Tag: Sleepy Hollow

Fall TV 2015: Top 10 New & Returning Shows!

by Gabriel von Grünbaum

With shows debuting year-round now and the internet liberating us from the chains of broadcast scheduling, fall’s television premiere season doesn’t quite feel like the mark your calendar affair of yore. Still there’s some great new entertainment coming at us this time of year to gather and enjoy.

There is one trend I’ve noticed in combing through everything—there are a lot of variations on one particular theme. It feels like half the shows on television are an Unusual Genius Helps Authorities Fight Crime (UGHAFC?). It doesn’t mean we should write a show off just for falling into this category—some are doing it very well—only that I’m a little amazed to find the pattern unfolding right under my nose. Some returning UGHAFCs include Sleepy Hollow, iZombie, Castle, The Flash, Scorpion—Grimm mostly fits, although, the authorities are more often tolerated or managed. Some new UGHAFCs are Blindspot, Limitless, Minority Report—Gotham‘s side plot is technically the coming of age for a future UGHAFC. I’m sure you could probably come up with some more examples. I think the strength of UGHAFC shows like Sleepy Hollow, iZombie and Castle is the amount of time we get to spend in the Unusual Genius’ world and how well developed that world is.

I’ve been dutifully consulting my Magic 8 Ball about this fall’s lineup of new and returning shows and thought it only fair to share some results with you. There’s a lot of exciting stuff popping on screens all over and I decided to cut through the noise and find the best possible feasts for the ever dwindling spare eyeball-time. First of all, I’m trying to keep the focus on those shows with some sci-fi/fantasy elements—but there may be some shout-outs and honorable mentions that lie on the fringes. That’s about it, so let me shake this ball and we’ll get started!

Top 5 Harvest of Returning Shows:

№ 5: SLEEPY HOLLOW

(Oct. 1st, 9pm, FOX) Dear Magic 8 Ball (is that how you address these things?), I feel like Sleepy Hollow is poised now to embrace the power of the dark side with wit and and style to become even better. Muah ha ha ha ha! Will the new season mark its entry into the television halls of greatness?! — “Outlook good.”

Watching Sleepy Hollow develop, as it tests its footing on the shaky television landscape, has been enjoyable. Their strongest element is absolutely the man-out-of-time/fish-out-of-water dynamic of Ichabod Crane as he’s forced to face off against magical monsters tied to the American Revolution each week. The handsome Tom Mison, as Ichabod is inspirational casting and he deservedly carries the show alongside the innovative creatures/monsters each week. His back in my day gripes each week, comparing America today to the first days of the nation, are an absolute comedy highlight of the show—and moments like the time he’s handed a gun which he fires once and then tosses because pistols only had one shot during the Revolution—priceless.

As for the rest of the cast—fine actors for the most part—one gets the impression, subconsciously at the very least, that they and the writers are still trying to figure out how exactly they fit into this world. Personally, I was disappointed with the decision to write Ichabod’s wife, Katrina Crane (the lovely Katia Winter), off the show. She felt like the second most solid and interesting character next to Ichabod but it became apparent that the writers didn’t know what to do with her.

The other choice I have reservations about was humanizing the headless horseman. Yes, it’s interesting to find out the monster’s backstory but the resulting manifestation of this personification of doom and destruction feels more effective when its operating out of a removed realm of all but inexplicable evil. I don’t necessarily feel the need to understand the daily emotional motivations of a headless demon (unless they are incredibly fascinating and unexpected). The fact that a decapitated creature from hell wants to kill and destroy works satisfyingly all on its own.

A really great thing to count for the plus column is that, whatever their special effects budget is, they’re using it very well to create some really stunning visuals and excellent creatures.

On the whole, the UGHAFC series had a very good start and it gets stronger and more enjoyable with each episode, even through most of its minor missteps. Considering that they’ve taken a short story by Washington Irving, twisted it with another of his short stories, Rip Van Winkle, and are managing to serve up entertainment that I look forward to each week is quite a feat in itself. I look forward to hoisting a mug of warm mead to the new season of Sleepy Hollow!—(P.S.: Bring back Ichabod’s wife!)

https://youtu.be/fzak6l4w11g

№ 4: iZOMBIE

(Oct. 6th, 9pm, CW) Dear Magic 8 Ball, I had a great time watching the first season of iZombie—will the second season be able to hold up and possibly be even better? — “Most likely.”

iZombie has been adorable fun right out of the gate since starting last season—which is an odd thing to say about anything having to do with zombies (see The Walking Dead below). Versatile Rose McIver is perfectly cast as Olivia “Liv” Moore (get it?!) who became a zombie after getting scratched by one at “the worst boat party ever” on Lake Washington and, after waking a little less than dead, left her budding career as a doctor to become a medical examiner’s assistant at the Seattle PD morgue—which supplies her all the fresh brains her new zombie metabolism craves.

As a viewer, you eagerly follow her through the unfolding plots. Zombies themselves are a conceptually diverse tool in storytelling, allowing for grim commentary on various aspects of modern life. The fresh take that iZombie uses is in identifying with the zombie main character, relating to the isolation and the desire to connect with others—to fit in when you feel like an outsider. Will she let her family get close to her again? Will she get back together with her fiancé? Or will she eat them all as she fears she will? Meantime, Liv is out solving the murders of the victims who come through the morgue as a makeshift UGHAFC “police psychic” because she gets visions from the lives of the brains she eats. Not only that, it’s a delight each week to watch her act in strange new ways because she also takes on the victims’ habits, skills an personalities! (You could almost say she’s the next best thing to Tatiana Maslany’s performance of over ten clones and counting in Orphan Black.)

Her two closest cohorts turn in great performances too. Rahul Kohli as the medical examiner and closest confidant about all things zombie, Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti, and Aly Michalka as Liv’s befuddled bestie and roommate, Peyton Charles, use the elegance of their natural comedic timing even in dramatic service to the more heartfelt scenes. The effect is laughs and “feels” at all the right moments.

After more developments than I can list here during the first season, I’m really looking forward to everything that’s poised to unfold for season two of iZombie!

https://youtu.be/E4I3BWFJwcg

№ 3: THE WALKING DEAD

(Oct. 11th, 9pm, AMC) Dear Magic 8 Ball. . . astonishment, cringing, canned food, The Walking Dead. . . More excellence? — “Without a doubt.”

The Walking Dead. Holy crap, The Walking Dead. I think we can all agree that this show has pushed television into new territory. I don’t recall seeing or hearing of anything like this on television before. Legit graphic horror as a television show that’s not really pulling any punches—and it’s not just out to shock you, it’s the thinking-person’s horror that’s exploring the nature of life, relationships and defending yourself with anything in reach. Wow. I think this likely helped pave the way for the horrifically gorgeous 3 seasons of Hannibal (til they yanked the plug on that awesome sauce).

This has the most realistic feel of all the entries in this countdown. The reason it comes in at number 3 for me is that it’s just so damn heavy—heavy drama and most times I’m looking for some more levity in my entertainment. If you’re a gloomy Gus, this could be your number one.

The Walking Dead is basically like daily American life with the volume turned all the way up. When hordes of rotting corpses lurk around every corner, hungry to rip you apart and eat you alive, what is it that’s most important to you?—and what are you willing to do to get it and protect it? The Walking Dead reveals the essence of life contrasted against terrifying death on an individual basis that exposes elemental truths of humanity—the good, the bad and the ugly. It questions the true nature of what it means to be strong and to be weak. The surprising and shocking punches these revelations land with sink in like reminders of what we’ve always felt was floating just beneath the surface of our world.

With everything (and everyone!) won, lost, taken and found in Arlington at the end of last season, I cannot wait to see what’s in store for our band of raw threadbare avatars to the richness of the human condition on the next installment of The Walking Dead. (P.S.: Someone please bring back hauntingly beautiful Hannibal!)

№ 2: SUPERNATURAL

(Oct. 7th, 9pm, CW) Dear Magic 8 Ball, I’m addicted to Supernatural. Will my love be returned yet again with a remarkable season 11?! — “It is decidedly so.”

If you were able to take the very best things about the greatest buddy-cop teams, blend that with the cream of campfire ghost stories and then throw open the doors of possibility—you’d have only the jumping off point for the series. It continuously finds ways to keep folding in more—more character dynamics, more storytelling structures, more deep questions tastily sandwiched into monster mayhem. . . If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that they were taking notes from Doctor Who.

The brilliant minds behind Supernatural have successfully built a dynamic that feels comfortable for the returning viewer week to week and at the same time allows for amazing flexibility. Much like The X-Files, one episode may be extremely dramatic followed by one that is practically an hour-long comedy! In fact, I might describe it to a potential viewer as a healthy combo of The X-Files, Ghostbusters and Starsky & Hutch. A sort of on-the-road dude version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, if you will.

The Winchester brothers, Sam and Dean (irreplaceably played by Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles), crisscross the country “saving people, hunting things.” The entire series started as a buddy-cop, road-trip, monster/ghost of the week flavored sort of affair—with the boys chiefly fueled by burgers, unleaded, damsels in distress and the hunt for the demon that killed their mother and Sam’s girlfriend. In those early days, the season-long story arc would take a distant backseat, in their black 1967 Chevy Impala, to each episode’s encounter.

Since then, the Supernatural universe has been massively fleshed out and now each week is most often about another piece in the puzzle for the season’s storyline. The boys have graduated from tackling urban legends come to life each week to taking on hell, purgatory and even a rebellion in heaven over the course of a season.

Every time I think, “Well, that’s it. The end of the series. There’s nowhere to go after that season finale,” they pick up on some unfinished aspect I missed to spin a fresh new season around. It’s a magically delightful sort of 3-Card Monte—”Whoa, I was looking over here while they were setting that up over there!”

They’ve picked up an excellent entourage along the way of reoccurring characters, including my current favorites, Crowley (I can never get enough of Mark Sheppard), the new king of hell, Castiel (Misha Collins is awesome!—he should be cast in everything), a rebel angel who once took over heaven, and now Claire (a very impressive Kathryn Newton) the orphaned teenage daughter of Castiel’s vessel (long story), who brings a fresh new dynamic and energy to the show for each episode she’s in.

One of the remarkable feats that Supernatural has pulled off, quite a few times now, is reaching through the fourth-wall. They’ve done it in several different ways and haven’t fallen on their faces yet—if anything, it has actually enriched the experience of the show each time—extending the definition of “supernatural” in a deeper way that seems to defy the physics of television shows themselves. (Tried a couple different ways of explaining more here—but I don’t think reading about it would give the experiences justice. I would rather not rob you of those first experiences yourself, if you don’t already know what I’m talking about.)

Without giving too much away, the ancient (original?) curse that kept Dean alive in the previous season has consequences that pit the brothers against each other last season. Now, with the setup for The Darkness impending, the new season of Supernatural looks promising indeed.

https://youtu.be/tdIbvJ_RgiA

№ 1: DOCTOR WHO

(Sept. 19th, 9pm, BBC America) Dear Magic 8 Ball, will the new season of Doctor Who be some can’t miss television? — “You may rely on it.”

The idea that Doctor Who isn’t the number one show on everyone’s must-see TV list (or “rather ought to” telly queue?) is a concept I find wholly befuddling. Doctor Who is, quite simply, the culmination of all human storytelling up to now—it is the ongoing saga that has successfully digested all other existing story structures. It’s sci-fi, fantasy, drama, horror, comedy, thriller, western, classical, procedural, ghost, love, family, monster. . . The storytelling lens of Doctor Who is so broadly fine tuned that the lucky and talented writers are able to weave any tale they wish through it. Every episode is a display of magic unfolding. It’s safe to say, if there is any kind of storytelling you like, Doctor Who has episodes for you—and if there are story types you don’t like, Doctor Who may just put them in a new light for you.

To say that Doctor Who is like The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Star Wars, Back to the Future, The Terminator, Alien, Indiana Jones, and even The Labyrinth and Harry Potter all rolled into one isn’t inaccurate—but it just doesn’t do the show full justice because it’s even more than that.

There are two caveats for American viewers: the first is that it’s a British show—and it becomes far more British the further back in the canon you go. British, meaning that, the pace and construction of characters, themes and interactions can take a moment to adjust to for Yankee brains. It’s just a slightly different perspective on the world that Hollywood rarely shines a light on. The second thing to keep in mind, particularly if you plan to dig into the back catalog, regards the production: producers of the show have always done their best to show all of time and space with whatever limited budget they were allotted. Since the fabric of spacetime is apparently infinite and their budgets weren’t, you can see where they might often fall short—but, if you could forgive some papier-mâché costumes and old cardboard sets you were richly rewarded by the stories. To quote the Doctor himself, “it’s more like a big ball of wibbly–wobbly. . . timey-wimey. . . stuff.” That said, the further decades you go back, the more you can see how it has grown from something akin to filmed children’s theatre into the juggernaut it is today. Additionally—and this is coming from two decades working in digital format conversions—although recent advancements are making it unnecessary, the British have always broadcast television in the PAL format at 25 frames per second, while American eyeballs have been tuned to NTSC at almost 30 frames per second for decades and decades. Even after conversion, what you’re watching can feel “wrong” on a subconscious level to the Yankee brain just because the flicker is different. It took me about six of those earlier episodes to adjust. These days, most entertainment is being shot at standard film speed which is 24 frames per second, a frequency the entire world is accustomed to.

Now that the show has garnered ever stronger international audiences, the “Britishness” has become a bit more universal and the production values have gone way up. You can pinpoint the change to the episode of the first season that Matt Smith took over the reins of the Doctor. The only requirement now is a tolerance for the initially perceived silliness and frequent leaps of faith (fat that comes to life, alien assassins that consume your life’s potential and then leave you to live to death, a police “phone booth” that is a whole world larger on the inside and travels through time and space)—for which you are fully rewarded. After some time as a viewer, the concepts begin to feel much less far fetched—the show succeeds in taking nearly any “wacky” setup and presenting it as honestly valid and valuable.

Last season introduced Peter Capaldi as the Doctor and, while every “regeneration” is traumatic for viewers, this one somehow felt more so. The writers weren’t exactly sure how to write for him yet? It became the Clara Oswald season, which was perfectly fine by me. Jenna Coleman as the Doctor’s current companion is really electric and has delivered some of the most powerful scenes on the show recently.  Now the breaking news of this being her last season on Doctor Who is extremely disappointing after she carried the last season. What the future holds after this season is uncertain but I’m sure it will be great—I’m just devastated that this will be the last of Clara Oswald as the companion. So catch her while you can!

I’ve often been moved to tears, fallen from the couch in peels of laughter, cringed with fright and been held breathless in astonishment—frequently in the same episode (“Blink”, “The Girl in the Fireplace” and “Vincent and the Doctor” just to name a few). I expect all of this (and more!) with the new season of Doctor Who.

Returning Honorable Mentions:

№ yeah!: CASTLE

(Sept. 21st, 10pm, ABC) Dear Magic 8 Ball, should I stay loyal to my not-so-secret crush on Castle this season? — “Yes.”

Strictly speaking, Castle doesn’t belong on this list—but I feel the need to give it a shout-out regardless. The fact that it stars Nathan Fillion is practically a qualifier all on its own. The rest of the cast—including Stana Katic, Seamus Dever and Jon Huertas—are fantastically enjoyable as well.

Honestly, if it wasn’t for Fillion, I never would have checked this show out in the first place—procedurals just aren’t my cup of tea—but Fillion as a bestselling crime fiction writer embedding himself with the NYPD?! Had to give it shot—and I’ve been far from disappointed. (Well, that and—full disclosure—I first met Seamus back when I was performing standup with his lovely, funny and talented wife, Juliana Dever [frequent guest star as Det. Kevin Ryan’s girlfriend/wife], years ago and was excited to cheer on his big break with Fillion when the show premiered.)

Castle continues to plumb the writer playing cop—with actual cops!—UGHAFC premise brilliantly. They feature enough stories that blur the lines between the realities of a police procedural and Rick Castle’s love of sci-fi/fantasy to keep me hooked and invested week after week. Episodes like the one with the man who said he was from the future, the one with the artifact that may have been a portal to a parallel dimension or the one about vampires. . . or Bigfoot—the list goes on—are often left delightfully open ended. Am I looking forward to the new season of Castle? You betcha!

№ hope?: AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.

(Sept. 29th, 9pm, ABC) Dear Magic 8 Ball, the special Agents of SHIELD have yet to uncover my devotion. Will they pull it off this season? — “Better not tell you now.”

The fun thing about season premieres (and finales) is that shows typically have bigger budgets to play with. Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD is a good example of that this season. Fan reaction to the show overall thus far has been lukewarm on average. Scripts are lacking strength with some plots and dialogue that can feel forced. Characters are difficult to connect with. The whole thing has a sort of manufactured aftertaste.

Fresh out of the gate this season, the show is looking pretty dazzling but will they be able to connect with viewers who are dying to love them? Being one such viewer, I’m settling in for this season of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD and hoping they finally open up to me.

№ zip-a-dee-doo-dah: THE FLASH

(Oct. 6th, 8pm, CW) Dear Magic 8 Ball, The Flash looks great but I think I’m missing something—should I take another run at it this season? — “Concentrate and ask again.”

There are a lot of folks that are huge fans of The Flash. I am merely a fan. For about the first 10 episodes you watched as the show sort of meandered around, testing its footing to see what tone it wanted, what kind of show it would grow into. It was interesting enough to keep me watching but, even as its direction became more focused in the final few episodes, I still wasn’t finding myself able to really connect with any of the characters. The portrayals all felt a bit too cartoony to me. I want to care, I really do, but I don’t. If I can’t invest in the characters, I can’t invest in the story—and there’s a lot of great story to work with.

To tell the truth, the show is already one of the better options on TV—but, in age of so many series that are able to make significant connections with viewers, The Flash is coming up a bit short. There is so much in the works for the series’ second season, more time travel, parallel dimensions, parallel Flashes. . . It’s all sounding very exciting—I’m just hoping The Flash‘s creators can get me to care.

№ bat: GOTHAM

(Sept. 21st, 8pm, FOX) Dear Magic 8 Ball, Gotham‘s looking good—did they lose some weight? Should we make a date this fall? — “Signs point to yes.”

Very pleased to see that Gotham recognized its shortcomings from last season, corrected course and is off to nice start this fall. Honestly, even after the last Gotham update here on Geekscape, I didn’t think the show was going to make this list. Many times, when a series or franchise attempts to make a course adjustment, creatives’ egos and/or executives’ bottom lines can interfere, making the adjustment not enough or overly extravagant.

So far, it seems Gotham’s refocus is just right—characters are exhibiting a fuller range of emotion and the whole presentation has just the right amount of silliness, inherent in Batman stories from the beginning. The dark whimsy has been blended back in to properly offset and enhance the ol’ Detective Comics‘ native flavor of gloomy dreariness on the palette. Its a balancing act that the comics have been pulling off for decades and you can feel when screen adaptations get wrong. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how the season plays out. Bravo, Gotham creators!

№ hmm: GRIMM

(Oct. 30th, 9pm, NBC) Dear Magic 8 Ball, what’s up with Grimm? Should we be watching the new season? — “Reply hazy, try again.”

Honestly, I really like Grimm. I look forward to each next episode. However, there is something I keep trying to put my finger on that keeps me from fully connecting with the show. My current theory is that there is an “underlying apology” to its presentation—maybe? A sort of, “Sorry we’re not a standard cop show—but we’ve got a really nice secret society of creatures mythology thingy we’re working on that we hope you’ll like!”

Just be true to yourself, Grimm!—be proud of the dorky/geeky genre baby that you are! If you double-down and go whole-hog with what you’ve created, your current audience will become solid devotees—and probably start dragging more people to the party!

The two characters that seem to genuinely inhabit the world of Grimm are Monroe and Trubel—with a shout-out to Bree Turner, as Rosalee, and Sasha Roiz, as Capt. Renard. Silas Weir Mitchell as Monroe, the gentle, awkward and reserved big bad wolf was a surprise hit very quickly. This guy is clearly a professional actor who studied the material he was given and created a marvelously rich character out of it that is my main draw to the show each week. Jacqueline Toboni as Trubel, a runaway who discovers she has special abilities to hunt as a grimm, is another example of marvelous acting chops and has been an invigorating addition. Her take on the character is an excellent fit with the mythos in play.

The real trouble is that it seems the writers too often lean on story constructs better suited to soaps and primetime cop dramas. Even when they try and dive deeper into the secret society and the royals it comes off more like something from General Hospital or The Young & the Restless rather than exciting and mysterious, like a Frankenstein, Dracula, Indiana Jones or Goonies type vibe. I mean, Nick’s longtime girlfriend gains powers and suddenly decides to be evil?! I didn’t get that at all.

