Ichabod Crane is resurrected and pulled two and a half centuries through time to unravel a mystery that dates all the way back to the founding fathers.
Creators: Phillip Iscove, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Len Wiseman
Stars: Tom Mison, Nicole Beharie, Katia Winter
Current Episode (aired Nov. 18, 2013) Necromancer
Ichabod, Abbie, Captain Irving and Jenny Mills join forces and face the Headless Horseman. While staring down this nemesis, Ichabod is shocked by game-changing information about the Horseman's true motive.
Sanctuary episode 9
When Ichabod and Abbie investigate a missing persons case, the search leads to a colonial-era house which holds secrets from Ichabod's past...and unleashes a long-dormant evil.
This week Deputy Andy gets to be a necromancer with ambivalent motives but connected to the chained horseman who we discover is more connected to Crane making the motives for Moloch perhaps clearer in the larger story arc. Last weeks historical banter continues with Crane's agency more engaged with the historical events we generally remember about the American Revolutionary Liberation Struggle.
Episode 9 aired last night and was not for those of you who hate going into basements or throw lots of chemicals into your toilet because you think the tree roots are starting to intrude. OTOH, it did remind me of a 1980s anti-Reagan protester dressed as a tree whose sign read "Chop Me Before I Kill Again". more in another Diary.
Episode 8 had more cross-Century banter made more funny last night by a joke about McDonalds although the "game changing" is more interesting and complicated by the connection between Crane and the Horseman, Death. The episodes do have good production values and the extras available from Fox dealing with a swordfight scene are indicatives of the excellent acting chops as well as decent editing. Deputy Andy turns into a Necromancer for the headless horseman whose head is the indestructible rolling signifier of this episode. Irving is finally convinced that the Horseman is real and Morales, the ex-boyfriend will probably meet a terrible end in a future episode with his best scene going mano a mano with Crane on who knows the brutality of military combat more. The Horseman gets away and we learn more of the complexity of the American Revolution as an intersection of the occult and liberation from the British with Crane as much more of an agent as can be imagined. Fortunately the program has been renewed for a second season, so perhaps the plot twists will not be quite as arcane for a program that is much better viewing than the rather unfortunate comi-con combination of Joss Whedon and Stan Lee in Marvel agents of Shield. It has remained light watching for me, as I am not quite as invested in the narrative darkness and the developing connection between Abbie and Ichabod as Witnesses as I am in the references to other programs and genres, although it needs new aerial establishing shots of Westchester County and the village of Sleepy Hollow to offset the more apparent North Carolina location shots.