Sleepy Hollow (S2) Review - Episode 4 - Go Where I Send Thee - "Ah! That's where the saying "Pay the Piper' comes from."

From cursed coins we move on to evil bone flutes...I'm not reviewing Friday the 13th the Series, am I? Still, a lot of good horror fun makes use of cursed and magical items.

This time around Sleepy Hollow has a new threat that I can't say for sure is tied to the great Moloch threat. They try to imply it may be connected, but...eh. Still, it may be a force willing to do his bidding.

It seems a child has wandered out into the forest outside Sleepy Hollow. Out of her palatial home, she walked out into the deep deep woods. But it isn't a simple case of sleep walking. The child is lured. Music to sooth the savage...kid?

Sleepy Hollow (S2) Review - Episode 3 - Root of All Evil - "The other side of the coin."

Once more unto the breach for some Sleepy Hollow. Last time we got sent into the mangle. Are we out now?  No! My pinkie is still wedged in there! Ow!!!

So what is the "Root of All Evil"? Sometimes it's TV writers tormenting you. Other times it's, as the saying goes, money. How will money play into this episode?

Well I won't tell you let. Let's get to the troubles remaining from the last episode.


Irving remains locked in a psychiatric ward. When Abbie and Ichabod try to talk to him, they find they are barred by his lawyer. Henry Parrish.

So they are cut off, until later Ichabod comes up with a scheme. He visits another patient who seems to not entirely to communicate. Through that, he's able to contact Irving, and give him the bad news.

"This is so embarrassing. I didn't think you'd find out I was visiting other
patients."

Irving is in a bind. He's agreed to having Henry as his lawyer. And Henry has promised to get him out. It's been his only good news in a while. Without him, he may spend the rest of his life trapped in a psychiatric hospital.

What can he do?

Sleepy Hollow (S2) - Episode 2 - The Kindred - "Inside the mangle."

So last episode we got to enjoy Abbie and Ichabod getting out of there predicaments. It was fun. It was nice. It righted some of out anxiety we'd had since the last season. ...We could exhale again.

Then we get this episode. Since watching the episode for the first time I have been unhappy. I have been trying to figure out why. There was some good action. Some scares for me. Some macabre. The plot was moved forward. And we learned the state of every character. Everything I want.

The answer to my problem is a Mangle. Odds are you are too young to know the word mangle as a verb. And you are way too young to remember mangle as a noun.

The mangle, or wringer. It just squeezes the water out of laundry. It's something you don't want to go through.


This episode was like a mangle. It put me through the wringer/

It feels like nothing good happen this episode. Almost like it was all bad news.

I guess things were going to easy last year. The producers must have
toggled the show to the Hard setting.

To start, finally, there is a new sheriff in town. Sheriff Leena Reyes (played by Sakina Jaffrey). Finally! After a season, we have an actual sheriff again!!! Also, it is verified that Irving had been standing in for a sheriff. (GTK.)

Reyes is someone who is returning to Sleepy Hollow. She served in the sheriff's department before, back when Abbie was a child. She even knew Abbie and Jenny's mom.

It seems like it should be great to have a sheriff again. But for the last season we had Irving. He gave Abbie a lot of latitude even when he didn't believe in the paranormal danger the town was in. Reyes seems a lot more strict and stiff on this stuff.

She talks with Abbie, and seems to respect her abilities. But she also expects her to follow the rules and order.

"Hey! We're back to walk and talks like last season." "Let's not pretend like
were going to be bantering, Lt. Mills."

Later Reyes checks out the Archive. When she gets there, she finds Jenny grabbing some weapons for Abbie, which they'd had stashed there.

Beyond anything else, Jenny is not someone legally allowed to own weapons. (And, I know it goes unsaid in these sorts of shows, but where did they get their guns? And was it entirely legal?)

I'd joke that Reyes better not mess with Jenny...But I'm kind of intimidated
by her...

So Jenny is under arrest. Oh, Reyes also fires Ichabod. (She doesn't see the point of a historical adviser....She didn't even get a chance to find out how annoying he can be first.)

"...Really?!"

How bad is that?