The show is inspired by Grimms’ Fairy Tales; I recommend returning to that source material and capturing that magic. Should you watch Grimm? I don’t know—I do—and I wish I could feel stronger about recommending it.

Returning Show Quick Takes!

THE LEFTOVERS — Damon Lindelof, I love you as a human being with excellent taste and a creative soul—but I’ve been burned by your creations too many times to give this fascinating premise a shot.

AMERICAN HORROR STORY: [ANYTHING] — More like Eccentric European Fetish Story and I prefer to get my obscure French vampire sex romps from the source—Gérard Depardieu.

ARROW — A lot of people really love this show and it has clearly done well in the ratings. Maybe you’re one of these fans (or potential fans) but for my palette, I got the impression at the start that this might have that neutered and manufactured flavor to its construction and I have yet to see any clips or segments that make me think I might’ve been wrong. (Yes, I just used “neutered” and “flavor” in the same sentence and am now questioning all the life decisions that have led me to this point.)

ONCE UPON A TIME — I feel so strung-along by this show; like it’s always just about to get good—or even interesting. Once again, I’m just going to give it a few more episodes to. . .

SCORPION — This UGHAFC show is actually pretty neat and fun, I enjoy watching it—however, it’s placed pretty much at the end of my queue each week. I don’t feel like I have to watch it. I really do like it though.

Top 5 Crop of New Shows:

№ 5: HEROES REBORN

(Sept. 24th, 8pm, NBC) Dear Magic 8 Ball. . . Uh, Heroes Reborn? — “Ask again later.”

I was really ready to write this off out of hand but the pilot has me sort of pausing to consider. After the fizzle-out of Heroes the first time around, for its self-important meandering storylines that didn’t come to any interesting conclusions, it looks like we may be in for more of the same. The thing with Heroes is that it somehow makes you doubt if you’re really not enjoying it or just not synched up with it properly. Then once the episode’s been over for a few hours, you realize you really didn’t care about it at all and could’ve better spent that time gardening, researching French poetry or stalking your ex.

I have the feeling that Heroes Reborn is going to be more of the same. However, it’s just good enough to bite your lip and try to hang on for a couple episodes to make sure. It has started out addictive, like the first series (best story line; Zachary Levi’s serial mutant/”evo” killer—worst story line; the girl who can enter a video game with a sword), let’s hope that it’s not ultimately disappointing, like the first series. Damn, this is a special kind of hell. Just get it right, Heroes Reborn!—for crying out loud, just get it right.

https://youtu.be/7vs78vS7MFo

№ 4: BLINDSPOT

(Sept. 21st, 10pm, NBC) Dear Magic 8 Ball, the setup ingredients for Blindspot‘s entertainment level seem perfect—maybe too perfect. Is this a safe bet to get into this season? — “Signs point to yes.”

Blindspot sneaks onto this list with a decent sci-fi-adjacent premise and the casting of my favorite part of the Thor movies, Jaimie Alexander, as Jane Doe—a woman who wakes up naked, zipped inside a duffle bag and freshly covered in cryptic tattoos; with no memory of anything. . . except the skills to do everything. . . especially kicking ass. Are you kidding me?!—I’m so entirely in!

Her tattoos seem to point to large scale crimes and attacks that haven’t taken place yet—so, naturally, I’m holding out that she’s actually from the future and her memories were chemically wiped to keep her from playing the lottery, retrofitting a Delorean and starting Skynet or something. So far the show hasn’t backed up my theory yet. Bullocks. Alexander’s performance in the pilot is pretty dead on as, essentially, a newborn in a frightening world, with frightening skills and the frightening realization that she has no idea if she prefers coffee or tea because she doesn’t know what they taste like. The second episode feels a little worrying, like they may allow the super-cool setup to drift into the background as they concentrate on being just another UGHAFC procedural. Let’s hope not. Creators; if that is your intention, take a look at Castle and take notes—they’ve clearly nailed the formula.

I’m already hooked on Blindspot and I’ve got my fingers crossed that they keep me seduced.

https://youtu.be/9FHLBldRdIo

№ 3: LIMITLESS

(Sept. 22nd, 10pm, CBS) Dear Magic 8 Ball, will Limitless live up to its name—with entertainment!? — “Outlook good.”

Limitless returns us to the world of the film it’s based on. Chances are, your feelings about the film is probably how you’ll feel about the pilot—and then a bit more. For example; I thought the film was fine but I’m really liking the show so far. If you didn’t like the movie you may really not like the pilot—however, it’s got some good things going for it: great cast, pretty good (and simple) setup and, somehow, the show feels a touch more relatable than the movie did. I also found it rather inspirational; not in the, “I wanna do drugs,” kinda way but in the, “I’d like to reclaim that mental and physical agility I enjoyed as a youth. Do some Sudoku. Hit the gym. Bust out some parkour. Make sure my health insurance is paid up,” sorta way. The lingering feeling at the end of an episode is one of fun—a peek at what the world might be like if it really was your playground.

Some people like the instigating premise of the plot, some don’t. Either way, the strength of the show is in the casting and the clever writing. Jake McDorman plays the guy who stumbles into the super drug NZT. I last saw McDorman in the enjoyable failure, Manhattan Love Story, and he seems to bring a certain relatable sparkle to anything he does—I’m glad to see him again in the lead role here. Jennifer Carpenter plays the FBI agent who must hunt him down and control him to contain the situation. Of course, Carpenter was previously the delightfully scene-chewing sister in Dexter and she brings her relatably pleasing hidden below the surface cocktail of damaged-goofball.

The dynamic becomes the man-boy slacker, who is suddenly made into a super-genius, being wrangled by a woman who may secretly resent having had to grow up. She seems to sympathize and identify with the chemically induced slacker savant and struggles with the conflict of wanting to follow his lead while still following her orders from the FBI.

The danger here is the show falling into that same UGHAFC mold that’s been done a lot lately. If they manage to continue keeping that in the background and focus on telling the journey of a guy thrust into knowing infinitely more than he ever should, that will make for a really entertaining series. It probably helped a lot that the first two episodes are directed by the brilliant Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer, The Amazing Spider-Man). All things considered, I’m enjoying Limitless a lot more than I thought I would.

№ 2: THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE

(pilot available now, series continues Nov. 20th, Amazon) Dear Magic 8 Ball, can The Man in the High Castle really deliver on the amazing promise shown in the pilot already? — “Outlook good.”

Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle is really rather impressive. I have to admit, while I am a huge fan of the shopping perks that come with Amazon’s Prime membership (anything I want can show up at my door in hours!), I haven’t ever used it to watch anything except for The Addams Family movie and episodes of Hannibal (so good—someone bring it back!) which weren’t available elsewhere. This pilot—which was picked up for series earlier to start this fall—looks like it’ll be the show that finally puts Amazon in my regular rotation.

The show is an engrossingly complex answer to a simple hypothetical question: What if the Allied forces had lost WWII to Axis powers? The story picks up in an alternate 1960s where the US has been split into Nazi and Japanese Empire controlled states. There’s a narrow band of neutral territory between them—and their political scheming against each other—running along the Rockies. It’s within this neutral zone that the mysterious Man in the High Castle is rumored to exist—releasing films of an alternate reality where the Allies won the war. I know, right?!

Adapted from a Philip K. Dick story, I should warn you it’s probably not going to be the feel good show of the fall (take other adaptations of Dick’s works; Blade Runner, Minority Report, Total Recall. . .)—but if they keep working the source material properly, you can bet it’ll continue to be great. That is to say, the pilot is great and very promising already. The success of this initiating episode must be due in large part to the executive producer—who directed that richly visceral adaptation of Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? creating Blade Runner—Ridley Scott.

So it’s already impressive and it’s in excellent hands?—I think it’s a safe bet that adding The Man in the High Castle is going to enrich all our queues with some marvelously engaging entertainment.

№ 1: ASH vs EVIL DEAD

(Oct. 31st, 9pm, STARZ) Dear Magic 8 Ball, I don’t even need you on this one. I couldn’t be more stoked for the arrival of Ash vs Evil Dead! — “Groovy.”

Ash vs Evil Dead?! Are you kidding me? No question—if you can only watch one new show this season Starz’s extension of the Evil Dead franchise is the one. To be fair, the Evil Dead flavor isn’t for everyone but if you’re reading Geekscape this is very likely your cup of tea, even if you don’t know it yet.

That “flavor” is difficult to put into words but here’s a shot: it’s a genuine horror screwball action comedy. It’s what might result if Monty Python teamed up with National Lampoon to produce a Stephen King story. It doesn’t pull punches with the horror or the comedy. You’re knocked out of your seat with frights and laughs.

The key players are back in what they are describing as a natural evolution of the material; prolific producer/writer/director Sam Raimi (Army of Darkness, Spider-Man) and the irreplaceable Bruce Campbell (Burn Notice, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.) as Ashley “Ash” J. Williams. This time out, they’re joined by another regular Raimi player, Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess, Salem) in what sure to be one heck of a badass team up.

I really don’t know what else I can tell you—it’s “you had to be there” entertainment. You could read the excitement of our reaction at the SDCC announcement. It’s the ol’ Evil Dead made fresh and new by the very same hands that made it in the first place—including the one and only Ash, his boomstick and his chainsaw hand! If you want more than that, you’ll have to make it yourself with your own army of deadites! Ash vs Evil Dead, baby! I think it’s going to be like pillow talk for your face.

https://youtu.be/unnLg1TPCYM

New Honorable Mentions:

№ ooh: CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND

(Oct. 12th, 8pm, CW) Dear Magic 8 Ball, I know this is kinda outta left field but—should I spend this fall with the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend? — “Most likely.”

This Crazy Ex-Girlfriend stalks her way on here for living in a hilarious world where she can bust out musical numbers wherever she goes. That can technically qualify as fantasy when. . . What? You say you don’t like musical numbers? Ha ha ha, I was once like you. However, I think series creator, star and certified geek herself, Rachel Bloom begs to disagree with your feelings—making her point with her hit, NSFW (without headphones), YouTube sensation: F*** Me, Ray Bradbury. See now how your feelings were wrong? It’s okay—the same thing happened to me. If that video is what she can do with a shoestring indie budget, I’m looking forward to what she’ll might pull off with a Hollywood bankroll—after she has to wash her mouth out with soap! Salacious! Sign me up for a recurring date with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

№ sooner!: JESSICA JONES

(Nov. 20th, Netflix) Dear Magic 8 Ball, Jessica Jones is absolutely can’t miss, right?! — “Signs point to yes.”

Jessica Jones really deserves to be in the top 5 of new shows—Heroes Reborn could easily be bumped to make room for such promise—but, at this point, this really is mostly just promising promise. There aren’t many details out there about what Netflix is doing with Jessica Jones. Marvel fans know it’s the story of an UGHAFC who has mostly hung up her superpowers to become a private eye but exactly where and how this series picks up the story remains to be seen. Netflix has done a fantastic job with Daredevil so the outlook is very good for this new entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I’m a huge fan of Krysten Ritter since Veronica Mars so I’m super excited to see her in the super title role here. David Tennant as Kilgrave and Carrie-Anne Moss as Harper are just a couple more of the excellent cast. If and when any new shreds of detail emerge you can bet that Geekscape will get the Jessica Jones nuggets to you, just as we have been. I want to put this in my eyes right now!

New Show Quick Takes!

THE MUPPETS — Hell yeah! Already into this all the way. Bit darker than I was expecting—almost like a drama with hilarious frosting. Like a slower paced Aaron Sorkin creation—with puppets.

SUPERGIRL — Man, I hope this is any good! At this time, I have yet to see anything that conclusively tips the scales—and my expectations are low. So, here’s hopin’ you fly, Supergirl.

SCREAM QUEENS — Happened to catch a clip of Scream Queens and found it delightfully amusing. Looking forward to catching up and watching this little gem. Judging by the creators’ former effort, Glee, it should be great for at least a season.

MINORITY REPORT — I’m sorry. I just don’t have any more room—especially for something that appears to have gutted all the fascination out of the original story to make this show just another UGHAFC lightly dusted with sci-fi. What I really wish is that this was another season of Almost Human—damn, that was a good show. . . bad name, good show.

Geekscape Interviews: Orlando Jones Recreates History, Talks ‘High School 51’ on Machinima

by Eric Francisco

Almost a month ago at the Machinima upfronts in New York City, I sat in a swanky, modern backroom of a swanky, modern bar with Orlando Jones.

Two glasses of Jack and Coke sat in my stomach while finger foods I pigged on began to break down internally. I’m not Hunter S. Thompson, so I’ll never recklessly intoxicate myself before I do my job. But between the booming club music outside and Orlando Jones’ incredibly friendly, laid-back demeanor, I didn’t even think I was working at all.

We were supposed to talk about High School 51, but can we just talk about superheroes and 7-Up commercials?

“What superhero movies would you want to do?” I asked him. “Speaking as a fan.”

He pauses for a minute. “I wanna do X-Men.”

“You wanna do X-Men?” I ask him.

“Yes,” he confirms. “And I want to redo Blade. Even though I know Wesley and love him.” Then Jones tells me his final wish: “Black Lightning.”

As tempting as it was to ask him about his voice over work in Halo, I chose to focus the rest of the interview on his life after Sleepy Hollow and the exciting new projects he has coming up, as well as the overall state of geek culture. I couldn’t quite shake off the man who told me to “Make 7-Up Yours” when I was an impressionable 8 year-old, but just talking to the passionate man that sat next to me made me put carbonated soft drinks going up my rectum to the back of my head.

This actually wasn’t the first time I interviewed Jones. Back in October I spoke to him at the press rounds of New York Comic-Con when he promoted Sleepy Hollow. Months later he recognizes me here at Machinima, somehow. Does this make us best friends? It does, right? I’m going with “does.”

A half hour prior, Jones was on stage to announce a partnership with franchise producer Roberto Orci (who was not in attendance) a new project set to be distributed on Machinima in the coming year: High School 51. Described as a sci-fi teen drama, the series follows a normal teenager transferred to a high school populated by aliens who live among us.

I shouldn’t be surprised it was a Roberto Orci project, given his noted penchant for conspiracy theories. But Orlando Jones? I wanted to know everything about it. So I asked.

https://instagram.com/p/2R4e30AN8p/?taken-by=ericthedragon

Before we get into the big news about High School 51, I want to talk about Sleepy Hollow. I actually had no idea you were leaving until you said it on the Machinima stage. What can you tell me about leaving and your overall experience on the show?

Orlando: I had such an incredible time on the show. Amazing show, amazing cast, amazing producers, and it was one of the greatest times I ever had working on any show. And [High School 51] this was an opportunity to work with one of the same people who put me on the show, Roberto Orci, and work as a writer and producer and sort of create a new world. I think Cliff Cash is gonna kill it on Sleepy Hollow. I think they’re gonna have an awesome season, and I’m excited to work with Bob on something fresh and new. So for me, it’s all good news. I have no shade in my heart, it’s really been a great experience.

High School 51 is of course your newest project. What can you tell me about your particular involvement?

Orlando: I’m obviously one of the writer/producers. I’m not one of the co-creators, other guys and I sort of fell in love with it.

I would describe the world to you like this: We keep hearing about Area 51, we keep hearing there were aliens there, since the ’40s. But we never think about [things like], well, do they procreate? Did they give us technology we never had access to? Do some of them want to go home? Do some want to get rid of us? And what that ecosystem looks like if you have children. And when you’re trying to contain that level of secrets, that kind of information, over that period of time. It just seemed like a crazy world that was sort of untapped.

I always joked that Hollywood is like high school with money, and Washington is like high school with power. [laughs]

That’s an amazing way to put that!

Orlando: So [High School 51] is like high school that has both of those things at their disposal. Who do you trust in a world like that?

During their presentation, Machinima touted that they cross so many different genres, from comedy to horror. High School 51 sounds like a teen drama mixed with science-fiction. Can we expect both or one lead towards the other?

Orlando: I think it will lean in both directions. I think it’s really about building a credible world, and building stakes and elements that make sense in real world terms. So, in my mind, I think we would expect it to be the same way Sleepy Hollow was very much like. It was biblical, it had a little history in it, a comedy, it had suspense, it had this whole mythology. I think we’re definitely looking to build a world that is equal parts of all things as are required in the real world. And I think that means it will be a mish-mosh, but hopefully a crazy, suspenseful ride.

From Sleepy Hollow to Area 51, you seem attracted to projects that take history and play with it. What do you find fulfilling about playing with history?

Orlando: People of color are often not represented at all. And when they are represented, it’s in a way that sort of denies them any acknowledgment of the culture they’re a part of. I really like the idea of being able to tell a story and integrate those elements organically into the story, and I really like exploding tropes. Things that I feel like we’ve seen a thousand times — a damsel in distress for the female character, the Asian guy is always the smart guy, or the badass, those sort of elements that are like, really?

I’m tired of that too.

Orlando: Yeah! It’s like at a certain point you go, “There’s more to that community and culture, and it’s not even based on the real tenets of what that culture is all about. So the idea to tell stories and incorporate these different people in different ways so everyone is represented, and it’s still a story of science-fiction and espionage! [laughs]

All the fun stuff!

Orlando: Yeah, all the fun stuff! And it’s not necessarily about their culture per se, but also they’re not indivisible in the world. And that was exciting about Sleepy Hollow, getting to work with John Cho, and Tom Mison who’s English, and Nicole Beharie, Lyndie Greenwood, and John Noble, and myself, and Amanda Stenberg, Jill Marie Jones… It was such a multi-cultural show. I think it was the most multi-cultural show in history.

I spoke to you about that at New York Comic-Con. As a person of color, it means a lot to see people just be people.

Orlando: Exactly! To continue down that road, to me, is what attracts me to these things. I often like to do it in a place that’s sort of wilder and supernatural that gives me more room because I don’t want to tell — no shade on Gran Torino, but that’s not a story I want to tell. I want to tell a story that puts that kid in a different universe and allows us to talk about other things.

I assume that kind of parable will be in High School 51?

Orlando: Often. Yes. I think lone human, but you’re also looking at different species within the alien world as well. So it’s not just aliens and humans, it’s different people and I’m sure there are cases where people whose allegiances are to both because their parents are both. The idea to me is to build a world that has all the intricacies in it where there isn’t anything that is black and white. It’s got a lot of gray.

Speaking of these species, you have to build entire alien races and societies from the ground up. Was that exhausting at all? 

Orlando: [laughs] It can be. But I think rather than species, we thought of it as character. And then we chose to make those characters be different species. Some of them have the ability to be multiple. It was really just focusing about the characters and how they fit into that world.

Cinematically speaking, because we only saw glimpses of the series, what can we expect High School 51 to look like? Are we talking teen drama on a network, or a docu-reality kind of deal?

Orlando: I don’t think a teen drama [like on a network] is an exact match to Machinima’s core audience. I think you can expect something more in keeping with superhero/espionage-like. One of the ways you do this type of show and one of the ways we’re looking at is putting fans in the show. We’ll make an announcement in the next couple of weeks, “xxArray,” which is a machine that will allow us to put fans in the show, in 3D reality.

Really?

Orlando: We basically create a photo-real version of you and we put you in the show. But [it’s] just another way again to look at fan interaction and storytelling that isn’t about just telling a linear story. It’s about trying to create an engagement, and a nuance that often doesn’t exist.

Why do you think this kind of engagement is so — it’s obvious why it’s popular, but why is it just now catching on?

Orlando: I think it’s always been there, it’s just Hollywood is now interested because they’re trying to monetize it. I get it, that’s the kind of business they’re in. But what’s most exciting to me is about, I’ve met people in fandom who I’m not friends with. To me it’s the communication, the engagement. If we’re being honest, there are two kinds of communication in history: one to one, one to many. Twitter is many to many communication. That’s an exciting new form of communication that hasn’t happened existed in any part of human history, and it’s a fourth grader. It’s nine years old. No one knows where it’s going. So, the idea that we can connect and be doing theatre on our phone is shocking. It’s incredible.

That has actually happened, people have done Shakespeare on Twitter.

Orlando: Exactly. So to me, connecting to some kid in Germany is like, insane. And realizing he’s a fan of this and I’m a fan of this, and she’s a fan of that, and now you’ve made a connection for the rest of your life.

Machinima touted their millennial audience onstage and High School 51 is in some way giving them a fictional story about them. What do you think of the show — different from the rest of Machinima’s lineup — going after them directly? 

