Sleepy Hollow: Season 2 (DVD) – Series Review

With the rather hectic finale of the first season it was a long wait until the second season of Sleepy Hollow hit the stores. The main duo found itself in a serious situation where Abigail ended up in purgatory, whilst Ichabod was buried alive, to suffocate and perish, while the world is slowly getting consumed by evil, starting with the city of Sleepy Hollow. Of course, there would not be a second season if both of the lead characters would be exterminated just like that. This series of biblical proportions is back and it tries to keep its head on.

Now that the cat is out of the bag and everyone knows that Henry Parrish (John Noble) is actually Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) and Katarina Crane’s (Katia Winter) son Jeremy Crane, things got quite rowdy at the end of the first season. Nonetheless, the struggle stills rages on, as Ichabod manages to escape from his casket and Abigail gets dragged out of purgatory to continue their hunt for Henry, as well as Moloch (Derek Mears) and the headless horseman, Abraham Van Brunt (Neil Jackson). Even though the main focus lies on Moloch, Henry still throws whatever demon he can at the pair of ‘witnesses’ who are supposed to save the world from the impending apocalypse.

Although it’s rather hard to explain the events of season two, some things are quite peculiar from the start. Henry suddenly poses himself as a lawyer, to help Frank Irving (Orlando Jones), who was locked up in a mental institution for things he did not do, but of course no one believes him, as he claims supernatural beings ruined his life. Even though Ichabod and Abigail know it’s true, it’s not really a good idea to show the general public what is going on. Nonetheless, the party, including Jenny Mills (Lyndie Greenwood), do their best to help their friend. When it’s clear that Henry actually took possession of Frank’s soul, things get rather complicated.

At the same time, Katarina remains with the headless horseman, to serve as eyes and ears for Ichabod, as the horseman’s spirit still possesses the same feelings for her as it did before he came one of the biggest abominations the world had ever seen. His role as one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse seems slightly less important, when he’s with her.

The composition of the series still remains the same, where one topic stands in the centre, whilst many separate cases are being solved. This means the pace also remains the same as in the first season, where the buildup of the main topic progresses at a slow pace, while the loose cases only last one episode at a time. Overall this creates a steady pace, where things never get dull.

It’s clear that this season revolves around the inevitable resurfacing of Moloch into the human world, breaking free from his own domain in purgatory. Nonetheless, there are still many cases both witnesses have to tackle during their plan to get rid of Moloch’s iron grip on Henry, who has been causing more trouble than one could possibly handle. Well, this is only partially true, as the Moloch arc seems to come to a ‘closure’ in the second season a tad sooner than one would expect, introducing a new arc right in the middle. Whilst the events after the first arc (we’ll let you find out for yourself how that one turned out) are still connected to what happened before, it feels like the second season should have remained true to the 12 episode formula. That being said, even though the series feels a bit less exciting after the first arc, this season actually builds up to a grand finale, which leaves a slight impression.

Special effects are sometimes a bit on the cheap side, but given the topic it has a sort of charm, to a certain degree. It’s a given that most things are rather qualitative, especially in the make-up department, but some animations are atrocious, like the spawning of certain creatures, as well as the motions of a winged being that can be seen later in this season. Nonetheless, these are only a few small remarks on the otherwise blank slate the series has. Overall the mood is set properly, with a grim undertone, but the necessary humor to lighten up the mood and open up to the characters.

Acting performances are still quite good, even though some less important characters feel a tad less qualitative than the main cast. The acting feels convincing and Tom Mison does an excellent job in portraying a man who is truly unfamiliar with our modern customs and it’s amusing to see him learn, as well as present the viewer with many funny remarks on our way of life. John Noble is great in playing a character that actually deserves to be hated, which is strangely enough quite good.

This DVD release does not have hours worth of extras, but a few fun short documentaries that revolve around the make-up and creation of the monsters and one fun short feature about actual history being used, where Ichabod could play a part in, without having to deform the actual facts that much. Other than that, the typical things are present such as commentaries, a few bloopers and deleted scenes.

Conclusion

Sleepy Hollow: Season 2 follows the same concept as the first series and it actually works well, until the pace gets disturbed in the middle of the season, which is again fixed thanks to the great finale at the end. It’s easy to say that if you love legendary creatures, history and great characters in a detective, as well as an unlikely hero setting, this one will not disappoint. If you loved season one, you’ll still be captivated by this one.

ThaMofo

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