Recap: ‘Sleepy Hollow’ – ‘Root of all Evil’ is exactly what you think it is

Last week Ichabod and Abbie raised a DIY Frankenstein”s monster, Jenny got arrested, War got his law degree and became Captain Irving”s attorney and Katrina got to hold the “idiot ball,” opting to stay a prisoner of Headless to glean information about his plot with Moloch.

So the “Root of all Evil” should obviously be good intentions gone wrong, as proved over and over by our heroes, but it probably has something to do with money. Let”s find out!

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We open with the Horseman of War carving a miniature woodwork of Terrytown Psychiatric because even harbingers of the End of Days need a hobby. The tiny Terrytown replica transforms into the real deal and we join Ichabod and Abbie already inside. They”re here to see Captain Irving but Henry has thrown a wrench into their plan. It turns out that in his haste to not receive electroshock therapy, Irving didn”t read that book he signed and it had a provision in it where Henry can bar any visitor to his client…namely ones named Abigail Mills and Ichabod Crane.

Insert your own joke about lawyers being the real evil, here.

Mills and Crane just missed Henry and despite not being allowed to let them inside, the Terrytown receptionist is apparently allowed to give out the lawyer”s personal information. This includes the name of the taxi company he called to whisk him away, because riding a fiery horse away from the psych ward is less than subtle, I suppose.

Meanwhile, Jenny is being sprung from lock-up and Sheriff Reyes is hanging out to watch because the chief of police has nothing better to do than harass the youngest daughter of an old acquaintance. Reyes continues her streak of ignorantly being the most insulting person in the world by comparing Jenny to a wayward dog Reyes used to own. One that would always run out into the road and chase cars…until one day the dog didn”t come back. Because it died. Because it didn”t listen to Sheriff Reyes. Reyes twists the knife deeper by ending with “I just don”t want to see you end up like your mother.” Yes, yes. We get it, Sheriff. You”re morally righteous. Get your condescending ass out of here!

Crane and Mills have tracked Henry”s taxi ride to the bank. They”re on an impromptu stake-out, waiting for their quarry to surface when Ichabod notices something odd inside the cafe. Two men are talking, holding hands. One of them is wearing a hat. Crane asks if that”s considered acceptable these days. He”s talking about wearing hats indoors and not homosexuality because he served with Baron von Steuben and watch the finale of “Glee” and just what is Abbie implying about Ichabod”s moral compass to assume he would condemn two men in love!?

Okay, calm down Ichabod. You”re wandering into Mary Sue territory. 

Finally, Henry exits the bank but before they can stalk War to his next location, shots are fired from inside the bank. Because of course they are. Sowing dissent is kind of War”s job description y”all. What did you think he was doing in there? ANYWAY, Crane is forced to stay outside while Abbie runs in because of stupid Sheriff Reyes”s new rules and he is not happy about it.

Inside, a security guard is dead on the ground and a bank teller with a 15 year tenure is losing her mind and robbing the bank. Mills plays everything right: she reminds the teller of who she is, and tries to talk her down from shooting any more bank employees or patrons. We know the teller is not in her right mind because the of weird dark sheen crossing her face and the ancient coin clutched in her hand. But Abbie”s skills as a negotiator are cut short as no-nonsense Sheriff Reyes shoots the poor possessed bank teller in the chest, killing her instantly. God, the “normals” are a worse menace to our heroes than the combined forces of hell.

Outside, Ichabod is pacing behind the police line like a good worried partner. As Abbie walks over to fill him in, I am once again struck by just how short she is! The height differential is freakin” adorable. Abbie swears that the bank teller was the sweetest lady in the world and would never have gone on a murder spree. It must be War”s doing it. But how? As they wonder, a dirty hipster wanders off with the ancient coin in his hand and murder in his eyes.

Sometime later, we rejoin our heroes at the Exposition Library. Crane is complaining about skulking around the Sleepy Hollow underground to avoid Sheriff Killjoy, but his rant is cut short when the bank”s security footage reveals the teller stealing one of Henry”s deposited coins. The thievery sparks a memory in Ichabod from back when he was on a secret mission from General Washington…

…and can I just interject here that there is no reason other than bragging for Crane to still be starting EVERY SINGLE STORY with “Back when I did this secret mission for GENERAL WASHINGTON.”?? Dude, we get it. You were BFFs with the Founding Fathers. Just chill.

During a mission, Crane was helping retrieve a special shipment of coins from counterfeiters before they could melt them down. Special coins that look super ancient. Unless my eyes deceive me, those are  Roman coins stamped with the profile of Caesar. Of course the coins were evil, and the commanding officer who touched one later went on to betray the fledging nation. That man”s name? Benedict Arnold.

Oh, come on! Is there any super-important event Crane only heard about later on, instead of playing a starring role in?

