astolat

OK, I'm sold!

I was worried, but the tiny bits of effective supernatural horror have not been enough to turn me off, and the bits of ineffective supernatural horror are actually entertaining me enormously in a monty pythonesque way. There were those couple of moments where the headless horseman comes up out of the water and lurches about in this way that seriously, I expected Graham Chapman's voice to start going, "Wait a minute, where's my head gone?" and also the bit where John Cho's corpse lurches off the slab in the morgue with his head FLIPPED BACKWARDS and I think it was supposed to be horrific, and they did have the freaky demon-thing that does get to me, but in that scene I was literally whimpering with laughter. Which, I realize that possibly sounds critical but in my case is not, since too much effective horror means I have to bail. :P

The real sell for me is Abbie, who is just flat-out fantastic. I'm totally sold on her being a real person from virtually her first thirty seconds on screen, despite the total wackiness of the scenario. Every so often Nicole Beharie manages to hit one of these moments of just completely making me believe in that character that makes the whole universe seem more real. The shot of her face after Crane says he's sorry about her sheriff dying, and her laugh in the storage room towards the end of episode 3. She even managed to sell that scene fighting the Sandman which, I have to say, I would not have given 1 cent for that dialogue, and she got me to buy it anyway.

I do hope they quit Marty Stuing Ichabod, not because I'm tired of it as a trope, but because it's making him a lot harder to care about him. Like, I already believe Abbie can be hurt and HAS been hurt -- I care about her and worry about her. So far he's almost entirely just a Revolutionary-Era action figure, and also I care absolutely nothing about rescuing his wife or his two-century relocation, because HE doesn't seem to care about them very much.

The moments when I like him best is when he's least competent and a fish-out-of-water, which IMO they should start playing for serious feelings instead of tiny moments of comic relief. I really want (and hope) to see him get hit by the realization that he is NEVER GOING HOME. That this is now his life, his world, forever, and that it's not just random props that have changed but the entire culture. I don't understand why they have bothered to make him a Revolutionary War era dude instead of a modern-day Oxford history teacher if they aren't going to use this.

I want to see the speed of the world overwhelming him. The idea you can get across town in half an hour instead of half a day, and that "town" means thousands of people! That you can instantly call someone on the phone and talk to them instead of having to send them a letter or find them. And this is not someone who lived in an era where every three years there's a new gadget to learn how to use. He should freak out and need to hide in the corner of a barn somewhere for a while and have Abbie talk him down!

Also yes, cough, I'm totally on board for Abbie/Ichabod! I should add that the other times I like him best and what I DO believe he cares about is basically: ABBIE ABBIE ABBIIIIE YOU ARE AWESOME PLZ BE MY EVIL-HUNTING BFF ♥____♥ <--- representation of Ichabod's inner monologue at various times.

OK, I have more thoughts, but for the moment, I am going to post this and then work on my Yuletide letter! :D