Jeremy Crane: He's Got Daddy Issues

[mad_typist]

Ah, John Noble.... is there anyone out there better at swinging between doddering and harmless to utterly freaking terrifying in the blink of an eye? I knew that Jeremy would be in play late in the season, but I didn't see the reveal of his true identity coming. Great stuff - can't wait to see where the show goes with the character next season.

[Barbara Manatee]

Who ya gonna call if you get buried alive by an obnoxious coven or your pizza is delivered in over 30 minutes? Parish and Cipher, Attorneys at Law, of course.

 

John Noble is having so much fun in this role. He's delightful.

Edited October 24, 2014 by Barbara Manatee

[phoenics]

LMBO!  "Divorcing wife who is a witch" <--- I rolled with laughter.

[Jamoche]

Just found the perfect description of Ichabod's relationship with his son:

 

 

 

Your friend is dating Darth Vader. Let me explain:

“Luke, your dad is totally evil.”

“There’s good in him. I’ve felt it.”

“Luke, he blew up a planet just to make a point.”

“There’s good in him! I’ve felt it!”

“Luke, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but he severed your hand.  From your arm. He cut it off.”

“Dueling to the death is just how we relate. You wouldn’t understand it. Now that we both have prosthetic robot limbs, it’s only brought us closer together.”

“Luke, he lured your friends into a trap so that he could murder them in front of you. We had to be rescued by Ewoks. It was embarrassing.”

“Yeah, that was pretty bad, I admit! But there’s good in him! I’ve felt it!”

Uh-huh. Ichabod's net-savvy; someone should point him at online advice columnists.

[theatremouse]

OK, I missed an episode or two, and definitely missed the explanation/dating of Jeremy/Henry's birth, but a thing that unreasonably bothers me is this:

Did the name Jeremy even exist when he was supposed to have been born? (Jeremiah, sure, but not Jeremy.) I'm not an expert but the minor research I've done suggests that name was barely a thing until the 1940s. He was born via Katrina before the whole timey wimey ressurection whatever business began, right? So the witch gave him an anachronistic name? 

Edited November 10, 2014 by theatremouse

[Carrie Ann]

I actually thought the same thing, but the name has been in use since The Middle Ages, according to Wikipedia.

[phoenics]

Jamoche - now you seriously have me worried that the writers think Henry is Anakin Skywalker and that's the redemption path they have him on.

Ugh.

Throwing Moloch into a giant pit of blackness will NOT redeem Henry. That redemption barely worked for Anakin.

[johntfs]

Presonally, I love Jeremy and his parental issues.  There's something about a sulky teenage senior citizen that is deeply funny to me.

[Yolapukka]

I appreciate the funny. I just wish there was less of him overall, either in person or as the topic of conversation between his parents.

[phoenics]

I think having an old man with parental issues might be funny - ON ANOTHER SHOW. But this is Sleepy Hollow and Jenry is sucking the life out of it - it's not fun anymore. Every week it's the same thing... over and over and over again.

Plus - while at first I could appreciate the whole remote control Horseman of War - it just puttered out in the end. The sad thing is that with Headless Neutered, they really needed a truly scary big bad - and instead we get an overgrown teenager in a senior citizen's body who is constantly whining about his issues.

Or sitting in the middle of the floor crying like a baby - I hated - HATED - that scene - because I felt NOTHING for Henry.

He was so much more interesting as a Sin Eater - there was complexity there - how it has to suck to be the person to remove sins from others - that was such a good idea - but then they made him Ichabod's son AND WAR and the whole show fell apart in that moment.

We just didn't know it yet.

[HalcyonDays]

That's what you get for pandering to the actor and not the story. By making Henry a vanity project for John Noble, the writers tried to shoe-horn him in too much to showcase his range, as opposed to thinking about the best way for the character to service the storyline. The final twist at the end of season 1 was nice, but the season 2 experiment failed.

 

But you know what - if they struggled with the redemption, but not for so long, and had Ichabod actually TAKE OUT Henry, but for some reason he survives, that would have been good (oh, but that would have to hinge on Frank living and Katrina being less present).

[Yolapukka]

 

The final twist at the end of season 1 was nice, but the season 2 experiment failed.

 

He was so much more interesting as a Sin Eater - there was complexity there - how it has to suck to be the person to remove sins from others - that was such a good idea - but then they made him Ichabod's son AND WAR and the whole show fell apart in that moment.

 

I was swearing at my TV when they revealed he was the Crane's son. I didn't think it would lead anywhere good and unfortunately, that has so far been the case. I'm genuinely amused by his supposed pathos. I don't think I'm supposed to find it as funny as I do or find it funny at all. I think it's meant to make me feel for him but he's such a miserable, toxic wretch that it would be a mercy to put him out of our misery. The humor I get from it isn't a saving grace by any means.

Edited December 5, 2014 by yuggapukka

[Indi]

Casting John Noble was the second biggest mistake this show has ever done, right after casting Winter, but for completely opposite reasons, because clearly John Noble can act (although I think he’s somewhat overrated). After Fringe, I can only tolerate him in very small doses, so when they announced he’d be a regular I knew they’d force him on the narrative and that he’d contribute to the Cranes eating up the show. They can’t have John Noble and not use him, you see, although they can totally do that with Orlando Jones and Lyndie Greenwood.

 

Unfortunately, his character is not that compelling either and sometimes his scenes are downright awful. They made him one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, they made him War, a monster who should be just as formidable as Death (not Abraham, mind you), and yet we have this old man, who needs an avatar to go to battle for him (THIS IS WAR WE’RE TALKING ABOUT!) and who can’t stop whining about mommy and daddy. At least Abraham can fight himself. That scene where he slowly turned around and clumsily stabbed Moloch was just ridiculous!

[chrisvee]

I totally agree about the miscasting of John Noble. He was fantastic as the Sin Eater but once he turned out to be Jeremy I knew we were in for trouble.

I think it's very hard to sympathize with a damaged Man!Child who looks like a senior citizen. We generally expect people to have gotten over their family drama by then. If they wanted to go this route, they needed an actor no older than the Cranes who could still pull off the tortured adolescent stuff (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Gordon Joseph Levitt -- more those types).

Granted the drama would still be going on way too long but at least i'd feel some pity for a character who really did get a terrible hand dealt to him in life. Jeremy is and should be a tragic character given he really never had much of a shot at a happy life and horrible things were done to him. But it's hard to even remember or feel that, the way this has unfolded.

Edited December 7, 2014 by chrisvee