Orlando: To me, you tell a compelling story. Game of Thrones is not trying to appeal to millennials. They’re just telling a really badass, kick-ass story that people want to engage in and people want to see. Our job is to tell a really badass, kickass story. That’s not [in anyway] demo-stereotyping … so I don’t really see it that way. I see it as, “Here’s an interesting story world, here are some interesting characters, let’s tell the most compelling story we can.”

About that story. We don’t know too much about the meat of High School 51‘s story. What can you tell me about the central character and his journey that we’re in for?

Orlando: The most about his journey that I can tell you right now is that his life gets sort of uprooted, he finds himself in a place where he’s a lone species in an ecosystem of various types of species. He’s lived in a world where he’s been the majority, [and now] he’s entering a world where he’s the minority. And he’ll have to make the adjustments that go along with that. I think the problem is, how did he get there? And what role does everyone who put him there play?

What’s the most exciting thing about this particular project that is getting you amped?

Orlando: I get to tell stories for a living, and the opportunity to put those stories in front of people is a really difficult thing, particularly with a machine  like Machinima pumping it out and pushing it out. These opportunities don’t come that often, there’s a long arduous process to get to the point where you’re launching your new show with a network or studio.

So for me, when I get to this point and I’m not excited then I don’t want to do the show. That’s like showing up to the Super Bowl and you don’t want to play. [laughs] I’m hyped because this is the game, this is a big opportunity to work on a really big platform with a huge audience and turn out some content that doesn’t look like anything else out there. If that doesn’t excite you as a performer or a storyteller, then you dead. [laughs]

And Orlando Jones is alive.

Orlando: Exactly, I’m super alive, and I’m super excited.

We’re talking about audiences and geek culture on the rise, that’s why Machinima is doing what they’re doing. As someone who has seen this culture rise, what do you think of it in its current state now?

Orlando: It’s always going to be messy. It’s no different than sports culture. Sports culture is messy, there’s a lot of voices, there’s always yelling. There’s a lot of passion. Guys get dressed in green and yellow paint, thirty below zero and yell for their Green Bay Packers. What I want to see is fan culture no longer ostracized for their passion. Because we don’t ostracize sports culture for its passion. We don’t treat them as weird for dressing up like wild people because they love their team.

So cosplay should be totally normal, and geek culture and fan culture should be totally normal. I hate the fact that that happens to people, and I think it’s disgusting. I’m a proud member of this culture, I’ve been doing crazy shit since I was a kid. For me, I had the hurtful things said, I know what that feels like. So an opportunity for this culture to explode and really take ownership of what it is, because these are the people that love entertainment. These are the hardcore storytelling fans, and I have been one of these fans my entire life.

As one of those fans, what are you most excited about? Besides High School 51, of course.

Orlando: I’m so excited about Tainted Love, the next iteration of that we’re doing. I’m excited about the Ted Patrick story, that we’re getting ready to do about the father of cult deprogramming. Crazy, crazy, amazing story. Google Ted Patrick, you’ll see it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPJ0oLahGDg

 

I’m excited about the show I’m about to do on the History Channel where I ask the crazy questions nobody wants to ask about crazy points in history. So I’ll give you an example: Richmond, Virginia. 1849. Guy puts himself in a box, ships himself to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Pays $89 to do it. The company, Addams Express Company. First FedEx of this country in 1849. This guy comes out of the box and he is free. He is in the box for 27 hours, if he makes a noise, they kill him. All he has is a beef bladder. He travels New Zealand, Australia, and the UK telling his story being shipped to freedom.

I went to Richmond, Virginia. I asked somebody to put me in a box, and I shipped myself to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

You already did that?

Orlando: I did that.

What was that like?

Orlando: It was crazy. I’ll be releasing the show I’m doing with History about it in the next couple of weeks where I’ll be able to get into a bit more detail. But I’m excited, and I’m going to do a big special. I recreate the shit you’ve never heard of where somebody back then did something crazy and I just go into it. A guy says to me when I ask him about Henry Brown, “Henry Brown was a very successful slave.” And I ask him, “How do you become a successful slave?!” [laughs] So the question is, how do you become a successful slave? The answer, Henry Brown. That’s how you become a “successful slave.”

I’m still trying to wrap my head around you being in a box.

Orlando: Six and a half hours I was in this box. They had a camera on me. I had to use three modes of transportation just like he did. So I get on a train, then I get on a boat, and then I get on a pickup truck.

And you mimic the same time that he was in that box?

Orlando: I did it shorter than him because transportation was different. He had a train, a steamboat, and a horse and carriage. It was 1849, there was no Uber then. [laughs] So yeah, it took him 27 hours, it took me six and a half.

High School 51 is set to premiere on Machinima later this year.

‘Sleepy Hollow’ Renewed For Season 3!

by Eric Francisco

Despite rumors brewing about Sleepy Hollow‘s recent critical and ratings woes, Fox has renewed their supernatural series for a third season with Clifton Campbell replacing Mark Goffman as showrunner.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

After losing showrunner Mark Goffman, the network has renewed the series and tapped The Glades alum Clifton Campbell to take over the reins of the genre series for its third season.

 

The renewal comes as Sleepy Hollow underwent a bit of a creative reinvention in the back-half of its already completed second season. New network toppers Dana Walden and Gary Newman wanted the series to take on a more episodic nature versus its complex serialized storytelling.

Campbell’s most recent television work has been serving as executive producer for The Glades, and before that White Collar and Street Time, the latter of which I’m not making up. Street Time was the actual title for a real TV show.

Sleepy Hollow seemed invincible in its first season and was a bona fide hit with audiences and critics alike. It dominated the ratings in its freshman year, but by the second season reception turned a little lukewarm and the ratings took a dip. While I personally believe the show resurrected itself (so to speak) with its well-done, totally novel season finale, the cold ratings numbers said otherwise and doom loomed over the once-critical darling. It almost reminded me of Constantine‘s woes, but even Constantine didn’t get the high ride of a stellar season one.

Seriously, at some point this year Sleepy Hollow was almost done for.

https://twitter.com/theorlandojones/status/567449472641155072

With this renewal my concerns for the show are relieved for now, as I have another year of one of my favorite shows to enjoy. But I do hope they keep up the momentum they ignited from the climactic last few minutes of season two. It’d be a shame for a show like Sleepy Hollow to bite the dust before it could reach its full potential.

NYCC 2014: Interview with ‘Sleepy Hollow’ star Sakina Jaffrey and executive producer Mark Goffman!

by Eric Francisco

My adventure at the Sleepy Hollow press room continues! At the monstrous 2014 New York Comic-Con, I was joined by actress Sakina Jaffrey and producer Mark Goffman about what’s to come this season on FOX’s smash hit, Sleepy Hollow.

Sakina Jaffrey, who plays newcomer Leena Reyes, the replacement of disgraced Irving at the Sleepy Hollow Police Department, is utterly cheerly and bright, a contrast to her no-nonsense demeanor on the series. She notes that the press round tables are like speed dating.

“Okay, so who are we going to date?” she asks, to the delight of the press table.

Joining her immediately after is showrunner Mark Goffman, one of the show’s executive producers.

(Note: The following interview was conducted on a press room round table. Not all questions were mine, but all questions have been slightly paraphrased and edited to fit an easy-to-read Q&A format, as much of the round table happened conversationally. No drastic changes were made in the questions and the meaning and integrity of each question has been retained.)

For Mark, going into season two, what were some of the things from season one that you wanted to build upon?

Mark: Once we introduced John Noble’s character, Henry as this mastermind, was really fun and we wanted to do more with that. So in season two, he’s in every one of the first eleven episode episdoes and just so much fun and really getting to have a character who thinks so far ahead and is so brilliant is a lot fun to kind of craft and weave into our story. For Crane and Abbie, I wanted them to get a little bit more ahead of the game. I feel that season one was so much more about just catching up to this incredibly crazy world they find themselves in that for them to get a handle on it and embrace it, I think is a lot of fun for sesaon two. So as crazy as it is or it became in season one, it gets crazier and they try to get a jump on that.

For Sakina, what is it going to take for your character to believe?

Sakina: I think the only point of vulnerability that you see with Sheriff Reyes is the fact that she has a connection to the [main characters as] children, to the kids. And it’s something that only happens when you encounter vulnerable children. And they stay with you. And I feel that all these characters — the questions of who the parents are, who’s the mother? Who’s the father? Who’s the guardian? — I think Leena thinks she’s taking care of this community. And she takes care of the girls. I imagine if there’s a point of entry it would be with Abbie, but I have strong feelings of wanting to care for both the girls for sure. And on that John Noble thing, having done scenes with Kevin Spacey, I thought, “Oh, I’ll never get this again.” And then I’m in a scene with John Noble and that sort of, not Machiavellian thought and so smart, and the way he handles language. I thought, “Oh, I have to be on this show. It’s too much.”

What was it like coming in as a fresh face onto such an established series?

Sakina: As I said, I was surprised to be the resident evil. I didn’t expect I was going to be this huge party pooper. But, that was a little bit of a shock! Because I read it and I thought, “Oh my God. Yeah!” [laughs] I was so excited to be here! They gotta respect me and it’s like, oh no, not really. I like playing these very ballsy women who have the courage of their own conviction who believe they are doing the right thing. And if you look at a situation where you got this girl with a gun and this guy with the uniform, and it’s all chaos. And I need to put an end to that.

But on a personal note, people were really sweet. It’s a really loving set. The cast and crew work so hard. I look at Nikki and Tom, and the weight they’re carrying, I mean you guys get to see all the fun, but they’re working their tails off. And I have such respect for their acting, but also that they’re carrying such a tremendous load. And I love the writers. I didn’t think that I would find a show where it’s so smart. And I think we all want really smart material. So have the humor and the horror, but also it’s so psychologically grounded. So you’re not in Neverland, you’re actually completely grounded and these characters as manifestations of a psychological moment in the lives of these characters really come to life.

Fans’ response to Reyes as been mixed, to say the least. How do you feel about playing such a divisive character? 

Sakina: As I think was intended! Yeah. Ask him. [points to Mark] I want to know! I just want them to believe she has as much, not reason for being, but I think she thinks she’s doing the right thing. And when you see her come up against these characters, of course you’re going to feel for your beloved characters, your hero. But I think everyone is on a mission. And she’s on a mission that has merit. Let’s just say that. What do you think? Tell me, Mark.

Mark: Save for the demons, she’s absolutely right. About everything. If it weren’t for the apocalypse. But I believe that and introducing her as somebody who is not in that world, also gives us an access for the audiences who — you know, she’s someone who can come into this show and say, “This world is insane.” And I believe that, and everything I’m seeing [from her] there’s a justification for. Her interaction, the fact that she knew Abbie and Jenny’s mother, is going to factor in to the rest of the season. I think it will make an interesting bond there. Even if it cuts against her grain as a soldier, a warrior, in this war against evil. I think there’s a really fun arc she’s going to go through this season. I’m excited to let you see that!

Sakina: Yeah, all of them are great characters and you have no idea [each] week from the next which character is going to be doing.

What is it like being one of the leads of a show that has such a powerful female presence?

Sakina: It was nice actually, for me, to come in immediately at a point of authority rather than have to win it over or to prove myself. In fact everybody has to prove it to me, what their worth is. And that’s pretty much a luxury. I mean, I walk around with a stick up my ass [laughs] but I don’t mind! I don’t mind. What I love, with Nikki and I combined, we’re probably not much more than ten feet. We’re tiny, but don’t trifle with us. Thank you Mark for making short women powerful.

Mark: I believe it. She comes in and, you as an actor, you have such authority that it’s really, I think, exciting. It’s really organic to the world of the show. We weren’t trying to make a point, like “Look, another powerful woman.”It’s, here’s another person, a character, who’s very powerful and authoritative, and happens to be a woman.

Sakina: And is on a mission! Like every single character on this show. And like I keep talking about and find so interesting, is the idea that every character has suffered loss. And how they carry that burden. And, in the history I was given of Leena Reyes, there’s some loss in her life too. We all carry it differently and it’s sort of a reflection of a lot of interesting things that are played out in season two.

Mark: We’re going to get to know more about that this season as it plays out.

Sleepy Hollow has gained a reputation for having one of the most racially diverse casts in network television. Did you expect to have that reputation? How do you feel about having that responsibility, and did you ever intend to?

Mark: We never set out to like, part of the mission is to create a diverse cast. Let’s cast the most interesting characters, let’s cast the most interesting actors that we can find.

Sakina: I was so hoping he was going to say that.

Mark: But it’s true! I was lucky when I saw House of Cards. That’s when it really became, you know, recently familiar with your work. I said, “That’s who we want for this role.” And we went after her. And we’ve done that with Orlando, Lyndie, they’re just phenomenal actors and talents. That’s waht we looked for in casting the show. But we did want it to look like America. Part of the fun of this show is the character Ichabod Crane, who’s from 1776 from the Revolutionary War, is showing him what America looks like today.

Sakina: Look around the table. Sorry. This is it. Hello! This is Sleepy Hollow!

Will we be seeing any more Horsemen?

Mark: Good question. Well, two is a lot. So I feel that [we will] explore them for awhile. We are ramping towards an apocalypse. The Bible says there’s going to be at least four. I hope that if the show does one thing, it surprises, so I wouldn’t have any expectations. Just let it come. But, yeah, I hope we’ll surprise you with the way the whole apocalypse plays out.

One of my fellow press writers tells the table they did not expect to see Henry be the Horseman of War.

Sakina: That was the most ingenious thing ever.

Mark: We came up with that fairly early. And like for this season, we know how it’s going to end, and we knew before we started the series. So getting to plan that really helped us in laying these Easter eggs throughout the season. And it was hidden well, in the fact that Henry is so much older and, you know, we worked hard to hide the fact that he was his son.

Sakina: Did you tell the actors? John knew.

Mark: Oh yeah. John knew.

Sakina: Did the others?

Mark: Yeah we told them halfway through. This season we have another surprise coming in our midseason finale in December. Which I hope will be as suspenseful and as interesting as we have before.

Sakina: What’s interesting is that when you look back, you’re like, “Oh right, that, that, that, and that.”

As the session comes to a close, Sakina has a bright idea. She asks again. “Okay, so who are we going to date?”

Sleepy Hollow airs Mondays at 8 PM EST on FOX.

Check out our interview with “Sleepy Hollow” stars Orlando Jones, Lyndie Greenwood, writer Raven Mentz, and executive producer Len Wiseman from New York Comic-Con 2014!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyl95obG0ac

NYCC 2014: ‘Sleepy Hollow’ stars Lyndie Greenwood, Orlando Jones, writer Raven Metzner, and executive producer Len Wiseman!

by Eric Francisco

When I think of the great genre television shows that garner beloved fandoms, I think of one thing: The worlds they build. Whether it’s the Babylon space station, Westeros, or even just Sunnydale High School, fantasy is an escape and to build a world that feels real enough to make you want to journey through it is a magical thing. While the real city is a lot smaller and not populated by demons, the titular town of FOX’s Sleepy Hollow is a quaint little New York mountain town that has become ground zero for the Biblical apocalypse. I’ve been anxious to get to talk to the awesome, wild people who inhabit it and the creative geniuses who built it. At the 2014 New York Comic-Con, I did just that.

FOX’s Sleepy Hollow has been a major success and with only one complete season out there, it is bound to go down as a classic should the creative forces keep the momentum going. At the New York Comic-Con press room, a secluded area away from the chaos of the convention, I sat down on a roundtable with actors Lyndie Greenwood (Jenny) and Orlando Jones (Capt. Frank Irving), writer Raven Metzner, and executive producer Len Wiseman.

(Note: The following interview was conducted on a press room round table. Not all questions were mine, but all questions have been slightly paraphrased and edited to fit an easy-to-read Q&A format, as much of the round table happened conversationally. No drastic changes were made in the questions and the meaning and integrity of each question has been retained.)

The first to join us at the table was actress Lyndie Greenwood, who plays the tough-as-nails sister of Abbie, Jenny, and series writer Raven Metzner.

Sleepy Hollow has been a runaway success. With you guys personally, what is going on internally as the show ramps up for season two?

Raven: I wasn’t on the first season, but I was a giant fan of the show. So it’s extremely exciting to not only write and create on the show, but as a fan just watch it.

Lyndie: Excited and nervous. All of those things.

What’s it like joining a show that was full steam ahead already? Was it intimidating?

Raven: The first season was such a high bar all the way across. The great relationships, the amazing monsters, the great twists, the challenges and the bar of just trying to get above it.

For Lyndie, what’s it like for Jenny to finally start kicking some ass?

Lyndie: I feel like Jenny, the first scene you see her in season one, she’s doing chin-ups and push-ups, and is kicking ass from the beginning. It’s nice to have a team, to be a part of a team, and to be working towards the same goal, and to finally have people believe Jenny, which she’s been saying all these years. So, it’s gratifying to see her go through that.

So, Abbie and Jenny have had some tiffs. They’ve gotten over some of them, but they’ve been introduced to a new one: Reyes, and their mother. Can you tell us about how Jenny and Abbie will face those challenges?

Lyndie: We’re definitely going to learn more about the mother. And that is just an insane story. I think people will enjoy it, it was very fun to shoot too. And yeah, the sisters, they have tried so hard and they’ve worked so hard to be back in each other’s lives, you know Jenny has all these trust issues and she’s trying to work through them. But then they’re constantly hit with challenges of the apocalypse. [laughs] So it’s really cool to see them try to work this relationship out in this setting.

Do you think there’s something else? Once they do work through Reyes or even the apocalypse, that will eventually get in the way? Or is this the biggest hurdle they have to go through?

Lyndie: I just think life will throw things your way. Just by the nature of relationships you have to constantly work at them. So I think the sisters will have many, many challenges.

Raven: Also, the stakes are so high. I mean, its the apocalypse. The challenges they face are so monstrous, it puts all these characters into situations they never thought they’d be in before, and it makes them pushed up against choices they never thought they’d have to make and I think that you’ll see that coming up a lot this season.

How do you think Jenny feels about being out in the world when the demons that threw her in confinement are still out there? What’s her headspace like?

Lyndie: In a sense, she probably doubted herself at times. But now, she has other people backing her. She has that confidence within herself and is backed by people she’s starting to trust. So in a weird way, it’s probably satisfying. It’s kind of like, I told you so! In the worst way.

Filmmaker, producer, and screenwriter Len Wiseman swaggers over to our table and pops a seat next to Raven. Wiseman, mastermind behind the Underworld series, is among the helmers of Sleepy Hollow here at the New York Comic-Con.

You guys have crafted one of the most unique corners in genre horror. What exactly was the inspiration to mash up colonial America, modern America, and the Biblical end of days?

Len: You know, actually, here’s where it came from. When we did the research on the Washington Irving story, the original story of the Headless Horseman, [it] was created on the battlefield of the Revolutionary War. So, that had never been portrayed before. So that’s where the Revolution aspect came from. So it started there. And placing Crane there, being the one that was actually responsible for cutting off the head, creating the Headless Horseman, it then took us down the path of American history. With that character. And blending that with the Headless Horseman who happened to be one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which was so fun to pitch because when you pitch “the Headless Horseman is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” it just sounds correct! When we were pitching it to the studios, people were like, “I didn’t realize that.” You know? No, it’s not real, but it sounds so good.

What monsters have you guys enjoyed fighting the most, out of what we’ve seen so far?

Raven: I can say that my favorite monster is coming up in two weeks. Her name is the Weeping Lady, and she’s my favorite monster, because I made her! With the help of Len Wiseman and of course the rest of the writing crew.

Len: She’s a really cool monster.

Raven: I’m really, really excited about her.

Lyndie: One of my favorites is coming up too but I guess I’m not allowed to say. It’s the one after yours. And I’m not allowed to say! [laughs]

Raven: Nope! Nope!

Orlando Jones, who plays the hard-boiled cop turned institution patient Frank Irving, joins our side at the press table. We all have our iPhones, sound recorder, DSLRs, laptops, and camcorders scattered around the table. Jones, dressed like he just finished a GQ photoshoot, whips out his phone and becomes one of us. He could have had a fedora with a note that says “PRESS” and it would have been damn-near perfect.

Orlando Jones: What’s coming up midseason that you can reveal to us?

Lyndie: I told you to get out of here. I’m not answering your questions. Can somebody remove this man?

Raven [to Jones’ camera]: Irving gets naked!

Orlando Jones: Does Irving ever get naked with Benjamin Franklin?

The table laughs. I was told the Sleepy Hollow cast and crew have a warm work environment and that everybody there has a good time. Being up close in person to just a few of the actors and creatives, I wish I could be a fly on the wall on set.

