Sleepy Hollow (TV series)

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Name: Sleepy Hollow
Abbreviation(s): SH
Creator: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Phillip Iscove, Len Wiseman
Date(s): September 16, 2013 – May 9th 2017[1]
Medium: television show
Country of Origin: United States
External Links: Official Site Wiki page
Sleepy Hollow wallpaper by Super-Fan-Wallpapers (2013)
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Spoiler Warning: This article or section may contain spoilers. If this bothers you, proceed with caution.


Sleepy Hollow is a Fox American fantasy television series that premiered on September 16, 2013. Starring Tom Mison as Ichabod Crane and Nicole Beharie as Lt. Abbie Mills it is a retelling/reimagining of the Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow".

Canon

During a mission for George Washington in 1781, Ichabod Crane "dies" during the battle against a mysterious horsemen. After the horseman slices open his chest with axe, Ichabod Crane beheads him. As they both fall, their blood intermingles. Crane is reawakened in 2013 Sleepy Hollow, New York, as does the Headless Horseman, who begins his nightly killing spree.

Crane is found wandering the streets and is arrested; considered crazy by everyone except for Lt. Abbie Mills, who's currently investigating the horseman. She witnessed the entity beheading the Sheriff - her mentor. She later learns that the sheriff was hiding old case files that dealt with "unsolved" and "mysterious" case files, one of them being her own.

When Abbie Mills was a young girl she and her sister sneaked into the woods to drink beers. They disappeared for two days during which they blacked out. The only things both sisters remembered were four white trees and what appeared to be a demon, Moloch.

Sheriff Corbin believed there were two groups of witches still alive and working in Sleepy Hollow; one for good, the other evil. Ichabod learns that 250 years have passed since his "apparent death", so he has to adjust to the many changes in the 21st century. During a vision from his wife, he learns that Katrina is a witch trapped in Purgatory with the demon, Moloch.

Ichabod learns that the Headless Horseman is Death, one of the four horsemen of Apocalypse. If the horseman is not stopped, dark forces will rise to bring about the End of Days. At his behest, Abbie Mills partners with man out of time, Ichabod Crane in the battle stop the Headless Horseman from awakening the other three horsemen.

Main Characters

  • Ichabod Crane - is a soldier from 1781 who was killed in battle is enchanted by his wife to awaken when Death did in 2013. He believes that he and Abbie were chosen as the Witnesses mentioned in the biblical book of Revelation the are destined to defeat the Headless Horseman and ultimately endure seven years of tribulations together in the journey to the End of Days.
  • Lieutenant Abbie Mills - is a young police lieutenant who had been accepted to an FBI feeder program in Quantico before her partner and mentor was killed by the Headless Horseman. Though initially skeptical, she feels a connection with Ichabod and comes to believe him. She decides to stay in town to fight these demonic forces.
  • Jennifer Mills - is Abbie's sister. She and Abbie see a demon in the woods when they were adolescents. Unlike her sister, she did not deny it, and served time in and out of various mental institutions. When she wasn't locked away, she traveled the world in her own personal pursuit for answers and to assist Sheriff Corbin with his case files. She has weapons and tactical training and has vast knowledge of the occult. It is later revealed that, at age 19, Jenny was possessed by a demon called Ancitif, who corrupted her mind with the desire to kill Abbie. After being exorcised by Sheriff Corbin, Jenny still had what she referred to as "evil thoughts". To prevent herself from acting on these thoughts against her sister, she purposely committed petty crimes and was imprisoned.
  • Captain Frank Irving - is a police captain in the modern-day town of Sleepy Hollow. He is currently estranged from his wife Cynthia Irving and daughter Macey Irving due to too much time spent in police work and away from his family. It is implied that his own guilt for not being able to protect his daughter from a life-altering accident is the reason for this. See Orlando Jones.
  • Katrina Crane - is Ichabod's wife and a witch in the coven called the Sisters of the Radiant Heart. An enigmatic woman, her loyalties were always questionable. She was held captive by Moloch in Purgatory for 250 years. During the later of part of that captivity, she visited Ichabod and Abbie in dreams to give them clues in their missions. After her escape, she was captured by her ex-fiancé Abraham Van Brunt, who still harbored feelings for her. She was referred to by Moloch as one of the Hellfire Shards, though the meaning in that remains unclear. Now deceased, she was killed by her husband after she attempted to murder Abbie.

