Sleepy Hollow Season 2, Episode 7
“Deliverance”
There are times when I both love and hate fandom, especially in the age of social media. I love that social media has allowed fans to connect and form a community where you can INSTANTLY react to things or even watch “together” via Twitter (what I would have given for that in the days of Alias, where I didn’t know a single other soul who watched it). I love that the sense of community also gives the fans a sense of ownership in a show because we are SO invested in our shows. What I HATE is when that sense of ownership then transitions into fan entitlement when the story is not going in the direction they want or think it should go…especially when it goes from a healthy dialogue about a show’s issues to openly demanding things from individuals working on a show.
This weekend, while Sage and I were basking in the glow of Paul McGann at Long Island Who, this very thing happened in the Sleepy Hollow fandom. Because of my ridiculous schedule and work overload I had yet to get to this post until Sunday Night and I now feel like I can’t talk about “Deliverance” without addressing what went down over the weekend. Before yesterday, I had been pretty blissfully unaware of the growing unrest in the fandom (with “Deliverance” being the final straw apparently), mainly because I only go in the Tumblr tag to search for gifs for these very recaps. I was incredibly dismayed by what I saw on both Tumblr and Twitter last night, not because fans don’t have the right to express their opinions, but because the opinions then turned into personal attacks on writer Raven Metzner. And before you yell at me saying that he WASN’T being attacked…I’ll touch on his reaction later.
Has this season of Sleepy Hollow been perfect so far? Absolutely not. Frank Irving needs to be sprung from the Looney Bin POST HASTE as his presence on the show is sorely missed, being the Walter Skinner to Ichabod and Abbie’s Mulder and Scully. While we got a lot of Jenny in the first three episodes, there has been a Jenny shaped hole in the subsequent three. I HATE that the writers are seemingly building a love triangle between Abbie, Jenny and Hawley because I feel like it’s a cheap plot device and I want the show to be better than that. Am I frustrated that it feels like Matt Barr’s Hawley seems to get screen time at the expense of Lyndie Greenwood and Orlando Jones? Absolutely. Am I annoyed that we’re supposed to believe that Katrina is an all-powerful witch yet she continues to not unleash her powers and is constant need of saving? Of course. Am I frustrated with Ichabod and Katrina’s insistence that Henry can be saved despite all evidence to the contrary? Sure. The opinions expressed in the #AbbieMillsDeservesBetter tag are not entirely wrong. Where the fandom IS going wrong is thinking that they are OWED things, especially when we don’t have the full picture of the arc for the season. We are NOT the ones making the show, and honestly the creators are not required to bow to fan demands. Bowing to fan demands only ends in disaster, as we’ve seen on shows like Glee, where Ryan Murphy clearly based his stories and characterizations on the Ship or Fan Favorite of the Month on the internets.
While Katrina may not be a fan favorite, fans cannot forget the fact that Katia Winter has been the 4th billed member of the cast, after Team Witness and Irving, ever since the pilot. She is a principle cast member, not a recurring character. Katrina deserves to have her story told too and telling her story does NOT mean the writers are pushing an agenda or favoring one cast member over another. It just so happens we are in the thick of a Katrina heavy arc right now (now whether or not that arc is GOOD is a different story). Stories rotate and different characters emerge and come to the forefront as far as “importance” over the course of a season. There is absolutely no way to give every cast member equal prominence in an episode and make them all fully realized characters.
