TV Review: Sleepy Hollow

Sleepy Hollow

Channel: FOX Network

Day and Time: Mondays at 9/8 EST

Release Date: September 16, 2013

Buy Links:

Amazon 

TV Show Description:

A resurrected Ichabod Crane is pulled two and a half centuries into the present and teams with a modern-day detective to stop an increasingly vicious cycle of evil. In this modern-day twist on Washington Irving's classic, ICHABOD CRANE (Tom Mison, “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”) is resurrected and pulled two and a half centuries through time to unravel a mystery that dates all the way back to the founding fathers. Revived alongside Ichabod is the infamous Headless Horseman who is on a murderous rampage in present-day Sleepy Hollow. Ichabod quickly realizes that stopping Headless is just the beginning, as the resurrected rider is but the first of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and only one of the many formidable foes that Ichabod must face to protect not only Sleepy Hollow, but the world.

♥ ♥ ♥

And Now It Begins...

I said it was coming. The EPIC 2-hour season finale hit its mark. Not since X-Files has FOX captured my attention with one of its shows. I am hooked like a fish. I don't want the show to go on hiatus, but this season finale guarantees a wild ride for sure. See You On The Flip Side, HeHe.

"The Indispensible Man/Bad Blood" 01/20/14 - Review by Helena E. Eseloma

I love how the show keeps its humor going on the precipice of evil prevailing.

Abbie arrives home while listening to Crane's voicemail message. She mentions sending the page in Washington's bible to get it carbon dated. She jokes that he won't get the message. He texts back with a couple messages that don't quite make sense, but the last one lets her know he has poor telephone reception.

Of course he would. He's living in the middle of the woods.

Abbie is chopping up some vegetable when she hears a creak behind her. The look on her face is wide-eyed and worried. She quickly turns around, knife at the ready and there Andy is in all his dead minion glory. He greets her like it's normal and she tells him they need to talk about boundaries.

Crane is trying to figure out what the date they discovered in the last episode means. As he talks to himself while he researches Abbie sends him a text telling him she is on her way. Crane tilts his flip phone sideways to see the smiley face :) and says how charming.

We have a flashback of Crane meeting with Washington. "I wish I could tell you what the future holds Crane, but it is mostly likely you will be called upon to continue this fight when others cannot and when that time comes good will always rise like Lazarus from his grave."

Can anyone say clue here? Crane heads out.

Back to Abbie and Andy. She has him handcuffed to a water heater and asks him what he is doing there? He came to ask her something. She tells him if he's here because Moloch wants the bible.... He tells her Moloch doesn't want the bible he wants a map that the bible can direct him to. The map isn't something that Moloch can use, but her and Crane.


Andy goes on to warn that Moloch is not giving up and he's sending his soldiers after her. If she would just give him the bible he can promise she will be spared and awarded a high seat his new order. She refuses of course. He pleads for her to not risk her life for Crane. That he will just give her soul over to Moloch. Crane will abandon her like everyone she's ever loved except him. He tells her no one loves her like he does. Abbie hesitates and he tells her don't say anything. She turns her back on him and he escapes.

Crane is back the Sleepy Hollow HQ (headquarters) setting up to reveal more of the invisible ink in Washington's bible when Abbie arrives. They both agree they've had busy mornings and Crane ever the gentleman says, "Ladies first." First she tells him that when she calls he has to answer. Crane is not happy with the flip phone she gave him and wants another, better one. Abbie tells him if he can use hers for a couple of days if he actually uses it then she'll get him the same one. She goes on to recount the surprise visit from Andy and him reaffirming the prophesy that Crane gives up her soul and they were destined to betray each other. Crane answers with a, "Poppycock," and Abbie knows it's not going to happen, but there is doubt.

He asks her about it and she reassures him. That Andy was just screwing with her head. Moving forward Crane has deciphered Washington's words and locates 10 false verses in the story of Lazarus. What is found are instructions for Crane from Washington. They read he knew all along that Crane was a witness. Further more Washington did die on 12/14/1799 and was brought back to life through witchcraft. Abbie tells Crane they've been through a lot, but a zombie Washington takes the cake.

