Sleepy Hollow is back after a week’s hiatus. And, while it wasn’t the strongest episode, it had some pretty great moments that remind you this show’s strength is its cast.
It opens up with Abby and Ichabod watching what appears to be an intramural baseball game, as one of the few spectators, and Abby razzing the ump. And it continues what seems to be a running gag on this show; a heartfelt, somewhat cheesy monologue, in this case about how baseball is the American dream, followed up immediately by a joke. In this case, Ichabod turning out to be pretty good as a screaming fan; Abby needs to take him to that Mets game.
That said, this is an episode where everybody involved is taking a meeting. It’s an interesting episode in that we fill in some of Ichabod’s past during what amounts to a job interview; he’s ordered, as a British officer, to interrogate a colonist about the identity of “Cicero”, a man writing anti-British pamphlets. Also, Ichabod is a Mason, and his brother Masons are apparently both around and taking some time off from drinking to shoot people with tranquilizer darts and abduct them. This had better presage a Mason/Hessian fight later in the season.
Abby, meanwhile, hunts down the Sin Eater, a man who will consume your sin and erase it, and a role performed with quite a bit of sadness and grace by John Noble. He’s the only man who can break Ichabod’s connection with the Headless Horseman, while the Masons (and Ichabod) believe that the only way to stop said melonless ax murderer is for Ichabod to kill himself, thus taking Death down with him. Which seems contradictory, but what the hell, if I can roll with Ichabod not changing pants, I can roll with his connection to Death allowing him to kill it.
It actually gets very heartwarming towards the end; Nicole Beharie and Tom Mison are good at playing warm friends. And it ends with the Headless Horseman back in town, packing heat and carrying an axe… meaning next week, we’re likely seeing some heads fly.
Some more thoughts:
- “There are two things I believe you should hang onto as long as possible: Virginity and skepticism.” Finally, they let Orlando Jones be funny.
- I thought Sleepy Hollow to Hartford, CT, a trip Abby and Jenny make at one point, was a bit of a stretch, but it turns out to be a 90 minute drive and fits well in the episode’s timeframe. Nice to see writing staffs using Google Maps, and not having everything “conveniently” nearby. Even if I’m calling B.S. on being able to get anywhere in less than six hours on I-84.
- Katrina Crane is apparently a Quaker, which is a choice one hopes they dig into a little; being a Quaker back in the American Revolutionary War was not exactly fun.
- It says something about John Noble’s talent in the climax that he does something so simple and yet makes it feel so utterly gross.
Any thoughts yourself? Let us know below.