Personally, I don’t feel that Abbie is being marginalized as a character. She is still a strong presence in every episode. She’s the voice of reason AND the voice for the audience in regards to the Crane family drama right now. I DO think that things between her and Ichabod are going to come to a head regarding to his blind hope in Henry. I WANT to believe it will and I am willing to be patient in that regard. I don’t think Sleepy Hollow does ANYTHING unintentionally and I believe that all of these little conflicts between Abbie and Ichabod could even be part of Moloch’s plan to divide the witnesses. Abbie and Ichabod’s faith in EACH OTHER has been the one unshakable thing of the series, and personally, I think it would be an interesting dynamic to discover. Abbie is NOT blindly going along with Ichabod’s desire to save Henry…she’s made that much VERY clear (also let’s all applaud Nicole Beharie’s FACE in every scene where they talk about saving Henry. It’s glorious). If she were being marginalized, she would just be going along with whatever Ichabod says without offering an opinion or fighting back. But she DOES fight back and that’s important. What is also important to note is that Abbie carries around a LOT of guilt as far as abandoning someone SHE loves and not believing in them. Abbie gave up on her sister when she should not have, and I think that’s WHY she’s giving Ichabod the tiniest bit of leeway to at least explore it. Her agency has not been removed…in fact, I feel Abbie’s agency has gotten STRONGER though this whole story.
As Sage just said to me (since we’re essentially writing this piece together over gChat), we may not like Abbie having to save Katrina all the time. The thing is that it’s not about Katrina really…Abbie has her own reasons for reacting to this situation in the way that she is. Both Raven Metzner and Len Wiseman stressed at this year’s New York Comic Con that the theme of just how far parents will go to protect their children is THE theme of the season. Abbie’s mother died to protect her daughters, and we’re seeing that paralleled in the Crane family right now…and I think Abbie’s motives are driven by the fact of her seeing her childhood played out right before her eyes. I firmly believe that we are going to see the fruits of this struggle in episode nine, which is called “Mama” (an episode which I get to recap, YAY!).
While we were at Long Island Who, the lovely Deb Stanish said that she refuses to judge an entire Steven Moffat season of Doctor Who until she has seen the big picture from the premiere to the finale. I feel the same way about Sleepy Hollow. Season Two is 18 episodes, meaning we’re just over a third of the way through the season. Season One was thirteen episodes, meaning that at this point last year we were more than halfway done. That’s a big difference, and I do think the extended order of episodes HAS messed with the pacing a bit. Last year at NYCC, when I questioned Len Wiseman about how the storytelling was structured by a 13 episode season, he said that it forced them to take a “kitchen sink” approach, meaning that there were no filler episodes. While I do welcome the extra episodes of Tom Mison’s face, I DO wonder if the extra episodes have thrown a wrench into things. While it is possibly one of my favorite episodes of the season, the Pied Piper episode was DEFINITE filler as far as the impending apocalypse and I don’t think the episode would have existed at all within the confines of season one. Second seasons are also NOTORIOUSLY “growing pains” seasons. They can be seasons where attempts to expand the universe fail as they stray from the characters we fell in love with in the first season (See Also: Lost introducing the Tailies in Season Two). They can be seasons where the whole storyline can be smashed to pieces thanks to being over ambitious (See also: the Post Super Bowl Season of Alias. Also John Noble’s very own Fringe). And they can be seasons where the wheels come off entirely and the show never recovers, proving that really it should have been a one season event (Heroes). Lost recovered eventually, and I can only hope that Sleepy Hollow does too.
So what should the fans do now? After my initial viewing of “Deliverance” a week ago, I chose “We must have faith” for the title of my recap and I think the choice could not be more apt given the feelings of the fandom. We HAVE to have faith in the bigger picture for the season and we HAVE to remember our place in the whole ecosystem of the Sleepy Hollow world. Yes, the fans are important, but the powers that be have no responsibility to tell the story that the most vocal parts of the fandom want to hear. I think it’s important to continue to express opinions, but in a respectful manner. That means engaging both fellow fans AND creators of the show thoughtfully. I must admit I pitied Raven last night as I scrolled though his timeline. Did he handle the fan engagement well? No, of course he didn’t. He’s a human being too and (sorry to speak for you, Raven, if you happen to read this. Also, please call Community‘s Andy Bobrow and ask him about the time he called Jeff and Annie fans Pathological. It’s a fun story.) he was feeling attacked. Naturally, he lashed out. It’s a perfectly normal reaction, especially when his work was being called into question (just ask Sage how *I* react when I feel that way) and he was called everything from a hack to someone who wrote from the perspective of the “white male gaze”. The conversation was productive for NO ONE. Not the fans and not for Raven and it only led to hurt feelings and resentment, which is no fun for anyone. And after all, isn’t fandom SUPPOSED to be fun?