Lyndie: You know what one of my favorite monsters was? Demon Jenny.

Len: Demon Jenny was awesome! When the dailies of that came in of that, you were so awesome in that. That was really creepy. And the final product of that, you with the eyes, with the voice, with everything, that was always for a director or producer, those elements are potentially very cheesy. Somebody gets possessed, and they do the demon voice, there’s always a high potential of failure for that there. And Lyndie pulled it off amazing. That was one of our creepiest moments.

One of the other reporters tells the table that she couldn’t sleep after Demon Jenny.

Lyndie: [laughs] Thank you so much! My friends and I when we were growing up, we used to find out who would do the most Satanic smile. Let me try.

Screen Shot 2014-10-19 at 1.22.41 PMgeekscape

We all freak out.

Len: I think the best demons we’ve had have been Jenny and Brooks, John Cho. That was amazing too. Those two moments I think were — creatures aside — were I think some of my favorite.

When is Irving going to break out?

Lyndie: Yeah, when are you getting out?

Orlando: [to Lyndie] Listen, I don’t like your tone of voice. [laughs] You know, it’s gonna be a slow burn. And rightfully so. Right now he’s facing a different set of circumstances. Right now he’s estranged from his family, he just sold his soul to the devil, [he’s gotten] people killed … his family, [his] daughter in particular, thinks her father is a murderer. So, he’s in a bad way. Abbie, fortunately, gave me the advice to move to the psychiatric ward and get out of the prison to get greater access which makes sense given Jenny was able to do so much while she was there. So, it’s gonna be an interesting season. There are a lot of eyes on him. He’s in a very difficult post. He’s in harm’s way.

How do you think Irving feels about being banned from Crane and Abbie?

Orlando: He’s not aware of that. He didn’t know he was signing a contract with the second horseman, so he has no clue that visitation is being controlled by his lawyer At present he thinks that this is who his wife thinks should be his attorney, and that his wife has faith — his wife is an attorney — so he has no reason not to accept her her expertise. So, it’ll be an interesting Monday, I’ll promise you that. [laughs]

Irving sort of mirrors Ichabod, in the sense that he has both ties to his family and his higher duties. But Frank we saw in the finale do a really noble thing. And now he’s in a place where has to choose between his family, his protection, and doing his job. What is that struggle going to look like in further episodes?

Orlando: It’s interesting you say that. Tom and I were literally just talking about that two nights ago. In season one, we realized that we were captain to captain and having a conversation. [We were] two people who had been in military ranks as it were, and had committed to a structured environment, and now we’re fish out of water. Him being here and me understanding what he’s brought to this world with the war raging. It’s gonna be, I think, topsy turvy for him, because I don’t think he has his sea legs yet. He doesn’t know yet a lot of things that are still happening. But I think that his journey is still very clear to him. It’s to protect his family and do what he can as a disciple in this war. I see him very much as a disciple. He’s a man of faith, he’s a man who believes, and I think he’s a man who wants to try and leave the world a better place and whatever he has to do to do that, he’s willing to do.

Sleepy Hollow has garnered a lot of praise for being one of the most racially diverse cast on television today. People are now eyeing Sleepy Hollow as one of the most progressive shows out there. How do you feel about developing that reputation? Was that at all intended from the beginning?

Len: Not by design. It was not something that was in our plan whatsoever. Our script changed quite drastically throughout the process when we were writing. Abbie was, for instance, not written as African-American. And Ichabod wasn’t written [for] a British actor. So everything just came organically from what was fitting through casting. And, so, it wasn’t anything by design. John Cho was a favor. When the show was [when] no one knows what it’s going to be, when we were putting the pilot together, I called John because I worked with him before, I thought it would be great to have — you know, nothing to do with his ethnicity — it had to do with the fact that I wanted somebody people would freak out if he died in the end.

Good choice!

The table laughs. This isn’t Sunday at Comic-Con. This is a Sunday barbecue.

Len: I called him up and I said I want people to, at the end, [make them] say, “Did they kill John Cho?” And we can say, “Yes we did. We killed John Cho.” So that was it.

I don’t know what’s worse: The betrayal or the killing of Cho. I think it was the betrayal. It was, “No John Cho, no!”

Len: The head on the back wasn’t pretty either.

Orlando: But what’s really cool about the show, as Len said, was that wasn’t an agenda. And that the show became multi-cultural based on absolutely no choices about that. Just, who’s who we’re casting, who feels right for who, so it’s always interesting to read people on the internet go, “Oh, these people are so racist.” I’m like, you got it totally wrong! These are the last racist people ever. Because they didn’t cast it based on a grid. It was cast based on who was right for the role. And there is nothing truly better than that. To look at Hollywood today, and to have that happen in Hollywood today, given what Hollywood was just not a very long time ago, is a major step and kudos to our creative crew.

Sleepy Hollow airs Mondays at 8 PM EST on FOX.

Check out our interview with Sakina Jaffrey and executive producer Mark Goffman from New York Comic-Con 2014!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyl95obG0ac

Geekscape Recap: Sleepy Hollow: Sanctuary

by S.J. Borger

Wow, readers. Just wow. For the first time, Sleepy Hollow provided an episode that requires no qualifications, no hesitant ‘buts’ or ‘it’s getting better.’ No, siree, with episode nine, “Sanctuary,” Sleepy Hollow finally provided what we had been hoping for all season—a solid, well-paced, challenging and intriguing hour of television with few, if any, flaws. It was just fun. It was scary in parts. It had a little bit of BBC-esque ‘monsters in bubble wrap’ but it worked. The whole episode just worked.

We can only hope the trend continues.

We still have a fairly lengthy ‘previously on’ prior to the episode actually starting, but it seems we’ve finally moved down to just one (yay!) and then the episode starts right up.

The Frederick Manor in Sleepy Hollow's newest episode, "Sanctuary" Courtesy of Fox.
The Frederick Manor in Sleepy Hollow’s newest episode, “Sanctuary”
Courtesy of Fox.

Don’t Go In the House…

A Jaguar with a chauffeur drives a young woman–Lena Gilbert, who is wealthy enough to have a ‘Family’ and a Jag and chauffeur/bodyguard—drive up to what she says used to be the Family’s ancestral home. Despite her bodyguard’s admonishments, she runs into the house. Because that’s what rich young women due at the beginning of horror movies.

On the second floor she finds a doorway blocked with some sort of branch/hedge thing—she cuts herself…and the branches come to life, dragging her into the dark.

We go to Crane and Abbie, coming into the precinct with fast food. Crane has a (somewhat entertaining) rant about food (fast food, what the pilgrims really eat…etc.) which winds down when he realizes that essentially, he’s just lonely. Abbie tries to cheer him up–not well–and then she and Crane get called into Irving’s office (the more Orlando Jones is in these episodes, the better they get—coincidence?? We think not) because super rich heiress Lena Gilbert (of the sucked into closet by branch fame) has disappeared, and the Senate Majority Leader wants her found (Crane is rightfully astonished at the idea of a billionaire…) but Abbie doesn’t see why she and Crane need to investigate it. Irving shows them a note left by Lena—with Katrina’s name on it.

With a little research, they discover Lena’s ancestry and from that, know which house she went to—her ancestor’s, Frederick’s Manor (the colonial we saw earlier). The two head out.

When they get there, it’s clearly time for a flashback, and Sleepy Hollow obliges. We go back to see a newly married Crane and Katrina arrive at a well-kept Fredericks Manor, where Katrina calls the place a sanctuary (like the title, get it?) and explains that the Manor is a haven for escaped slaves, for Lachlan Fredericks not only did not have slaves, but freed and protected any who came to him—as well as any other who need protection or refuge.

For once though, the flashbacks do not show Crane as an all-knowing sage, nor do they reinforce exposition which could have been shown other ways. This time, rather, they actual propel the mystery and the ambiance of the episode, providing foreshadowing and layers to characters.

Back in the present, Crane is mildly shocked—though he had just given a speech on human equality—that a billionaire would date an Irishman (Clooney). Funny, apt, character driven. Just all-in-all good.

Len Gilbert is rescued by Crane and Abbie. Courtesy of Fox.
Len Gilbert is rescued by Crane and Abbie.
Courtesy of Fox.

Dead Bodies, Strange Voices and Doors Slamming Shut

In the house, Crane and Abbie find the body of the bodyguard (we hardly knew ye!) and when Abbie attempts to go outside to call for backup, the episode goes good old fashioned haunted house creepy: doors slam, shutters shut as Crane approaches, and light goes from bright morning sun to grey and spooky.

Abbie, understandably, is not happy. Winds blow, whispers right out of hearing—and a black women in period dress, that only Abbie sees. Apparently a haunted house crosses a line with Abbie, and she wants out.

Crane calms Abbie down and proposes they find Lena and try to get out. As they explore, he finds a book—Gulliver’s Travels—his wife’s favorite—and in it a letter. A letter from him, sent from Washington’s aide-de-camp when he died on the battlefield. Before they can discuss it much, the house goes all spooky sounds and creaks, and they return to their search for Abbie.

And another flashback, where we see the Manor in all its glory and meet Lachlan Frederick and his housekeeper, Grace Dixon. Crane realizes that the house was a sanctuary not just for slaves, but also for the powers of good. Protected against demonic forces.

Upstairs, the find a blood trail that leads them through a series of moldy rooms to a closet—where Lena is being held, caught in roots and branches. They cut her free—and the branches bleed.

Outside, an old tree stump comes alive. And not in the friendly Ents-of-the-Forest way either. As Lena is pulled free from her bonds, she cries that ‘it’s alive.’

At the precinct, Irving has Jenny in his office—where she is finally returning the two guns she ‘forgot’ to give back after the headless horsemen escape the week prior.

Before she leaves, she nervously—and it’s the most charming we’ve seen Jenny—asks Irving over to Thanksgiving dinner.  They mood gets a little flirtatious—before it’s interrupted by a wife? Ex-wife? And Irving’s daughter, who’s in a wheelchair. Jenny ducks out as Irving recovers.

SLEEPY HOLLOW: Lt. Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) searches a colonial-era house that holds secrets in the "Sanctuary" episode of SLEEPY HOLLOW. Brownie Harris/FOX
SLEEPY HOLLOW: Lt. Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) searches a colonial-era house that holds secrets in the “Sanctuary” episode of SLEEPY HOLLOW.
Brownie Harris/FOX

So, yeah, Great-Great-Great Granddad was  Warlock

At the house, Lena explains that she’s been researching her family history, and that Katrina Crane had interested her as she was the last person to seek sanctuary at Frederick’s Manor. She confirms a legend that Lachlan was involved in witchcraft, and Crane surmises he and Katrina were in the same coven.

They are attacked by a root-man (straight from the BBC…), and panicked, they run into hidden passages between the walls. Abbie gets separated from Crane and Lena, who crash through the walls to get out. Crane reaches behind to get Abbie, but instead his almost captured by the root-man. Lena helps him pull free and the two run.

Abbie, meanwhile, sees the same women in period clothing she had seen before—who we now know is Grace Dixon–who leads her through the passage and to an empty bedroom.

At the precinct, Jenny is confronted in the halls by Irving’s daughter, Macy. The two bond slightly over having-relatives-as-cops, and Jenny denies dating him (or even wanting to, though we think the lady doth protest too much). We learn that Macy’s spends most of her time with her mother in the City, and Jenny urges her to give Irving another chance.

Irving and his ex-wife have a tense little you’re-not-a-good-enough-father conversation, and in the end, the ex-wife, who doesn’t understand why Irving is there in a small-town precinct instead of the big-time city job he had before, says that if he cancels one more weekend with Macy, she’ll file for full custody.

Meanwhile,  Grace shows Abbie a vision—Katrina, giving birth. It is obvious something is trying to get at her—crows beat upon the window—and Grace is clearly the mid-wife, helping Katrina through the birth. Despite the difficult labor and the uncanny events, a baby boy is safely born.

Crane and Lena continuing running, trying to escape the creature. They do not succeed, and Lena is taken again.

Crane takes on the creature sent by Moloch to kill his son. Courtesy of Fox.
Crane takes on the creature sent by Moloch to kill his son.
Courtesy of Fox.

So, Crane, There Was This Vision…

Abbie, gun and flashlight out, stumbles through a hallway. Points for atmosphere,as the only-seeing-things-through-a-flashlight-beam is used, and used well, for effect from this point out.

She runs into Crane, who has lost Lena, and Abbie tells Crane what she saw. It’s a lovely bit of acting on both Mison’s and Beharie’s parts, as Crane learns he lost not only a wife, but a child. And that they had been left in danger. Abbie compassionate but stern.

She then tells him what we haven’t seen: that the dark forces gathering outside (sent by Moloch) started to get in, growing inside the property. And they attacked the same moment Crane’s child was born. Lachlan sends Katrina, the baby and Grace to his carriage, and is almost instantly slaughtered by the root-man. We hear the child cry—but that was all Abbie saw. We don’t know if the child survived or not.

Lena’s scream interrupts them, and they run towards the sound.

Lena stands in the basement, light only by a flashlight, and before she can speak to them she is pulled into the grasp of the root-man, who holds her by her throat.

Abbie can’t get a clear shot and the creature—and Lena—disappear. They cast their flashlights about—illuminating the roots along the foundation of the house. Crane urges Abbie to shoot them, and she does, which injures the creature, who releases Lena.

Grace appears again, escorting Katrina and the child to a secret door—to escape, for safety—and Abbie now knows the way out. The fight their way to the door and emerge, safe, outside the house.

Family sometimes chooses you. Courtesy of Fox.
Family sometimes chooses you.
Courtesy of Fox.

Vengeance is Sweet

But Crane is not appeased. Though he knows the child and Katrina lived, he is infuriated at the monster who attacked them, so he grabs a flare and a ax from the back of the car, and goes back in. In a particularly powerful moment,he tells Abbie not to follow him.

He goes back to the basement and begins to whack at the roots, and finally the monster itself, killing it completely.

He stumbles out, splattered in blood (we know, we know, you’re thinking, ‘Yes! maybe they’ll get him some new clothes.’ Nope, sorry. His shirt apparently can instantly clean itself of blood stains, because, yeah, cotton weaved 200 years ago never held a stain). He gets in the car and Abbie, silenced, drives off.

They leave the Jag behind because, well, it’s a Jag.

The next day—Thanksgiving—Abbie finds a morose Crane in their secret-research-room (in his perfectly spotless shirt), where Abbie has gotten a package from Lena, containing all of Lena’s research on the Manor. In it, Abbie finds a family tree, going back to Grace Dixon…and ending with Abbie’s mother. Crane and Abbie realize they had been set on this path for quite awhile, and acknowledge each other as family.

It would have been nice to actually see them at Thanksgiving, since Jenny had invited Irving and it seemed like he had said yes, so it was weird that we didn’t see anything, but that was a very minor flaw in an otherwise really strong episode.

Stay tuned next week for all the haps in the Hollow!

Sleepy Hollow airs on Fox on Mondays at 9 p.m.

Geekscape Recap: Sleepy Hollow:Necromancer

by S.J. Borger

First, apologies for the dearth of Sleepy Hollow recaps here at Geekscape–between ComiKaze, and Blizzcon, and a terrible, terrible flu bug, we got a little behind. But we’re back, just in time for Sleepy Hollow’s best episode of the season, Necromancer.

The stars of “Sleepy Hollow” appear in a scene from the TV show. Nicole Beharie, left, plays police Lt. Abbie Mills and Tom Mison plays Ichabod Crane. (AP Photo/Fox)
The stars of “Sleepy Hollow” appear in a scene from the TV show. Nicole Beharie, left, plays police Lt. Abbie Mills and Tom Mison plays Ichabod Crane.
(AP Photo/Fox)

A Recap in the Recap

So, in the past few weeks, Crane has been cured of his connection to the horseman, found his Freemason brothers (Ep. 6, The Sin Eater), John Cho rejoined the cast, and Crane and Abbie convinced Captain Irving of the existence of all things that go bump in the night while setting a trap for the horseman and then catching said Horseman (Ep. 7, The Midnight Ride). While still suffering from expositional monologues and occasional main-character-making-serious-bad-choice-itis (also known as the-plot-demands-I-forget-everything-I-know-for-a-moment syndrome), Sleepy Hollows is a winner this Fall season, with solid ratings and an ever-growing (and loyal) fan base.

The Horseman, imprisoned.
The Horseman, imprisoned.

A Hex, A Horseman and a Hit

The latest installment, Necromancer, starts out immediately after The Midnight Ride (still with the double whammy of voice-over introduction, though) which Abbie charmingly introducing Crane to the fist bump as they celebrate capturing the Horseman (using a Devil’s Snare straight out of the Winchester boys’ playbook, and wouldn’t that be a fanfic crossover made in Heaven/Hell…).

The Horseman is being subdued by a combination of hex candles, UV lights and the aforementioned devil’s snare. Irving—and a giant big shout of glee at how wonderful Orlando Jones is and how happy we are that he is getting SO MUCH screen time (especially in the super-sexy bullet-proof vest)—Crane and Abbie have a little discussion about the demons of hell that are coming their way and who they can depend on—namely themselves, Jenny, and the dubious ally in Andy Brooks (Cho).

Irving points out Brooks is dead (and can we point out, hopefully for the last time, that no one EVER noticed Brooks’ body missing from the morgue—not ever?) to which Crane and Abbie explain the whole Moloch connection (leading to the best line of the night, Iriving’s “Moloch, the demon on the top of the org chart?” great line, great delivery).

As Jenny was released from the hospital the day prior (which we didn’t see, which was odd, because what, did Abbie pick her up from the mental hospital, drop her off at home and say ‘don’t worry your super-skilled-soldier self, I’m going headless horseman hunting and there’s no reason you’d want to be involved in that!’??) and is now just hanging out in Sleepy Hollow, not at all interested in Crane or Abbie or what they might be working on.

Abbie asks Irving to go get her because she might be ‘useful’ while she and Crane find Brooks because he’s the Horseman’s voice.

Cut to two hunters in the woods who stumble upon the Horseman’s horse. One of them calls up somebody and speaks in German. Apparently Hessians just hang out in the upstate New York woods dressed up like deer hunters…

Once he finishes his phone call, he shoots the other hunter and takes the Horseman’s horse.

Captain Irving and Jenny head out on a call.
Captain Irving and Jenny head out on a call.

Things Aren’t Going to End Well

Back at the police station (Sheriff’s station?) Jenny comes in unescorted and greets Irving with what would have been a stirring speech against police abuse of power except she came in unescorted and uncuffed and of her own free will.

Irving and Jenny have a little tête-à-tête where they both state obvious things about each other in a level, menacing way so that we know how smart they each are and how much they don’t trust each other before they get interrupted by a ‘situation’ at a local antiques store. One that Jenny knows…because she used to do freelance acquisitions for the owner. So apparently she’s also Lara Croft.

Crane and Abbie wait for Brooks in his liar in the (seemingly endless) tunnels beneath the city; Crane finds an ancient plaque thingy with Egyptian hieroglyphs on it which lead him to believe that Brooks is the Horseman’s necromancer, or in Crane’s world, a speaker for the dead.

Sidenote: Okay, so a necromancer is usually considered someone who raises or speaks to the dead. TO. Not FOR. Usually for purposes of divination or power. A speaker FOR the dead is Ender Wiggan.

So they bundle Brooks up and take him the Horseman’s cell, and even though Brooks tells them that he has no free will and will do horrible things and not be able to stop himself, neither Crane nor Abbie seem daunted (even though he says “this won’t end well.”) and off they go to the Horseman’s cell.

SH ep8.5
John Cho as the undead Andy Brooks, clearly not very well secured.

Everyone Needs A Little Druidic Incantation 

At the Antique store, Jenny and Irving discover that the place was ransacked by someone (or ones?) who stole a thracian phiale, an ancient relic safely kept in a…wooden box. Well, a wooden box covered in Druidic scripture (16th century, which wasn’t exactly pagan-religion friendly, and written in Norse runes, but okay….). Apparently it can break a hex spell (like the one holding the Horseman) and was taken by men speaking German. Jenny deduces that the Hessians will hit the grid next to take out the power to the UV lights.

Crane and Abbie bring Brooks to the Horseman’s prison (and where did the find time to inlay into the cement the devil’s snare?) and Brooks warns them one more time that it’s a bad idea…but they take him anyway, locking him to a chair and then putting cuffs (with LOTS of slack) on him.

The Horseman doesn’t seem to want to talk, so Crane taunts him, getting up close and personal and finishing with a shove, with dislodges a locket.

