Friday, January 17, 2014

TV Review: Sleepy Hollow (2013)

Fox's Sleepy Hollow, an update of Washington Irving's classic story, is typically strange and strangely typical. Despite an outlandish plot that strives for thrills and intrigue, it's just your run-of-the-mill horror fantasy.

The show tells the tale of Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison), a soldier from the American Revolution who blacks out after beheading a Redcoat on the battlefield. He wakes up to find himself in present-day America, in the town of Sleepy Hollow.

He teams up with Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie), a local detective, to defeat the Headless Horseman, that decapitated soldier from so many years before. Turns out, he just woke up, too, and is on a killing spree. If he's not stopped, it will mean the end of the world. Literally.

As you may have noticed, there's a lot going on in Sleepy Hollow, and it's all pretty familiar. First, it's a modern version of an old story. Once Upon a Time, anyone? Or Grimm? Or even Sherlock? Plus, it's a fantasy, and there's no shortage of that on TV right now. Lastly, Sleepy Hollow doesn't forget one of TV's most ubiquitous genres: the procedural. Much of the pilot is spent in a police station or on the streets following detective Mills and Ichabod's adventures.

This stylistic fusion doesn't have to be a problem. Most shows borrow from others, and many still find a way to be marvelously effective. Sleepy Hollow is not one of those shows. It's decent; that's all.

It feels lazy, relying on clichés for plot points. Where's the sense of originality? What sets this show apart? Nothing. That's a shame because it's in desperate need of a personal stamp. The dialogue is average. The characters are average. Even the action sequences are average. No thrills, no suspense, just derivative moment after derivative moment, played against a generic, bombastic score.

Sleepy Hollow does have a few things going for it. Number one: aside from a few gimmicky camera tricks, it looks good -- dark, sinister, and stylish. Number two: it's evenly paced. Too speedy, and it would be ridiculous; too slow, and it would put people to sleep. Number three - and this is most important: it has potential. Sleepy Hollow is neither compelling nor exciting, but it could be. The genres it borrows from are popular for a reason. They're different and weird and let imaginations run wild.

As it stands, Sleepy Hollow is simply a passable fantasy struggling to stick out, and there's certainly nothing fantastic about that.

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