fun to see HOW they all come back from their impossible plights. But we didn't really get as much focus on the Irvings in between all the other dashing about, so I worry that things will get worse for them before they get better.

Ridiculous, crazy, show with heart!

[nenya_kanadka]

You have to specify these things! ;)

(Oh, show. XD)

[selenak]

Ridiculous, crazy, show with heart!

That is the perfect characterisation for it. re: Irvings, it's hard to see how it could get worse, so I do have hope the next thing that will happen will be some positive thing. To use an Abbie and Ichabod phrase, I have faith. :)