Miss Dee

I don't see it as territorial so much as protective. From Ichabod's perspective: this dude strolls up and gets all kinds of familiar with the Lieutenant; Ichabod immediately picks up on the bit of discomfort and self-consciousness she shows but is (accidentally or willfully) unobservant of the fact she's pleased as well. This is someone who's already been established as wanting to repay her for all she's done for him; who will be established later in the episode as wanting to share her burdens and be there for her to lean on. It's not hard to see him interpreting Daniel's friendliness as overfamiliarity and immediately reacting in a protective, "Is this guy bothering you?" manner. "Oh by the way, she's not alone, she's got me. Oh by the way, WE LIVE TOGETHER. So don't try anything funny, buddy." And when Abbie tells him to get lost, what does he do? Immediately backs down and excuses himself. He doesn't double down on the behavior, which is what tells me he's not trying to be territorial, just protective. Once he realizes it's not needed, he stops.

I don't think the showrunners are trolling. The Fox promo monkeys probably just know that asking about Sleepy Hollow and romance = instant clickbait. They're not worried about word implications even if the showrunners are.

Don't apologize, it's a lot of work and you are awesome for doing it. :)

While I like that AV Club does serious reviews and not snarky ones, I personally feel they can be a bit "too cool for school" in their attitudes towards most shows. Just about every other review I read was positive, even if there were reservations about various aspects.

Plurie! That's a SPOILER!!! Nobody expects that in a Sean Bean movie! :)

No Betsy. Interesting. (And they are nice photos.)

Based on her eerily modern mannerisms and speech, and considering that it's not likely they'd make her so prominent if Betsy Ross is going to stay in Civil War-time America, I'd really prefer it if Abbie and Ichabod stumbled upon Betsy *before* she time traveled. Like she's this normal woman who gets tangled up with Team WTF, and the arc culminates with her getting magicked to Ichabod's time to help him there.

Okay, I have to admit that I've been giving people the big side-eye after confessing their crushes on Tom Hiddleston as Loki. While I admire the acting, I do not see anything remotely sexy about that role or him, by extension, in it. But now that Crimson Peak trailers are airing everywhere: DEAR LORD! Mea culpa; I completely get it now!!

Magneto in the X-men prequels. Why the hell didn't someone just plug that bastard at some point? They *always* give him the benefit of the doubt, and he *always* turns on them eventually. It just got to the point where watching him was a chore.

Fassbender? That's not Ed Harris??

Research Halloween snacks on the Internet...you'll find some healthy ones there, and even teenagers might get a kick out of the presentation.

I just want everybody to know I can sing and have sung "Big Bow Wow" a capella. (It's an old sea shanty and that type of music is kept alive among folk singers in my part of the world.) Now I want to be a drunk patron in that karaoke bar yelling at Ichabod: "General Taylor! Do General Taylor - no wait! Do Sam Hall! Sam Haalll!" (hiccups) So yeah, I got a real kick out of that part. Liked Reynolds, loved Joe. Betsy - honestly, the storyline better make her a 21st century woman sent to Crane's past somehow because there is no way I can accept that this kind of overtly modern shtick is anything but deliberate. These writers know how to create the more formal dialogue of the Civil-War era; we've seen ladies and how their actions follow suit. Betsy sticks out as so awkwardly current, she is *exactly* how one would picture a modern woman stuck in this time, who can take charge and take action but can't choose the right fabrics for her dress or figure out the nuances of this era of English. They *know* how to get the right atmosphere for Crane's time; this has got to be on purpose! I like the little nod to literature with Crane seriously contemplating naming names - the Ichabod Crane of the story was supposed to be a noted coward, right? So it felt like a little nod. I personally would have found it an intriguing development if he *had* named them - talk about a dark secret! - but Fandom would have crucified him and the writers never would have saved it. I liked that he encouraged Abbie to talk and that he listened until she was finished, 100% absorbed and didn't so much as interrupt. I thought he was trying to show her the he would respect her "fences" but also actively wanted to be there for her should she choose to share. We saw in the archives that he immediately backed down when she made the pointed comment about boundaries; on the porch she didn't say anything, and I think that's why he gently kept coaxing her to unburden herself - he picked up that she wanted to. Please tell me with Joe and Jenny working together we can get some more Corbin flashbacks! ETA: I'm really happy that Abbie has more going on in her life than the job and an old flame. This situation with her father is complicated and I want to see how she deals with it.

In my case, I find that my eye catches the punchline before the set up in a written joke, especially if the punchline is short (like mine was). Part of what makes a joke funny is that period of time between setup and pay off - if you get it wrong, the joke falls flat. So to guard against that, I took advantage of the spoiler button.

My favourite joke: What did the snail say when taking a ride on the turtle's back?