...It gets worse. FLIPPIN' WORSE!

Sleepy Hollow (S2) - Episode 1 - This is War - "We're getting the band back together."

Here we go back in again. Season 2 of Sleepy Hollow. A strange enough show idea, but it worked some magic on us all.

After last season we've all been left pondering just what the answer was to freeing Abbie and Ichabod. It's time to see what the answer is to that.

So let's see why "This is War". ...Other than the obvious reasons.

Sleepy Hollow Review - Episode 13 - Bad Blood - "Ichabod Crane. You are the father!"

There's been a distinct lack of indefatigable black leading ladies, anachronistic spies, and headless people in my life lately. What would help with that?

Oh, yeah the finale of Season 1 of Sleepy Hollow. (At long last, right?) The last episode was the first part of a two-hour finale. And the two episodes go together well enough. But I decided to divide the reviews by the episode breaks. Just a breather before we enter this last hour, when everything will go to heck...What am I writing? Things will be literally going to Hell.

Let's check out some "Bad Blood".

"Wait. Which universe am I in right
now?"

Everyone is stressed out after the last episode. They need to figure out their next step (Though it's obvious Ichabod has some ideas of his own.). Ichabod goes for a walk to consider what is at risk. As he does he has a surreal time.

"...And you? You're wearing that rifle on the wrong shoulder."

It almost seems he's stepped back in time, and is in the war. Is it a dream? Well, he thinks it is at first. And apparently his dreams are a place where he constantly gets to correct people.

Sleepy Hollow Review - Episode 12 - Indispensable Man - "Zombie Washington sends his regards."

With a short delay...we continue towards the end of the first season of Sleepy Hollow. Who will live? Who will die? Who will tell Ichabod that anything on FOX News isn't meant to be taken as a factual statement?


Anyway, let's go and find ourselves an "Indispensable Man".

"It is possible that I may have appeared in The Time Machine."

As this episode progresses, the events of the last episode hang heavy over one character in particular, Captain Irving. The rest of the law enforcement community have a lot of questions for him. And, no, "the devil made me do it" isn't going to fix this.

But we know now that it seems like Ramirez is alive. How alive isn't clear. But the deaths we saw seem to be the only ones.

Sleepy Hollow Review - Episode 11 - The Vessel - "Katrina darns socks in Hell!"

Welcome back to Sleepy Hollow. We are almost to the end of the season! Yeah. They have a 12ish episode (Is the last one a two parter, or two hours?) season for Sleepy Hollow. And I approve. I would rather have each episode of a season more focused on their prophesied quest and the mystery of what threats are coming for them. We don't need a fat on this show.

It's lean cheesy horror fun.

So let's look at the penultimate episode of season 1.

And what we get this time around, it's time for an exorcism.

"The Vessel"

Sleepy Hollow Review - Episode 10 - Golem - "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

Ah, here we are. Back in Sleepy Hollow. And, what do you know? The show has come back on tonight! So, I at least am keeping up my pattern of putting these reviews out just as a new episode comes on.

"Congratulations! It's a plot point."

But it is nice to remember where we've been after weeks away from a show. And when we left off before the 10th episode, Ichabod had learned that he was a father. Very "was". The kid was born in the 18th century. But the episode left me unsure how we would find Ichabod, going into the 10th episode of the season. He had gone a bit Evil Dead on the evil creature.

So what will Ichabod be like now? Will he go alpha male on us? Will he go angsty and angry? Will he join Fathers For Justice?

"I am a man! What?! I am a man! What?! ..."

The episode opens with him an ax again, cutting wood. It's not a good sign. Guys on TV shows cutting wood has often been a way to represent virility or machismo. Not a good sign.

Luckily, when Abbie arrives he stops, and slips back into normal mode. He was cutting wood to bide his time. He has a son he never knew. He lived centuries away. And he has no knowledge about who he was, or how he lived. It's frustrating, and Ichabod did some work to just wait, until he could get answers.

"Christmas logs. You just have to carry it until Christmas
Day, What? It's a revered modern tradition."