Our regularly structured recaps will return next week. Thanks for letting me get this off my chest, and I look forward to discussion in the comments. Keep it respectful, as I know everyone’s feels are running high. We want our site to be a safe space for ALL perspectives!
(Also the outrage in regards to what they did to Nicole’s flawless face on the cover of the Sleepy Hollow magazine. TOTALLY on board with that. #NicoleBehariesFACEdeservesbetter)
This.
HA! Love and snuggles. Hope I represented well. -K
You really really did. You gave it some much needed perspective and it’s greatly appreciated.
Extremely well said. Thank you
First, nice post.
Well, all of this comes with fandom territory. Not everything is always positive. I’m pretty sure every fandom has pains. The age of twitter has only expanded on fans negative feedback. Everyone has a right to express their feelings. I’m not sure about the entitlement point. I think fans always feel personally invested, some just as much as the people who work on the show do. Opinions can seem like entitlement I suppose. Maybe I just chose not to read certain tweets. Unfortunately, valid concerns tend to get mixed up in an angry response.
I think some fans were angered by Metzner’s reaction. In contrast, I think Orlando Jones did a wonderful job in addressing fans concerns. He didn’t retweet an immature response that likened fans concerns to a bunch of “haters”. Maybe not something completely wise on Metzner’s part, but writers are always personally invested and can’t help but feel personally attacked when their work isn’t viewed positively.
I think Abbie has always been portrayed in a very positive and strong light, totally opposite from Katrina. So that certain tag on twitter – I personally chose to stay away from and didn’t get involved in.
Of course every character has a right for their story to be told, but with that comes fans reactions. Unfortunately for Katrina, its only getting worse. I don’t understand it, but I watch it. And I post my feelings about it. Same goes for Hawley.
My concern has been mostly for the writing. It’s just a shock that it would stray so far from the first season. I can only compare this to how I felt about Homeland. A wonderful first season and then a complete head scratcher the second season. I watched, and then I chose not to watch. I can also choose to watch again if I please.
Am I going to continue to post my opinion – ABSOLUTELY. I feel that I wouldn’t be a true fan if I were just sucking up all the time.
Of course people should always be respectful to the writers and not tweet @ them non stop. Voice your opinion and move on. Tumblr is better for expressing all feelings. It allows for more space to voice your thoughts as twitter only allows for a certain number of characters which can only attribute to the mostly negative.
Thanks for posting this. It’s always wonderful to hear concerns and opinions from the fandom. Both negative and positive.
I love this comment. Will expand more when not on my phone. -K
Flo, what I mean about entitlement is fans thinking that the powers that be OWE them answers to their concerns or their complaints about a story. That they demand answers or hand holding and then get angry when they DON’T get it. I think this is especially heightened by Twitter because creators are so much more accessible to us. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but you are NOT entitled to an answer, you know? I think in this era of immediate gratification we can forget that.
Obviously, we’re all invested. We wouldn’t be talking about this if we weren’t! Investment is a good thing as long as it stays healthy! And I’m not at all making excuses for Metzner and his reaction…but I DO empathize with it. It’s most certainly how I would have reacted and how I HAVE reacted sometimes when I feel like my writing was attacked. (PS he didn’t even WRITE Deliverance, how did this happen??)
Thank you for your lovely comment and your constant support. 🙂
Get out of my head. Seriously, you summed up my feelings about this whole thing perfectly. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Onward.
So glad to have read this. Although last week’s episode ALSO had me screaming at my TV, I also know that is the price I pay for being emotionally invested in the wonder that is Sleepy Hollow. I can’t help but feel that this is all leading to something bigger … that in order to grow, our characters HAVE to be torn down first. Ichabod NEEDS to come to the realization that his relationship with Abbie is already much healthier than his marriage could ever be. But before he gets there, Ichabod has to let go of his naivety and see the truth of what’s in front of him.