I know why Selina was dressed that way...and so will most everyone else when they remember Michelle Pfeiffer coming down the stairs at that fancy dress party in Batman Returns. I don't know how to embed pictures, but if you care to check out the links.... http://www.google.ca/search?q=michelle+pfeiffer+batman+returns&prmd=ivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMI-8DI35ezyAIVSG0-Ch3r6AMu#imgrc=xH7RQQfCgKuTVM%3A http://www.google.ca/search?q=selina+kyle+gotham+season+2&prmd=inv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMI3tL-7JezyAIVCxY-Ch0bnQJR#tbm=isch&q=selina+kyle+gotham+season+2+episode+3&imgrc=kVtSDqkxjRrmfM%3A As for the death of Jerome, it made me think of this: The Second Coming BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again; but now I know That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

I loved Merlin! I believe certain parts of the fandom ragged hard on Angel Coulby too, pretty much for Daring to Play one of the Most Iconic Female Leads of all Medieval English Folklore While Black. But in that case, the producers pretty much double-downed on it rather than pull back. I suppose you'd have to call Arthur and her supporting leads, though? Merlin was the central character of that show. It's not really the same dynamic as the Bones/Castle template.

I can see. And take out Shonda Rhimes-driven shows, and how many do you have left? And how many have a Bones or Castle or X-Files type of relationship arc built into the story? Minority Report's ratings are in the tank and it's likely to be cancelled. So that leaves Sleepy Hollow and Flash. On the other hand, what show was it that had a white man/woman of colour in the leads, where they hit those Bones/Castle type beats early in the series, only to swerve and put the white male with another white character somewhere in the second or third season once the shipping tide was in full swing? I heard it mentioned during the Katrina days, but it wasn't one I watched so I can't remember the name. Have there been a lot of shows that went that course (killing a romance between the leads stone dead)?

That tweet, though, was brand-new. :)

*breathes sigh of relief*

You know, I would really like that twist. Good one!

Hi phoenics - thanks for the kudos. Fantique, as I stated earlier I think it's cool if someone doesn't want Ichabod *in particular* and Abbie *in particular* to get romantic or even be friends for whatever character-based reason they choose. I don't see anything wrong with that (even though I would probably disagree). Just so you are aware that I wasn't arguing with anyone who has specific problems with that relationship with my earlier post. It's all good. To clarify more generally: I'm talking about the attitude of "Nothing to do with them; I'm just sick of show runners sticking the leads in a romance." Well, sure; nobody's arguing that this isn't a tired trope, *as it applies to two white leads*. It's about getting people to be aware that changing the race of one of those leads, (especially the female lead, especially if she's black) significantly alters the odds that you actually would see that relationship become romantic, and therefore arguing in favor of it doing so is not actually arguing for the status quo; it's arguing against it. As phoenics said, pull for no-romo relationships all you want with two white leads. But please be cognizant that pulling for it with a white man/woman of colour is not the same thing, if your goal is to see something different on television.

Look, I get how everyone is sick of knowing that almost every single show out there pairs up its male and female lead eventually. But do you know why you see that? Because almost every single female lead out there is white. Go research it for yourself: think of all the biggest offenders out there that make you roll your eyes about Yet Another Show going down this road. What percentage of them have a white female lead? Then go crunch the numbers for white male leads and women of colour leads - how many of those go on to be an epic romance? That's not made by Sondra Rhimes, I mean? Then go read up on feminism and intersectionality. I'll go ahead and spoil it for you: The boring trope of pairing the leads is almost always exclusive to white, hetero, cis-gendered people only. People who don't belong to that group don't get to see their representatives being the love of someone's life, and the percentage for that is lowest when the female lead is a black woman. So I get it; I really do. If you are watching a show with a white man and woman, protest as loud as you can about putting the leads together if you want! It'd be a gutsy show who cast two attractive white and hetero people of the opposite sex and never caved into the pressure to put them together. (And then go watch the original CSI: Gil Grissom and Catherine Willows will warm the cockles of your heart.) But on a show like this? Look, it's cool to say you don't see the chemistry, or that you hate Ichabod and just want to see him die, or that you ship Abbie with a different character. It's cool to have a specific reason why these two characters, in particular, do not work together romantically. But if your reason is just that you don't want the show to put the leads together on Yet Another Show, please realize you are not breaking the mold in saying that; you are not fighting stereotypes; you are not proposing anything new. You are arguing in favor of a very old and hoary TV trope: that a white man and a black woman should never get together romantically. If you crunched the numbers as I suggested above, you'll realize just how unusual that storyline actually is on television. Arguing in favor of a no-romo relationship is not going against the status quo; it's arguing for the status quo, and one based in racial prejudice in that. I for one am all for Sleepy Hollow breaking new ground. I didn't see anything wrong with the chemistry in this episode. In fact, if Abbie had been a white character I would have definitely deduced, from the looks and the hugs and the general turn of events, that this was starting down the romance path.

Wow, that scruff makes a huge difference in his sex appeal! Normally he looks like a little boy; this makes a man out of him.

I have to say: while I recognized what everyone else saw, I have never personally found Tom Mison attractive. But with that shoulder-length hair? Just call me Miss Dani.

Dammit, dammit, dammit. I did allow myself to hope. I can only cross fingers that enough shows on Fox do worse and/or enough people hung back to get the general consensus and/or the DVR numbers are huge and/or there's a scheduling change for the better. Dammit.