Brooks goes all black-eyed and possessed (at this point the Sleepy Hollow producers should really give a shout out to Supernatural…) and, in the Horseman’s voice, says the locket is Katrina’s.

So we all know there’s a flashback coming , and sure enough, Crane explains that the locket was purchased for Katrina by her fiancé, Abraham, who she jilted for Crane (Abraham is apparently Crane’s best friend and partner, though we’ve never, ever, ever met him before and how did he know Abraham and not Katrina??).

In the flashback we see Katrina, who is somehow no longer a simple nurse in homespun, if low-cut wool, but now decked out like a lady in a very expensive gown in a very expensive house. And apparently Abraham is a Loyalist? And Katrina is going to break of the engagement because it’s an arranged marriage and that sort of thing shouldn’t happen in the new country they are both fighting for.

All of that is very interesting but doesn’t explain why the Horseman has the locket. Crane thinks the Horseman might know why Moloch is holding Katrina captive.

Crane and Katrina, all dressed up in 1774.
Crane and Katrina, all dressed up in 1774.

Is That a TAC Team or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

Irving and Jenny—in full tactical armor and all SWAT teamed out—are at the power station to foil the Hessian’s plan. They capture three handily and then ambush the others with a full SWAT team. Yay, happy ending and lots of arrests (and supposedly lots of paperwork for somebody).

Crane continues to question the Horseman (a phenomenal performance by Cho as Brooks, by the way) and we find out that killing Crane is the Horseman’s mission from Moloch.

Meanwhile Jenny discovers that the Hessians had time to plant something at the plant, which starts a furious search.

The Horseman brings Crane up short by accusing him of betraying and leaving his previous partner for dead, causing Crane to start to lose control and get personally involved in the interrogation.

Jenny and Irving are too late, and an explosion rocks the power plant—and the UV lights go out (seriously, the Sleepy Hollow police don’t have a generator??). The Horseman is clearly not as powerless as they thought.

SLEEPY HOLLOW: Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) searches for clues in the "Into Darkness" episode of SLEEPY HOLLOW airing Monday, Nov. 18 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2013 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Brownie Harris/FOX
SLEEPY HOLLOW: Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) searches for clues in the “Into Darkness” episode of SLEEPY HOLLOW airing Monday, Nov. 18 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2013 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Brownie Harris/FOX

A Duel to the Not-Quite-Death

As Abbie and Crane wait for Irving and Jenny to return, Abbie presses for an explanation to the Horseman’s allegations. Cue flashback #2.

Crane and Abraham were entrusted to take the Declaration of Resolves to the first Continental Congress (Abraham is NOT a Loyalist, then) and of course, as people do when on a highly dangerous covert mission, the two talked about Katrina and Crane thought that deep in enemy territory was an ideal place to tell Abraham that Katrina dumped Abraham for Crane. Why would you do that?

Abraham decides that the only logical reaction is to duel. Crane refuses, but is forced to fight to defend himself. Abraham is about to win but Hessians interrupt, shooting Abraham. Crane flees into the forest at Abraham’s insistence.

Crane insists on going back in but Abbie won’t let him as Crane is too emotional and raw—and Irving and Jenny show up just in time to provide a distraction. Abbie is upset that Irving has brought Jenny to see the Horseman, but more importantly, since they didn’t find the thracian phiale, everyone is now in a lot of super-duper-danger. Apparently, says Jenny, if the Hessians break in with the phiale and recite a druidic incantation it will set the Horseman free.

Irving positions men at every entrance to the tunnels and they decide that Abbie, Irving and Jenny will patrol the tunnels to secure them from the Hessians, leaving Crane along with the Horseman.

Brooks (remember all that slack on his handcuffs?) digs out of his own belly (ew) the phiale because apparently Crane can’t see Brooks from the two-way mirror/glass observation room that was so handily built into the ancient tunnels. And, despite being told multiple times not to trust Brooks, no one had bother to gag him either, so Brooks not only has enough slack to dig the phiale out, but no impediment to speaking the druidic incantation, which Crane still doesn’t notice because apparently he’s busy pouting about Katrina and Abraham…

Seriously, these people are really bad at this sometimes.

Abbie, Jenny and Irving explore the tunnels, where super scary demons slither about just out of their sight. Definitely chill worthy moments there.

Crane comes into the Horseman’s cell and still doesn’t notice what Brooks his doing…until Brooks calls his attention to it. And then Crane acts surprised that Brooks, who has said over and over again he has no control over his actions, has released the Horseman.

The Horseman breaks his bonds and gives Crane a sword and the two reenact the duel Abraham and Crane fought in 1774…revealing that the Horseman is Abraham.

The Horseman. AKA Abraham. AKA Katrina's ex-fiance.
The Horseman. AKA Abraham. AKA Katrina’s ex-fiance.

Apparently (cue flashback 3), after Crane ran into the woods, the Hessians performed a ritual which bound Abraham to Moloch and turned him into the Horseman. Katrina is being held by Moloch as a reward for Abraham once the four horsemen ride.

The Horseman/Abraham gets the better of Crane, and is about to kill him, when Moloch’s demon minions flash in, grab the Horseman and Brooks. Brooks cries out that the Horseman cannot kill Crane yet, and in a spooky-smokey flash, the demons, Brooks and the Horseman are gone.

So what’s next? It seems Crane and Abbie get trapped in a haunted house—where more than just a ghost’s secrets are revealed.

Join us next week for all the haps in the Hollow!

Sleepy Hollow airs on Fox on Monday at 9 p.m.

Geekscape Recap: Sleepy Hollow: “John Doe”

by S.J. Borger

It’ll be three weeks before we get anymore Sleepy Hollow—but when it comes back, it should be with a bang—guest stars galore, including Fringe’s John Noble, and the return of the horseman.

But we’re not there yet, readers, are we? This week’s episode, “John Doe,” hit a lot of right notes and was a definite improvement over the good-but-predictable groove last week’s episode had.

Still had to wade through four minutes of ‘previously on’ voice over exposition before we get to anything new. Sure hope that will stop soon.

Ichabod Crane tackles modern bathroom paraphernalia (yes, it's a gif!). Courtesy of Fox and EW.Com
Ichabod Crane tackles modern bathroom paraphernalia (yes, it’s a gif!).
Courtesy of Fox and EW.Com

And the Adventure Begins

Eventually the voice over ends and we’re in a foggy, gloomy forest with a young boy—dressed like a page from a Ren Faire—being teased by a young girl that he ‘can’t catch her.’ With a laugh, she runs off (in white shoes! Who wears white shoes in the muddy, muddy forest?? A dead giveaway that something isn’t right) and he follows. He doesn’t get but a few steps before a horseman gallops behind him—Conquest, or Pestilence. The boy runs for his life, making it to the road as the horseman disappears into a fine black mist (an awesome effect only slightly reminiscent of Supernatural’s demon essence).

Side note: We had a joke planned about calling Pestilence Conquest but then some quick internet searching showed us the error of our ways: the horseman referred to as Pestilence is more commonly called Conquest. Who knew? Well, apparently the Sleepy Hollow writers. So, well done, them.

So, black dust swirl and scared boy segue into Crane and Abbie at Corbin’s cabin. Apparently Crane is moving in (…did Corbin leave the cabin to Abbie? Or Jenny?) and they’ve gone shopping for the necessities, like an orange soap-puff-thingy (they might have a name but we don’t know it).

After the requisite ‘you-must-have-faith/I-only-believe-what-I-can-see/but-you’re-a-witness/pfffft-whatever’ conversation (she refers to God as ‘the big guy’ so we know she’s a little agnostic), and the obligatory Crane-fumbling-with-modern-conveniences sequence (though those are funny. Mison’s frustrated-yet-polite-incredulity comedic timing is impeccable) Abbie gets a police call—someone has collapsed on a road close by.

She and Crane head out—despite her protests that it’s a routine call.

Thomas Grey is a boy-out-of-time in this week's Sleepy Hollow episode.
Thomas Grey is a boy-out-of-time in this week’s Sleepy Hollow episode.

Nothing in This Town Is Routine

Our young boy has made it to town, where he passed out. A few witnesses (namely a mail carrier) remember enough to know which direction he came from.  Abbie’s ex, Morales, is already there (why are there THREE detectives at a collapsing-boy scene?) Crane is intrigued by the boy’s clothes—again, he’s all short pants/long vest/peasant sleeve’d up.

Abbie postulates that the boy got lost from a Ren Faire. To which we had to scoff, because after five weeks in Sleepy Hollow, Ren Faire is not the first assumption we would jump to. More like ‘he must have traveled in time! Everybody’s doing it now! We’re going to need border police before these Elizabethans come and take all our jobs!’

Or, possibly, is he Amish?

Crane seems ready to go with Abbie’s premise until the boy wakes up and cries out (typing phonetically now): “Euld thrun.”

Crane understand him—it’s Middle English. Before the boy can answer any questions, though, the Paramedic takes him away.

Orlando Jones as Captain Irving. Courtesy of FOX, 2013
Orlando Jones as Captain Irving.
Courtesy of FOX, 2013

One Scene at the Police Station So We Don’t Forget It Exists

After the credits, we join Abbie and Crane at the Police Station. Abbie is going through missing persons because, well, she’s just not going to go with the whole supernatural forces theory yet. She defines ‘kidnapping’ for Crane (pretty sure that’s been a word for a while—yup, the internet says it’s English, from the late 1600s. So.)

Irving walks up for a status report; prompting another attempt to define a term for Crane, this one ‘John Doe’; Crane snaps back that he knows it, it originated in England (true, says Wikipedia, from as far back as 1300s).

Crane pleads with Irving that the child is from a similar distant past, as evidenced by his speaking Middle English (great King Arthur’s court reference by Irving, in his deadpan world-weary tone. The whole scene is just fun), Abbie says the kid isn’t in any database and that Morales—he of the ex-boyfriend-hood—is checking in with the local Amish (finally!).

Irving tells Abbie and Crane that the boy has some infectious disease and the CDC has been brought in and the boy quarantined. Abbie and Crane should go to the hospital to see if they can get any information from the child about where he came from and, perhaps, the disease which is rapidly killing him.

Oddly no one is checking in with Ren Faires…

Irving checks in with Morales, who brings up Crane as a possible problem (small town/people talk/he used to be a suspect). To be honest everything with Morales feels forced and awkward–the character, his dislike of Crane, his reason for being—and other than being the male-tight-shirt-wearing character to Abbie’s female-tight-shirt-wearing character, we are often left wondering what exactly his purpose is. He provides no real conflict and is apparently an inept detective (note: they still haven’t figured out John Cho’s body is MISSING).

Irving puts Morales back in his place (“is that gonna cause a problem, Morales?”), and thank God, that scene is over. Though Irving’s defense of Crane was awesome—including the part, when, alone, Irving silently doubts his own words.

We couldn't find a photo of the hospital scenes, so here's a picture of Tom Mison as Ichabod Crane looking especially delicious. Courtesy of FOX, 2013.
We couldn’t find a photo of the hospital scenes, so here’s a picture of Tom Mison as Ichabod Crane looking especially delicious.
Courtesy of FOX, 2013.

VECTOR! CDC! QUARTANTINE! Out of Medical Words Now

Abbie and Crane get to the hospital, where Crane is appalled by the plastic quarantine sheeting.

They are met by an officious, brash and seriously one-note (BAD-TEMPERED GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL) CDC doctor. Who keeps calling the boy the ‘vector.’

Side Note: We know that in the study infectious diseases a vector is a real thing and is actually involved in the transmission of diseases; they are the biological or mechanical objects which allow the disease to jump to humans (think mosquitos and malaria…the mosquitos are the vector). We watched Contagion just like everybody else. But humans aren’t typically called vectors because even if they infect other people the disease is not species hopping. The first patient is called Patient 0 or something similar. Also, the CDC guy didn’t use any other infectious-disease type words like pathogen or virus or protozoa or virulence or vaccine or antibodies or gene-mapping…well, you get the idea. Not only was his character one note, but apparently so was his knowledge of contagious diseases.

Crane is offended by that (and rightfully so!) and wants to speak to the boy. He can’t touch him, but he can talk to him through a camera/TV set up. Which the boy, who’s from so far back he speaks Middle English, totally views as normal and doesn’t freak out about at all. Neither is he freaked out by the humans in biohazard suits or, you know, being naked and hooked to wires and getting pricked by needles. He’s the most composed ten-year-old ever.

Thomas Grey and Crane talk in Middle English via TV. Courtesy of FOX, 2013.
Thomas Grey and Crane talk in Middle English via TV.
Courtesy of FOX, 2013.

We Don’t Think Middle English Means What You Think It Means

So Crane—in fluent Middle English, which is saying something since no one in our time or his has ever actually heard it spoken—questions the boy.

The boy’s name is Thomas Grey (finally, a name!). He says he’s sorry—he knew he shouldn’t have left the village.

Abbie—who is just NOT going to let go of her ‘this all has a rational explanation’ viewpoint—says they ‘see this all the time,’ people locking up children and threatening them if they run away (in Sleepy Hollow, which just, like, ten minutes ago was described as a ‘small, quiet town?’ Who’s doing all this kidnapping and locking up off children all the time?)

Crane points out that usually such people don’t teach those kids Middle English; CDC guy demands to know where the kid is from.

Thomas looks at the camera and says he’s from the village Roanoke.

Roanoke, Virginia.

CDC Guy springs into action, calling for lots of things and walking off. Crane, however, doesn’t think it’s the modern-day Roanoke. He thinks it’s the Roanoke Colony—the Lost Colony. The boy’s clothes and speech point to it.

 

They talked like this guy wrote.
They talked like this guy wrote.

Side Note: So, here’s the thing. Middle English, as a language, which phased into Early Modern English by 1470—which slowly transitioned into Modern English by around 1650.

Roanoke Colony was founded in 1584. On the order of Queen Elizabeth.

Shakespeare’s Queen Elizabeth.

So Middle English wasn’t spoken in Roanoke—if anything the kid should have sounded like something out of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. And this isn’t just a few years difference: by the time Roanoke was founded Middle English hadn’t been spoken in over 100 years. Crane talks about the language of Chaucer—and that is Middle English—but Roanoke would have been speaking the language of Shakespeare or Marlowe.

Ok, sorry, end rant.

But, seriously, research, people, research.

Lt. Abbie Mills and Ichabod Crane track Thomas Grey's trail. Courtesy of FOX, 2013
Lt. Abbie Mills and Ichabod Crane track Thomas Grey’s trail.
Courtesy of FOX, 2013

The Middle Part Where Much is Discovered and/or Explained

So, Crane hypothesizes that Thomas is from the Lost Colony (cue Flashback). As Crane explains the Roanoke lore (cue move back to research-book-club spot) including that the first colonist was born in Roanoke Colony, a Virginia Dare (how does he know these things??).

Abbie and Crane have another ‘do you believe…?’/’I believe…’ conversation that is interrupted (thank goodness) by Irving calling up and telling them the disease has spread to the Paramedic and the nursing staff.

Abbie and Crane decide to go to the woods where the mail carrier saw Thomas and see if they can find any clues; back in the hospital the ill Paramedic, covered in black-colored veins, sees Conquest riding down upon him.

Crane and Abbie search the woods and using Crane’s super-tracking skills (of course he has super tracking skills!)–explained in an interesting two sentences by Crane, that he has noble blood and was raised in a regal manner. Abbie doesn’t have any questions. HOW can she not have any questions?? Nope, she just keeps on walking into the woods.

they follow the boy’s trail to a small island. Crane discovers a symbol carved between two trees which leads to a hidden path beneath the water (which is patrolled by some…thing. Which is strong enough to yank a branch out of Crane’s hands but not interesting enough for an explanation) and Crane and Abbie cross the water to the island, where a weird camera angle tells us they are traveling through more than just normal space…

As they step into a clearing, Roanoke village appears (looking just like it did in Crane’s flashback). The villagers are gathered around a well that is in the center of town, and they greet Crane in Middle English. They all have the black vein disease but no one seems to be dying of it.

Conquest (aka Pestilence) rides again in Fox's Sleepy Hollow. Courtesy of Fox, 2013
Conquest (aka Pestilence) rides again in Fox’s Sleepy Hollow.
Courtesy of Fox, 2013

Was it a Horseman? Vaguely Genghis Khan-Looking Armor? Bow?

A town Elder takes Crane back to Thomas’ house and explains that the original colony was beset by a devil on a horse (Conquest, knows Crane), who brought a plague upon them. Virginia Dare was the first to die and her spirit led the village to where they are now, and something in that place has kept them alive.

Thomas’ father pleads with them to save his son; a young girl offers Abbie a purple flower (which made it seem important but, no, no pay off on that) and they return to the hospital, where more people have gotten ill—including Crane, who has to be sedated before he submits to quarantine.

Crane discovers himself in Purgatory with his wife, who tells him he must be dead or very close to dying to be there. They don’t have much time before Crane is jerked back to his body—just enough to explain that she is held in Purgatory and that Moloch has not allowed her to contact Crane recently. Also, we get a not-really-Catholic-canon explanation of Purgatory.

CDC Guy is even more unbearable, and Abbie is directed by Irving to stop investigating some crazy Lost Colony theory and report to Morales for her road black assignment (I guess the town’s in quarantine and they don’t have any uniformed police to do that? And if you’re wondering, ‘when did Morales become Abbie’s boss?’ So are we.)

Lt. Abbie Mills ask for a sign. Courtesy of FOX, 2013.
Lt. Abbie Mills ask for a sign.
Courtesy of FOX, 2013.

Hey, Big Guy, I Need A Sign-Thingy. Kthxbai

Abbie slips into a convenient door to avoid being seen by Morales and the CDC Guy, which just happens to be the door the Chapel (praise for Abbie’ reaction, though, a sort-of resigned, ‘of course it’s the Chapel’). She has a heart to heart with the ‘Big Guy,’ asking for a sign.

Nothing happens. Leaving, she sees another penitent cross herself with holy water (not usually supplied in non-denominational chapels but okay, maybe that’s the mystical part) and everything clicks into place—

Abbie rushes to Irving and convinces him to release Crane and Thomas to her so she can get them to the water in Roanoke Village. Irving (via voice over) hatches a steal-the-astonishingly-ill-people plan which involves stealing an ambulance….and it goes off without a hitch.

Abbie, Crane and Thomas stumble through the woods to the village—Thomas clearly doesn’t have much time. Crane collapses and Abbie injects him with adrenaline to keep him going (a nice little ha-ha moment and indicative of the growing camaraderie between the two leads).

Crane, high as a kite, gets up and carries Thomas as the Horseman hunts them down through the woods.

Roanoke Villiage. Courtesy of FOX, 2013
Roanoke Village.
Courtesy of FOX, 2013

Run, Crane, Run

They get to the island just in front of Conquest; Crane jumps into the well (deep enough to completely submerge him and Thomas) just as the Horseman rides up to claim them both. Conquest is too late; the water covers Crane and Thomas completely.

After a moment, Crane emerges. Wet. But cured.

Thomas, however, has dissipated. As has the village-all that is left is a dry well and old houses. Crane—always helpful—realizes that Thomas and all the villagers had all always been dead, and Thomas the ghost had been lured into leaving the village by Conquest (and, we guess, brought back to some semblance of life??), who had hoped to spread his plague as the beginning of the end of days (if that sounds familiar, readers, it’s because Supernatural had a similar plot line with Roanoke, Pestilence and the Croatoa virus).

Crane tells Abbie she saved them by having faith (last week she learned to have faith too, so hopefully this one sticks).

They walk off, job well done, episode over—

Nope. One, final shot of the Headless Horsemen (somewhat awkwardly) coming out of a lake while his pale horse waits on the shore.

The Horseman. Duh-Duh-Duuuh. Courtesy of FOX, 2013
The Horseman. Duh-Duh-Duuuh.
Courtesy of FOX, 2013

The Wrap Up

All in all a good episode. The disease as magic or science was odd; not the combination of the two but how it was handled; the disease was a disease until it wasn’t. The CDC Guy, who could have added layers to the episode with dialogue about the strangeness of the disease, how it wasn’t viral or bacterial or something, would have given more depth to the piece, allowing the ending to feel like a real payoff and not just the end to that particular monster of the week. Also, the forced, cliché ridden conversations about Witnesses and belief and faith, while necessary (somewhat) in earlier episodes, are getting very rote now. Let’s see how Abbie is torn between her two worlds; facts and evidence, myth and superstition, instead of constantly being told how torn she is.

Also, if Crane could occasionally not know everything that’d be great. What’s the point of having all those books??

