Sleepy Hollow S01E04 – “The Lesser Key of Solomon”

October 8, 2013ByTars Tarkas

My precious!

Sleepy Hollow “The Lesser Key of Solomon”
Written by Damian Kindler
Directed by Paul Edwards

Marion, don’t look at it. Shut your eyes, Marion. Don’t look at it!

This was my favorite episode yet of Sleepy Hollow, it had a well-written reconnection of two family members that both loved each other but had very different goals and lives. There was also a conspiracy of evil Germans, historical WTFs, a mystery, police doing actual police work, crazy demonic stuff, and plenty of cute little scenes. If Sleepy Hollow keeps this quality up, it will be an amazing show.

Since last week, Sleepy Hollow has been renewed for a second season, which means there will be at least one more year of me staying up late at night on Mondays furiously typing notes as my family begs for attention and I scream “NO!” Yes, the title of the series is true, I will be sleepy and will be hollow from lack of interaction with loved ones. Kidding! Like most of my writing, it’s all done after everyone else is fast asleep thanks to the power of being an insomniac.

We’re totally doing this for Liberty and not because smashing stuff is fun!

Sleepy Hollow has taught us that the only Hessians we should ever trust are the Hessians with no Aggression as seen in the Bugs Bunny cartoons. There being a conspiracy cult of Hessians are great, because it allows Sleepy Hollow to have creepy German villains without making them cliched Nazis.

Beam me up, Scotty!

InTelevision Reviews

Sleepy Hollow S01E03 – “For the Triumph of Evil…”

October 1, 2013ByTars Tarkas

Why can’t the horse be headless too?

Sleepy Hollow “For the Triumph of Evil…”
Story by Phillip Iscove
Teleplay by Jose Molina
Directed by John F. Showalter

I hate it when I get dirt in my contacts…

“For the Triumph of Evil…” expands the universe of Sleepy Hollow while still giving a mostly contained story. Side characters and back stories are introduced and expanded, and a creepy nightmare villain haunts Abbie Mills. We get more of Abbie’s sister Jenny, who has been in and out of mental institutions thanks to the encounter both girls had as children. Abbie’s lies over the experience literally come back to haunt her.

Overall, this episode was sufficiently creepy, with a dream villain who did disturbing stuff while looking like he stepped out of a Guillermo del Toro film. Ichabod is starting to get some good lines while still getting his required culture shock of the episode. Did I mention people had their eyes turned into exploding sand??? Because that was some freakasaurus rex material right there! Don’t worry, Abbie and Ichabod teaming up with an American Indian used car salesman to go all Dream Warrior on the Sandman is like a low rent Inception.

Just when you think I’m going full Sarah Conner, I’m only in one scene!

The largest strengths is on Abbie’s regret over betraying her sister all those years ago, of covering up that she saw a blurry demon in the woods and letting Jenny be taken away by the men in white suits. Abbie lets slip that they were foster kids that finally had a good home, and it is not hard to realize that after all Abbie went through, she did not want to risk losing her new family, even if it meant losing her sister.

Now, is this a cool thing to do? Heck no, it’s downright terrible. At the very least she should have told her sister to deny deny deny. Or maybe said something like being groggy when they woke up so maybe they were seeing things and Jenny isn’t crazy. Though Jenny gets hauled away very quickly by creepy guys, almost like they were waiting for any excuse to throw a kid in an asylum. The repeated shots of Jenny pleading with her sister to agree with her statement was harrowing, and having that as a memory of a loved one pleading with you would be disturbing. It being on repeat thanks to a dream revenge monster is a nightmare I’m glad I don’t have to live with. Because I betrayed all my siblings while I was in a separate room. Ha ha, suckers! No nightmares for Tars!

From the writers who created those racist Transformers, huh?

InTelevision Reviews

Sleepy Hollow S01E02 – “Blood Moon”

September 24, 2013ByTars Tarkas

Sleepy Hollow “Blood Moon”
Written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Mark Goffman
Directed by Ken Olin

The worst charity car wash.

Sleepy Hollow returns with another episode that brings the WTF, while still having a few hokey and cheesy parts. The important thing is the level of good to bad is at least equal to the pilot, and arguably better.

We see Sheriff Corbin’s funeral, and find out that Sleepy Hollow has a radio station that plays Sinatra’s Witchcraft at opportune times. But beyond all that, this is the first time we see the snazzy opening credits, which is largely people standing in the dark woods while spooky things happen.

I don’t like this new gritty Pez reboot

The Headless Horseman barely appears, outside of a dream sequence in the beginning. He rides with the other three Horsemen of the Apocalypse, including a guy with a demonic helmet who is instantly the one rider I care about. Ichabod is dreaming they are after him, then is saved by his wife who gives him a warning about the army of evil people who will do evil stuff to pave the way for the really evil people.