Abbie had me laughing out loud with that comment. You knew a zombie reference was going to make onto this show some time. More reading. Washington says as he lingered between the world of the living and the dead that he could bring information from one into the other so that he could draft a map for Crane. Chartering a path from earth to purgatory. Crane has one thought on his mind. Find the map and free his wife.

Abbie knows Crane wants to free Katrina and tells him not to let it cloud his judgement. He in turn tells her not to let what Andy said about the prophesy get to her. That what they are doing is about defeating Moloch. Abbie agrees and holds out her hand, "shall we seal this accord?" They do.

Another clue they find is the Reverend Knapp was present at Washington's resurrection. They figure if they locate the prayer beads (that are full of sin) used in the ritual they can have the sin eater, Mr. Parrish, find out what Knapp knew of the map.

At the Sleepy Hollow precinct Captain Irving is being questioned about what happened to his family and the two officers up at the safehouse. He can't explain about the demon possessing his daughter and the detective doing the questioning is frustrated. The lead detective tells the other to take a break. He knows Irving because he was the one who sent him to Sleepy Hollow. He is concerned that Irving didn't tell him about the be-headings. The detective wants to blame Morales who was up at the safe house, but Irving tells him Morales is not the one. When asked who is Irving says Evil.

Andy Brooks is talking to himself. Saying he was weak and failed Moloch. An ugly voice answers him saying he is weak and laughs. Andy is mad and screams, "Take me seriously." More creepy laughing as Andy pleads to be made a weapon. He pledges to fight in Moloch's army and to burn the world. He is answered by being cocooned by some kind of flying creatures.

They are not spiders who we know spin a web.

In the graveyard Crane is thinking about Katrina and talking about their life before. All of a sudden you here the phone assistant saying she does not know what he means. He just looks at the phone and turns it off as Henry Parrish arrives via cab. They walk to Knapp's grave where Abbie is waiting. Knapp is well preserved due to being a warlock. Crane comments on the stitching around his neck and says an old flame would be most impressive. Abbie jumps in to ask who'd he date, Betsie Ross? He looks at her and asks how'd she know. Abbie is like are you serious?

Mr. Parrish grabs a hold of the prayer beads and is immediately burned. Crane and Abbie are concerned going any further to get the information needed. Parrish says he hadn't anticipated any kind resistance, but it's not impossible to get what they came for. He is up to the task and grabs a hold of the beads once more. He sees flashes of Washington and the ritual, a small boat on a river. Then he is thrown back away from Knapp's body taking the beads with him.

He relays to Crane what he saw and apologizes for not getting more. He needs a moment to himself leaving Abbie and Crane to talk. She tells him she knows how bad he wants Katrina back because there isn't anything she wouldn't do to have one more hour with her mom or a patrol ride with Corbin, but the day ever comes when you have to choose between the greater good and Katrina. If it ever comes to that could he sacrifice his freedom? That is what this fight is about. What they are willing to do to keep everyone, everything safe? Crane just shakes his head in agreement.

I really don't take that as a yes in my book, but that's just me.

Parrish is looking at his hand heal and there are creatures closing in on them all around. Abbie and Crane fend them off, but it is more imperative that they find that map. Back at the HQ they are going over what happened. Something Parrish says gives Crane a memory jog about masons taking their secrets to the grave with them. So now they figured that the map is buried with Washington. Returning to cocooned Andy he is breaking out and looks nothing like the decaying minion anymore. No he's undergone a full transformation into demon-hood with the ominous voice to match.

Abbie, Crane and Parrish go to Bannerman's island where they believe Knapp buried Washington. Crane is trying to use his map app, but it's not working. Although updates to Abbie's social network come through with ease. He teases Abbie about how she has 500 friends and he only had 7 close companions and 4 of them died. Those were good odds.

Abbie just says the term friend is used more loosely nowadays. Crane says Aristotle would be most unimpressed. Abbie chuckles, "Oh yeah, well he's dead too." Crane takes the lead to find the burial site during which time Abbie asks Parrish his thoughts about the prophesy. He's known about it from the beginning, but tells her that prophesies have a way of coming about only if you let them. Crane finds the marker for the grave and turns the stone counter clockwise. After a few minutes the ground moves to reveal Washington's grave.

