Orlando Jones

The overarching Sleepy Hollow narrative has been treading water since the events of “The Akeda,” the show unable to find a hook in the wake of Moloch’s death. For the past few episodes events have gone through a series of monsters of the week, the characters as adrift as the writers as they spend their time asking some fairly meta questions about what their place in the world is. It hasn’t been a bad stretch of episodes—in fact, on balance the show’s felt more entertaining than it did in the first half of the season—but a sense of direction has been keenly missed. “Spellcaster” takes steps to remedy that deficit, setting things in motion for the final trio of season two episodes.

“The Akeda,” Sleepy Hollow’s midseason finale, is a prime example of how much of an up-and-down affair the show has been in its sophomore season. It’s full of things to love (apocalyptic images like red lightning and bloody hail, a good vs. evil fight rife with triumph and tragedy) and things to hate (the umpteenth short-sighted decision made by Katrina). It gives a character one last moment of glory, albeit one tainted by how it’s the most relevant thing they’ve done in recent memory. And while it builds excitement for the show’s return in 2015, that excitement is largely grounded in the degree to which the finale burns down the structure that’s dictated much of the season to date.

At a time when Sleepy Hollow is running the risk of losing its vital energy thanks to an excess of plots and characters, it’s important to remember the things everyone loved about the show in the first place. It captured the attention of viewers thanks to the ludicrous concept of a Headless Horseman wielding automatic weapons, and delivered that early and often. It moved past initial absurdity by capitalizing on the chemistry between its two leads and building a dynamic that everyone wanted to root for. And it managed to remain a consistently solid supernatural drama, deploying well-executed monsters and suspense.

For months now, Sleepy Hollow has struggled to regain the magic of its first season. Episodes throughout season two have been entertaining, but they’ve lacked the punch of the best of season one. The series has been too focused on Abraham, the potential redemption of Jeremy, and Hawley (the Manufactured Mills Sister Love Triangle Instigator), and moved away from what it worked so hard to establish in season one, the bond (platonic or otherwise) between Abbie and Ichabod and the recovering relationship of Abbie and Jenny. Moving Ichabod and Katrina’s marriage from epic fairy tale romance to occasionally struggling, realistic partnership has worked well, but keeping Jenny MIA and trying to force a connection between Abbie and poorly written Han Solo knockoff Hawley has not.

Jean-Claude van Damme’s first starring role was as a villain, but with his new film he finally gets in touch with his full-on, utterly insane inner bad guy.

Sleepy Hollow, Season 1: Episode 11 – “Vessel” Written by Mark Goffman, David McMillan, and Melissa Blake Directed by Romeo Tirone Airs Mondays at 9 PM EST on Fox – After a winter hiatus, Sleepy Hollow returns with one of its most complete episodes of its first season. “Vessel” takes all of the elements which make Sleepy Hollow a …

Sleepy Hollow, Season 1, Episode 10: “The Golem” Written by Alex Kurtzman, Mark Goffman, and Jose Molina Directed by J. Miller Tobin Airs Monday at 9pm ET on Fox Even though there aren’t that many, Sleepy Hollow cares about developing its character’s emotional lives. “The Golem” does an especially good job of this because the episode’s monster …

Just in time for Thanksgiving, Sleepy Hollow decides to indulge in the haunted house horror genre. However, “Sanctuary” fails to be scary in any way because of shoddy camera work from director Liz Friedlander and an overall lack of atmosphere.

After the events of “The Midnight Ride” where Ichabod (Tom Mison), Abbie (Nicole Beharie), and Captain Irving (Orlando Jones) capture and neutralize the Headless Horseman, it seems his threat is over for a while. This isn’t the case as the Horseman’s probing reveal Ichabod’s deepest fears and yet another dark secret from his past. “Necromancer” also explores the idea of free will vs. destiny using the undead cop Andy Brooks (John Cho) and Ichabod’s wife Katrina (Katia Winter) as case studies. Writers Mark Hoffman and Phillip Iscove use both Ichabod and the Horseman’s past to create conflict in this episode while also giving it real thematic resonance. There is also a nice B-plot involving Jenny Mills (Lyndie Greenwood) and Irving as they work together to prevent the Hessians from rescuing the Headless Horseman. Even though it isn’t as humorous as previous episodes, “Necromancer” has a tight plot with only one possible hole in it near the end as well as strong character and thematic development.

Sleepy Hollow’s biggest strength as a show is taking risks, and it takes some pretty big ones in this episode which change the outlook of the show from here on out. “The Midnight Ride” has a fast moving plot that weaves in elements from both the past and present to create a compelling clash between Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) and the Horseman of Death (Richard Cetrone). At times, the characters feel like ciphers in the workings of the story, but Heather Regnier injects plenty of humor into Ichabod’s dialogue and starts to make Sleepy Hollow policemen Frank Irving (Orlando Jones) and Luke Morales (Nicholas Gonzalez) more three dimensional presences on the show. This character growth and the chemistry between Ichabod and Abbie (Nicole Beharie) along with their shared struggles adds humanity to an episode that can sometimes resemble the television equivalent of an object retrieval quest.

Sleepy Hollow, Season 1, Episode 5: “John Doe″ Written by  Melissa Blake Directed by Ernest Dickerson Airs Mondays at 9:00 PM ET on Fox In another wacky episode of Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) and Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) meet a young boy, who runs through the woods and faints. He is wearing antiquated clothes, …

“The Lesser Key of Solomon” has the most compelling Sleepy Hollow plot since “Pilot”, and it also sheds light on the backstories of the protagonist Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) and Abbie Mills’ sister Jenny (Lyndie Greenwood). This episode shows Jenny escape from the psychiatric hospital, and police chief Frank Irving (Orlando Jones) gives Crane and Abbie (Nicole Beharie) a twelve hour head start to investigate why she has escaped. Along with this, the real reason for the Boston Tea Party is given, and tattooed men start impaling bartenders. It’s just another day in Sleepy Hollow where random murders are becoming the norm, and this episode is the strongest hour of the show since “Pilot”.