TV on DVD: Sleepy Hollow Season One: That went more or less where I expected it to, but I enjoyed the ride. There was…it’s not a long season, but I kind of felt it could have been a little shorter without losing anything, as some of it managed to feel samey-samey despite being a new show and all of that. It’s probably hard to feel entirely fresh and new in a supernatural TV show at this point, but even so.
Nicole Beharie and Tom Mison have wonderful chemistry. I couldn’t decide which of them I liked looking at more. (Fortunately I didn’t often have to choose, since they’re on screen together a lot. :)) The show’s got one of the most solid supporting casts ever, and I think/hope the one link I thought was weakest–Katia Winter–is actually better than the role, which is a little limited.
Actually, I’m almost certain she is better than the role, because of reasons I will illuminate beyond the cut. But seriously, Clancy Brown, John Cho, Orlando Jones? You can hardly go wrong. And Lyndie Greenwood is currently my top choice for Margrit Knight, if I ever got to cast an Old Races show. :)
Know what my FAVOURITE THING about this show was? Crane and Mills TALKED TO EACH OTHER ALL THE TIME. They did not keep secrets from one another. If something was wrong, they told each other. If they were upset, they talked about it. If they were worried or scared, they confessed it.
I have gotten so used to the infuriating Secret Keeping on Arrow, Supernatural, and myriad others that I was surprised EVERY SINGLE TIME Abbie and Ichabod TALKED TO ONE ANOTHER. It got to where Ted and I were kind of like “There they go again, talking about things instead of letting it turn into a total emotional and physical disaster! Whoda thunk!” I loved it.
I did spend the whole show waiting for Ichabod to completely break down, and am moderately disappointed that we only got kind of a nod toward that with the Thanksgiving episode. I mean, I guess they didn’t want to bog the story down with Cope, but really I thought being thrown 250 years out of time deserved a little more angst, even if the humour it was dealt with was often very funny.
A bit more detailed commentary behind the cut…
The bit that gave me hope for Katia Winter was something I’d been Really Wondering about, which was how Katrina would react to her husband’s relationship with Abbie. I got that answer in full force when Crane has to leave Mills in Purgatory and, if you will forgive me the romance book terms, tenderly embraces her. Which is literally and precisely what he does; I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything that can be as well described as a tender embrace as that moment. And they pulled back so we could see Katrina watching that embrace, and her expression was…absolutely perfect. Surprise and uncertainty and understanding and jealousy and sadness and acceptance, and–possibly, although I may be reading this in and don’t know what’ll happen–letting go. All of which was subsumed by the following events, but that’s totally appropriate. And so I figure that if Winter could convey all of that in two seconds with no words, she’s probably a better actor than the role generally allows her to be.
There were a lot of very funny moments, perhaps culminated in Crane’s desire for a new phone. He was so outraged and petulant at the same time. *giggles* I loved that Abbie was Not Down With Haunted Houses–the rest of it, OKAY, she could HANDLE it, but haunted houses were Right Out. And Ichabod’s Nervous Hands when Abbie was trying to get him into modern clothes were great. That was a wonderful expression of discomfort, and it was echoed when he came into the re-enactment camp and–one other time after that, it seems like. So I thought a lot of it was well-conceived and well presented.
As for the season wrap-up (this is about to go into real spoiler territory), I’d sussed out early on–before we learned about Jeremy–that Parish was at least a descendent of Crane’s, and it was pretty clear from the phrasing when we got Jeremy’s story that he wasn’t actually dead, so none of that came as a surprise. I didn’t, however, expect him to actually BE Jeremy, or War. So those were surprises, anyway. :)
I also LOVE LOVE LOVE that there are SO many non-white, non-males in the show. Half the main cast? Not male, and/or not white. Secondary characters? They’re female as often as not. I feel like they’ve made a real effort in much of the show to say “Does this role require a white male? Who else would fit here?” There are plenty of them in the show, but they’re not the focus.
Trying to avoid spoilers for season 2: someone new is brought in, in a position of power, and normally? You’d see a white man in the role. But no – it’s a woman, with attitude, and (iirc) playing someone of American Indian heritage.
AND these non-white roles? They’re not all just there to be foils for the male lead. They’re not just ‘oh look at the tragic X’, they’ve got reasons and stories. As much as you can get in a serial tv show, anyway. There are places where the show plays on the stereotypes, but I think they’re trying to show “Hey, see this stereotype!”
I loved season one. Season two, less so.
Btw, this didn’t crosspost to LJ, it seems