Recurring Characters

  • Sheriff August Corbin - wasn't blind to the supernatural happenings in Sleepy Hollow. He convinces his protege Abbie to join the police force prior to the beginning of the show. This act sets her on a path away from her previous self-destruction. It is implied that both he and Reverend Knapp were looking after Abbie Mills because they knew of her Witness status. He is killed by the Horseman of Death in the pilot of the show. He is survived by a son, Joe Corbin, who is currently in training to become an FBI agent thanks to a helpful push from Abbie Mills.
  • Headless Horseman - he is Death (one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse), whose head was chopped off by Ichabod and laid to rest for 250 years before being awoken. Before becoming Death, he was once Katrina's fiancé, Abraham Van Brunt, who was devastated when Katrina broke their engagement. Upon discovering that Katrina had left him to be with Ichabod, his best friend, he became angry and attempted to kill him, only to die by the hand of invading Hessian soldiers whom later cursed him so as to become the first horseman.
  • Luke Morales- he is a police officer in Sleepy Hollow and former lover of Abbie Mills. He still has feelings for Abbie Mills and is wary of how closely she and Ichabod are. He has been openly suspicious of the British man in strange clothes. He was possessed by the demon Ancitif, who then murdered his partner. His current status is unknown.
  • Andy Brooks - he was an officer in Sleepy Hollow who was a friend of Abbie. However, he makes a deal with the demon Moloch, and he fails to complete his mission and is killed because of this failure by Moloch himself. He is later reanimated to help Moloch and to be a necromancer for the Horseman of Death. He is in love with Abbie, although his feelings are not reciprocated. He was last seen (appearing as a normal human) in Purgatory, where he assisted Abbie in contacting Ichabod in Moloch's lair, leading to her eventual escape.
  • Caroline - she was a Revolutionary War reenactor and enthusiast, and Ichabod Crane's friend. She was a skilled seamstress, knowledgeable about the Revolutionary War period who was known to be blunt, but not unkindly so. She was drowned by The Weeping Lady. Before she was killed she gave Ichabod a gift of several pieces of hand-sewn period clothing and an embroidered pillow.
  • Cynthia Irving - she is Frank Irving's wife (separated) and the mother of his daughter Macey. She is a lawyer. She is a pragmatic woman who puts her daughter first at all times.
  • Macey Irving - she is the daughter of Frank and Cynthia Irving. Macey is a gifted teen who is taking advanced studies. She is sarcastic and sweet. She and her father are close. He calls her his "little bean". A drunk driver hit her while she was walking a few years ago and now Macey is a paraplegic who uses a wheelchair. She misses walking, but she has proven to be a strong and resilient teen. She has noticed the connection between her father and Jennifer Mills. She was possessed by the demon Ancitif, in season one episode nine, titled The Vessel. She presumed to have disappeared with Irving, after the events of season two.
  • Henry Parish - later revealed to be Jeremy Crane, Ichabod's son, in addition to the Horseman of War (the second of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse), Henry is a Sin Eater. That is, he has the ability to see the sins of others and to physically and spiritually consume those sins to grant a person forgiveness. This ability became useful in breaking Ichabod's blood tie to the Headless Horseman. He is resentful of his parents for abandoning him and attempts multiple times to cause them pain and suffering. He is now deceased.
  • Nick Hawley - is a black market antiques dealer and drifter. He is Jennifer Mills' former lover, who is characterized by his fickle romantic interests and gray morality. He is last seen near the end of the second season in the episode Kali Yuga, in pursuit of a cursed former associate.
  • Pandora -

Fandom

Sleepy Hollow premiered in September 2013 to the highest ratings for a drama series on FOX in seven years, since 24. The adept balancing act of charm and humor, the show's wild premise, and uniquely caring handling of black women and characters of color quickly gained a loyal following.

