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I admit to being conflicted about this episode. It was pretty and there were neat things to see, but I kinda missed the point. Who doesn't love a dream sequence? I do. Definitely, I do. Restless (BtVS 4.22) is one of my favorite episodes of all time. I even wrote two trippy dream sequence-y fic. Awesome things can happen in a dream sequence. It can be revelatory and even Ichabod refers to Abbie's opening dream sequence as prophetic. Only, I dunno, maybe not so much.
However, I'm going to make a caveat . . . I was half focused on the dwindling clock and monitoring the headlines on the Google News Aggregator during this episode because watching the government be stupid is like a sporting event. That said, I wasn't the most attentive at times.
But back to that dream sequence . . .
For an episode with a demon sandman as the "villain," I was surprised at how little people slept in this episode. There are constant allusions to sleeping: Dr. Vega jumps in the middle of the night while in her pajamas, Old Rancher guy wakes from a nap and goes off the deep end. Cataracts. Vision. Seeing without seeing. Future, past, premonitions, truth, lies, sleep. Dreams as a lie the brain tells us. How the brain makes sense of things. Repressed information, knowledge, memories, feelings. The Cheese Stands Alone! I don't think that we get any of that. Abbie's transgression is in the front of her brain and reason for the sandman to act as the mechanism for her to deal with that transgression (to overcome or be punished for it) remains a mystery.
Abbie drinks Red Bull to stay awake and avoid her fate, but we never really see her fighting her need to sleep. There's no exhaustion. There's no THREAT. And I think that's my hang up on the show right now. There's no teeth. I'm enjoying the Abbie/Ichabod show, but I'm waiting for something deeper or more.
This episode didn't give me the awesome sister stuff that I was hoping for. Oddly, it seemed to be, at least for Abbie, the vindication of Jenny, but there was very little Jenny actually in the episode. I guess it was supposed to be Abbie fighting her own demons, and there was a great moment where she takes ownership of her wrongs to her sister. A moment that I really liked, btw, because it was more than just "I lied." It was also I lied and I forsook (is that even a word?!) my sister and she had to pay for how wrong I was.
There were some questions thrown in for later answering: what happened in the four days that Abbie and Jenny were missing? Where were they? Did anything happen to them? Who are they? Where are their parents? You know crazy things always happen to orphans, it can be a cliche. What is the connection between Abbie and Jenny and the Sleep Demon? Why does can it punish Abbie, but not Ichabod? What are Ichabod's sins? It's been confirmed that he has them.
Things that I wasn't too thrilled with ... the shaman car salesman who despite his statements to the contrary still possesses ancient tribal rituals and knowledge linking him to the shamans of yesteryear. Srsly? I liked the DeLorean reference though. Another thing that doesn't thrill me is the physical vocabulary used to identify and differentiate Abbie and Jenny. The way that Abbie is identified as the sane, mainstreamed, conformist cop and how it is reflected in her long, straight, processed hair. Jenny, OTOH, is implied crazy, confined, alternative, on the fringe and she gets the long, curly hair. Jenny's truth, self-acceptance as revelation by hair. Not likely. They're not thinking that deeply.
Of course, they are both still very standardized in their physical vocabulary. One thing that really bugged me was that the young actresses are cast counter intuitively. Adult Abbie is the darker of the two, but the lighter skinned actress is cast to play Young Abbie. I'm probably thinking too closely, but there it is, these are the things that cross my mind.
Meanwhile, James Spader is being awesome on my TV. And there's Nina Simone.
However, I'm going to make a caveat . . . I was half focused on the dwindling clock and monitoring the headlines on the Google News Aggregator during this episode because watching the government be stupid is like a sporting event. That said, I wasn't the most attentive at times.
But back to that dream sequence . . .
For an episode with a demon sandman as the "villain," I was surprised at how little people slept in this episode. There are constant allusions to sleeping: Dr. Vega jumps in the middle of the night while in her pajamas, Old Rancher guy wakes from a nap and goes off the deep end. Cataracts. Vision. Seeing without seeing. Future, past, premonitions, truth, lies, sleep. Dreams as a lie the brain tells us. How the brain makes sense of things. Repressed information, knowledge, memories, feelings. The Cheese Stands Alone! I don't think that we get any of that. Abbie's transgression is in the front of her brain and reason for the sandman to act as the mechanism for her to deal with that transgression (to overcome or be punished for it) remains a mystery.
Abbie drinks Red Bull to stay awake and avoid her fate, but we never really see her fighting her need to sleep. There's no exhaustion. There's no THREAT. And I think that's my hang up on the show right now. There's no teeth. I'm enjoying the Abbie/Ichabod show, but I'm waiting for something deeper or more.
This episode didn't give me the awesome sister stuff that I was hoping for. Oddly, it seemed to be, at least for Abbie, the vindication of Jenny, but there was very little Jenny actually in the episode. I guess it was supposed to be Abbie fighting her own demons, and there was a great moment where she takes ownership of her wrongs to her sister. A moment that I really liked, btw, because it was more than just "I lied." It was also I lied and I forsook (is that even a word?!) my sister and she had to pay for how wrong I was.
There were some questions thrown in for later answering: what happened in the four days that Abbie and Jenny were missing? Where were they? Did anything happen to them? Who are they? Where are their parents? You know crazy things always happen to orphans, it can be a cliche. What is the connection between Abbie and Jenny and the Sleep Demon? Why does can it punish Abbie, but not Ichabod? What are Ichabod's sins? It's been confirmed that he has them.
Things that I wasn't too thrilled with ... the shaman car salesman who despite his statements to the contrary still possesses ancient tribal rituals and knowledge linking him to the shamans of yesteryear. Srsly? I liked the DeLorean reference though. Another thing that doesn't thrill me is the physical vocabulary used to identify and differentiate Abbie and Jenny. The way that Abbie is identified as the sane, mainstreamed, conformist cop and how it is reflected in her long, straight, processed hair. Jenny, OTOH, is implied crazy, confined, alternative, on the fringe and she gets the long, curly hair. Jenny's truth, self-acceptance as revelation by hair. Not likely. They're not thinking that deeply.
Of course, they are both still very standardized in their physical vocabulary. One thing that really bugged me was that the young actresses are cast counter intuitively. Adult Abbie is the darker of the two, but the lighter skinned actress is cast to play Young Abbie. I'm probably thinking too closely, but there it is, these are the things that cross my mind.
Meanwhile, James Spader is being awesome on my TV. And there's Nina Simone.