Back at the station Irving learns Tom, his supposed friend and the lead detective on the case, are taking samples from Macy. Tom tells Irving his daughter is the only lead they got unless he has anything new to tell him. If they find her DNA on the priest they are going to arrest her. Irving tells him to be sure to have a warrant or else.

They find the map in Washington's grave easy enough. Abbie almost caused a disaster by opening the obvious trap, but Crane stopped her in time. On the wall is a seal that reads Cincinnatus. "A Roman General exiled to the life in farmlands. When Rome was under threat The Senate retrieved him and made him a dictator. When the crisis was over he gave up his power and moved back to the farm." Abbie took Latin in high school. Cincinnatus was Washington's hero.

Crane inspects the seal more closely and places his ring in a keyhole and lo and behold Washington's elaborate coffin appears. Crane can't wait to free Katrina now that he has the map. Their success is short lived when Andy arrives in his new form. He can't be reasoned with. He doesn't remember who he was, but then Parrish touches him and Andy comes back to himself for a few seconds. He tells Abbie to release him and she does with a what looked like to me to be a straight crowbar?

RIP Andy Brooks although I don't think that's going to happen.

The place is going up in flames and the entrance they came through is blocked. Crane points to the inner chamber and he figures out the Free Mason piece to the puzzle get them out.

Oh, oh Andy isn't quite dead, yet. Moloch wouldn't let him off that easy. However, Abbie does trigger the pyramid trap after all and he gets buried inside Washington's grave. Outside Abbie tells Crane what Andy told her about Moloch needing the map to win the war. She leaves the decision up to him and he burns it.

Irving is walking through the station thinking about Macy and everything that has happened. He confesses to Tom that he was the one to kill the priest and the officer. He walks through the station again in handcuffs.

Crane is at the cabin and he remembers Katrina asking him to find her and free her from purgatory. He then grabs paper and pencil and starts to re-draw Washington's map from his photographic memory.

Parrish is dreaming of Moloch and him raising a being from the ground. He calls Crane so they can meet. When he arrives at the cabin Jenny is there as well. He doesn't dispense with pleasantries. He tells them that Moloch will release hell on earth that day. He explains to them his vision of Moloch and an image of a man on a flaming horse riding against a solar eclipse. They are all familiar and no it's the second of four horsemen to be released, WAR.

Jenny mentions this can't be a coincidence. 13 years to the day. This is the anniversary of the girls first encounter with Moloch. Parrish reiterates that war is coming to Sleepy Hollow today.

Abbie goes to meet with Cynthia at the station, but is informed that they've already moved Irving. He left an organizer for her with marked pages. She goes back to HQ to find the others plan to stop the 2nd horseman from coming is to bind him, but they need a witch to do that.

I love Jenny.

She stands to the side and say, "Wait for it." Abbie has no clue that Crane made another map. She's a little upset, but not much and microscopically appreciates Crane's half truth. He wants them to remember Washington's word.

Jenny asks,"Which on the zombie Washington or Father of the free world Washington?"

The General said, "The battle between good and evil will be won or lost on a township that took its name from the hollowed ground on which it lay a doorway between worlds." Sleepy Hollow is the hotspot.

The day planner that Irving gave to Abbie is actually Knapp's and it has meetings with Corbin logged in as well as recording that Abbie has charged Jenny with going through. Jenny and Abbie talk alone about Abbie going to purgatory and what could happen. Abbie tells her she's tired of running and wants to face Moloch. Jenny tells her she doesn't want to lose her again that she can't. The sisters are bonding it's awesome!!! Jenny goes on to tell Abbie that if she isn't back by sundown she is coming hunting for her. Abbie tells her they're going to be okay.

Crane, Abbie and Parrish are int he woods. Parrish encourages them to hold onto hope and do not eat or drink anything in purgatory. Crane and Abbie say the incantation and the gateway shatters open wide. They hold hands and enter side by side. Abbie wakes in Corbin's cabin and Andy is there too. She's asking for Crane, but they don't know who he is. Corbin explains she was at the academy when she got knocked out in a live fire exercise. She's there to recuperate. She relents and hugs Corbin glad to see him once again, but deep down she knows there's something she's suppose to be doing.