Hi!
I half-disagree and half agree with this post but I just mainly wanted to point out that while I completely understand the stance to be patient to get to the good stuff…that there’s only so many hours a fan/person/critic will slog through before they give up. I’m not going to sit through (what is in my opinion) hours of banality in the hopes of EVENTUALLY getting to the good stuff. It’s just not enjoyable for me. Combined with the bringing in of a character who in my opinion doesn’t really do anything that Jenny COULDN’T have done (plus the grossness of a love triangle with her sister…I don’ know about you guys but if a man who my sister slept with attempted to try to talk to me after I’d feel really gross and shut it down. Hopefully Abbie does!) and the really problematic way they’ve treated both Abbie & Katrina this season it’s just…not fun.
I’m at the point where my mantra is “If I can get through Season 7 of Doctor Who I can deal with this sludge in SH” but I’m just disappointed and bitter about it. I won’t comment on my feelings about the Metzer incident because I haven’t really sifted through my rage about it. Thanks! 🙂
But was Series 8 of Doctor Who not worth it? 😉
In all seriousness, I totally know what you mean. In the rough days of Grey’s Anatomy, I used to say “Well, I got through the Dead Denny Sex…”. I think what it comes down to at what point do you say “This show is not for me anymore and that’s okay.” I broke up with both Desperate Housewives and House in their FINAL seasons after watching the whole run, because I was that disinterested. Why watch something that I got zero enjoyment out of, you know?
I would be curious to know more about how you feel Abbie is being mishandled. (Katrina is a more obvious one, no questions needed.) Is it the Hawley thing? The not seeing her outside of her job? (Which I compare THAT to The X-Files, which gave us very little of Mulder and Scully outside of work for a long time, because the story dictated it. No one wanted to see Scully on a date. They wanted to see her solving cases with Mulder.) I’d love to hear more thoughts, because other than the Hawley thing, I’m not really seeing the problem.
Thanks for commenting.
It’s easy to counsel faith and patience when you view a situation from a lofty “colorblind” perspective. But as a fan of characters of color (a distressingly small group that gets even smaller when it comes to genre entertainment), I don’t have the luxury of dismissing a critical part of their identity. We have seen our faves passed over, marginalized, killed off. We’ve seen them loveless and alone. We’ve seen them powerful but only using their gifts for the benefit of others. We’ve seen their stories defined as tragic over and over and over. And the result is we’ve learned to speak up when it doesn’t feel right. We’ve also learned that when we speak up, we will be scolded, dismissed and ignored. We’ve learned that no matter how many patiently and eloquently express our concerns, those many messages will be drowned out by a few angry ones.
I guess,it’s no surprise that you felt the need to comfort the powerful, succor the status quo, and cape for the successful Hollywood writer who had to spend whole minutes of his day swallowing the sting of snarky tweets. While ignoring the people who have to live with the toxic fallout of racialized tropes. Not just watch them ruin the little bit of entertainment that includes people that look like themselves, but actually live, work and love in a world influenced by children’s cartoons, movies even games with ideas about how white is the default and black, asian, latina, native american, etc are just flavoring to an essential human experience.
#AbbieMillsDeservesBetter is about how the media treats characters of color and what that means to the fans who love these characters. The Metzner exchange was minor and an unfortunate distraction from a far more important topic. I’m used to people like Metzner finding or manufacturing distractions that enable them to ignore what they don’t want to hear. But it’s still upsetting when people help him do it.
Thank you for your comment.
Well, as a fan OF color, I understand where you are coming from. However, i don’t believe that was the writers ultimate intention. Its an assumption. The writers on this show are being attacked for something which I honestly believe they did not intentionally do. They can’t bare the burden of an entire, unfair practice in Hollywood. That’s ridiculous.
How the stories are being told is no doubt adding to your view of the minority characters being set aside – I get that. But from the beginning, the story was about an 18th century man – who is white. That was established from DAY ONE. So there is nothing new about that. His wife, and son, who coincide with him and this time period, are both white. Again. Nothing new.
