I would be lying through my teeth if I said I hadn’t been secretly giddy for Fox’s new fall drama, Sleepy Hollow, since I first saw the teaser this past spring. To be honest, it looked kind of ridiculous and cheesy (which is part of why I was so excited–I love a good whimsical show) but something about it genuinely caught my attention. And I wasn’t disappointed.

This show is BEAUTIFUL. But when I did my second watch, I was having trouble putting my finger on why: it doesn’t have the edgy and stylistic control that Hannibal had. Really, the shots themselves aren’t that varied or non-traditional: opening shots showing us just where we are, medium shots of characters talking and doing things with the background either fairly in focus or previously established, and close ups only after knowing where we are and what’s going on.

On the surface…