Crane is reunited with his father and he is being honored with a full professorship for his years of service to his majesty's army. He embraces his father as a toast is prepared.

Corbin is serving apple pie and ice cream, but Abbie stops herself and remembers Crane. She doesn't believe the illusion anymore and runs to get out. She turns back to see Andy and Corbin in their death states then the door opens and she's pulled out into a blinding light.

The toast is made to Crane and he about to drink, but stops thinking of a conversation with Abbie. He knows it's a dream. His fake father starts to rant and rave at Crane to no avail. Crane runs out the way he came and is pulled out by the same blinding light as Abbie.

This time they are in a dark woods. Lost souls are everywhere. Crane makes his way around and finds Abbie. To be sure each is who they say Abbie asks Crane, "After we trapped the horseman what did I teach you?" Crane proceeds to show her and offers his closed fist to tap with hers.

They survived their first test, Temptation. They remembered each other to see this world for what it really is. They find Katrina in the church. She sees Ichabod and tells him he shouldn't have come back. He jumps right into asking her what she knows about Washington's bible. All she knows is he wanted her to ensure that it made its way to Ichabod. Crane explains the gateway and that he came to take her away. She tell shim that she can't leave this place without being forgiven. If she were to leave without that it would break down the walls between worlds. Abbie refuses to believe they came all this way to be stopped by a metaphysical technicality. There is a way for Katrina to leave and it's exactly what the prophesy said would come forth.

Abbie offers to stay behind Crane says out of the question. Abbie tells him she has to face Moloch. She can't keep running away, she won't. Crane calls her by her rank, but Abbie says she isn't asking his permission. She reminds him he didn't ask hers when he went and died before knowing Parrish could separate him from the horseman. Crane in turn reminds her that she is the one to convince him that there is always another way. "This is the only way," Abbie swears to him. "We were chosen for this. To sacrifice ourselves so that humanity can endure. So that people can choose their destiny. It's my turn Ichabod." Crane wants to fight her on this, but he knows she's right, but he makes one last effort.

"Moloch warned me that I would deliver you to him and here we are. If we do this his prophesy will be fulfilled." Moloch approaches, they are out of time. Katrina gives Abbie her amulet bound by the sisterhood of the radiant heart. It will to protect her from Moloch. Katrina vows not to leave her there for long. Once they have stopped War's arrival she will return to set her free. Abbie says she's counting on it.

"I swear to you for as long as I can draw breath." Crane is making his vow, but Abbie interrupts him, "Our work is not done. You will come back for me that I know." They hug full of fear and respect for one another.

"Remember our bond. I'll come back for you. Faith." These are Crane's last words to Abbie before she tells them to go and they do. Parrish is there waiting for them and asks for Abbie. Crane tells him what happened and Parrish just says, "Moloch's prophesy." Moloch arrives. He speaks. "No escape." He rushes Abbie and grabs her by the throat. "Now you are mine."

"Never yours," Abbie claims, "I never will be." She touches the amulet to Moloch's shoulder and he lets her go. He screams in pain and Abbie uses this to run away.

Katrina is still getting use to being out of purgatory. She calls for Ichabod. "Is this real? Am I truly here?" Parrish introduces himself to her. Crane has her locate the 4 white trees.

Jenny finds the church Corbin talked about on his tapes.

Crane, Katrina and Parrish find the area with the 4 white trees. Katrina says she can feel a great evil.

Returning to Jenny at the abandoned church she is listening to Corbin's tape. He dug into the church's history and found that it changed owners over the course of two centuries. Was renamed several times before being abandoned, but it's last recorded title seems to have disappeared from the county files altogether. Corbin didn't believe in coincidence and questioned why someone would want to hide an abandoned church's name.

Jenny is sitting on the steps of the church thinking of what to do now. A clinking sound catches her attention and she investigates. She brushes away the leaves and dirt to find a church sign. When she reads t she quickly takes off carrying the sign with her. She's driving like a bat out of hell and calling Abbie on the phone.