Abbie. Abbie is always present. Her character is never NOT present. She is the the STRONGEST character in this show. A STAR. There is no question about that. We all agree on that. Critics call her the heart of the show. She IS. She continues to be portrayed in a strong light. Idiots doing their op-ed pieces like that horrid Shonda Rhimes article – nothing to do with the Sleepy Hollow writers.
As for the minority characters, John Cho willingly left to star in his own show. The writers got rid of Luke because they felt that character did not add much to the storyline, and from my point of view, he didn’t. They added Sakina Jaffrey, a woman of color, who’s character rarely gets brought up in this argument- surprisingly. I think she’s fantastic.
Jenny and Irving. i wish I knew what was going on with the writers when it comes to these two characters. My best guess is that they simply got stuck in telling their stories. The writers want to tell the stories from Abbie and Ichabod’s point of view, and keep focusing on Ichabod’s storyline, at least for the first half of the season. I don’t think it has anything to do with race.
We’ve got 18 episodes in this season. Would there even be an argument had the writers focused on Abbie’s story FIRST, and then Ichabod’s?? Abbie’s story is coming up. We know that. Will this argument continue?
I get you are saddened and frustrated, but as I said before, its not fair to unload on a group of writers for years of Hollywood ignorance. Especially writers who took care enough to come up with characters like Abigail Mills and Jennifer Mills.
High fiving this incredibly intelligent well reasoned comment, Tina.
I was screaming when that horrible Shonda Rhimes article when that woman called Nicole a sidekick on Sleepy Hollow. I agree that Abbie is never NOT a presence. And I totally agree re: Jenny and Irving. Perhaps they are working towards writing themselves out of this corner. One can only hope.
I understand that Abbie is always present on the show a presence not so much in that her voice and/or pov is not always provided. Yes we are now 8 shows into season 2 but combine with the first it is frustrating to focus so much on Ichabod and not Abbie. I still have no idea why Andy gave up his soul for a chance with Abbie, or why she was chosen instead of Jenny. It is cute to see Ichabod using modern tech and that is the punchline I know but can I get a little peek at what Abbie does for herself.
I think guilt is this season’s running theme and while I agree that Abbie is going the extra mile with Ichabod because of Jenny can I get a little something on the side while the focus is on the Cranes. I won’t get into that at all. There is just so much we don’t know about the other witness, stuff that just seems like have been dropped. What did Moloch mean when he said he touched Abbie’s soul, what happened to Abbie ancestor after Grace died and who is she/he. I am not going to get into Frank and why not even one scene with him and Macy yet.
As for the writers respect is a given at all times but it has to be on both sides. That Metzner fiasco was two sided, lets not pretend otherwise. Personal attacks should never be had which is why calling a fraction of fandom haters and not true fans raises tempers. As far as fan entitlement the most I feel entitled to is my opinion and the power to turn the channel. I don’t expect or want the writers to cater to fan pressure nor do I expect them to indulge a portion while dismissing the other. Either interact with both or do nothing at all. Everyone likes to be praise but you learn more through criticism.
Hi Christina!
First of all, thanks for the comment! I think you are right on with guilt being another running theme of the season. As far as getting peeks of what Abbie does for herself, I know that’s frustrating. I said it in another comment on this thread, but I compare it a LOT to The X-Files, where Mulder (like Ichabod) was the driving force of the story, being that it was HIS quest we were going on. We didn’t really find out what made Scully tick until the 13th episode of Season One (“Beyond the Sea”) and it was even longer before we got these kind of personal details you’re wanting for Abbie. Of course over the series, Dana Scully grew to be one of the finest and fully realized female characters ever to grace TV.
Totally agree re: Frank. If it’s any comfort, Orlando Jones told me when we interviewed him at NYCC that it IS coming. I miss Frank’s presence terribly.
