Second episode is a respectable followup.
[spoiler]Monster-of-the-week format is something I'm personally entirely okay with, as long as they can keep it fresh, and I have the feeling they'll be able to do that. Glad to see that Sulu and the Kurgan aren't gone from the show completely.
I think my favorite part of this series, aside from all the batshit goofery, is how subdued and realistic they're handling Crane's introduction to technology. He's not a stupid man, he's not ranting about sorcery or calling anything a devil machine, which you might expect from a worse-written show. He understands that there are things he doesn't understand about the world in which we live, and he's learning. The bit in the cave with the flashlight in the first episode was a great example of that. Just some light physical work, but holding it gingerly, tapping the beam to see if it's solid or burns, looking at his fingers in the light, pointing it at his face and flinching back from the brightness ... it all came off as very authentic. I loved that.
And there's a lot more of that in this episode. There's the little stuff towards the beginning - being impressed by the hair dryer, then using it to dry his shirt - but the bit at the end with the gun was fantastic. Yes, Ichabod Crane was a soldier, he knows how to point and shoot a pistol. He's probably pretty good at it! But he doesn't know about magazines. That exchange at the end - "What are you doing, you dropped your gun!" "It was empty." "You only fired one shot!" "It has more?" - that was great. He's not questioning her, he's not disbelieving her, it's just something he hadn't even considered was a possibility. And now he understands. The actor does a great job with the inflection on that line.[/spoiler]
I love this show so much. Six seasons and a movie! Sure, it's goofburgers in its presentation (which I absolutely adore), but underneath that it's very tightly and authentically written, and has an excellent cast delivering some very nuanced performances.
