'Sleepy Hollow' 1.03 "For the Triumph of Evil' Review

FOX

After a smashing debut, Sleepy Hollow’s second episode was a little more so-so. Part of that could have had to do with the fact that the ‘of the week’ case had less to do with the central focus of the series than the events of the pilot. So it was a relief to see that the third episode, ‘For the Triumph of Evil’ managed to give viewers a great mixture of a super creepy creature feature as well as a story that pushed the overall plot along quite nicely.

FOX

Wouldn’t it be truly awkward to be in Jenny Mills’s shoes? After a traumatizing encounter with a demon in the middle of the woods when she was a young girl alongside her sister Abbie, who would later lie about it to save herself, Jenny finds herself shuttered away in the loony bin. But one day a handsome man in antiquated garb strolls into her life and confirms that the End Times are indeed coming and that she’s been right about everything including a need to prepare to survive. Soon, the only crazy ones will be those that don’t believe what’s going on in and about this mythical small town. But we’ll deal with the sibling conflict between Abbie and Jenny in a moment, first there’s a new demon of the week to handle.

FOX

Pretty sure no one else is going to hear the sweet and innocent ‘Mister Sandman’ by The Chordettes ever again without getting even just a quick flash of Sleepy Hollow’s version of the Sandman--a Native American dream demon called Ro’Kenhronteyes. It’s nice to see some home-grown demons/beasties as North America is chock-full of so much demonology potential that many series have left untapped. Even though our erstwhile police detective has accepted the presence of demons and Ichabod Crane himself in her daily life that doesn’t mean that she's without sins in her past to answer for that relate to the presence of the impossible. Having Abbie come to terms with what she and her sister witnessed on that fateful day brings her to a point where she and Icky (I guess he won’t be my friend now) can share a weary laugh about their future as the supposed two capital ‘W’ Witnesses to the End of everything.

FOX

One of the best things this show has going for it, other than a killer visual effects/design department and great casting, is the tone. It is absolutely essential that the humor be maintained no matter how grim things get, and with Death himself still lurking headless in the shadows grim is the word for it. At the same time a balance is carefully struck between tense scenes such as Abbie negotiating a hostage situation and comical scenes like Ichabod hacking up his first ever sip of an energy drink in disgust. Also, it’s great that the writers aren’t leaning on Ichabod’s fish out of water status to the point where it would become a distraction and a gimmick. Sprinkling just the right amount of confused reaction shots when he’s faced with new technology, or when someone near him makes a pop culture reference is all that’s needed to keep that bit going for a while longer. Not to mention it was clever how when they visited the shaman there wasn’t a sweat lodge or a teepee, but instead a space in the back of a car lot (Geronimotors is now my favorite name ever.) The overall tone of the series benefits from these added touches, especially when the more ‘out there’ elements are so essential to the week’s story.

FOX

Even though it's fun to have a new element of the show’s mythology unveiled on a weekly basis, the core of this show is the relationship between Abbie and Crane. One of growing mutual trust and well-established respect. It speaks volumes that Crane never once tries to hold Abbie back from going through with anything dangerous for any number of sexist reasons one could think of, (‘she can’t handle it, she’s not experienced enough in these matters’). No, what Ichabod does instead is volunteer to get strapped down and stung with scorpions right at her side so they can enter the dangers of the dreamscape together. It’s a wonderful partnership and I can’t wait to see how it weathers the true tribulations heading their way in the future.

FOX

As I mentioned above, there simply has to be kudos given to the design department for coming up with some of the coolest looking creatures I’ve seen outside of a Guillermo del Toro movie. If anyone watches the Syfy show ‘Face/Off’ then it’s a known fact that one of the greatest challenges in creature design these days is to conceptualize a monster that is both original and yet has a time-less feel to it. Everything we’ve seen on this show so far meets that standard perfectly. I think the trick in this instance is the usage of a lot of washed-out pale colors since so many other shows and films like for their demons to be as dark in hue as possible.

FOX

It’s apparent that the bond between the Mills sisters must be forged anew and that’s going to be a bit tricky since Jenny pulled off an escape from the psychiatric hospital at episode’s end. I’m sure that we’ll be seeing her again quite soon and I have to wonder if since both sisters have already been witnesses of a sort if the scripture will actually come to mean they’re the true Witnesses for the apocalypse instead of Ichabod and Abbie. Because what better time could there possibly be to let bygones be bygones between siblings if not the end of the world?