The fandom is prominent on Tumblr, AO3, and LJ. There are currently over 1500 Sleepy Hollow fics on FFN and AO3.

The most popular pairing at present is Ichabod Crane/Abbie Mills with around 500 works dedicated to the ship at AO3.[2]

Abbie Mills is the only black female character in all of genre fandom to have the majority of fic written about her, in her respective fandom. In just about every other fandom, it's a white guy or a pair of white guys. Other popular characters in fanon are Ichabod Crane, Abraham Von Brunt, Jennifer Mills, Frank Irving, Luke Morales, Big Ash, and Andy Brooks among others.

Major metaed issues that have arisen include controversy surrounding a vocal minority in fandom's reluctance to adopt an interracial pairing involving a black woman and her lead status, due to racism.

There are also questions and meta about the misogynistic characterization of Katrina who was featured prominently in the second season as a central character with very little agency, very few actions completed without problems and fumbles by her, a stagnant and circular storyline, and quite a lot of damseling.

Sidelining and erasure of popular characters of color from the first season is also a significant issue, that affected Andy Brooks, Luke Morales, Frank Irving, Cythnia Irving, Macey Irving, and Jennifer Mills. Lyndie Greenwood was elevated to the main cast for the second season, but has less face-time than new recurrent character, Nick Hawley, a white male with basically the same skill-set.

Abbie Mills was seen by a good portion of fandom as relegated to second fiddle to the main plot arc of the season involving Crane's family.

This spawned the successful [3] twitter campaign. Started by tumblr user allerasphinx, the hashtag trend caught on and became an avenue through which fans were able to express their dissatisfaction with the sidelining of Abbie Mills and the general direction of season two.

The success of it influenced similar campaigns for Michonne on The Walking Dead and Iris West on The Flash, both using the "deservesbetter" hashtag.

At the end of Season 3, Abbie was killed off in a particularly denigrating way. Much of fandom erupted with anger.[4][5]

Terminology

  • Sleepyheads - the name for participants in the Sleepy Hollow fandom.
  • Ichabbie - is the pairing name for Abbie/Ichabod.
  • Lukabbie - is the pairing name for Nick Morales/Abbie Mills.
  • Craving - is the pairing name for Ichabod/Irving.
  • Jirving and Mr. and Mrs. BAMF - are the pairing names for Jennifer Mills/Frank Irving
  • Ichatrina - is the pairing name for Ichabod/Katrina.
  • Katless - the pairing name for Katrina and Headless
  • Pandabbie - is the pairing name for Pandora and Abbie
  • Joenny - is the name for the pairing between Jenny Mills and Joe Corbin (which became canon a mere seven episodes after introduction)

Example Fanworks

Fanfiction

Fanart

Vids

Meta

Communities

Livejournal

Tumblr

Meta/Further Reading

Fannish Resources

References

  1. ^ http://deadline.com/2017/05/sleepy-hollow-canceled-fox-four-seaons-1202087753/
  2. ^ Ichabod/Abbie tag at AO3
  3. ^ Abbie Mills, Nicole Beharie Fans Come Through: A Master Post of #AbbieMillsDeservesBetter on TheVisibilityProject.com 2014-11-08 accessed 2016-04-26
  4. ^ Fans push to #CancelSleepyHollow after shocking character death on DailyDot.com by Gavia Baker-Whitelaw, 2016-04-10, accessed 2016-04-26
  5. ^ What TV Networks Still Don't Understand About Fandom on DenOfGeek.US by Kayti Burt, 2016-04-14, accessed 2016-04-26
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