Sleepy Hollow was a gloriously silly supernatural action show last season, and this season more or less promises to be the same, but with more John Noble. And, one or two problems aside, it was a great start to the new season. Spoilers below!
The show picks up a year after the events of the finale… or, so we think. Turns out it’s just Jeremy screwing with them, and looking for a key stolen by Benjamin Franklin. But they really commit to the illusion, which takes up the first quarter of the episode; you’ve got Abby and Ichabod running around with machine guns and crossbows, you’ve got the Horseman packing a shotgun and tossing grenades, and, then, we’re back in reality with a buried Ichabod and Abby in Purgatory.
Of course, Ichabod isn’t buried for long, as he escapes in the most sublimely campy way possible that we won’t blow here. And we’re off for the key, Jeremy to bring Moloch to the world, Ichabod to save his friend. Along the way, we find out Jenny’s still alive, and that the show still has time for jokes about Ichabod’s inability to understand the modern world.
As you might have guessed, Ichabod and Abby are reunited, and the show has a continuing ability to take dumb cliches and make them work again. This time, there’s an evil Ichabod running around in Purgatory, and yes, there’s an evil twin switch. Again, how Abby spots the evil twin is best left to the viewing, but it’s hilarious and perfectly in character.
Probably the best touch is that Ichabod and Abby score a straight-up victory from the jaws of defeat, derailing Moloch’s plan and knocking the bad guys back a genuine step. Of course, the bad guys still have options, because we’ve got more episodes to watch.
The only point of contention is Katrina. She was entirely useless in the first season and she’s even more useless here, somehow, as the Headless Horseman’s captive. Yep, we’re about to have a long, ongoing hostage situation to pad out episodes. It’s a weird plotline for this show, both in how hackeneyed it is and how pointless this very episode underlines it is; there’s maybe five minutes dedicated to it and you could cut it out with no problem. Frankly, I care way more about Captain Irving, who’s a no-show this episode.
Still, that’s a minor blemish on a fast-paced, goofy, funny, action-packed premiere, and it’s great to see this show’s lost none of its charm. Now, let’s really see some heads roll.