In most Hollywood movies, you rarely see a Black woman saving the world, but in Fox’s new smash hit “Sleepy Hollow” the apocalypse is about to be cancelled with Abigail Mills on the case. Played by Nicole Beharie, Abbie is a sheriff detective with plans to join the FBI when a strange turn of events have her cross paths with Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison), who’s been mysteriously resurrected after 200 years.
Abbie and Ichabod reluctantly team up to battle the Headless Horseman– who just happens to be one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The small town of Sleepy Hollow soon becomes a supernatural breeding ground of demons, ghouls and ghosts, and Abbie and Ichabod soon have their hands full saving humanity from the brink of extinction.
We list five reasons “Sleepy Hollow” is our favorite Monday night primtetime addiction:
5. It’s a brave new world!
The genius of “Sleepy Hollow” lies in bridging its lily-white colonial past with a more diverse 21st century. The writers take a wonderfully tongue-in-cheek approach in tackling racial and gender politics as witnessed by Ichabod’s introduction to Abbie Mills:
Abbie: Mr. Crane, I’m Lieutenant Abbie Mills.
Ichabod: A female lieutenant. In whose army?
Abbie: You’re not gonna break character, huh?
Ichabod: You’ve been emancipated, I take it?
Abbie: Excuse me?
Ichabod: From enslavement.
Abbie: Okay. I’ll play along here. I am a black female lieutenant for the Westchester County Police Department. Do you see this gun? I’m authorized to use it. On you.
4. History and fiction make perfect bedfellows
One of “Sleepy Hollow’s” greatest strengths is tweaking American history with strokes of the supernatural. Think you know everything about The Boston Tea Party? Well, turns out it was a diversion created by Ichabod to retrieve a magic talisman. In the episode “John Doe” we “learn” that the lost colony of Roanoake has been cloaked in an alternate dimension to protect the world from the Horseman of Pestilence.
3. Sister Power
Abbie shares a complicated relationship with her sister Jenny (Lyndie Greenwood), who’s spent the last few years locked up in a mental asylum for admitting her belief in otherworldly beings. Far from insane, Jenny has been preparing for the prophesied apocalypse and still carries a grudge against Abbie for betraying her. While there’s certainly some bad blood between the two, Abbie and Jenny are at their best with each other, and when the two decide to team up, demons don’t stand a chance against the Mills sisters!
2. Tom Mison
It can’t be easy to take on one of the most revered characters in American literature, but Tom Mison has made the role of Ichabod Crane unmistakably his own. Equal parts scholar, lover and warrior, Mison plays a fish out of water with swashbuckling charm and wit.
1. Nicole Beharie
This lovely actress joins the very exclusive sorority of Black actresses headlining her own primetime series. The Julliard grad made her feature film debut in the 2008 indie “American Violet” and was featured in last year’s “42″ as Rachel Robinson. As Detective Abbie Mills, Beharie skillfully balances being a kick ass cop with her more vulnerable, wounded inner child.
“Sleepy Hollow” airs on Fox, Monday nights 9PM EST
Watch a sneak peek of tonight’s episode:
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5 Reasons Why We Love “Sleepy Hollow” was originally published on theurbandaily.com