Abbie does her best to engage him. And her way with Ichabod is to wrangle him. With Christmas approaching, she brings up modern traditions, which always provokes Ichabod. But it has become their way of bickering in a friendly manner.

(Also, it's Christmas. Thanksgiving episode. Christmas based episode. Is tonight's based around New Years? I feel like I'm playing the Calendar Man side mission in Arkham City.)

They are interrupted when a taxi arrives. Abbie knows nothing about it, but it is just what Ichabod has been waiting for. The Sin Eater.

Yes, oh yes.

The Sin Eater returns to the show for the first time since..."The Sin Eater". It's nice to see a character return. Plenty have come through that I'd like to see more of. And the Sin Eater, or Henry Parrish,

In this episode we are given more of a chance to appreciate the eccentricities that John Noble brings to the role. He's so fun, understated, and glum that I just want them to spin him off to his own show. Just have him go around sniffing out sin and righting wrong. Then he'll exit and go back to being depressed and moody.

Ichabod asks the Sin Eater to use his powers to help him access Purgatory.

But Parrish is unsure. He doesn't use his power in that manner. He fights sins and then leaves.

But Ichabod is determined. He needs him to act, so he can get answers to the fate of his son.

And Parrish relents. But he warns Ichabod. There will be repercussions.

Sleepy Hollow Review - Episode 9 - Sanctuary - "We've replace Abbie Mills normal crime scene with a haunted house. Let's see if she notices."

Last week we had our awkward Maury Povich experience with the Horseman. Thankfully there was no pregnancy tests to be found. This week may not be so fortunate.

We return to Sleepy Hollow with a Haunted House tale. Not an anthology story, what with the tight season the show has, it keeps us firmly in the mysteries of Sleepy Hollow and Ichabod Crane. While we had a focus more in unwrapping the mysteries of the Mills in earlier episodes we are a little more focused on Ichabod now. And with this episode we learn just a bit more about his and Katrina's connections.

It's an interesting episode. I am all for a good haunted house. But being trapped in the house, and that being the main focus of the episode, makes the story rather straight forward. They run around. They evade attack. They find secret passages. It's fun to watch. Just not interesting to have lain out in brief.

But that part of the story is not alone. In the midst we get revelation. It comes with Abbie getting visions and ghostly support. Through this, she leads the way to safety, and reveals things from the past that Ichabod was not privy to.

We also get a B-Plot, with Jenny wandering around the sheriff's office, and pestering Irving. It offers more insight into both characters, but not the best use of them. So let's look at these threads that come together to make this tale of spectral woe.

Sleepy Hollow Review - Episode 8 - Necromancer - "Ichabod. I am your..."

It's late, but...yeah it's late in coming. Let's hope for a Thanksgiving miracle with Episode 9...That's a thing, right?


This week's episode closes out the attempt to contain the Horseman.

It's been a three episode run. We've learned about Ichabod's history. We've got to see Ichabod's flight from the Horseman by horse. We've brought our heroes into the open and united.

"...I think he's trying to sing a
Meatloaf ballad."

And, now, the Horseman has been humbled.


So what's next? ...Ah. What do you do with him? When they tried to get rid of his skulls, it proved seemingly impossible. And the Horseman seems hard to keep down.

And now they are relying on magic candles (holding him in place, and keep others out) and the electrical supply to their UV lights...not to mention those bulbs. But they seem kind of transitory.

....Really, this feels like a ticking time bomb.

I know this is just me, but, based on some different movies and shows, I'd fill the room with quick drying cement. But that's probably a mad idea to me.

"You better not leave me hanging, Ichabod. We're going to
fist bump, or I'm going to deck."

Still, he's down for now. And Abbie wants to have a moment, so she engages Ichabod in a fist bump. He has no idea what to make of it. (He should just be glad it isn't the 90's and he's teamed with a bro. It'd be all High Fives and chest bumping.)

But they need to figure what to do now. He can't go to prison. He can't die. But Ichabod has an idea. Question him. Question...the headless guy? (Abbie? Punch him for me.)

Meanwhile we see the forests outside Sleepy Hollow. Two hunters are out, when a horse appears. A white horse...Is this becoming a Rob Zombie movie? No! It's the Horseman's horse, and it's doing the whole Lassie thing. One of the hunters approach it and then pulls out a phone.

