‘Sleepy Hollow’ sure could use more Alex & Jake

With Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) gone, Season 4 of “Sleepy Hollow” has found Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) floundering in his search for a new bond, partnership, connection. And while it’s obvious Diana (Janina Gavankar) is meant to fill that void, we’re so curious about Alex Norwood (Rachel Melvin) and Jake Wells (Jerry MacKinnon).

Ancillary characters are nothing new for the genre series, and while we acknowledge that Season 2 (and definitely Season 3)  made the choice to expand the world and focus on uncompelling secondary characters — we’re looking at you Joe (Zach Appelman), Daniel (Lance Gross) and, yes, even Jenny (Lyndie Greenwood) — with the goal of showing just how far-reaching the Moloch threat was, the story ended up getting spread too thin — a trap many shows with such wide aspirations have fallen into, like “Heroes.”

This is a new world, though: One without Abbie, without the town of Sleepy Hollow as its central location… And without the kooky levity and genre fun that made Season 1 such an unlikely success.

This is where Alex and Jake come in. Their relationship is nowhere near the eye-rolling intensity of Joe Corbin and Jenny Mills, and here’s oping it won’t ever get there, too. Any sort of romantic connection between these two quirky characters would be a dreadful decision — and a story killer, to boot.

RELATED: Abbie-less ‘Sleepy Hollow’ has 3 things going for it

Instead, what we’ve seen with the duo is something missing from the show for quite some time: A challenging dynamic that depicts a partnership rooted in a passion for science, an obsession with history — and a yearning to discover the magical, otherworldly and supernatural.

Their chemistry has distant echoes of a young Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, and keeping them locked up in that library until Ichabod and Diana come calling is a disservice to the show’s greater mission.

Last week, we saw The Headless Horseman’s return, in a less than engrossing manner — but Jake and Alex’s reaction to the unholy beast really resonated with us. It may not have been the first time we’ve seen the Colonial madman, but there was something about their horrified wonder that took us back to the good old days of Season 1.

Ichabod, in all his heroic fortitude, remains one heck of a depressed and jaded man. Diana hasn’t yet committed to the reality of the show and its wild events, even though her own daughter has turned out to be the next Witness. Jenny Mills, to this point, has simply been acting as a physical connection linking Ichabod to Abbie.

What we’re left with is the hope that the bright-eyed curiosity and nerdy excitement Alex and Jake bring to the table can help push the show forward into compelling territory once more. But to do that, the duo needs to leave that library more often — and prove their worth to this evil-fighting team.

“Sleepy Hollow” airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FOX.

Source link