Also agree that respect is a two way street. The way Raven reacted made me cringe, I don’t think it was RIGHT. I just had empathy for WHY he reacted the way he did, especially because it was one person vs. many (ah, Twitter!).
Thanks again for joining in the conversation, and I hope you stick around for our Sleepy Coverage the rest of the season 🙂
I am going make a point of coming back for the recaps, thanks.
Thank YOU 🙂 glad to have you here with us!
Please don’t speak for “We”. I disagree with you and am very of color.
I don’t see at all where I was speaking for people of color, but thank you for your comment.
I didn’t hit reply properly. I wasn’t directing my comment to you. It was to geejayeff
HA!! Damn reply button.
Reply n00b, right this way!
Welcome, we like nOObs 🙂
(And still, thank you for commenting either way! :-))
I agree with the author. These are story lines taking their walks through lull and climax. Give it some time. Lulls can make for a good twist. Not every single thing has anything to do with color. I am so over that. I love the mystery. I love that it makes me angry because there’s always promise for redemption, and that is what keeps me watching. The prize has only become that much sweeter.
Ichabod and Katrina outvoted Abbie. That moment left my mouth hanging open. Kim/Sage, the only way I can explain how I felt to you guys is how you felt on the series finale of HIMYM. I felt like I’d been slapped.
I’ve never had a sense of entitlement when it comes to a show. NEVER. I fell in love with this show for one reason. Abbie Mills. She had me at “wait back up, you’re offended.” I guess I do feel like I’m owed something. This is a show that boasts of it’s extremely diverse cast. People(myself included) tuned in because of it. We have to hold their feet to the fire for it. Though it might not have been, it felt racially motivated. My intense feelings grew when others thought my opinions didn’t matter and basically buried their heads in the sand. Then, after tonight’s episode I felt like a heel. I wished that I hadn’t gotten angry and yelled and screamed at people. I wished I hadn’t tweeted angry message at the sleepywriters and Raven. Oh wait, I DIDN’T. Because even though that episode made me cry a little, nothing made me feel worse than “fans” attacking the writers and other fans. Because of that, an important message got buried. The abbiemillsdeservesbetter tag didn’t seem as important.
Sorry for the long rant…i’m just a jumble of emotions
A) That’s not a long rant. YOU CAN DO BETTER (and HAVE DONE BETTER) GIRL 😉
B) I guess where my feelings fall re: the Diversity on Sleepy Hollow is that I’ve always felt that the show has been exceptional BECAUSE they’ve never made Abbie’s race (or Frank’s or Jenny’s or Reyes’ or Andy’s or Luke’s) an issue. Much like it took Scandal 2 seasons before there was any sort of comment about Olivia Pope being a woman of color in her position, I always thought it was a powerful statement that race, aside from the emancipation comment in the pilot, is never mentioned, if that makes any sort of sense? Am I wrong to think of it that way? I completely realize that you probably relate to Abbie in a way that I never could BECAUSE you feel she represents you and you (as in YOU Yayisha {FORGIVE ME IF THAT’S NOT YOUR CORRECT NAME, I AM GOING OFF OF WHAT IS POSTED ON THE COMMENT ADDRESS} not a general “you”) see her through a prism that is unique to you. Also WELL DONE on calling me out on MY entitlement regarding HIMYM. Pot, meet kettle.
C) I agree that the message of the tag, while initially well intentioned, got lost. I popped on it earlier tonight, right after the episode finished, and most of it was just HATRED and vitriol, in my opinion.
Love ya, lady. Thanks for sharing. -K
I just want to see Abbie as more than the soldier in the war against Moloch. So are Jenny and Abbie all good now their issues are all solved, trust issues gone. Where does Jenny even live, since Crane is staying at Corbin’s. Do the sisters even associated with each other at all? Isn’t Abbie still resposible for regular police work, why was she never given a new partner. What happened to Luke he just disappeared. Why is Andy so into Abbie? These are all surface things that just bug me about how unbalance the storytelling is.