Crane muses on the allegory of a coin sent to morally bankrupt the owner and we cut to the hipster who is totally building a bomb. This will not end well. 

Time to catch up with the world”s worst double agent. Katrina is “spying” on Headless and Henry again. By just casually standing around and listening to them talk in the other room. Either these guys want her to overhear their conversation or it”s just a carriage house full of ineptitude. Katrina has been getting to Headless, feeding him thoughts to question why War gets to be in charge and he, poor Horseman of Death, has to stay hidden. War is having none of it and finally tell his mom to butt right the hell out and stop messing with a simpleton who doesn”t even have a head to defend himself against her womanly wiles.

But wait just a damn minute, where did Katrina get this wardrobe change? I mean, if she”d put on some skinny jeans or a maxi skirt that”d be one thing but where does one get period-appropriate clothing for an out-of-time 18th century aristocratic woman? Not that she doesn”t look fetching, but what?

We”ll have to file the Mystery of the Blue Dress away for another day though, because Jenny has returned. Abbie was able to get her community service instead of jail time, but before she runs off to scrub graffiti from walls, Jenny casually mentions she knows a guy who might know something about the coins. After all, Jenny was part of the supernatural community for years while Abbie suppressed her memories.

Jenny also casually breaks into the police records using Abbie”s login, because she suspects Sheriff Reyes might not be the upstanding officer of the law she appears to be. And there is something weird. Reyes was the one who had Jenny and Abbie”s mom put away in Terrytown. Her testimony led to the Mills” girls being put into foster care and orphaned after their mom committed suicide. Jenny is outraged. Abbie tries to hedge that Reyes was just doing her job and to be fair, their mom was out of her damn mind. Jenny freaks out on Abbie and leaves in an understandable rage.

With no other leads, Crane and Mills head down to the river to talk to Mr. Hawley. Because that”s where he hangs out…because he is Aquaman. More specifically, he is clearly Southern Gentleman Aquaman (SGA). Oh Lord have mercy, please let this disreputable dealer in supernatural antiquities be a new cast regular!

Ichabod is immediately suspicious. This man is obviously a pirate and not to be trusted and CLEARLY there is only room for one man with a sexy accent in Abbie”s life. Abbie disagrees.

After some prodding, SGA reveals that coin was probably a Tyrian shekel. Specifically, one of the 30 pieces of silver Judas accepted to betray Jesus. While Mr. Hawley doesn”t believe in all this supernatural hocus-pocus, he knows that people that do believe in such things pay handsomely for such things and he is totally down to help relieve them of their burden. Crane is outrage. Abbie is amused.

Suddenly, the flower shop explodes. Guess that hipster really hated his boss. Back at the Frederick estate, War puts the finishing touches on his miniature replica of Sleepy Hollow and smiles. Any minute now, Quasimodo is going to show up and burst into a rendition of “Out There.”

Inferring that the flower shop exploded because someone there took the Tyrian shekel from the bank, Crane and Mills head to the police precinct in the hopes the coin was put into lock-up with the other evidence. Ichabod has a run-in with his wayward son War, and immediately takes a page from the Ned Stark book of “How To Sabotage Yourself and Weaken Your Position” by telling War they”re on to him and will never let the coin remain in circulation! Henry basically rolls his eyes at his dad and says the coin doesn”t make people evil, it just exacerbates already existing desires. Then War saunters away.

At which point Sheriff Reyes appears to remind Crane he is not welcome on police property. Ichabod starts to work himself into a nice Democracy and Freedom seizure about being on public property when Reyes puts the kibosh on it by mentioning she can”t find any official documentation on Crane and he has 24 hours to prove he is who he says he is. Crane heel-turns the hell out of there, practically shouting “Woop, woop, woop!” as he goes.

Down at lock-up, Mills is going through the hipster bomber”s effects and finds the coin. But it”s just a quarter. The featured extra jokes that that quarter has been super popular today, because the lawyer was just down here looking at it too. Lawyer War strikes again with the old bait-and-switch. Curses!

Cut to Jenny dutifully performing her community service. She is distracted by the tink-tink noise of a coin and looks down. The Tyrian shekel stares back. Darkness washes over her face and she picks it up. In the distance, Henry smiles.

Okay, is anyone else going to say it? Fine, I”ll say it. This is straight up some Jim Butcher “Dresden Files” shit. I”m half-expecting to see Nicodemus ask Henry what the hell he thinks he”s doing, stealing Nico”s bit.

Sometime later, Ichabod and Abbie enter a bar. Southern Gentleman Aquaman arranged a meeting because Jenny came by his place acting weird. Because he”s Ichabod Crane, we are treated to a quick rant about how Sam Adams would never wear his shirtsleeves rolled up since he was aristocracy, and how does the man even have a beer named after him?! Crane is also pissed that he can”t drink because without identification, the waitress won”t serve him. 

