I know something you don’t know ha ha ha ha ha ha…
…But I promise this post will be entirely spoiler free.
One of the great things about living in a metropolitan area is the abundance of access to unique art experiences, like Savannah College of Arts and Design’s annual aTVFest. Being the newcomer that I am, I only managed to secure a seat for one event, but the Queens and I already have plans in the works to see more next year. #panelpros #ALLoftheshows
I may be a season and a half behind on Sleepy Hollow at the moment, but a well-written show will make you feel like you never left the moment you step back in its world. Yeah, sure, there may be a new Big Bad or two, and Betsy Ross is running around with a cutlass and pistol. So, there’s a new cop on the beat, and we’re not sure how we feel about it. Do we like her? Do we not like her? I think it’s too early to tell. And who is Jenny’s Not Prince Charming tag-along buddy?! But the look and feel of the show is that same delightful wit with a touch of macabre that I came to love in Season 1. Welp, now I know what’s going to the front of my queue of TV to-do’s.
I have a long-standing relationship with buddy cop shows, having spent hours with my family watching Andy Griffith, Blue Bloods, Castle, Monk, and every iteration of NCIS known to man. I’ve also added a few of my own along the way: Blindspot, Bones, and White Collar. Yet Sleepy Hollow, Lucifer, and iZombie add that little extra helping of fantasy and inhuman darkness* that give the crime-solving genre a much needed boost of energy, making it one that I want to come back to time and time again.
Sleepy Hollow is remarkable for its ability to seamlessly blend multiple worlds, pulling from Crane’s 1700s, Leftenant’s present day, and the underground current of the occult flowing through both. And although I have yet to master the courage to get through Supernatural, I am confident that continued exposure to blended worlds such as this one will eventually get me there.
But, I’m digressing from the point at hand which is I’VE SEEN AN EPISODE A WHOLE WEEK AHEAD OF EVERYONE ELSE! MWAHAHAHAHA. And I had the opportunity to hear members of the cast regale us with their woeful tales of that hideous beast known as The Editing Process. I have always thoroughly enjoyed listening to actors, writers, and directors speak about their craft and share anecdotes of their time on set. Let’s face it, if I didn’t, why would I stand for hours in panel lines at Dragon Con each year? And although I have watched all the commentaries and featurettes on every film & tv show I own, recorded countless episodes of Inside the Actors Studio, and spent far more time than should ever be admitted by a sane human being scouring the interwebs for late night talk show shenanigans of all my favorite actors and actresses, nothing compares to hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth 20 feet in front of you.
A casual fan enjoys the show, but a member of the fandom eats, breathes, and sleeps it. Ok, maybe that’s a bit too fanatic, but they do crave every morsel of information they can obtain about the world of which they desperately wish to be a part. The more one knows, the more the stories become intertwined with one’s own. And as the lovely Mireille Enos remarked during her aTVfest spotlight award, “the need for story is older than dirt.” So here are some story morsels, fellow fandom members. Enjoy:
Nikki Reed, the incomparable Betsy Ross, lamented over all the French she had learned for next week’s episode that was cut in its entirety. New kid on the block, Jessica Camacho, re-enacted her first encounter with Crane, including her much-obliged frisking him down. For the record, Nikki, frisking is not frisky, although Jessica’s take on her detective duties might have been a tad bit of both. And there was some debate on whether or not Zach and Lyndie’s on-screen kiss was his best work or not (Lyndie says “Eh”). Too bad the evidence is somewhere on the cutting room floor.
While these tidbits of juicy humor are fun in the moment, it is the encouragement and wisdom the actors share that are the real inspiration. Jessica reminded students to always speak up for themselves because they may not be the beginning nor the end of the storytelling process, but they are integral to it nonetheless. Nikki urged them to be flexible because while film work allows you to see a character’s arc from start to finish, the tv world is ever-changing, especially when each episode has its own director. You are discovering the character along the way, much like the audience does, and you never know what each new week will bring. And lastly Zach shared the importance of reveling in the “people moments,” better known as those times when the characters escape the trappings of the plot and talk with one another heart to heart. It is these moments that make the character more human that not only make them real to the actor, but to the audience as well.
Ta Da! See, I promised no spoilers. Although, I will say this: Fear Not, Nicole Beharie fans, your Abbie dearest is coming back this week!
Now on to my next adventure: New Apartment Cleaning & Organizing.
~ Queen Amidala
*Ok, fine, iZombie isn’t exactly “dark,” but the fantasy and less than human remark still holds true.
Photos courtesy of yours truly
queens of nerdcraft 