It may surprise you to know that the Mrs. and I (well, mainly the Mrs.) are a couple of nerds.  Oh sure, I know…most of you see us as trend setting party hoppers but the reality is, more often than not we can be found spending our leisure time watching some sort of science fiction or super hero program on the TV.

Our limited time and attention spans allow us only a small handful of shows to follow on any sort of regular basis, so it has to be worth it to afford the time and thought.  For the past few years Chrissy has been geeking out over her favorite show Sleepy Hollow. For those unfamiliar with the premise, Ichabod Crane has come back to life after lying in a dormant state for over 200 years.  Some spell goes haywire, demons are released and he awakes to find himself in Sleepy Hollow.  He meets up with this hot detective named Abbie who just happens to come from a bloodline of individuals who can’t seem to stay away from ghosts and headless horseman and together they embark on a series of fighting off demons, evil and Crane’s bitchy ex-wife. Typical good versus evil.

Fast forward to this past Friday night, the season three finale.  Shockingly, instead of the show concluding with Abbie and Crane finally giving in to the romantic tension of the past three seasons, it ended with them killing off Abbie, one of the two main characters.  This threw my wife, along with seemingly thousands of other “Sleepy Heads” on the web into a virtual meltdown.  I haven’t heard or read such venomous vitriol since the last thing Donald Trump said.  It was vicious, people were angry and they were out for blood.

At one point, Chrissy went on her office computer to join a Google hang-out and from the other room all I could hear was loud disdain and confusion from the group.  I felt it safer to keep my distance and stay clear of the fray.  Hollering, crying, shouting…plans for protests and strongly worded e-mails being forged.  These ladies and their buddy Orlando were not at all happy.

As she explained, that with the proliferation of social media and the show’s writer’s often engaging with the many thousands of fans and followers of the show, it’s easy for one to become invested in following the story and it’s characters.  So it sucks when a lead character you’ve become accustomed to following is suddenly snatched away.

But, turns out, that’s just a part of the reason why there’s so much anger over the loss of Abbie.

You see there’s never been a whole lot of sci-fi shows or movies featuring a strong black woman as the lead.  It’s fun to root for Iron Man, Super Girl, or Mr. Spock but it’s more fun when one can relate.  Sadly, there haven’t been too many superhero types that she’s been able to follow and enjoy that look like her, so that’s why this show was so important to her.  Sure you can check the facts and you’ll no doubt find that the actress who played the role apparently didn’t want to do the show any longer, but where I come from, people don’t leave a job if they’re happy.  You want to make something successful better make damn sure that the people building it for you are smiling more often than not.

And with these sensitive issues, occasionally motives are questioned…

Perception is often deemed more truthful than fact, and no matter what the motivation, the fact is; those who’ve been faced with the constant reminder that for some reason they’re not as important as others have now had yet another ray of hope dashed.  And until you’ve experienced it, you can’t quite understand how deeply it hurts.