TV Korner: The Horseman Rides Into Sleepy Hollow

Sleepy Hollow gave audiences fun ride into a classic legend. Fox’s new show is just the right mix of history and the occult give audiences something new and fresh.

From the opening scene it is clear this show will not be the legend I remember from my childhood. The show starts in Revolutionary times, and shows a much different Ichabod Crane, from the Disney story. He is not a big man but a solder who can take car of himself taking down a Redcoat with eerie eyes and strange brand mark on his hand. Crane takes down the large warrior by cutting off his head but not before being injured himself.

The show cuts to modern-day with Crane digging himself out a grave almost being put right back into one nearly missing a semi truck and car. Crane runs back to town, but he was not the only thing reawakened, the redcoat also makes his appearance in the modern world cutting off two heads, a horse owner and the town sheriff, and riding out into the woods.

Crane is captured by the police and starts to reveal to them who he is and where he comes from, but he sounds like a crazy man. The background is changed making Crane a British soldier who switched sides in the war, not the school teacher from the story. It is also interesting how this story of the headless horseman is not known by the characters in the show much like Zombies are never mentioned on The Walking Dead. It’s these little twists that ground the show, instead of making it goofy.

For the rest of the show we are introduced to the lives of both Crane and Mills. They share a connection to the occult, and it seems like their lives are intertwined just like Crane and the Horseman. The is a good chemistry between the two, which is a mix of catching up on the characters lives in time and some fun banter.

Being just the pilot I expect some changes in the show, and hopefully Fox will give it chance this year. Like Grimm this show has a mix of history and fantasy, but its not those elements that will carry the show. The relationship between Crane and Mills will either help the show grow and thrive or lead it back to the grave.