- Directed by Ken Olin
- Written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman & Mark Goffman
Catch ‘Sleepy Hollow’ on Fox, Mondays @ 9/8c. Catch up at Fox.com
BEWARE OF SPOILERS
We’re a little late to the party with reviewing episode two after a busy weekend of keeping up with the ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ pilot and taking a #GYCO trip to see Paramore.
I was pretty stoked for this series after watching the pilot last week because it blew up the mystery and the legend of the show to epic proportions. I also keep a close eye on the ratings so it was great to see that the audience for ‘Blood Moon’ was only marginally lower than that of the first episode.
‘Blood Moon’ is a great follow-up to the pilot which pushes the envelope for the mythology of the series a little further down the greater mythology story whilst setting up a great monster-of-the-week format.
This episode goes quite far to proving that the writers can perfectly balance the mythology of the series with the week-by-week cases that will help draw in the more casual viewers. I mentioned this in my pilot review but there’s clearly going to be a complicated mystery that unravels as the season progresses but it has the potential to become heavily convoluted but there’s a detectable level of the writers being conscious of the traps they could fall in to and they navigate them well in ‘Blood Moon’.
This week Crane and Mills investigate the resurrection of Serilda of Abadon, the high priestess of a dark witch coven who requires the ashes of the descendants of her killers in order to bring about the return of her flesh body.
It feels like a story from early seasons of ‘Supernatural’ which in my book is a big plus. The writers have built a great feeling of immediacy to the series that already makes it feel like we’re hurtling towards a season finale. Right now it works and it works well but I hope that if this show reaches the kind of longevity it deserves then I hope the pacing can learn to slow down without it dulling the excitement.
It’s a pretty interesting story that leads the duo to some cool new locations we didn’t get to see in the pilot including the ‘Sleepy Hollow’ equivalent of Walter’s lab. Much like in ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and other shows of its ilk the demonic nature of the characters and the paranormal world they inhabit opens the show up to feature some crazy locations and I hope the set designers keep pushing the envelope as the arc of the show intensifies.
The special effects on the show continue to impress. On a TV budget this show is up there with some of Hollywoods finest and that’s great to see. Much like how I mentioned yesterday that ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ has a great filmic element and international reach that most shows should be allowed to develop ‘Hollow’ has a creepy feel of a great fantasy movie and that’s a testament to the production team for taking the time and effort to develop a great atmosphere to the visuals.
In my review of the pilot I discussed how the music stood out to me as a brilliant aspect of the show however this week I felt the music took more of a back seat. It could be that I was so wrapped up in the story that I didn’t take time to notice and I will go back to rewatch and pick up on the musical cues but I still look forward to the season soundtrack with great anticipation.
If the show can continue to develop as it has over the course of the last two episodes then it should outlive the season and return again in the fall.
7/10
