The Sleepy Hollow TV series has always been rather shocking . First we were scandalise that someone would typeset this spooky 18th C story in the - day . Then we were ball over when the first season turned out to be grand . We were shocked yet again when the show suddenly turned terrible in its soph time of year . And now I ’m shocked that season three has somehow gotten even worse .
It ’s true — somehow , despite fixing most of time of year two ’s obvious , glaring job , Sleepy Hollow is even less sport to watch than it was last year . While problems that plagued the second time of year have been solve , its replaced them with now trouble that may be less irksome , but are much more boring .
To understand why watching Sleepy Hollow has rifle from a sublime to delight to virginal agony in three quick seasons , you have to start out with what made the show a surprise collision : namely , the perfect , platonic chemistry between Tom Mison ’s Ichabod Crane and Nicole Beharie ’s 21st century detective Abbie Mills . The two were an odd couple for obvious reasons , but they complemented each other dead — they were both impertinent and capable , and they like a shot respected each other ’s talents . You do n’t know how refreshing it was to see two television better half whose human relationship was n’t constantly riddled with artificial difference of opinion . They were equal whether they were fighting the strength of evilness or hanging out in the pub .
And the forces of evilness were passably compelling , too . Ichabod and Mills faced off against the devil Moloch , to stop the Revelation — a received mise en scene for genre fabrication . But by remodel the Headless Horseman as the Horseman of Death , the show pass the centuries - older Sleepy Hollow narrative newfangled life ( no pun ) and a fascinating bent . When the first time of year finale let out that Abbie and Ichabod ’s comrade Henry was in fact the Horseman of War and Ichabod ’s long - thought - dead son , we all could n’t wait for season two to arrive .
When season two at long last did arrive , everything changed … and for the bad . The apocalypse turn into a histrionic kin dramatic event where , rather of fight the forces of evil , Ichabod had bickering after spat — with his malefic son , his beldam married woman ( who forget him for the Headless Horseman ) , and even with Abbie , who wish he would get his shit together . Instead of doing that , Ichabod spent all his time being frantic or brooding , and his relationship with Abbie was effectively sidelined .
Meanwhile , nigh all the villains turn from fascinatingly malign to drill whiners . The Headless Horseman , once terrifying and unstoppable , morph into Ichabod ’s former quixotic rival and a guy who was only a bit of a jerk . As for the supporting cast , Abbie ’s formerly Linda - Hamilton - in - Terminator 2 sister somehow turn a loss all of her aroused baggage and started falling for a Modern character name Hawley , a knave - ish witching artifacts dealer who was imposingly unlikeable . You could always calculate on Hawley to bring the show to a screeching halt .
So to sum up up , in season two , the show lost its nucleus appeal — the Ichabod / Abbie kinship — and twist the show ’s formerly dreaded , fascinating villains into deadening whiners . It had somehow managed to metamorphose all its strengths into weakness . Fans were justifiably irritated , and made their displeasure known . The creators , in go , promise to fix these problem . Which they did … technically .
While Sleepy Hollow promised to renew its focus on Ichabod and Abbie , it trash almost everything else about its plot . All the suddenly overwrought , repetitive Moloch / Horseman / Crane family nonsense was gone ; now Ichabod and Abbie faced Pandora ( she of the nominal loge ) who want to cite her generically evil god / lover to Earth . Hawley was thankfully jettisoned , while Joe Corbin , Word of Abbie ’s former wise man August ( played by Clancy Brown in the original ) was added ; he at least has a reasonable connection to the main character reference , and is the height of spell ( at least compared to Hawley ) .
But what the show leave to do was make any of these new characters interesting . Yes , Joe is likable , but his integral role in time of year three has been as Abbie ’s sister ’s flat romanticistic interest , while the two investigate bacillus - plots hebdomad after week — few of which have anything to do with the A - plot . Pandora started out enigmatic , but it quickly became seemingly that beneath the mystery , her evil design was generic and underwritten . Her benighted master , once summoned to Earth , has even less distinct about him , in that his plan consists wholly of being evil . And he ’s not even that good at it . The bad guys of the Power Rangers had more intellection - out motivating .
The raw characters are hardly the only problem . The show has lose its ability to be rum or wizard , although Tim Mison and Nicole Beharie try their doomed . Earlier fan favorite scenes — like Ichabod have got a affectionateness - to - substance with an On - Star operator , or throw his mod pistol down after firing a single bullet ( he assumed they could only fire one ! ) , or even his head trip to the cockeyed Found Fathers - themed restaurant he visit in time of year two — are miss . It ’s not that the show is dour now , but it never manages to make me smile . Just like its Modern villains , the show has become utterly nondescript , which is actually telling when you remember it protrude out by revealing the Headless Horseman was one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse .
As for the second time of year ’s biggest error , the lose relationship between Ichabod and Abbie , the show desexualize it in the sense that it put a bandaid on a fastball hole . Abbie and Ichabod now spend most of each episode apart ( last hebdomad ’s episode was especially egregious in this respect ) . Sometimes , Ichabod gets stick around in flashbacks ( where he ’s hang with Betsy Ross — a top - secret Revolutionary War spy , who also manages to be dense . Most of the metre , Abbie is hang out at her fresh chore at the FBI with her new , undistinguishable colleague , who all keep getting drawn into the mankind of the supernatural . It ’s as if someone decided that what Ichabod and Abbie really needed was to attend out with other people .
And please do n’t get me take off on whatever the blaze is going on with Abbie , and that symbolization she ’s begun worshipping . Nicole Beharie is an excellent , charismatic actress — but asking her to pretend to be worship a geometric pattern on a b wall is asking for the unsufferable .
Everything about Sleepy Hollow is still wrong , and it ’s somehow even more unseasonable than it was last season . At least last time of year , the show made me angry that it was run off its natural endowment and squandering its serious will ; now the show is dull — just crushingly deadening — and all I feel is bored . Now that more than one-half of the run of the series is officially “ bad , ” I ’ve lose faith that it can actually improve , and I ’ve lost interest in watch it at all .
It sucks , because the first season of Sleepy Hollow is so good ! It ’s so fun ! It ’s actually pretty fascinating , especially in the way it took these unbalanced , fantastic supernatural battles , and then explored the material - creation consequence of them ! But since season one ended , everything that made the show so good has been consistently cut forth — removed like the head from a particular horseman . That Horseman was pressure to abandon Sleepy Hollow , because the show was so tedious . I ’ve been forced to do the same .
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