"No, the horse isn't explaining. It's mostly
complaining about back pay."

Then the hunter begins talking in German (German baddies! Again!). Seems the Hessians are being activated again. The Hessian than turns around and shoots his fellow hunter.

Meanwhile, Ichabod has a plan to find a way to communicate with the Horseman. Undead Andy. Searching around the underground, they find a place they think Undead Andy has been nesting. And soon they are rifling through his stuff, looking for answers or information. As they search through, Ichabod finds an ancient tablet. It has a magic symbol on it, and also Egyptian hieroglyphics.

"Oh god! Stop reading my diary!"

This is when Undead Andy chooses to pop up. He's frantic to find them there. Not pleased at all. No doubt he's scared that they've found his doll with Abbie's picture on it.

They explain that they've come looking for him. He hates the idea.

Then Ichabod posits that Undead Andy is a necromancer. The tablet Ichabod found is about communicating with the dead. And he figures that Undead Andy has been acting as a go between for the Horseman. So he has the ability to be the Horseman's mouth and voice.

Undead Andy really hates this. He explains that he is in the thrall of Moloch. He has no control, when Moloch commands him. So he could turn on them at any moment. He says he doesn't want to, but he knows that he is a liability. Only bad can come from them relying on him.

Finally he agrees. They approach the room, and Undead Andy warns them once again against what they plan. But the Horseman awaits his moment on the stage. So they pat him down, to be assured he's no threat, and take him in.

And, title sequence! Really, 15 minute in before the title. I respect that.

Sleepy Hollow Review - Episode 7 - The Midnight Ride - "Thomas Jefferson, that bastard!"

Well, hello there. Another week is passing, and we are almost to the next episode, so I suppose I should get this review out? Heck, as it is I am tempted to look at Almost Human this week. So I better get be sure everyone is up to date on Sleepy Hollow,so no one is behind on beheadings, flashbacks, and Abbie for the coming weeks.

Following on last week, it finally is time for the Horseman to strike Sleepy Hollow. But first, a flashback. What will we see this week? Betsy Ross designing a flag with a secret message? Francis Scott Key's secret involvement with the Revolution? Ah...

Paul Revere.

Oh yeah? I think it's funny.

But, first, what is to come? Finally after the build up of the last two episodes, we finally get our face off of our heroes and the Horseman. It has been a long time in coming (6 episodes to be exact), but it is appreciated.

Through this episode the tension winds up as they try and find the answer to the problem of a Horseman with no head. And when they do have their plan, it will be fun to see them prep it, and then implement it. It makes for a merry and fun chase.

The episode also finally allows movement for a number of characters that have been kept in a holding pattern, some have moved one step forward, others have gotten a lot further. If these characters were going to have a real point, it needed to happen, and I am happy to see their progress.

Overall, by the end of the episode it seems our heroes have reached a turning point. They lept an obstacle they doubted they could master. They've had a great victory. It is only a question now, of what they may yet have to pay for it.

Sleepy Hollow Review - Episode 6 - The Sin Eater - "Finally a diet I can get behind." *UPDATED*

After an extended break to Sleepy Hollow, for sport, we are back. And what awaits us in the newest episode of Sleepy Hollow? ...Oh! I almost don't want to know! So much is at stake. Will be be live? Will people undie? Will Ichabod get a new set of clothing?

Let's consider what we got.

The truth of the matter is that this episode does advance things. It introduces new players to the field. It also has Ichabod face his past and address actions that haunt him still.

"Sir? How many horsemen
am I holding up?"

But, like "Cousin Oliver" last time...I mean "John Doe", it touches on the show's themes. It touches on the looming apocalypse and how Ichabod was sent through time, continuing the revelations. And it opens up the spigots more. We now see how Ichabod chose to betray his king. We see how he met Katrina. We see how he became aware of the greater danger that was held in the American Revolution.

It was interesting. And for fans of the show, it takes you further into the show's mythology.