No episode next week, or the week after. Or the week after that. But hopefully episode six will be worth the wait–maybe Crane will get some new clothes! See the promo below for teasers and goodies.

Come back in three weeks for all the haps in the Hollow.

Sleepy Hollow airs on Fox on Monday nights at 9 p.m. EST/PST. It will return on November 4th.

Geekscape Recap: Sleepy Hollow: “The Lesser Key of Solomon”

by S.J. Borger

So, congratulations are in order for Sleepy Hollow: not only is it the first Fox series to be picked up for a second season, but it also continued its upward trend: last night’s episode was by far the best in terms of consistency and plotting. Was it a little too procedural? Did it give up too much style for a predictable substance? Maybe, but it was still the best entry in the series so far. And it moved; scene to scene connected in a fast, cohesive and entertaining way.

The episode starts with a one-two punch of a voice over explaining the show’s backstory, followed by a ‘previously on.’ It’s a good two minutes of rehashing events before the show starts; when it does, it’s a flashback to Boston Harbor, 1773. Crane and a Revolution-era A-Team are tracking a cargo. It’s protected by another Hessian (they’re everywhere!), who blows it up with an incantation to Lord Death (never a good sign) and boom (quite literally) flashback’s over.

SLEEPY HOLLOW: Lt. Abbie Mills searches for her estranged sister in “The Lesser Key of Solomon” episode of SLEEPY HOLLOW airing Monday, Oct. 7 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2013 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Brownine Harris/FOX
Crane (Tom Mison) flashes back to 1773 and the Boston Tea Party.
2013 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Brownine Harris/FOX

Back to the Future

Crane is giving romantic advice to an unknown woman—a radio show? A wrong number? Nope, the Northstar (read Onstar) lady.  It was a nice bit of humor before jumping right into the action: it’s just moments since last week’s episode, we find out, as a white cargo van careens out of the psychiatric hospital and Abbie runs out, informing Crane that Jenny has escaped.

This does nicely answer our final question from last week; Abbie had not left poor Crane all alone in the super-secret research room, but had brought him with her. And left him in the car, sure. Why not?

Abbie manages to convince Captain Irving to give her time to find Jenny before calling in the escape to State authorities. Irving, in fine, if caustic, form, eventually relents and gives Abbie and Crane 12 hours to find Jenny.

Meanwhile, Jenny (in a hoody as her disguise, because no one in a hoody has ever drawn unwarranted suspicion) visits a dive bar—apparently one of her old haunts. The bartender, Wendel, pours her a drink and welcomes her back.

Jenny drinks (one shot, whiskey. Just I case we didn’t already know she was a badass). She asks if Wendel still has her things. He does, and is glad to get rid of them–Jenny’s so badass even her stuff scares normal people. From a safe comes a mysterious, beat-up, badass duffel bag. Jenny spouts some more badass tropes, just to cement how truly badass she is, takes her bag, and leaves.

In case the scene didn’t clarify it—or the whole breaking out of the psychiatric hospital didn’t clue you in—Jenny is badass.

sleepy-hollow-lesser-key-solomon-07-600x336
Jenny Mills (guest star Lyndie Greenwood) after her escape from the Psych ward.
©2013 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Brownine Harris/FOX

Ze Germans Are Coming! Ze Germans are Coming!

We move to young kid learning piano from a creepy German piano teacher–Gunther. CREEPY PIANO TEACHER. Who’s GERMAN. So, he’s the bad guy.

Gunther gets a creepy distorted-voice phone call on an ancient cell phone. The caller creepily telling him where to find Jenny (creepy!) and that Jenny might know where ‘item 37’ is. Also, a ‘team’ has been dispatched with info on Jenny and her ‘known associates.’ Even creepier! Gunther hangs up and abruptly dismisses kid playing song on the piano.

While each scene was successful, they were very routine. No new angles. No interesting quirks or inner dilemmas hinted at. Rebellious woman of course goes to the hole-in-the-wall bar when on the run; the bad guy is hiding in plain sight as quiet, foreign piano teacher.

These tropes are fine—the scenes were fine–they were just very standard. Still better than some of the more cliché heavy moments in earlier episodes. Besides, lots is happening and the plot is moving. Onward.

To Wendel, the bartender. Poor Wendel, it’s not such a good day for him. Gunther shows up with Central Casting German Thug 1 and 2.

Side note: That’s an awful lot of first-generation German’s hanging out in Sleepy Hollow. Just saying.

They ask for Jenny’s whereabouts. Wendel refuses. After the mandatory bad-guy-has-moral-upper-hand-because-the-bad-guy-is-aware-he-has-no-morals discussion concludes, Wendel gets tossed on the pool table with a case full of very nasty tools beside him.

Got to give him credit for refusing, though.

SH Recap 4.5
SLEEPY HOLLOW: Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) searches for Abbie’s sister.
;2013 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Brownine Harris/FOX

Tell Me About Your Mother

Back to Abbie and Crane, who are at the police station attempting to figure out where Jenny may have gone. Crane, looking through Jenny’s file, questions Abbie about her childhood. We discover that Abbie’s father left when they were young and mom had a ‘nervous breakdown,’ putting the sister’s in foster care.

Crane notices in Jenny’s file that there was one foster family Jenny stayed with longer than any other—perhaps they might know her hiding spots?

Speak of the devil—Jenny’s at a truck stop bathroom, going through that duffel. Money, passports—guns. She holds both up (one in either hand) because, remember, badass? Then checks they’re loaded. Of course they are. Because leaving live ammunition in your weapons for years is totally not going to be bad for the weapon or the ammunition.

Back to the bar, where poor Wendel is dead—body hung from a hook, head in the pool rack. Irving, in a that’s-why-he’s-the-captain deduction exercise, points out to the detectives that Wendel was tortured and that the beheading is a drastically different type than that which killed Corbin. Poor detectives, they were so proud of their ‘same as Corbin’ theory.

Crane and Abbie visit Jenny’s last foster mother; who is, of course, a terrible foster mother just in it for the monthly checks.

Not a bad scene, played well by all involved, but it was predictable. Exactly what a viewer who’d seen Law & Order would expect. Yes, it gave us a peek into Jenny’s life but we already knew it wasn’t ice cream and puppies. But it didn’t challenge us. Or surprise us. Or take any risks.

Turns out foster mom does know one or two things about Jenny—including that she used to visit a cabin up by the lake when she was upset.

Sleepy-Hollow-Episode-4-Video-Preview-The-Lesser-Key-of-Solomon-01-2013-09-30
Lt. Abbie Mills deftly picks a lock.
©2013 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Brownine Harris/FOX

Into the Woods

Crane and Abbie go to the cabin; Abbie breaks in with her lock picking skills.

Turns out its Corbin’s cabin—and Jenny is there. Corbin, apparently, mentored both girls in different ways. Abbie towards a career as an officer of the law, Jenny as a sort of super-commando.

The sisters pull guns on each other (because who among us hasn’t wished, every now and then, to be able to aim a weapon at a sibling’s head?) and proceed to have a series of sisterly arguments.

Crane chides them for both being childish and they put the guns away. Jenny reveals that Corbin visited her the day before he died and told her that he had a premonition of his death—and if that happened, she was to go to his cabin because there was an important object there.

Now, if you’re asking yourself, why did she even bother to store her stuff at the bar when there was Corbin’s super-secret cabin? The one no one knew about and far less likely to be traceable, or sold while she was locked up, or burnt down or whatever—that’s a good question.

Of course if she hadn’t gone to the bar we wouldn’t have known what a badass she was—and that she could hold a gun in each hand while looking pensive.

So, Jenny pulls out a wooden box that hides a leather bag that holds a sextant and a scrap of leather with a symbol on it.

The symbol sparks yet another one of Crane’s recollections—this time back to Boston Harbor, 1773, and the Colonial Mission: Impossible team. Turns out they—sent by Washington himself–were after a device that was stored in a box that had the same symbol.

Sleepy-Hollow-Episode-4-Recap-The-Lesser-Key-of-Solomon
Lt. Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie, C) and Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison, L) find Abbie’s estranged sister, Jenny (guest star Lyndie Greenwood, R).
©2013 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Brownine Harris/FOX

And Voila. A Secret Map!

Crane rearranges the parts of the sextant to reveal that it is also a projector—and it projects a map of Sleep Hollow where the mystery box is hidden.

They are interrupted by gunshots—it’s the Germans (plausible that they found the cabin, since the distorted voice did tell Gunther that there would be a list of known associates). After a shootout that proved everyone involved is a terrible shot, German Thug 1 and 2 run off with the sextant—leaving Gunther behind to answer just enough questions to move the plot forward before crunching down on a cyanide pill (why he waited until after he had given them all the information, we don’t know).

There’s a torture/don’t torture argument between Jenny and Abbie which doesn’t really go anywhere, but does show off Jenny’s knowledge of guns. ‘Cause she’s badass. Just in case we’d forgotten.

Meanwhile, Irving has found Gunther’s house using good old-fashioned police work. The house is normal—the basement? Not so much.

Apparently the Hessians—we know Gunther is a Hessian thanks to a tattoo on his chest—have been living in secret in the community just waiting for the signs so that they can assist their evil dark lord.

Side note: Was anyone else unsure if the Germans had been there for hundreds of years, unaging, or if there was some secret Hessian society still operating, training little Hessians to be sleeper agents and sending them over?

The object they are after is the Book of Solomon, where according to legend, King Solomon wrote down the spells that would release the 37 demons from their banishment to Hell’s 7th circle.

Along with those demons, the demon king? Lord? Ruler of some sort would also rise—Moloch, or the demon Abbie and Jenny saw in the woods all those years ago. The brains of the operation, so to speak.

So Gunther crunches a cyanide pill and dies. Crane—he of the memory—draws the stolen map. Solomon’s book is buried in the abandoned Dutch Reform church. Off they go.

SH recap 4.2
SLEEPY HOLLOW: Lt. Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie, R) and Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison, L) search for Abbie’s estranged sister.
2013 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Brownine Harris/FOX

To the Creepy Abandoned Church!

German Thugs 1 & 2 are already there. It’s a suitably creepy church, though the statue of a nun seems a little off (didn’t think Dutch Reform went in for nuns, but okay) and they—rather easily—find the chest (with the book inside it) hidden in a fireplace.

Side note: Why didn’t someone just hide the book in the library? Or the super-secret research room? It’d probably be harder to find then in some giant stone box with demonic writing all over it.

Also, was the Church deconsecrated? If not, does the consecration rule not work in the Sleepy Hollow world? If not, why not?

Crane, Jenny and Abbie rush over, and during the car ride we learn that Jenny traveled the world as a freedom fighter and has super-commando training. Of course she does.

This is a reoccurring issue; our characters are all the super-best. Crane remembers everything and always has the perfect flashback to solve the case. Abby is a super-cop; Jenny is a special forces trained freedom fighter. If they have these great strengths, they should have correspondingly great weaknesses. But their foibles and weaknesses aren’t truly detrimental to their attempts to fight the good fight, nor do they force them to change, or cause them any real loss—they are the kind of weaknesses you say you have at a job interview: “I just work too hard,” or “I find that my greatest weakness is once I’m given a task I just have to complete it,” or “I pay too much attention to detail.” These aren’t real, fatal flaws and without them the characters remain stereotypes.

There is a pointed conversation between Jenny and Crane about fighting for things one believes in. Considering the day Abby’s had, Crane and Jenny are lucky all she did was roll her eyes.

Back at the Church, German Thug 1 and 2 find a spooky baptismal font in the center of the church. They open up the book (a decidedly medieval-looking book, which isn’t quite right for Solomon’s time but okay) and chant the super-evil chant to wake up Moloch (in German, nonetheless, ‘cause that was around 3000 years ago). The baptismal font bursts into flames and oily goo spills out into a pentagon-y shape.

SH recap 4.3
SLEEPY HOLLOW: Jenny Mills (guest star Lyndie Greenwood) in the final moments of the episode.
2013 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Brownine Harris/FOX

That Was Almost A Close Call

Crane, Jenny and Abbie rush in. Despite having numbers on their side, and surprise, and supposedly being a super-cop and commando-chick, they are handily defeated by the German’s when one of them takes Jenny down and holds a gun to her head just as Abbie reaches the book.

The German tells Abbie to put the book down or Jenny gets it (if you are feeling like you’ve seen this before, reader, you have).

Abbie, of course, throws the book down into the flames. The German let’s Jenny go to try to save it—the book bursts into flames, and the Hell portal closes. It was just that easy.

There’s another brief scuffle and both the Germans end up dead.

Back at the police station (Still no paperwork!) Jenny and Abbie make amends, because Abbie arranges for Jenny to get out of the psych hospital early (no charges for the escape, the hospital doesn’t want the ‘bad press’) under Abbie’s conservatorship.

We end with Crane showing Abbie an excerpt from Paradise Lost that refers to Moloch. Moloch led a revolt of demons against heaven and was punished. He is the demon of child sacrifices, and the demon which controls the horseman, and imprisons Crane’s wife.

Now, says Crane, they know his name.

Tune in next week for more haps in the Hollow!

Sleepy Hollow airs on Fox Monday nights at 9 p.m. EST/PST

Geekscape Recap: Sleepy Hollow: “For the Triumph of Evil”

by S.J. Borger
Sandman Mirror
The Sandman Cometh. The newest Demon in “For The Triumph of Evil” episode of SLEEPY HOLLOW.
©2013 Fox. Broadcasting Co. CR: Brownie Harris/FOX

Sleepy Hollow started this episode with, well, if not quite a bang, a definite scare.

Before we even get to the opening credits, we had a dream sequence (points for creepy monster make-up), a person jump off a building and land—quite convincingly, thank you—on a parked car, and an eyeball explode into a gust of sand.

So the writers have definitely got the pacing under control. And, thank goodness, time-of-day (no more three nights and four days in the space on an episode; last week it apparently took eight hours to drive from one end of Sleepy Hollow to another).

Wait…Is this a Dream??

So the episode starts right off with Abbie coming into work, where Captain Irving introduces her to Doctor Vega. She sees Crane interrogating someone—when she rushes in, she sees it’s her teenage self—and Crane’s eyes are covered with a white, milky film. As she goes into stop him, she becomes hunted by a no-eyed-no-mouth demon.

She wakes up (dream sequence!) and gets called to a crime scene where a lady jumper is asking for her—and only her.

She has time on the rush over to wake up and pick up Crane (Supposedly. We don’t see it happen. Though, when is someone going to take Crane to WalMart or Target and get him some clothes?)

We find out that jumper lady is Doctor Vega (she of the dream!), and she was the treating doctor at the psychiatric hospital that Abbie’s sister, Jenny, was put into years ago after they first saw the demon in the woods.

Vega’s last words to Abbie imply that not only does Doctor Vega deserve to die, but Abbie also has some horrible punishment waiting for her.

Captain Irving—just about at the end of his freaky-cases-that-don’t-make-sense rope–tells Abbie and Crane to look into it. Quietly.

Sleepy-Hollow-2
Clancy Brown as Sheriff on Fox’s Sleepy Hollow.
Photo: courtesy of clancybrown.com.

Side note: Still very unsure about the armed forces set-up in Sleepy Hollow. It’s got a population of 140,000 (says so right in the opening credits); and the pilot was very clear that Abbie was a Deputy Sheriff, and that the poor Sheriff Sheriff got killed.  So, it’s fairly odd that a Deputy Sheriff is now reporting to Captain Frank Irving of the City Police (?) State Police (?)—we’re not sure.

Captain isn’t a rank that a Sheriff office typically has, so we can assume he’s not a Sheriff. But then there are all the Detectives…also not a rank commonly associated with Sherriff. And, how come no one is concerned about replacing the Sheriff? That is a fairly significant power vacuum.

And then, what about the fact that a Sheriff is an elected position and it reports to the County Board or Council or whatever governing body is about? Police are not elected, they are municipal employees. While not unheard of for the two to share offices in smaller towns, and some cities/counties merge the two (Las Vegas comes to mind) it’s still so vague. Clarity on who exactly Capitan Irving is and why he is in charge of a Sheriff’s Deputy would help. Also, why is a Sheriff Deputy a Lieutenant? So confused…

Finally, has anyone else noticed the Case of the Disappearing Uniform? First Episode: Abbie Mills is in full Deputy Sheriff regalia almost the whole episode. Second, half and half. Third, no uniform, just a badge and a gun.

Ok, back to the recap. Sorry.

Crane and Abbie
SLEEPY HOLLOW: Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison, R) helps Lt. Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie, L) discuss the details of the case on Monday’s (9/30) Sleepy Hollow, “For The Triumph of Evil.”
©2013 Fox. Broadcasting Co. CR: Brownie Harris/FOX

Exploding Eyeball, Check

As Abbie and Crane leave the body, they engage in yet another ‘Abbie and Crane being the capitol-W-Witnesses of the coming apocalypse’ conversation.  There’s a little bit of regurgitating known information (God bless Winson and Beharie, because some of their lines could be cringe-inducing in lesser hands), in the end Abbie admits she doesn’t believe it yet; and Crane tells her she must stop being afraid and accept her fate.

So, yeah, that’s the episode’s theme.

So Crane and Abbie head to the Tarrytown (yes, that’s a real town) Psychiatric Hospital to see Abbie’s sister, because Crane knows that Abbie’s dream was prophetic and the Doctor Vega connection needs to be revealed (first they go watch videotapes of Doctor Vega in session with Abbie’s sister, before they decide, hey, we have a living person we can question).

We find out that Jenny is incarcerated for stealing $4000 worth of sporting goods and then insisting it was for the ‘end of days.’  Crane’s response: ‘Well, she’s sane, then,’ is one of many sparks of humor throughout the episode and gives us a glimpse of where the show could go—and how good it could be.

At the hospital, Jenny refuses to speak to Abbie, so Crane goes to talk to her by himself. After a few minutes of info-exchange, Jenny refuses to help, saying that her conscience is clear. Is Abbie’s?

SH Sister
Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison, L) speaks to Det. Abbie Mills’ sister, Jenny (guest star Lyndie Greenwood, R) in the Tarrytown Psychriatic Hospital.
©2013 Fox. Broadcasting Co. Photo: Brownie Harris/FOX

Come on, It’s Not Like You Weren’t Mean to Your Sister

Crane goes back and pressures Abbie: what did Jenny mean? Is her conscience clear??

Abbie—rather easily, unless the whole faceless-nightmare-monster shook her up way more than she let on—tells Crane that when they were brought in for questioning after seeing the Demon in the Woods (and if you’re wondering, why were two presumably abducted girls taken in for questioning instead of being taken somewhere warm and fed hot chocolate, and if they were brought in, why wasn’t the Sheriff there? Or Child Services? So are we, reader, so are we).

Anyway, when the sisters were brought in for questioning, Jenny continued to insist she had seen a demon—but Abbie, and their rescuer, Mr. Gillespie—lied and said they didn’t see anything. Abbie was scared of losing the first good foster home they’d had, and Mr. Gillespie was too busy playing small town hero.

Crane and Abbie decide they should talk to Mr. Gillepsie.

SH Abbie to House
SLEEPY HOLLOW: Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison, L), Lt. Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie, C) and Capt. Frank Irving (Orlando Jones, R) wait as Abbie ventures into hostage situation.
9;©2013 Fox. Broadcasting Co. CR: Brownie Harris/FOX

Poor Mr. Gillespie, we hardly knew ya….

Handily, having just introduced him via flashback, we now head over to Mr. Gillespie’s home, where Mr. Gillespie is napping in his man-cave easy chair surrounded by bird houses. Clearly, the man has a terrible bird house problem.  A clatter wakes him up; he cuts himself on a nail, and the blood he wipes away leaves a creepy aboriginal symbol on the cloth. So, he’s obviously going to have some difficulties of the supernatural kind.

Back to the police station, Captain Irving pretends to be angry about a headless horseman prank as a way to…bond with Morales (he of the not-dating-Abbie-anymore fame)? Unclear. Orlando Jones does a great job with this character, we just wish (a) he’d be used more, and more logically (think Bobby to Sam and Dean…) (b) the whole Sheriff/Police thing gets cleared up.

So, he’s there when the call comes in: shots fired. And he goes. Even though the station is full of on-duty, not busy cops. Shouldn’t he be doing other things? Admittedly, all we know about police work we learned from Law & Order, but it seems like the guy in charge doesn’t usually go out on calls. By himself.

AND, he just got all buddy-buddy with the prank-playing cop. So it’s not like there isn’t someone right there to come along.

