GtPGKogPYT4p61R1biicqBXsUzo" /> Google+ Two Sheep Review: Sleepy Hollow, Season 2 mid-season Review | I Smell Sheep

Friday, December 19, 2014

Two Sheep Review: Sleepy Hollow, Season 2 mid-season Review



As two of the Sheep are big fans of the television show Sleepy Hollow, we thought a breakdown of all the awesome goodness to share with all would be a fun treat! If you don't know this show yet, go watch it. If you've been keeping up, leave comments and let us know your thoughts. Adria and myself have some feedback and things we'd love to see happen below. 

Katie's crazy mind hashes out some thoughts! 

Sleepy Hollow has continued to deliver an exciting and entertaining television experience. Season Two is mixed with legends and myths, some of which seem like the could or should be true, our lead pair are once again out to stop the apocalypse. Go team! Leading the way is Detective Abby Mills, a straight-forward cop who's been thrust into a world of darkness and evil unknown to mankind. She's partnered up with the colonial-hottie-with -the-English-body Ichabod Crane. *le sigh* 

Intermixed with action and adventure are enjoyable moments the show throws in for that fun comedy relief to lighten and humanize the characters. Ichabods reactions to modern-day technology are laugh out loud funny. His comments about cars and motor bikes never get old. The show writers do an excellent job of adding that balance of humor with the darkness while giving the audience what it wants. 



My one big complaint with the show are the wigs. They are pretty awful actually. Aside from that, the wardrobe is pretty dead on to what I might expect to see in the eras of old. I can only hope that the wig disaster either gets better or they just cut off the characters locks and have them work with a modern buzz cut. But I still want to see Ichabod in his sexy coat! 

[Look ma, no wig!]
Hair pieces aside, this show continues to impress and dazzle my soft and gushy insides. I'm eagerly awaiting to see what happens after the mid-season break! Lot's is left on hold and will the long lost son ever come home to the family that loves him?! We just don't know. But we want to! 



Adria digs deeper and shows us why she's the bomb! 

Legends, myths and folklore seem to be working well for Fox’s Sleepy Hollow. The series started in 2013 and to the surprise of many, became one of the breakout TV shows of the year. The modern take on the short story by Washington Irving has placed Ichabod Crane in the small town of Sleepy Hollow 230 years after he was killed in battle by the Headless Horseman (Later revealed to be Death, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse). Together with Police Lieutenant Abbie Mills, they must stop the coming apocalypse when they realize that not only are they dealing with the Headless Horseman, but with demons, witches and, in Ichabod’s case, modern technology and idioms. It’s the ultimate battle between Team Good and Team Evil!


The season two opener caused a bit of anxiety for me. I was a little underwhelmed with the premiere and how it seemed to lack the magic and suspense of season one. However, with the second episode of season two, my faith (and nerves) were back to normal. It also saw the introduction of a new villain: The Horseman of War, aka Henry Parrish, aka Ichabod and Katrina’s son. 


Unlike Katie, the wigs don’t bother me too much, probably because I’ve seen worse. I don’t want Ichabod to get too “modern” however because for me, part of his appeal is that he is a man out of time in every way. His hair, his clothes, his speech, his ideas and his morals all scream “I’m not from around here!” and provide snarky bantering between him and Abbie that a lot of times breaks up a tense scene and gives viewers something light hearted to laugh about. I certainly wouldn’t want to see Ichabod dressed in modern clothes or see him lose his long locks, bad wig or no (Maybe actor Tom Mison could grow out his hair instead?). I wouldn’t want Ichabod to lose what makes him, well, him. It’s a huge part of his appeal to me. It would be like asking Abbie to become more like the women Ichabod knew back in his time.

Each episode this season has so far been better than the last, but for me the two stand out episodes were Heartless and Mama.


Heartless saw Ichabod’s wife Katrina briefly joining the dynamic duo in their quest to stop the end of days. This episode was revealing in the fact that since season one there has been no end of Ichabod/Abbie shippers, some of whom want a romance between the two characters. Yet, I have been firmly in the Ichabod-has-a-WIFE camp. Then in this episode I got my wish: Katrina was part of the group, only it didn’t work for me and it obviously didn’t work for Abbie either. Katrina’s presence distracted Ichabod, and she butted heads with Abbie over how Henry should be dealt with but most importantly, Katrina completely dampened the chemistry between the Ichabod and Abbie which is one of my favorite things about this show. I quickly realized that no matter what, Katrina was never going to see Henry as anything other than her son and she would always stand in the way of what Team Good had to do. So, she had to go and thankfully she ended up reassigning herself to a secret mission. Bottom line is: I love Katrina Crane, she’s a powerful character and I love that she’s a good guy, I just don’t think she’s a good fit for Ichabod and Abbie’s group of merry misfits. So while I’m never going to ship an Ichabod/Abbie romance, that doesn’t mean that I want Mr. & Mrs. Crane working in the same group.


In the episode titled Mama, fans got a more personal look into Abbie and her sister Jennifer’s tumultuous childhood with their mentally unstable mother. Ichabod is noticeably absent for most of the episode but that just gave Abbie and her sister Jenny the spotlight and allowed viewers to see their more vulnerable/weak side. It was a heartbreaking episode as well as both women find out the devastating truth about their mother who committed suicide while she was a patient at the asylum. Actresses Nicole Beharie and Lyndie Greenwood who play Abbie and Jennifer Mills respectively did an amazing job of showing their characters’ more emotional sides. I’m not ashamed to say that I shed a few tears with that episode.

The addition of Matt Barr as the unpredictable mercenary Nick Hawley throws a delightful wrench into Ichabod and Abbie’s relationship as well. He’s the wild card in the show, no one knows what he’ll do to collect a relic to sell to the highest bidder… I like him!


Sleepy Hollow has been a surprise for everyone, myself included. Here we finally have a television series that attracts and satisfies fans of the original tale while giving them something fresh to mull over every Monday night. The assurance of victory for Ichabod and Abbie is never certain, and as much as they win some, they also lose a great deal as evidenced by the mid season finale The Akeda. The uncertainty of what will happen next is what keeps me tuning in every week and what has me weeping right now that the series is on hiatus until 2015. Darn those holidays!

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for writing this review! I found this really helpful, and now I can't wait to watch the show. *hangs head* Yes, it's all too true -- I haven't seen it yet. I solemnly promise to remedy the situation!

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    1. Gasp! Say it isn't so Dani! You HAVEN'T watched the show?! I hope you do soon and let us know what you think.

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    2. I agree. I think you would REALLY like this one. I'm actually shocked you've not seen it yet! Get caught up, you have time till it comes back in mid Jan 2015 :)

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  2. Wigs? I thought that was his hair! I love his long hair down and flowing around his shoulders and now I find out it's a wig? Dang...but I love this show. I've been watching since the very beginning and it's one of my favorite shows.

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    1. Lol, it's a wig. I've watched from the very beginning too Mary and I just love it to death (no pun intended). It's a great way to break from all the reality shows.

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    2. Same as Adria of course. lol I've been into this show since the first episode and bad wigs aside, I love it. He needs to either grow it out or cut it off! ;P

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