ABC found fantasy genre success with “Once Upon a Time,” NBC with “Grimm,” and now Fox hopes to join them with “Sleepy Hollow.” The pilot episode, written by Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci (best known for their collaborations with JJ Abrams, including co-creating Fringe) and Phillip Iscove and directed by Len Wiseman (Underworld) moves quickly to set up what looks to be an enjoyable mix of action and horror with a healthy dose of humour.
Dropping us right into the midst of a ferocious Revolutionary War battle in 1781, Ichabod Crane, played by Tom Mison, comes face-to-face with a gigantic masked horseman and shoots him down. In case there was any doubt that this will not be a historical drama, the horseman promptly rises back up like Jason Voorhees and relentlessly keeps coming until Ichabod manages to behead him, but not before being (mortally?) wounded himself. He wakes up to find himself wandering about in 2013 and the show is off and running.
Meanwhile local cop Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) is introduced as she’s a week away from transferring out of town to train in Quantico, but it’s an open question as to whether she’s moving onward and upward or simply running away from her past.