Still, when Abbie and Crane show up at Gillespie’s house, it’s a full-blown hostage crisis, so at least he wasn’t alone for long. Apparently, Gillespie, for unknown reasons, is holding his wife hostage and demanding to see Abbie. Abbie—still not in uniform—puts on a vest and goes in.

Does she have training in this? Is anyone even going to ask her that?

She goes in, and sure enough, Gillespie’s eyes have gone all white and milky and the scary-no-face-monster is there. He tells her they have to pay what they owe and that the next time she falls asleep, the Sandman will make her feel so guilty for her betrayal of her sister, killing herself will be the only option.

The faceless monster shows up, Gillespie shoots at him, Crane runs in to save Abbie; but before he can get there, Gillespie kills himself. That was pretty awesome, blood and stuff shooting up in the air in front of the kitchen window, Crane watching from outside.

No paperwork or anything after that. No shocked reaction to the top of someone’s head geyser up into the kitchen sink. No time!

Super-Secret-Meeting-Place: Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison, L) and Lt. Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie, R) discuss the Sandman and how to stop him. © 2013 Fox. Broadcasting Co. Photo: Brownie Harris/FOX
Super-Secret-Meeting-Place: Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison, L) and Lt. Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie, R) discuss the Sandman and how to stop him.
© 2013 Fox. Broadcasting Co. Photo: Brownie Harris/FOX

Who needs Google, with Crane Around?

Our heroes head back to the library, sorry, The Magic Box, no, not right either, sorry–the creepy records room via the secret tunnel no one has noticed Crane tore down a wall to get to.

One more side note: these are the worst police ever. Not only have they missed the GIANT HOLE in their wall leading to the creepy tunnels, they have also completely failed to notice that John Cho’s body is MISSING.

John Cho in Sleepy Hollow © 2013 Fox. Broadcasting Co.
John Cho in Sleepy Hollow. His heads on backwards because he’s DEAD. And just walked out of the least guarded morgue on the east coast. 
© 2013 Fox. Broadcasting Co.

Safely ensconced in the super-secret research room of solitude, Crane and Abbie begin to research Sandman myths. Never mind Abbie’s phone continues all the knowledge known to man…it’s the big musty books with no index that’ll have the answers.

Abbie stumbles across a bit of lore about a dream spirit, along with the now-familiar symbol that we saw on Gillespie’s bloody rag. It’s an old Mohawk legend, says Abbie, of a Sandman. Ro’kenhrontyes, they called him.

This sparks yet another eerily specific and crazy-helpful memory (with requisite flashback) from Crane. He then declares they need to find a shaman. Cue ‘things-are-different-now’ conversation, which is where Sleepy Hollow is really at its best: when they allow Crane to be amazed, annoyed and sometimes flabbergasted by all that is around him, and the changes and assumptions of the people in our day and age.

Abbie remembers one person who might be able to help, and off they go in search of the last Mohican (well they didn’t come out and say that, but…).

SLEEPY HOLLOW: Flashback of Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison, C) 'talking' with the Mohicans2013 Fox. Broadcasting Co. CR: Brownie Harris/FOX
SLEEPY HOLLOW: Flashback of Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison, C) ‘talking’ with the Mohicans
2013 Fox. Broadcasting Co. CR: Brownie Harris/FOX

The Last Mohican

They find one, selling used cars—Wendel Clark (played by Philip DeVona).

And he was great (offering Crane a Delorean was a lovely little throwaway line. its lines like that, that make Sleepy Hollow have so much promise!); at first reluctant, he is convinced when Crane quotes the “all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing,” which was a little heavy handed but, hey, worked!

Wendel just happens to have a fully equipped lodge just ready and waiting for some dream-warrior time. Got the tea all brewed up, cots all ready. Even has two random Native American bros to help out.

Tells Crane and Abbie that the only way out is to fight the dream spirit on the spirit realm, the dream plane. Win, and Abbie will be absolved. Lose, and she’ll die.

Abbie drinks the tea; Crane does as well. An endearing, nice moment between these two, who, with no words, show us their loyalty and gratitude.

The ritual requires, apparently, three parts: the tea (check); shirts off (hah, Crane apparently does not believe in manscaping and we say, good! Nice to see a hairy chest once in a while, and Abbie wears a sports bar, which is surprising, considering the amount of….lift happening when she has a shirt on), and wait a minute…scorpion bites.

Of course Wendel has scorpions. What self-respecting Native American car salesman/Shaman doesn’t?

Sandman Stalking SH
The Sandman, Sleepy Hollow’s newest Demon.
Originally published on adweek.com “A Visit to the Set of Sleepy Hollow”. Photo: Randall Slevin.

Dream a Little Dream of Me

So Crane and Abbie get bitten, and boom, instant dream world. They are, of course, separated, and as Crane races through the spirit-woods to find Abbie, she is being stalked by the Demon, who taunts her, and then, disappearing into a whirl of sand and dust, drags her….somewhere.

Crane, having discovered the dream plane version of the Sherriff station, makes his way to the interrogation room, where Abbie is being forced to watch her younger self betray her sister.

Crane attacks the demon, who fights him off—telling him, in a way heavy with foreshadowing, that Crane is not that demon’s problem to deal with.

Abbie realizes what she has to do: admit her wrongdoing, and her fear (ha, remember how we said, back in the beginning, there was a theme?? See, here it is, paying off.), and then says she isn’t afraid anymore.

The Sandman turns to glass, which Abbie shatters.

Her and Crane return to the real world, and the super-secret-records room to recuperate.

Except it’s not so super-secret, because Captain Irving shows up—since he has a key—and approves them using the room for the more ‘off-beat’ cases. He even says he’ll get them a key.

Abbie leaves Crane, saying she has to go talk to her sister (Poor Crane. I mean, how is he supposed to get home? Get dinner? Does he have any money? A phone? He definitely can’t drive…).

Don't worry, Ichabod, I'm sure she's coming back...eventually... Courtesy of Fox
Don’t worry, Ichabod, I’m sure she’s coming back…eventually…
2013 Fox. Broadcasting Co

Duh-Duh-Duuuuh

Abbie gets to her sister’s room (room 49, harkening back to Sheriff Corbin’s words the week before: Don’t fear 49.) and of course, sis has boogied out. Abbie orders the hospital locked down, and then discovers the open venting hidden by the ceiling tiles. Begrudging respect wars with annoyance.

All in all this was the strongest episode of the bunch. Fast paced, for the most part well-plotted. While some of the rules of the world lack consistency, and we still run into issues of Crane-knowing-everything-but-only-when-it’s-convenient–there were some scenes that felt awkward within the rest of the episode–for the most part the episode was a huge step forward. Here’s hoping next week is a big of a leap.

Keep posted next week for all the haps in the Hollow!

 

Sleepy Hollow airs on Fox, Monday nights at 9 p.m.

Geekscape TV Review: ‘Sleepy Hollow’

by S.J. Borger

Sleepy Hollow Pulls Ahead

Sleepy Hollow, the new genre-tastic show from the powerhouse team of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (Fringe, Star Trek: Into Darkness) along with Phillip Iscove and Len Wiseman, and starring fan favorites John Cho, Orlando Jones and Clancy Brown, with Nicole Beharie (42) and Tom Mison (Salman Fishing on the Yemen), premiered last night on Fox to a whopping 10 million viewers—a 3.4 rating among adults 18-49–making it Fox’s highest rated Fall drama premiere in six years.

And let’s hope that those numbers stick around, because the show looks to only get better once these world-building, exposition-laden episodes get out of the way (and they are pretty exposition-laden!).

Tom Mison as Ichabod Crane. Mison has already been voted Fall 2013's Breakout Star by the Television Critics Association, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Tom Mison as Ichabod Crane. Mison has already been voted Fall 2013’s Breakout Star by the Television Critics Association, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Just a Story About a Guy, and a Girl,and a Headless Horseman…

Sleepy Hollow is a modern retelling of Washington Irving’s classic, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. But this one has a modern action flare right from the start. In the teaser opening, we meet Ichabod Crane (Mison) in 1781, busily—and quite handily—killing British soldiers in the Revolutionary War; in a rapid series of shots we see Crane kill the Horseman; the Horseman reviving only to slash Crane open; and Crane decapitating the Horseman; then, suddenly, we’re in modern day Sleepy Hollow and a dazed Crane is digging himself out of a grave and stumbling out into the fog, where he eventually meets up with Beharie, who plays Deputy Sheriff Abbie Mills, a sarcastic, ambitious, slightly pushy deputy sheriff who manages to remain likeable even while slogging through a number of the tepid, trope-heavy procedural scenes.

The first twenty minutes are engrossing, startling, funny, engaging and, quite honestly, great television. The show moves, the actors seem at home in their characters, the dialogue sparkles and pops, doling out enough information to move forward but never seeming forced or out of place. The first twenty minutes of Sleepy Hollow are pretty darn close to perfect television—the Starbucks conversation between Crane and Beharie is short, funny, blisteringly socially aware while also being deprecatingly self-aware and there’s only about five lines of dialogue. This is when Sleepy Hollow is at its best.

Series leads Mison and Beharie complement each other—on-screen together, they have the easy give and take of a long partnership, at times combative and other times comedic. Mison, in particular, portrays a man-out-of-his-time with wry humor and a bleak, buried sorrow that lends a gravity to him that would have been hard to manage in a lesser actor; Beharie inhabits her deputy-sheriff-with-a-past with a natural ease and great charm. The supporting cast—Cho, Jones and Brown—make the most of the limited screen time they have, and they all play off each other superbly, taking even some of the more monotonous lines and imbuing them with an honesty which enriches the whole show.

Courtesy of FOX. Beharie as Deputy Sheriff Abbie Mills and Mison as Ichabod Crane.
Courtesy of FOX. Beharie as Deputy Sheriff Abbie Mills and Mison as Ichabod Crane.

And Then Things Got a Little Weird

Unfortunately, after about twenty minutes, the show got pilot-itis, and started trying to explain itself. Three or four scenes in particular stand out for their overly-expositional, stridently info-dumping tone; which is so discordant when compared to rest of the episode, we can only assume  an executive at Fox got nervous, and started suggest/insist-ing that more exposition was needed—and those info-scenes got added to the detriment of others (i.e.: information is alluded to late in the episode that was never actual given during the episode itself, which smacks of a cut or deleted scene).  It may not be the nicest thing, to blame the Execs, but they can take the punch, since they still owe us all for cancelling Firefly.

It’s a pity, because what was good was so very, very good that the audience probably could have stood for being left a little confused longer—even two or three episodes in—in return for the quality remaining high throughout. Again, we’re going to blame the Fox executives for that. Since, you know, they cancelled Firefly.

Things got a little weird—there seems to be an odd blurring between the Sheriff’s office (usually an elected official beholden to a county council) and the police precinct; the Horseman turned in his axe, which was MAGIC, for a shotgun (which may also be magic…since the shells do burst into flame); George Washington is also apparently a supernatural/demon hunter; and the apocalypse figures in (don’t worry about being confused, because the show will spell that out for you three times before the end of the pilot).

Courtesy of Fox. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him
Courtesy of Fox. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him

And Then Clancy Brown Quoted the King James Bible

However, despite the occasional ‘what, wait?’ and the sudden onset of pilot-itis, there is an intriguing heart to Sleepy Hollow. The cast is invested and believable, there’s plenty of humor, the murder-mysteries could be intriguing, and the scare factor is definitely there (there is one scene, with a blurry demon…well, no spoilers. Just…phew…). Plus, you get a pretty hardcore “these bad guys mean business” ending.

The pilot is often the weakest episode in a show’s history—many successful shows have had problematic pilots. Sleepy Hollow has much more going for it than against it, and the second episode looks to be full of even more absurd odd couple/crime solving/Armageddon preventing adventure.

We don’t know about your Monday’s, but ours could do with a little more of that.

Sleepy Hollow airs Monday’s on Fox at 9 p.m; the pilot can be viewed online here.

Score:

Pilot Episode: 3.5/5

Overall Show: Possibly a 4, even a 4.5 out of 5. Excited to see how the  next few episodes do!

Geekscape’s Guide To The 2013-2014 TV Season

by S.J. Borger

Below is the definitive list of new and returning shows on network and cable (excluding the smaller niche channels such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon) that could possibly have a fandom, be near a fandom, or be fandom adjacent…

Peruse through the list, watch some trailers (though not every show has a trailer yet), and have fun!

So. Alphabetical order. Nice and neutral.

Starting with:

abc-logo

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D

ABC, Tues, 8 to 9 p.m. Air Date: 9/24

Whedon’s back on the small screen, folks, and he’s brought Coulson. And Lola. While not necessarily a super-hero show (Coulson runs a small team of normal, if talented, people who track and contain—if needed—new superhuman talent), it lives and breathes at the intersection of Marvel and Whedon so really, anything could happen. Whedon has said that the new series is Avengers adjacent, taking place after the events of The Avengers, but focusing on the normal people on the peripheral of the super-hero action. It is expected that the show will interact with both Captain America: The Winter Soldier as well as the upcoming Avengers sequel.

Clark Gregg reprises his role as Phil Coulson (you could hear the screams of joy as far as Montana when he was revealed as being alive at the 2013 South by Southwest Festival this year). He is joined by Ming-Na Wen (Mulan, Stargate Universe, Eureka), fan favorite J. August Richards (Angel), Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother, Avengers), and Ron Glass (Firefly, Serenity) along with a host of new, interesting characters that round out the team of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Quite possibly the most anticipated show airing this season—the pilot has gotten high scores at IGN as well as positive reaction from the San Diego Comic Con crowd—its pedigree and fan base should guarantee significant support—the question is will it appeal to a larger audience? Hopefully its adventure-of-the-week, underdog format will make it accessible enough for both the fans and the soon-to-be fans.

Once Upon A Time in Wonderland

http://youtu.be/vqOwV-2B5_w

ABC, Thurs, 8 to 9 p.m., 10/10

A spin-off of ABC’s hit Once Upon a Time, now in its third season, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland follows a now grown-up Alice, almost convinced her adventures were the ravings of an insane mind,  as she escapes from a Victorian London insane asylum and goes back down the rabbit hole.

Wonderland, however, is also a victim of the same curse as the residents of Storybook, Maine, prompting Alice into new and—hopefully— thrilling adventures.

The show is expected to cross over with Once Upon A Time and share characters and settings, as well as having the blending of ABC/Disney mythology that Once Upon a Time is known for (Once Upon A Time deals entirely with the Disney version of fairytales, stretching the premise as far as possible to include other characters, such as Mulan, Peter Pan, etc.).

Once Upon A Time had a similarly exciting premise that was never fulfilled, stuck instead in a mire of bad dialogue, over-exposition, predictable ‘twists’ and flashbacks with painfully obvious ‘lessons’ (only Rumpelstiltskin, played by Robert Carlyle, was ever able to convincingly play both sides of his characters). Hopefully Alice will not be plagued by the same issues.

Created by the same team as Once Upon a Time, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (who were also responsible for Tron: Legacy),  Alice stars newcomer Sophie Lowe as Alice, with Emma Rigby (Hollyoaks, Prisoners Wives) as The Red Queen, John Lithgow (Third Rock from the Sun to name one….) as the voice of the White Rabbit, and Naveen Andrews (The English Patient, Lost, The Adventures of Sinbad) as Jafar.

Mind Games is slated for a midseason release on ABC.
Mind Games is slated for a midseason release on ABC.

Midseason

ABC also has two shows slated for a midseason premiere which skate along the borderline of geekdom:

Mind Games

http://youtu.be/s2P9Qc5tgzo

ABC, Sundays, 10 to 11 p.m., 3/9/14

 From Kyle Killen (Lone Star, Awake), Mind Games stars Christian Slater and Steve Zahn as brothers who use psychological manipulation to help their clients solve problems; from the preview it looks a little like Franklin and Bash meets Leverage with some Lie to Me thrown in for good measure.

Resurrection

http://youtu.be/8MFrquHzlWA

ABC, Sunday, 10 to 11 p.m., Limited Series, 2/24/13

Based on Jason Mott’s novel The Returned,  and co-produced by a long list of people including Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Resurrection stars Omar Epps (House), Francis Fisher (Eureka, Sons of Anarchy, Torchwood: Miracle Day) and Kurtwood Smith (That ‘70’s Show, Star Trek IV, 24). The show follows the lives of the citizens of Arcadia, Missouri as their loved ones begin returning from the dead—not as zombies, but as living, breathing, alive people the same age as they were when they died.

Castle returns to ABC on Monday, Sept. 23rd.
Castle returns to ABC on Monday, Sept. 23rd.

Returning Shows:

With renewals for both Once Upon a Time (Sun 8 to 9 p.m., 9/29) for its third season, and Castle (Mon, 10 to 11 p.m., 9/23) for its sixth season, ABC is a strong second among the networks for geek friendly fare.

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BBC America—known for quality geekfare such as Merlin, Torchwood, Orphan Black, Being Human, Misfits, Vex, Spaced, Black Books and, of course, Doctor Who, Red Dwarf and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy—only has one new offering for the Fall 2013 season.

Atlantis

BBC America, Saturday, 11/23, Time TBA

Atlantis is a fantasy adventure program created and written by Howard Overman (Misfits and Vexed) and Johnny Capps (Merlin). The show’s main cast reads like a Guide to Greek Myths (Jason, Hercules, Medusa, The Oracle) and the series is set to be one of the most expensive projects on the BBC Wales studio. There is no official preview/trailer yet, but numerous six-second teasers can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/bbcatlantis

Atlantis looks to be very much in the BBC Sword-and-Sandals adventure genre, and we can safely expect well written, well-acted episodes with the occasional extremely cheesy special effect.

The Musketeers debuts on BBC America midseason 2014.
The Musketeers debuts on BBC America midseason 2014.

Midseason

The Musketeers is slated for midseason debut, but there is little information on it other than the newest incarnation of the Doctor, Peter Capaldi, was filming the show (he’s Cardinal Richelieu) when he was offered the role of the Doctor. Also starring Santiago Cabrera (Heroes, Merlin) and Luke Pasqualino (Skins).

The Doctor Who 50th Anniversary is slated for 11/23/13
The Doctor Who 50th Anniversary is slated for 11/23/13

Returning Shows

While disappointingly low on the new shows slate this season, the returning shows more than make up for it. With the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary special on 11/23/13, as well as season 8 coming up (and a new Doctor), Orphan Black returning midseason (March 2014), and of course, the ubiquitous Top Gear (I won’t say which season, its re-run so much it’s nearly impossible to tell).

Sherlock Holmes will return for its third season as well, but will air in America on PBS.

cbs

CBS is next in our little alphabetical list…and they have nothing. Not the geek-friendliest network, CBS. Mid-season has a new show coming out called Intelligence (Mon, 10 to 11 p.m., air date 2/24/14), which basically looks like a not-as-funny Chuck. Which makes sense for the network that also has The Mentalist, which is basically a not-as-funny Psych.

 

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Just to be clear, this is The CW’s logo, unedited, pulled straight from the internet.

Ah, the CW.  Where else could we find such unabashedly sexy fare?  As well as very, very, very geek friendly. And quantity, one might say, over quality. We have to at least give them credit for trying: of all the networks, the CW continuously has the most fantasy/sci-fi/speculative/comic-book based shows every season. And they don’t even require proficient storytelling or decent ratings when it comes to renewing them. This throw-it-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach has brought us Arrow and Beauty and the Beast; but it also brought us Supernatural and Nikita.

However, it has to be said that most CW shows can be boiled down to “pretty (mostly white) people with  (Insert bad guy/thing here) problems hook up with each other while maintaining bouncy, shiny hair and flawless skin.”

This year the CW gives us five—that’s right, five—sci-fi/fantasy shows. Three premiere this fall, the other two have mid-season dates.  True to mold, they all have a large cast of young, nubile and extremely good looking people who seem to spend a lot of time with their shirts either off or unbuttoned. Not to complain: sometimes it’s nice to sit back and watch the pretty.

The Originals

http://youtu.be/WTKj52BUEeU

CW, Sneak Peek: Thurs, 9 to 10 p.m., 10/3; Regular Timeslot: Tues, 8 to 9 p.m., 10/8

A spin off of the popular Vampire Diaries, The Originals follows the lives of various supernatural characters (vampires, witches, werewolves, half vamp/half wolves…) in hot, steamy New Orleans. For some reason that sounds really familiar…but we just can’t place where we’ve seen something like that before.

The series focuses on the Klaus (Joseph Morgan), Elijah (Daniel Gillies) and Rebekah (Claire Rhiannon Holt) Mikaelson, vampire siblings–and the world’s original vampires–as they return to New Orleans—a town Klaus founded, centuries before—and enter a power struggle with the local supernaturals to reclaim to city.