"Abbie it's me god I hope you're ok. I figured out Moloch's riddle. The Saint's name is a sign. He meant it literally. So what ever you do you can't trust." CRACK the windshield of the truck is shot through by The Horseman. He sends another shot to one of the tires and the truck rolls leaving Jenny knocked out and bleeding.

Abbie is still running from Moloch who is none too happy. She ends up falling into a house. She sees herself and Jenny when they were young girls. She asks them what is this place and little Jenny tells her it's the place they felt most safe. Little Abbie says there's a reason she can't remember. Abbie says they blacked out, but little Abbie says no that they saw more. Little Abbie explains the reason she can't remember is because they are her memory. Moloch took them out of her head and Jenny's. So that they would forget the truth. They've been locked away since that day so she couldn't find them.

Back to Crane, Katrina and Parrish. Carne notices the eclipse is almost complete. Katrina says there's something wrong. The binding spell isn't working. She feels nothing beneath the ground. The second horseman is suppose to be there, but it's gone. Parrish tells them the 2nd horseman is here. He asks if they know the etymology of the word apocalypse? Crane answers, "to disclose or reveal." Parrish says, "that time has come." Crane calls him, "Henry?"

Parrish sends Crane and Katrina flying, each imprisoned on the 4 white trees. Crane say, "We trusted you." Parrish tells him he needed faith and he gave it to him, to Katrina and even Abbie. He says faith is a pillar of human nature. "The belief that all will end well if we just cling on to it with all our might and it is what blinds us to what is right in front of us all along." He played his part planting the seeds. He boasts that he gave Ichabod the answer so many times. Katrina asks who he is? Parrish turns to her and says she still sees so little. "Don't you know? Can't you guess?" Katrina guesses wrong. Parrish tells them the 2nd horseman was unleashed a decade ago.

Little Abbie gives big Abbie her memory back. Abbie and Jenny saw Moloch raise the 2nd horseman that day in the woods. Katrina finally realizes that Parrish is the 2nd horseman, but it's Parrish who shocks Katrina and Crane when he calls her mother and him father. Katrina says no and Crane calls him by his real name Jeremy.

He was thought to be dead and Parrish says, "murdered by my mother's own coven. Condemned as an orphan. Wayward warlock and left to wither in a plain pine box. My blood, our blood was strong enough to breath life back into my lungs." He cuts his hands and lets the blood fall. The ground falls away so you can see his old prison. Katrina tells him he survived the death hex and he tells her death would've been a merciful gift compared with what followed.

"For two centuries lying weakened in this dark prison. Fading on the vines that crept in alongside of me. Crying out to the pitiless god that put me there and to the two ho abandoned me to eternal suffering. Then after two centuries I heard a voice. The voice of my true father offering salvation."

"Jeremy Moloch is not your father. He is the prince of lies." Crane implores his son.

"He came and took me up out of the earth. od sent a witness to try and stop me, but she was not yet strong enough. We defeated her then and we have defeated her now."

Abbie is running around trying to find a way out now that she knows who Parrish really is. Little Abbie tells her it's too late. That this is her home now. The camera pans out showing Abbie is trapped in a dollhouse.

Crane accuses Parrish of creating a family history, even his name. Parrish says not his name. It was given to him by God's grace. The very church Kristina abandoned him at is the first place he came upon. So he took the Saint's name to spite him. Crane begs Jeremy to listen to him. Katrina tells him that everything she did was to protect him. Parrish lashes out that he spent two centuries in the earth for their choices.

Crane yells back that Katrina spent two centuries in purgatory paying for that choice. Parrish laughs saying this is their first family spat. Nothing they say to him matters. The two witnesses are separated and breaking the second seal is imminent. The Horseman arrives and takes Katrina. Parrish releases Crane only to place him in his old pine box prison. Parrish stands above Crane and breaks the seal.

"War isn't coming to Sleepy Hollow. It's been here waiting all along. Now it begins. Good bye father." Crane screams as the lid to his prison is shut.