9.30.2013

Television: Sleepy Hollow, "For the Triumph of Evil"

How many dream sequences can a show really be expected to have? I just fear this—the dreams and visions—is going to get very old very fast on this show.

People with white eyes (and emptied eyes) are also pretty cliché.

After Abbie has a dream of Crane with the white eyes and someone (-thing) with sand spilling from his (its) eyes, a Dr. Vega from the institution where Abbie's sister Jenny is held is found on the ledge of a building . . . with white eyes that, after she jumps, turn to sand.

(Jenny is Patient #49. Quick, someone theorize on the significance of this number!)

Jenny refuses to speak to Abbie but agrees to speak to Crane.

We get the backstory of the fight between Abbie and Jenny, stemming from when they were young and Abbie refused to admit having seen anything strange in the woods when Jenny reported it. We get briefly introduced to Abbie's ex-boyfriend Morales. And we learn the guy with the eyes of sand is, oddly enough, called the Sandman. "He's coming for you next," says the affected Mr. Gillespie to Abbie. "Next time you fall asleep, you're dead." (Then he kills himself.)

Oh, and Crane tries [a generic, production-approved version of] Red Bull. Has he tried soda yet?

So far, three episodes in, Sleepy Hollow has been relatively rote in its monster-of-the-week structure. Headless Horseman, resurrected witch, Sandman. The show gives the appearance of building a mythology, but really all we're seeing are . . . "monsters from the pit"?

This particular monster, Sandman, necessitates help from the native Mohawks. Crane is astounded—and peeved—that so few of the tribe remain. They find one. A car salesman. Since the Sandman targets people who "turn a blind eye" on others who need help, the salesman is prompted to aid Abbie lest Sandman come for him next for having refused her.

The episode devolves into a pseudo-Neil Gaiman thingy where Abbie and Crane drink a special tea that allows them to enter what amounts to The Dreaming, the Mohawk tribesman having told them they must face Sandman on his own territory. Of course this Sandman is pale and skinny but bald as opposed to having the crazy hair Gaiman's Morpheus is famous for. But hey! Blank black eyes! (Except when sand is falling out of them.)

Anyway, in the old "truth shall set you free" way of things, by telling the truth in the dream, Abbie is able to defeat the Sandman. Somehow it's a letdown. It's almost too easy.

Still: "No more scorpions. Ever."

And Abbie and Crane get an X-Files type basement room to work in.

And Jenny has escaped the institution.

So while the monster angles have been less than thrilling, the character interactions continue to be entertaining. With Jenny in the mix, and a little more of Captain Irving (I hope), there's still enough to keep me interested, even when the A plot is weak. So I'll keep watching. For now.

No comments: