More from TVRD

12 Comments

  1. Ugh! Did you really have to bring in that dress. I damm near poked my eyes out. The world made it seem as if Indiana Jones was real, found a chalice in a hidden cave, and now the world wants to know if its real. Then you stop and think but it’s proof that Indiana Jones is real! Forget the damn chalice! I just can’t.

    Anyways, about the fans killing Ichtrina. Uhhhh, oohh those fans. The fans that were screaming, “Ichabod and his wife are soul mates. He said it!” Lol yea, those fans. These are the fans that questioned if they saw any chemistry between Abbie and Crane? I will tell you who killed Katrina. Mark Goffman killed Katrina by doing the bait and switch on this show and totally thinking that fans would fall in love with her the same way Abbie grabbed everyone. Katrina was poorly written and portrayed. Yes, I understand Katia Winter has to go with what the writers give her but at the same time she made me confused and a struggling listener since season 1. Lets also shed light on the lack of promotion Fox did for season 2. The show was off air for an entire pregnancy! 9 months, they waited almost a week or 2 to promote this show for the 2nd season. Way to treat your surprise hit FOX. If you look at past interviews for this season Abbie was suppose to get a love interest. That never happened. The fact that they totally sidelined everything we loved about the show all for one character is what killed Katrina.

    Now, you have yesterday’s event with Nicole Behire on instagram basically calling out the show about how they didn’t invite her to do dvd commentary. I really didn’t want to jump to conclusions but the way they did season 2, you just blow right by logic and automatically believe that Fox is treating the the star of the show like last night’s leftovers for the dog. It’s really not hard to find who was the real murderer here. Fox and Goffman may need to talk with ABC and Shonda Rhimes on what they should do with POC who is a popular lead.

    Thanks for the overview.

    1. Thank you for writing, Dee. I deeply apologize for bringing up that dress, it has caused nothing but trouble — not unlike this bizarre shift of focus with Sleepy Hollow. I honestly think Katrina was meant to be a spoiler, but it was poorly executed. No sane writer would consider her character to have rooting value.

      1. I HAVE BEEN SAYING THAT! Katrina was meant to be disliked and foreshadowed as not the business. It was already poorly received, but a certain sector of fangirls in denial and made the rest of us despise her all the more.

        The wheel-spinning, OOC idiot Ichabod and “Katrina was right” BS from Abbie didn’t help. Add the irritating whisper and you have a fandom that despises the show for spending so much time on her.

        1. Thanks for writing, Sleepy. I agree we were supposed to dislike her and then somehow things spun out of control. I honestly can’t think of a worse television character. I have yet to hear an eloquent argument in her defense. They failed debate class.

  2. I haven’t been here for a while, so I can’t speak about the prior posts I’ve not read yet, and look forward to viewing your archives, but I have to say, this is by far the best piece of critical analysis I have seen to date on the relationship between Ichabod and Katrina, of which the Ichatrina/Katrina long drawn out storyline also proved to be the Achilles heel of the show. Your use of the blue and black or white and gold dress, as a metaphor, is just brilliant. Your attention to the details of dialogue and expressions between the characters as seemingly illusive to those who would like to perpetuate the myth of Ichatrina, has with pinpoint accuracy, brought the myth to its knees. And might I add, that in the last scenes of the episode, we see that Abbie has stopped the axe from hitting Ichabod, in freeze frame, and then we are privileged to view the details of Ichabod and Abbie becoming Ichabbie, as snippets of the development of this new union is flashed before our eyes, as time moves. Immediately, as present time has reset and continues in forward motion, we see Ichabod, stab Katrina (Shakespearean tragedy style), swiftly and with certainty, call it an ‘oopsie’ if you want, whatever, but it was definite and conclusive, and she disintegrates (Not even any signs of ashes or sparkly dust, left behind), ‘The End’. And now, ‘The Beginning’, we see Abbie and Ichabod-Ichabbie, together, alone, in this space and in this time, of which the Season 2 finale was aptly brought to its conclusion.

    If Season 3 comes to fruition, will Katrina return to Sleepy Hollow, and in what capacity, who knows. I don’t think the creators, writers, showrunners, appreciate the fact that they could have ushered in a Sleepy Hollow of the 21st century, beautifully, having a supernatural story with a Black female heroine-Abbie evolving along side the male hero-Ichabod, including love and romance between them-Ichabbie, if they (the writers and showrunners) were more courageous and willing to subvert the status quo. It would have certainly, become the New Legend of Sleepy Hollow in my house.

    As an aside, you should have written the New York Times Arts review on the Sleepy Hollow finale. Just going by your analysis of this topic, I know you would have done a phenomenal job, on the season finale. I hope you sipped on a nice cocktail after writing this piece!

    Can’t wait to listen in on your podcasts, once you get that going.

    1. Kim, thank you for writing. I’m blushing. I read so much foolishness about “loud,” “stupid fangirls,” that I was forced to write when I could have been sitting around enjoying a House of Cards binge. I hadn’t actually considered a podcast, but it’s certainly an idea.

      Thanks again for reading. I will most certainly have a cocktail.

  3. This!!!! Everything you posted is Spot.On.

    I’ve been following the fandom war closely and from what I can tell there’s a broad Ichatrina fan profile I’ve been able to glean: Conservative, religious and non-black. Some even have the nerve to couch criticism in barely veiled racist comments, then get offended if you point it out to them. I’ve found them to be largely tone-deaf with valid criticisms about the direction of the show which makes me wonder why they started watching in the first place.

    I’m an Ichabbie shipper, more slow burn to be honest. And at this stage if they never went past this intimate friendship I won’t mind too much (that’s what fanfic is for!) The problems in S2 came when the focus shifted off the Witnesses, and brought an arc front and centre that should have been background fodder and with the use of less episodes.

    Hopefully we can put the SS Ichatrina behind us forever and get this show back to where it belongs, and bring back the original fans who jumped ship mid S2.

    On another note, I always love to read your recaps and original analyses. Keep up the good work!

    1. Thank you for writing, Kendra. I agree that the slow burn is the way to go, a good ship requires yearning. It fascinates me that some fans have such eloquent and solid arguments for their opinions while other arguments are paper-thin. Thank you for the compliment about the site, I’m flattered.

  4. You make a lot of good points and I think that, before Deliverance, that’s what the show intended to say, but from then on? No. Deliverance was the turning point, where Goffman gave way to his lesser instincts and veered the ship to The Katrina Show and therefore Ichatrina. The last 3-4 episodes were course correction FOX forced on him and that’s why Ichabod’s reconciliation with his wife in the Pittura episode was forgotten without much of an explanation. If that awful episode had met with approval from fans, we wouldn’t be talking Ichabbie right now. Heck! We wouldn’t be talking Abbie right now, because there is no way Goffman didn’t intend to kill her off and make Katrina the lead.

    Let me explain. You mention the succubus telling Ichabod, “I can sense your desire. It burns strong, even though you try so hard to hide it…” That scene had nothing to do with Abbie. The succubus was representing his wife. As dumb as that was, because she was supposed to bring to the surface hidden desires, for some reason Ichabod’s hidden desire was… his wife?! Even if the doubt was there, the succubus made clear to the audience Abbie had no place in Ichabod’s heart. It was all Katrina. That scene told me all I had to know about the direction of the show and I was proven right in the following episodes…

    Who did Ichabod side again and again, whenever Katrina opened her mouth to utter the most ridiculous BS about redemption of mass murderers? Not Abbie. Who left Abbie on her own, because he had to attend to her weak fainting wife? His priority became pleasing his wife’s every whim. Abbie reached a point, where she thought Orion was her only ally! And the sad truth is that he was.

    For all of Ichabod’s talk about the Witnesses trusting each other and his lack of trust in Katrina, who did he choose to trust every single time? Not Abbie.

    Ichabod also said very clearly what he was fighting for and it wasn’t Humanity’s survival or defeating evil. His fight was personal: love and family, which for him at the time was Katrina.

    If FOX hadn’t intervened, the reconciliation after Pittura Ifamante would have followed its course into Ichabbie oblivion and Goffman’s mission would have been completed.

    What I mean to say is that Goffman fed racist Sarah and her pals, because he’s just like them. He gave them reasons to believe in Ichatrina, although they remain delusional for blaming Ichabbie shippers for the debacle that came from that.

    1. Hi, thanks for writing, Sam. I thought the succubus episode reflected wavering feelings. That said, I may have been looking at it through the I-Hate-Katrina filter. I understand that they had to demonstrate Ichabod’s ride-or-die loyalty to Katrina for a while so he wouldn’t look fickle. In any case, I can’t believe any sane writer wanted us to root for her. The words “delusional” and “debacle” sum up the whole mess.

  5. Thank you for writing this! I’m angry I missed it earlier…

    You really hit the nail on the head! Katrina WAS always a plot device and I thought they would execute aforementioned plot immediately following her release from purgatory. I think the Ichatrina lovers would’ve let the issue die a long time ago had they made Katrina evil when it would’ve been most relevant. They dragged this relationship out during season two and it really didn’t have to go that way. Hell, I’m not a Katrina fan at all and dare I state that she likely WOULDN’T have had to be killed off if they just made her evil straight out of purgatory. She could never carry the role of big bad herself, but she likely could’ve stayed on in a SUPPORTING capacity (sorry for the caps. I forgot how to post in italics. Not yelling, merely emphasizing) to assist the next big bad to come along. She and Henry perhaps could’ve made the reveal together. I like John Noble as well, but Henry’s character reached his plateau long ago so maybe he could’ve remained the humble sin eater and also stayed on. So many missteps, but I’m not on the payroll so maybe we as viewers didn’t pick up on what we were supposed to be perceiving out of this mess. In my opinion, that equates to sloppy writing.

    On a final note, I must agree with most fans that even if it wasn’t intended a whole lot of whitewashing was taking place during the second season. I’m of the caucasian persuasion (with red hair. not a wig lol) and noticed immediately. It was infuriating that all the stans immediately started saying that all the “black” or “loud” and even “entitled (which to me screams racist) were the ones that were racist! The show changed completely! It’s one thing for a show to evolve, but this was like watching another show entirely. They tried to make it all about color, but they failed to realize that there were MANY infuriated white fans as well, shippers or not. I was drawn to this show because it is PROGRESS. When I saw the premise and previews before the show, I assumed whitewashing would happen because that’s what Hollywood has taught us. When it didn’t in season one and actually expanded on its diversity, I was almost as pleased as when Obama won the presidency. Ok, that’s extreme but it was damn close. It’s important and necessary and we as a human race cannot move forward without this kind of progress. So when I saw the plans for pushing Katrina’s story in the second season, it was more than just what it appeared on the surface. Maybe TPTB didn’t intend for the changes to be perceived as whitewashing. Perhaps they only intended to tell more Katrina so the reveal of her as a bad girl would be more effective. Whatever the case, they didn’t look at the bigger picture. I’m not a POC, but if it was monumental for me I can’t begin to imagine how infuriating it was for others. Then some Ichatrina fans would post hateful Tumblr and tweets stating Ichabbie fans were racist. Wait, what? Yes, because racists go around supporting interracial relationships regularly. I for one am also tired of seeing “matching” couples all over the television. Seriously, do I have to be paired w/someone that looks like my brother? I’ve always found that weird and slightly narcissistic, especially when even the nuances like hair, eye color, and skin tone are exactly the same. It’s nice to see DIFFERENT couples.

    Hopefully the new showrunner will take EVERYTHING into consideration when preparing for season three.

    1. Melissa, thank you for writing! I love this fandom because it’s so eloquent and analytical. You must be psychic — come back in an hour or so for my next piece.

Comments are closed.