SGA sits through this admittedly bizarre tirade like a champ before letting them know Jenny stopped by his house and stole a high-powered rifle. Part of me wants to know why an antiquities dealer has that kind of weaponry, but the other part remembers the crazy “End of Days” rednecks from the last episode. When you sell rare objects to people like that, probably best to make sure they pay for it instead of just killing you and taking it.

In a moment of genre savviness, Mills and Crane instantly realize Henry somehow got the coin into Jenny”s hands and she is acting under the influence. They”re about to run off to save her when Mr. Hawley asks the right question…how the hell do they plan to hold the coin without it possessing them? Luckily our swoony antiquities pirate knows the answer. Consecrated glass.

The boys head to the local parish to retrieve some stained glass. SGA is a man of action, and has a retractible nightstick at the ready to “commandeer” some consecrated glass. Crane is appalled at this lack of respect. Mr. Hawley is appalled at Crane”s lack of stomach to do what needs to be done in a timely manner.

Well, no one out-espionages a man who ran secret missions for GENERAL WASHINGTON! Crane is goaded into distracting the priest with a confession while SGA gets on with the dirty business of stealing from the church.

Meanwhile, Abbie heads back to the police station to track Jenny”s car. The desk clerk believes her flimsy as hell cover story and starts looking for it via GPS. First of all, why does Abbie have a tracking device on her sister”s car and does Jenny know this? Whatever. The desk clerk is a fount of exposition, talking about how Reyes wants to talk to Abbie but she”s not here right now. She headed up to the woods to go hunting with someone who could give the station more funding. And huh! What a coincidence. That”s where Jenny”s car is headed, too! The Tyrion shekel didn”t want Jenny to kill Abbie for betraying her…it wants her to kill the person who is “responsible” for her mother”s death.

Our team of heroes meet up in the woods and Southern Gentleman Aquaman seems to know a lot about where the local deer blinds are for a marine-based hero. Crane, still bristling at being out-hottied points out HE was trained how to hunt by Abenaki warriors. Okay boys, it”s not a competition. 

Mills pulls Ichabod aside to be like “Get your petty shit under control, we need more allies.” They then get into a fight about if they can trust Katrina. Abbie points out that when push comes to shove, Ichabod is fooling himself if he thinks his wife will turn against her own son.

Speak of the devil, Katrina and Headless are also having a fight. Henry warned Abraham not to trust the words of a witch. So Katrina continues to hold the “idiot ball” and shows her hand. She doesn”t care about Headless, she”s here to turn Henry back to the light. And obviously it must be working if War would choose to set up his home base in the same house he was born in. Katrina looks victorious and I just shake my damn head. Girl, no. You”re not going to turn him good, but I”d bet dollars to donuts you turn evil before it”s all over.

In the woods, tension is high as our troupe finds Jenny…who has Sheriff Reyes in her sights. Abbie tries once again to talk down an armed woman under the influence of a demonic coin. She tells Jenny to focus her rage on War and Moloch, who are trying to steal their chance to find out what happened to their mother. If Jenny kills Sheriff Reyes, they”ll never find out what she knows about their past. Jenny hesitates and that”s all the encouragement Crane needs to tackle her to the ground. The shekel goes flying and lands in the dirt. It calls to Abbie. Perhaps she will be the next to fall under its spell. But no! Crane is an expert soccer player and kicks it right out of the dirt, while still grappling with Jenny, and scores the final point of the game as Mr. Hawley catches it on the piece of stained glass. Southern Gentleman Aquaman then absconds with the goods while Jenny and Abbie hold each other and recover from their ordeal.

We then cut back to Terrytown, where Ichabod convinces the receptionist he is here to see another inmate, in the hopes Irving will stumble upon him. The gambles pays off. Crane is forced to be the bearer of bad news: Irving”s lawyer is the Horseman of War and barred him and Abbie from visiting. Irving is understandably confused since said lawyer was about to spring him from the psych ward. Crane points out that if Moloch”s minions want him out, the safest place for Irving to be is in Terrytown. I”m starting to wonder if this psychiatric hospital has some kind of anti-demonic power wards in place or something.

Things wind down with Reyes showing a spark of humanity by giving Abbie her mother”s Terrytown records. Mills takes the file to the bar and reads out Momma Mills transcripts to Ichabod. Seems the late Mrs. Mills was tormented by actual demons, until it drove her crazy and she killed herself. Crane says he is sure she wanted to stay alive and protect her girls, and honestly I”d bet good money that suicide was either a staged murder or a fake-out. Mr. Hawley appears to say thanks for the shekel by giving Ichabod a set of fake ID papers. Ichabod ominously declares trust to be only currency with any value over scenes of Irving pacing the floor and Henry setting the bed he was born in on fire.

What did you guys think of the episode? Do you want to see more of Mr. Hawley? Will the other 29 pieces of silver come in to play? How much does Sheriff Reyes really know?

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