The Originals has a sneak peek immediately after the season premiere of The Vampire Diaries before it moves to its normal timeslot on Tuesdays, leading into Supernatural. 

Reign

CW, Thursdays, 9 to 10 p.m., 10/17

CW’s attempt at The Tudors; Reign follows the young Mary, Queen of Scots, as she is courted by rival princes: the French (Catholic) and English (not-so-Catholic). The history of Queen Mary is fascinating. She had a legitimate claim to the English throne and was backed by English Catholics; she was married three times and was viewed as a powerful player in the socio-religious politics of the time; she survived multiple assassination attempts and was put under house arrest by Elizabeth I of England for eighteen years before eventually being executed for treason.

Unsurprisingly, the CW’s version is about high school age girls being flirted with by high school age boys who all just happen to be princes and princesses. Lots of pretty costumes and slow motion while a song that sounds a whole lot like Bones from MS MR plays underneath (clearly a lot of people saw the Game of Thrones season three preview and said, wow, we should make ours look just like that).

Oh, and Nostradamus as an articulate, court-going prophet. Who knew?

That’s not to say it couldn’t be the surprise hit of the season. Stranger things have happened.

The Bible, airing on the History Channel, was the surprise hit of the 2012-2013 season.
The Bible, airing on the History Channel, was the surprise hit of the 2012-2013 season.

The Tomorrow People

http://youtu.be/3wi0PnEIdjc

CW., Weds., 9 to 10 p.m., 10/9

A remake of the popular 1970’s BBC show of the same name, The Tomorrow People follows a group of young, pretty people who are the next stage in human evolution. The Tomorrow People have psi powers that ran the usual gamut of telepathy, teleportation, telekinesis, etc., and the use them to fight the good fight against evil, bigoted humans.

It’s unclear how closely it will follow the BBC show, where the group was not only involved in saving humanity from threats on a weekly basis but also part of a galactic organization that monitored and assisted telepaths—the trailer features a lot of Mark Pellegrino (Lucifer from Supernatural)–random trivia, he’s the uncle of Stephen Amell, aka Arrow–as Jedikiah Price chasing down our super-evolved heroes because, as Price says,: “I’m systematically rounding up your kind and wiping you out, because I am evil.”

While the shows seems to be gleefully stealing from all manner of sci-fi before it (the teleporting looks a lot like Jumper, at one point there is a force lift, followed by a frost-shock, followed by a force choke, and the hidden subway station HQ has been seen, well, everywhere) and there are clear parallels to Alphas as well as X-Men (Marvel even used the term Tomorrow People, starting in 1963, as a taxonomic designation for the X-Men and other Mutants in the Marvel Universe).

The Tomorrow People was created by Phil Klemmer (Chuck, Veronica Mars) and stars Robbie Amell (cousin to Stephen Amell of previously mentioned Arrow fame) as Stephen Jameson, Luke Mitchell as John Young and Peyton List as Cara Coburn. 

Star Crossed premieres midseason 2014 on The CW.
Star Crossed premieres midseason 2014 on The CW.

 Midseason

Not content with just three new casts of incredibly good-looking people with powers, The CW has The 100 and Star Crossed set to premiere midseason.

The 100 is based on the book of the same name by Kass Morgan, and it centers on 100 petty thieves and criminals (all young and pretty, with excellent muscle tone for people born and raised on a space station) who are sent from their space station homes to post-apocalyptic Earth to see if mankind can survive on the harsh surface.

Star Crossed looks rather like District 9, if the aliens were all super-hot models who were trying to integrate into all-human US High Schools. The trailer seems to have a lot of imagery that’s set to invoke the civil rights battle of the 1960s, which doesn’t quite ring true as the only seemingly physical difference between humans and aliens are an abundance of six-packs and some tattoos. There’s also a Romeo and Juliet plot between a human girl and an alien boy. Because why else would you travel light years across galaxies if not for true love?

Supernatural returns for season 9 on The CW in October.
Supernatural returns for season 9 on The CW in October.

Returning Shows

The CW has renewed The Vampire Diaries (Thurs, 8 to 9 p.m., 10/3), Beauty and The Beast (Mon, 9 to 10 p.m., 10/7), Supernatural (Tues, 9 to 10 p.m., 10/8), The Arrow (Weds, 8 to 0 p.m., 10/9) and Nikita (Fall 2014, no air date as of yet).

 Fox-Logo

 FOX, which seems to be aware that it will never, ever, ever make up for cancelling Firefly, is trying to retain some geek cache with two new shows this Fall.

Sleepy Hollow

FOX, Monday, 9 to 10 p.m., 9/16

The second most anticipated show of the Fall, directly behind Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Sleepy Hollow is created by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Fringe, Transformers, Star Trek) and is based on the short story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving.

Sleepy Hollow follows Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison from Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, One Day, Parade’s End) as he is mysteriously transported to modern day Sleepy Hollow, and attempts to hunt down and stop the Headless Horseman (in the original story the Horseman is an 18th century German mercenary brought in by the English to fight during the revolutionary war) who was brought to the future as well.

Ichabod must join forces with local Sheriff Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie, Shame, 42) and adjust to cultural, societal and technological difference of the 21st century (including radically changing his racial and gender stereotypes) in order to stop the Horseman’s nightly killing spree.

With a strong cast and an all-star writing team, expectations are high the Sleepy Hollow will be the show to watch this Fall.

Sleepy Hollow rounds out its cast with Orlando Jones (Godzilla, Evolution, MadTV) as Captain Frank Irving and John Cho (Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, Go On) as Andy Dunn.

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Almost Human

http://youtu.be/ykwxg534yAw

Fox, Mon, 8 to 9 p.m., 11/4

JJ Abrams—who doesn’t seem to be content unless he has four or five projects going—is producing this sci-fi procedural starring Karl Urban (Star Trek, RED, Chronicles of Riddick, Riddick, Doom) and Michael Ealy (Sleeper Cell, Flash Forward, Underworld: Awakening) as unwilling partners in the LAPD thirty-five years in the future.

It’s typical buddy cop formula: an off couple forced to work together and eventually growing to trust and even like each other.

The twist? Karl Urban’s tough-as-nails cop, John Kennex, doesn’t trust Michael Ealy’s Dorian for one good reason: Dorian is a robot. And not just a normal, super-efficient robot, but a slightly malfunctioning one.

While the trailer gives a Deus Ex meets I, Robot vibe, and doesn’t really introduce any new themes or arguments that sci-fi fans won’t already be thoroughly versed in, both Urban and Ealy are worth watching and the trailer certainly captivated interest.

Almost Human was created by J.H. Wyman (Keen Eddie, Fringe) and J.J. Abrams is one of the executive producers, so hopes are high.

With Neil deGrasse Tyson hosting, Cosmos is set for Jan 2014 debut.
With Neil deGrasse Tyson hosting, Cosmos is set for Jan 2014 debut.

Midseason

Midseason has two more shows set to debut; Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey and Wayward Pines, though the air dates are still not announced.

Cosmos will star Neil deGrasse Tyson and was produced by Seth McFarlane and Carl Sagan’s widow (the original show was hosted by Sagan and aired on PBS). When it does air, it will air simultaneously on Fox and the NatGeo channel, expecting to launch in 48 countries in over 140 languages. Also, the bridge of Tyson’s ship looks almost exactly like the Illusive Man’s from Mass Effect. Just saying.

Wayward Pines brings Blake Crouch’s mystery/thriller novel of the same name to the small screen. M. Night Shyamalan has developed it as a multi-part series for Fox. It has been compared to Twin Peaks by just about everybody, and Fox hasn’t released very much information other than a 2014 release.

24--and Jack Bauer--are back on Fox in May 2014.
24–and Jack Bauer–are back on Fox in May 2014.

Returning Shows

Fox does not have much in the way of the Geek returning; The Following is set for a midseason premiere on Mondays, 9 to 10 p.m.; and under the heading of old-shows-don’t-die-they-go-to-mini-series, 24 is slated to return as a limited run in the Spring.

 

Print

NBC is not offering much this year for us geeks, with only one offering in the Fall. We’re hoping this is an improvement; previous years, which have had a glut of nerd-tastic shows, perhaps in some desperate attempt by NBC to gain some geek-cred (The Cape, The Event, Flash Forward, V, Bionic Women, Journeyman). This make anything with a slightly Lost-like feel strategy hasn’t fared well for the Peacock, so maybe just one new show means NBC knows it has a hit. And it case it doesn’t, it has two midseason shows ready to wash the taste from your mouth.

Dracula

http://youtu.be/Z1jVcmDH43Y

NBC, Friday, 10 to 11 p.m., 10/25

A limited series with only a ten episode run, Dracula is a retelling of the classic tale by Bram Stoker. Created by Cole Hadden, with Daniel Knauf (Carnivale) as showrunner, Dracula stars Jonathon Rhys Meyers (The Tudors, Mission Impossible III) as Dracula, who returns to Victorian London to seek revenge for a betrayal years before. This is another show whose trailer draws heavy inspiration from Game of Thrones.

The plot stays somewhat in line with the book; Dracula falls for the lovely Mina, there’s a Van Helsing on hand to fight him…there’s a lot of pretty people in period clothing walking around dark London streets. If they weren’t all in their thirties it’d be a CW show.

Dracula stars Katie McGrath (Merlin), Nonso Anozie (Ender’s Game, Game of Thrones) and Thomas Kretschmann (King Kong, The Pianist, Blade II, 24). 

Believe, produced by J.J. Abrams and directed by Alfonso Cuaran, is slated for a midseason debut.
Believe, produced by J.J. Abrams and directed by Alfonso Cuaran, is slated for a midseason debut.

Midseason

Two shows are slated for a midseason release: Believe, another J.J. Abrams produced show, directed by Alfonso Cuaran (Harry Potter) about a little girl with special powers and the ex-con who has been tasked to protect her (Sundays, 9 to 10 p.m.); and Crossbones, created by Neil Cross (Luther) and starring John Malkovich as the pirate Blackbird. Slated to air in 2014 on Sundays, from 10 to 11 p.m., there is little other information out there as of yet.

NBC also recently announced a mini-series adaptation of Stephen King’s Tommyknockers in 2014, but no dates or casting information has been forthcoming.

Grimm
Grimm, the best show people aren’t watching, premieres on NBC Friday, 10/25, at 9 p.m.

Returning

Returning to the Peacock this Fall are Revolution (Weds, 8 to 9 p.m., 9/25) and Grimm, Fridays, 9 to 10 p.m., which if you are not watching, start—there’s still time to catch up before the new season airs on 10/25. Community is slated for a midseason release.

Black Sails is set to debut on Starz in 2014.
Black Sails is set to debut on Starz in 2014.

 

Networks Waiting for Midseason to Debut All Their Geekery

Not every network has new content slated for the Fall, but midseason will serve up some highly anticipate premieres:

SyFy announced Helix with a premiere date of Jan, 2014. Ronald D. Moore (BattleStar Galactica) created the series about a group of CDC scientists sent to the Artic only to discover the fate of mankind may rest in their hands. Starring Billy Campbell (Eureka, The Killing, The 4400) and Hiroyuki Sanada (Speed Racer, Lost, The Wolverine).

TNT is bringing two shows that may not deal with a fandom in their content but certainly do with their talent: Mob City (formerly Lost Angels) stars Simon Pegg and is written and directed by Frank Darabont. The series follows the LAPD/Mob wars in Los Angeles in the 1940’s.; and Legends with Sean Bean as the best-of-the-best undercover agent who is struggling to find where his cover ends and he begins. Both shows are slated for 2014 premiere.

Simon Pegg in Frank Darabont's new cable drama, Mob City, on TNT.
Simon Pegg in Frank Darabont’s new cable drama, Mob City, on TNT.

The Last Ship isn’t set to premiere on TBS until Summer 2014, but this Michael Bay produced end-of-the-world-via-virus show looks to be next summer’s big cable hit. The show stars Adam Baldwin (Firefly, Serenity, Chuck) and Eric Dane (Grey’s Anatomy).

Penny Dreadful is set to premiere on Showtime in 2014. Called a pschyo-sexual horror series, produced by John Logan (writer: Rango, Gladiator, Skyfall) and Sam Mendes (director: Skyfall, American Beauty) it stars Josh Hartnett, Eva Green and Billie Piper. The series will be set in turn-of-the century London and will deal with the origins of literary horror monsters such as Dorian Gray, Dracula and Frankenstein’s Monster.

Starz has Black Sails set to debut in January 2014. It is a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, Treasure Island, set twenty years before the events in the book. Fan reaction at the San Diego Comic Con was so strong Starz has already ordered a second season. It’s got pirates, islands, beaches and rum, so all things point to a hit.

The Outlander is also set to premiere in 2014 on Starz. Based upon the bestselling novels by Diana Gabaldon, the series follows the adventures of time-traveler Claire and her Scottish husband, Jamie Fraser, as they live through historical events from the Scottish revolt under Bonnie Prince Charlie to the revolutionary war. Lots of adventure, lots of romance (and sex, to be clear) and a great deal of historically accurate details made the books a must-read; if Starz follows HBO’s example and lets the novels guide the show than expectations should remain high.

This image--and a short clip--have been teasing the internet about J.J. Abrams new show for weeks now.
This image–and a short clip–have been teasing the internet about J.J. Abrams’ new show for weeks now.

Rounding off our report are two shows which are nothing more than whisper and rumor at the moment:

The Stranger, J.J. Abrams’ bit of marketing masterpiece: just a grainy black and white video with no information at all.

The Sector is a Ridley Scott produced, sci-fi procedural a la Blade Runner. Originally picked up by Cinemax, it was dropped in 2011 but the Science Channel recently announced it is picking up the series.

American Horror Story: Coven premieres on Oct 23rd.

Returning Shows to Keep An Eye Out For

The Walking Dead returns to AMC on Sunday, Oct. 13th at 10 p.m. Season four has yet another new showrunner in Scott Gimple, who will guide the show through a season set to introduce a host of new characters joining our ragged crew in the prison as they attempt to shore up and defend against walkers and humans alike.

The American Horror Story: Coven will be returning to F/X on Weds., October 9th, at 9 pm. Continuing the tradition set in season 2, season 3 will have returning actors but a completely different st of characters and plot. Returning this season are  Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Francis Conroy and Dermot Mulroney; Kathy Bates, Patti Lupone and Angela Bassatt round out an all star cast. Coven focuses on the secret society of witches and an outside evil which is attacking them. The season will flash between modern day and 1830’s.

http://youtu.be/TkPwDPt4JOA

HBO will be bringing back Game of Thrones in the Spring of 2014. Be prepared, the show’s finished seasons are now more numerous then the remaining books…R.R. Marting better write fast.

SyFy is bringing back three shows this season: Being Human, slated for a Jan. 2014 premiere; Warehouse 13 will come back (if only for  six episodes) for its fifth and final season in 2014; and Haven premieres its fourth season on September 13 at 10 p.m. (with a guest star stint from everybody’s favorite Sheriff, Colin Ferguson).

Haven returns for season 4 on Sept 23rd. Catch up on all the episodes on Chiller.

 Starz has renewed Da Vinci’s Demons for a 2014 premiere. If you didn’t see season one, now’s the time to go back and watch (the complete season can be pre-ordered on iTunes). Created by David S. Goyer, co-writer of the The Dark Knight Trilogy, Da Vinci’s Demons is a solid show steeped in mythology and renaissance Italian/Catholic politics.

TNT is bringing Falling Skies Back for a fourth season in late Spring/Summer 2014, so check back for more information on what will happen to Mason and his regiment later.

That’s it! We hope you enjoyed our guide, and be sure to let us know if there are any titles that we missed!

Geekscape 291: Orlando Jones, The Xbox One and ‘The Night Visitor’!

by Jonathan

We run from tipoff to buzzer on this episode of Geekscape! Kenny is back in the studio and we kick off a discussion about how much fun ‘Star Trek into Darkness’ is and what everyone’s worries are about the newly announced Xbox One! Actor and producer Orlando Jones calls in to talk about his new Machinima Prime series ‘Tainted Love’ and its comic book origins (really, you should be watching it)! We also talk about the upcoming show ‘Sleepy Hollow’ and how it really is a geek labor of love for show runners Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman! Also, how is the new digital distribution age giving new opportunities to creators to finally be the geeks they truly are?!? PLUS! Geekscape friend Leah Cevoli calls up to talk about ‘The Night Visitor’, an alien feature film shot in 5 days that could use your Kickstarter love!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:03:32 — 25.5MB)

A TV Addict’s 10 Most Anticipated Shows Of 2013!

by paulpresley93

10. Resurrection

By now I think you’ve realized the only new shows I’m excited for are just because of the involvement of one person. So… THIS ONE HAS THE DAD FROM THAT 70’S SHOW AS A CREEPY NEIGHBOR WHO WE OF COURSE REMEMBER AS BODDICKER IN ROBOCOP. Done. I can’t even remember what this show’s about. Sue me.

9. Crisis

Political intrigue. Kids in Danger. Blah blah blah. Gillian Anderson is in it, and she’s a bad bitch. The pilot was directed by the guy who did Salt. Imagine THAT movie with Scully. Best. Shit. Ever.

8. Killer Women

Do I know what this show is about? No. Do I know it has BSG’s Tricia Helfer as a gun-slinging badass? Yes. So I will probably own every season of this show when it comes out on Blu-Ray. Absolutely.

7. Hostage

Toni Collette and Josh Holloway star in this gritty CBS drama where Collette plays a surgeon chosen to operate on the president whose family is subsequently taken hostage. I am a fan of trashy, political, ticking time bomb shows and the involvement of Collette bodes well for it. This has potential to be the next 24 (at least until 24 comes back), but I think Blacklist will give it a run for its money seeing as both have similar themes. This better be as taut and edgy as it has potential to be.

6. Once Upon a Time in Wonderland

Is it a little too presumptuous of a series to do a spin off after season 2? Yes. Should we all be really excited about it? Absolutely. OUAT, in case you don’t watch, is a really great show. It started out a little rough, but it finally found its voice and a way of balancing now three timelines. The fairy tale genre is really expansive, and now that we’ve finally got a show that made it past season 1 that explores it, I hope we get all the different universes. And think about the crossover storylines later on!

5. Super Fun Night

While I think it’s a little too soon in her career to start a television show, I certainly am excited to see Rebel Wilson in her own series, a sitcom about a group of nerdy girls who set out every week to have a “Super Fun Night”. This is a really cool premise that has potential to have a lot of humor and depth, but there is a chance it could just end up being repetitive garbage… So I’ll be on the lookout.

4. The Blacklist

This show is 50 Shades of Whaaaaaaaa? James Spader, the world’s most wanted man, gives himself over to the FBI? Why did he do it? What is going on? OH MY GOD POLITICS! This has potential to be the most addictive new show on network television. It is drenched in soapy espionage that makes for a really good series and also James Spader guys! Plus a kickass lady action hero. Sign me up!

3. The Crazy Ones

Yeah I know it’s CBS, but CBS has tried this year to get some edgier comedies because they’re tired of only being watched by right-wing, ancient hillbillies. In case you haven’t heard of it, this is the show that’s making my nerdy side quiver with delight just because of the two principle actors: Sarah Michelle Gellar and Robin Williams. This has full potential to suck, but from the trailer it looks pretty funny. Remember how fun it was seeing both of these people on TV? Put them together aaaaaand it’s either going to be my favorite show ever or a complete disaster.

2. Sleepy Hollow

Again, being someone who was a big fan of Fringe, it’s assumed that my number 2 would be Sleepy Hollow, the new Alexander Horowitz sci-fi mystery about Ichabod Crane… time travelling? Yeah, okay, this sounds like a show conceived in the bad part of the coke binge, but it’s actually looking really interesting. Crane wakes up in present day America to find the world in a dystopian state and it appears to be connected to the Headless Horseman. If there’s anyone that can pull this off, it’s the people behind Fringe.

1. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Being a bigger than average Joss Whedon fan, it’s natural that my number one pick for show with the most potential is Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Joss’s freshly picked up series set in the Marvel Universe focusing on the agents of said organization. Think about it! Finally, the man gets a show that has potential to make it past season 2! Regardless of how quirky and nerdy-deep it gets, people are going to watch because it’s set in the world of The Avengers. Just about everyone is probably going to want to check this out. I only hope more of the Whedonverse get to make appearances!

Well those are my top ten. So think, if those are the top ten, what must the bottom ten be like?