“Sleepy Hollow” hit television with a violent, intelligent and entertaining bang on Monday, September 16.
At eight o’clock on Monday nights, Fox takes the traditional Washington Irving story, “Sleepy Hollow,” and puts it in an apocalyptic light, shedding a modern touch on a timeless story.
The first episode opened with a war in 1781, where Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) was under the command of General George Washington. The audience witnessed Crane murdering a man by decapitation as he laid on the ground, dying from a stab wound.
All of a sudden, the audience was brought to modern day New York in the town of Sleepy Hollow.
A young female cop, Lt. Abby Mills (Nicole Beharie,) along with her partner, the sheriff of Sleepy Hollow (Clancy Brown,) are at a diner contemplating the news, until they must visit a local barn to check on one of the townspeople. Here, the sheriff is decapitated by a figure that can only be described as a headless horseman.
Within the first ten minutes of the TV show, the audience has witnessed three substantial murders. As this occurs, Ichabod Crane has arisen from the dead and been placed in a jail cell as a prime suspect in Sheriff Corbin’s murder. He is immediately seen as mentally unstable as he claims, rightfully so, that he fought during Colonial times and that the headless horseman has also arisen from the grave. His only supporter: Lt. Abby Mills.
As the only witness to Sheriff Corbin’s murder, and unable to explain what it is she saw, Lt. Mills’ only lead lies with the crazy man from Colonial America. This is the premise of “Sleepy Hollow.”
Drawing from Irving’s story, audiences will see a return of characters such as Ichabod Crane, the headless horseman, and Katrina Crane (known in Irving’s text as Katrina Van Tassel.)
This modern spin does not end with the modernization of characters. The show takes on the headless horseman as the “horseman of the apocalypse,” allowing room for more demonic characters than the horseman alone.
Witchcraft is a large theme throughout the show, as well as the symbolic relationship between good and evil. For example, Katrina, is a witch, but a good one. In the second episode, the audience is introduced to a “bad” witch, in whose death Katrina has a hand in. She was burnt at the stake for witchcraft, a fate that Katrina faced as well.
Many elements from Irving’s story make appearances, although it is safe to say that the show is very loosely based on it. Irving’s name does have some significance, as Captain Frank Irving (Orlando Jones) is head of the police department with no patience for made-up stories. Other elements from the original story include the hallucinations characters share with the deceased, a thematic occurrence throughout the show.
The show may be far-fetched, but it is witty, intelligent and has an eerie quality to it. Audiences of “Grimm,” “American Horror Story” and “Once Upon A Time” will also enjoy “Sleepy Hollow.”