And that is appreciated. The episode also, finally, bring together the Mills sisters again. And while Jennifer is perfectly happy to poke and provoke Abbie some, it has become far less pointed, and far more sisterly.

And the Horseman is coming. Yeah, just like at the end of the previous episode, he's still coming. What? Did he get stuck in traffic? Well, it does seem now that he's more focused on his hunt. (And did one clip from next week almost have shades of The Terminator?)

As it is, I feel like this is part 1 of an unofficial two-parter. We will see how next week fits with this episode to judge it properly.

The Horror Of...Halloween Night, Vincent Price's Once Upon A Midnight Scary

Hello again. As we settle nicely into Halloween, it's time to be sure we are all comfy. Because it's time to tell some tales. Tales of horror. Tales of suspense. Tales of dread. Tales of dark forces stalking you.

And who better to do this than Vincent Price? So let's resurrect this old soul, prop him up, and have his tale a tale or three? You aren't afraid?


Good.

The movie sadly is only available in VHS, but it can be found on YouTube. So we can all enjoy.

Vincent Price's Once Upon A Midnight Scary is a TV Special from CBS. It was shown in 1979, and, unsurprisingly, it has the eponymous Vincent Price acting as a host. Like the Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror, the show is made up of 3 tales, with Price acting as a host and link between the tales being told. Say what you will about the quality of the production, but...It's Vincent Price hosting scary stories!!!

The Horror Of...Sleepy Hollow, In Short

Tonight let's let two ideas collide. Sleepy Hollow (the new TV series) is on repeats, and I want to suggest movies that should be on your TO WATCH list.

So...

Yes, let's head back to 1999, and creepy story of greed, secrets, gruesome murder, and an undying headless horseman.

True, this is a Tim Burton movie. But when people divide the movies he's made that people think were visionary and those that...aren't, Sleepy Hollow seems to be one that falls with most on the visionary side.

And, is anyone wonders if this is a movie that's good to watch to get in the old Halloween mindset...

Any questions?

It is quite a tale. The small village of Sleepy Hollow suddenly beset by a mystery figure who is striking down citizens for no discernible reason. But there are whispers and a fearful populace.

It's 1799. And into this situation Ichabod Crane, a constable from New York City is sent, to figure out what is going on. (But that's silly seeing as we know that by then he was sleeping. Awaiting his resurrection in the 21st century.) He finds people that act eager to help, but withholding vital information. Could there be a conspiracy? Could there be witches? You'll just have to see.

It is a fun movie. It gives blood and gore at times. It provokes with imagery. But their is a fun sensibility behind it all that I think most of us can enjoy. It is also happy to use some of the pop culture imagery that we are used to in tellings of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.








As well, the artistry and care of the movie shows. From it's use of blood to the all so classic autumnal look, it is often like watching a haunting painting come to life.

And along the way Crane faces buried memories of his own youth.

All leading to a final confrontation with the Headless Horseman.

It has a great cast to watch.

Johnny Depp plays Ichabod Crane. This is back in the days when he didn't seem to think he needed to hide behind a weird character. And he slips smoothly into this prim and proper proponent of forensic science.

Christina Ricci plays Katrina Van Tassel. And she also slips nicely into the role of the sweet daughter of the main political force of Sleepy Hollow, with her own hidden depths.

Michael Gambon plays Baltus Van Tassel. He's Katrina's father.

Miranda Richardson plays Lady Van Tassel, wife to Baltus, (etc.). It's always a thrill when you get Richardon in a movie. And this movie gives her plenty to work with.

We also get Casper Van Dien as Brom Van Brunt. A rival of sorts to Ichabod.

 And, of course, we get the Headless Horseman. In part, he's played by Christopher Walken (I assume he isn't also playing the role when the horseman has no head..) The way he plays it reminds me some of how Christopher Lee played Dracula in the early Hammer Horror movies.








 And, as with many Tim Burton movies, you get some old favorites

Also, you get a collection of great British actors that we don't see often enough in the United States, on the big screen.

This is a treat of a movie. It's stylish. It's grisly. And gives you a mystery to ponder as you see who will survive the onslaught of the Horseman.

It's a fine way to spend one of your Halloween nights.