It's me again, Sleepy Hollow Fan Girl, back to make some amends, apologies, and further (more positive) reflections re: the season premiere. Just to be clear, no one--no fan, no one from Sleepy Hollow--has written to me requesting this. This comes purely from my own conscience having seen the premiere a third time, and having had more time to reflect on the script.
First off, major mea culpa, and a profound apology, to both Mark Goffman and Tom Mison, for my having accused Ichabod/Tom of speaking ungrammatically in the premiere's climax. He did not. I accused him of using "me" as the subject of a verb, and what he actually used was "we," which is entirely correct. I pray you both, Mr. Goffman and Mr. Mison, will forgive me for this grievous error. I shall go back to my original post and draw a line through that paragraph.
Second, although I adore Tom Mison's eyebrows and any chance to comment upon them, even in jest, in all fairness, his eyebrows did not behave really badly in this episode. I'm sorry, Mr. Mison. I shall also draw a line through my snide remark along those lines.
Third, and these remarks are directed more at Mark Goffman: I feel like I have a much better understanding of and respect for what you were trying to do in Act I. On serious reflection, I think your idea to put Abbie and Ichabod under the illusion that a year had passed was extremely clever and very creative. I also think that you were quite intentional about having them behave strangely, having the scenes feel "off" so that we the audience would be in on the twist. I think you were trying to do something very sophisticated and layered; I wish it had worked for me.
Also, I wanted to go back to Fake Crane. I feel like I understand better why you felt you needed him. You felt you needed a confrontation between our heroes and Moloch, and there's no way they would survive (we've been led to believe thus far) a direct confrontation with ole Ram Horn Head himself.
Also, him taking the form of Crane is a marvelous poetic device, in that, as we've been told, Crane's decision to redraw the map to purgatory led to most of the hot water our major characters found themselves in last season, and that is going to continue to be an issue for him and Abbie. So, the image of him fighting himself, will--I suspect--have reverberations throughout the season. Thanks for having Abbie go all Ms. BAMF on him too.
Fourth, I must make some apologies to both Ken Olin, the director, and Nicole Beharie, Mr. Mison and John Noble. While I stand by what I said about direction, performances and tone and how they didn't work for me, I can see how others would see the episode differently, how the sheer terror of the predicaments Abbie and Crane were left in could require such heightened expressions of fear and intensity throughout the episode, and I can appreciate why the episode was directed thusly, and why our actors felt the need to ramp up their performances to express such intensity. I still wish I could have felt it, viscerally, and thus believed it. I think that perhaps part of what didn't work for me was trying to mix in light moments, such as Ichabod's adorable failed recording on the cell phone, with that darker textured story. It works when the shift isn't as dramatic quite well.
Further, Mr. Noble's performance was more complex than I gave it credit for being. I apologize to both him and Mr. Olin.
I must also apologize to the editor. Upon re-watching the episode, I can see how Abbie's fear in Moloch's cave could lead directly to the scene in which she is searching for the amulet. I don't feel it, viscerally, and I didn't see it the first two times I watched it. But the third time I was watching it with an eye to criticizing myself, and things I may have gotten wrong. I think I got that one wrong.
Finally, I must offer kudos to the art department/director/writers for Moloch's field, the place where he is raising his demon army. On seeing it the third time, I realized the field was designed to look like a revolutionary war battle field, and that is magnificent. Speaking of great poetic devices.
First off, major mea culpa, and a profound apology, to both Mark Goffman and Tom Mison, for my having accused Ichabod/Tom of speaking ungrammatically in the premiere's climax. He did not. I accused him of using "me" as the subject of a verb, and what he actually used was "we," which is entirely correct. I pray you both, Mr. Goffman and Mr. Mison, will forgive me for this grievous error. I shall go back to my original post and draw a line through that paragraph.
Second, although I adore Tom Mison's eyebrows and any chance to comment upon them, even in jest, in all fairness, his eyebrows did not behave really badly in this episode. I'm sorry, Mr. Mison. I shall also draw a line through my snide remark along those lines.
Third, and these remarks are directed more at Mark Goffman: I feel like I have a much better understanding of and respect for what you were trying to do in Act I. On serious reflection, I think your idea to put Abbie and Ichabod under the illusion that a year had passed was extremely clever and very creative. I also think that you were quite intentional about having them behave strangely, having the scenes feel "off" so that we the audience would be in on the twist. I think you were trying to do something very sophisticated and layered; I wish it had worked for me.
Also, I wanted to go back to Fake Crane. I feel like I understand better why you felt you needed him. You felt you needed a confrontation between our heroes and Moloch, and there's no way they would survive (we've been led to believe thus far) a direct confrontation with ole Ram Horn Head himself.
Also, him taking the form of Crane is a marvelous poetic device, in that, as we've been told, Crane's decision to redraw the map to purgatory led to most of the hot water our major characters found themselves in last season, and that is going to continue to be an issue for him and Abbie. So, the image of him fighting himself, will--I suspect--have reverberations throughout the season. Thanks for having Abbie go all Ms. BAMF on him too.
Fourth, I must make some apologies to both Ken Olin, the director, and Nicole Beharie, Mr. Mison and John Noble. While I stand by what I said about direction, performances and tone and how they didn't work for me, I can see how others would see the episode differently, how the sheer terror of the predicaments Abbie and Crane were left in could require such heightened expressions of fear and intensity throughout the episode, and I can appreciate why the episode was directed thusly, and why our actors felt the need to ramp up their performances to express such intensity. I still wish I could have felt it, viscerally, and thus believed it. I think that perhaps part of what didn't work for me was trying to mix in light moments, such as Ichabod's adorable failed recording on the cell phone, with that darker textured story. It works when the shift isn't as dramatic quite well.
Further, Mr. Noble's performance was more complex than I gave it credit for being. I apologize to both him and Mr. Olin.
I must also apologize to the editor. Upon re-watching the episode, I can see how Abbie's fear in Moloch's cave could lead directly to the scene in which she is searching for the amulet. I don't feel it, viscerally, and I didn't see it the first two times I watched it. But the third time I was watching it with an eye to criticizing myself, and things I may have gotten wrong. I think I got that one wrong.
Finally, I must offer kudos to the art department/director/writers for Moloch's field, the place where he is raising his demon army. On seeing it the third time, I realized the field was designed to look like a revolutionary war battle field, and that is magnificent. Speaking of great poetic devices.
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