Forget the Headless Horseman, I want to know about the Gremlin Darth Vader Horseman!

InTelevision Reviews

Sleepy Hollow S01E01 – “Pilot”

September 18, 2013ByTars Tarkas

If there is one show in the fall 2013 season I am excited for, it is Sleepy Hollow. Sorry, Agent Coulson. Sleepy Hollow hooked me because of the ridiculous image in the trailer of the Headless Horseman with a machine gun. It holds the promise that things will be crazy, and I love crazy shows. Sleepy Hollow follows the story of Ichabod Crane, who was a spy for George Washington that hunted down a demonic British soldier, lopped off his head, was badly injured, and then awoke 250 years later. And so did the now headless demonic soldier, who once again is riding around on a horse lopping off heads. The mystery of what the heck is going on is our hook, while Ichabod’s adjustments to modern day and teaming up with police Lt. Abbie Mills is the meat.

It’s me, Benedict Arnold! Oh, wait..

Sure, fish out of water, supernatural stuff, all has promise. But, this is from Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci’s production company, which means it could either be really good, or be really really really really bad, depending on how much writing they did. Thanks to an interview, it appears the part of the show I like the least is their brainchild. (And if Bob Orci wants to appear in the comments and hurl nasty language at me, he’s welcome to do so until his handlers yank him off the internet again!) But besides that, overall the premier episode – imaginatively entitled “Pilot” – was enough to keep me coming back. And I was looking for an excuse to follow a show for a season…

Let’s work together, two heads are better than none!

Overall, I liked it, but there were some things that were icky and some things that I hope are just pilot jitters. The whole Book of Revelations things is pretty boring and done to death. Here’s hoping the mythology goes beyond just quoting a Bible verse each week. The hint of George Washington as a demonic fighter and reuse of the eye of the pyramid imagery hints to maybe some sort of National Treasure conspiracy things happening. Maybe even a Founding Father or two will pop up in Sleepy Hollow to battle evil. And also to handle slavery much worse than Ichabod did. Here is hoping Sleepy Hollow becomes a mix of X-Files and police procedurals that isn’t afraid to be weird.

Best. Show. Ever.

InTelevision Reviews

Beavis and Butthead – Supersize Me and Bathroom Break

November 26, 2011ByTars Tarkas

Supersize Me
The boys discover Morgan Spurlock and his documentary Supersize Me, largely because he has a hot babe with him at a premiere. So they decide to eat nothing but Burger World food for 30 days. They gain more and more weight, while Mr. Van Driessen gets them a documentary crew following them, and various corporate CEOs run tricks to not get blamed for the epic obesity.

Riffs:
Teen Cribs – WTF? never heard of this show. Rich bratty kids show off their place, the boys confused and think it’s Teen Mom.
Jersey Shore – Snooki’s dating preferences lead to much mockery, and their own lists

Bathroom Break
Butthead discovers that he got paid to poop when he was in the restroom, so the boys spend all their time at work in the restroom, as the Burger World slowly devolves into chaos.

Riffs:
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – Kisses over Babylon – The discussion turns to Jesus, and the audience pefering to get shot than to listen to the song

InTelevision Reviews

Beavis and Butthead – Drones

November 25, 2011ByTars Tarkas

Drones

On a class field trip to a military base, Beavis and Butthead find the empty control room to drones operating in Afghanistan and on base. Although they cause problems, the story seems somewhat rambling like it wasn’t enough material to fill 20+ minutes and it just sort of ends. Mr. Van Driessen gets more and more disheartened as the military base commander talks of all the violent things the military does. This probably should have stayed a shorter episode. The most notable part is the confirmation that Daria moved away during one of the video riffings (after Beavis is correct from his statement that she killed herself!)

Riffs:
Deadmaus – Ghosts n Stuff – The discussion turns to grief counseling, along with a story that shows Beavis was drugged and raped
MGMT – It’s Working – Beavis’s mom tried to lose him in Ikea as a kid, but she got lost and kept bumping into him
Jersey Shore – The terms used on the show are confusing and causes discussion between the boys. Beavis cracks the code, but isn’t smart enough to remember what he said.
Benny Benassi – Satisfaction – sexy girls doing construction gets the full attention of the pair.

	The Actual Weirdest Giant Monster Movies Ever Made
	Superman (Telugu)
	The 113 Must See Flicks From the American Film Market 2013
	Sweet Prudence & the Erotic Adventure of Bigfoot
	March of Godzilla Island
	Let the Bullets Fly
	I Married a Monster From Outer Space
	“They Look Like They Make Sense, Don’t They?” – A Reassessment of Prometheus
	James Band 007