I DON’T necessarily think all the issues with Abbie and Jenny are resolved…I think it will always be like a recurring pain from an old injury. It’s not present all the time, but oh MAN it hurts when it rains, you know? I hope we DO see those issues come up again, especially because Lyndie and Nicole did such wonderful work in “The Root of All Evil”.
I have a lot of hope for next week’s episode and for the rest of the season. I think Abbie’s devotion to her mission is one of her most defining traits, and I ALSO think last night’s episode dropped hints that she USES her work to protect herself, which may be the reason for her tunnel vision. (I could be reaching, but that’s how I saw it.)
Thanks for adding to the conversation, Christina!
From last night:
Ichabod: “And since when is opening your heart to new possibilities a complication?”
Abbie: “Since always.”
This sums up these characters, especially Abbie, perfectly. He is open and emotional and wears his heart on his sleeve. She tries very hard not to let herself be like that. Often fails at it, and it’s getting harder all the time, but keeps trying.
(It is another way in which the show is similar to X-Files, where the stereotypical gender roles are reversed: the guy is the one running on emotions and instinct, and the woman is the stick-to-the-facts, show-me-evidence one.)
EXACTLY. I thought Abbie dropped a LOT of comments in regards to her character last night…comments that I hope are explored further in upcoming eps.
I just re-read your recap and saw the part where you bascially said you don’t think the writers do anything intentionally. So they were basically showing all these little conflicts where Abbie isn’t having it when it comes to Katrina. I should have known that she would explode and basically say that she wouldn’t take that crap anymore. Which is basically what happened in the episode following.
It’s interesting to note that we have been complaining about Katrina’s lack of story for the better part of 2 seasons yet no one thought to mention that perhaps #katrinacranedeservesbetter? Yeah i said it…
High Five on that Katrina comment. It’s a very valid point.
It seems Abbie stans are move critical of her development then Katrina stans are. I’m saying it Katrina stans think everything with katrina is on point.
Which is a little sad for them, really, don’t you think?
If you think of this as a show about Ichabod and Abbie (which it is, it’s always been two leads), S1 was more Abbie and her relationship with her sister, her world, patching that whole mess up. S2 then becomes about fleshing Crane out as more than a punchline, so that if the characters DO have more interaction, it doesn’t always have to come from a basic place and can be more layered and complex and hopefully more emotionally resonant.
The thing is, sadly Katrina can’t hold her own with Abbie onscreen yet. Maybe never. Nicole Beharie and Tom Mison’s chemistry is such that frankly no one else on that show matters as much. Whether it’s casting or writing, I hope they flesh out the surrounding characters because it can only help the two leads. If they do it in a way I like, I watch. If they don’t, I won’t.
As for the fan interactions, I write recaps. I make fun, on occasion, if it’s funny. If I ever see something in a show that I feel is ridiculous or humorous, I call it out. That isn’t to hurt the actor or writer (I bet Katie Cassidy is a lovely gal but Laurel Lance annoys the #@! out of me), but if you make art, it gets critiqued. Now is it our responsibility to do so in a respectful way? Absolutely. But I personally take issue with adults calling out adults on behavior that isn’t to their taste. There is a difference between dictating individual behavior and expecting people to adhere to a code. One is pretty pointless, and the second requires a societal buy-in that you only get if someone agrees to follow your code of conduct.
I AM RIGHT THERE WITH YOU RE: LAUREL!
Agreed about Katrina not being able to hold her own against Abbie yet. I thought scenes in last night’s episode were a good step forward…but it is QUITE POSSIBLY a case of Katia Winter the ACTRESS not being able to hold her own with Nicole Beharie the ACTRESS, which combined with difficult writing/lack of development serves no one. I think Katrina has a great potential to be a dynamic character, especially since, as Sage posted out when we guested on the Sleepy Addicts radio show a few weeks ago, she is quite possibly the only character who is “Gray” when it comes to her moral code. Abbie and Ichabod (and Frank and Jenny) are SO GOOD and Henry is SO EVIL, so she brings a nice ambiguity. I love how Ichabod’s last speech last night further clarified that.