Ichabod determines (and has a discomforting nightmare about) what the Horseman plans to do with captive Katrina. One of the many apocryphal texts details how a Horseman may take a human bride in a gruesome binding ritual. Meanwhile, Abbie’s got her own struggle with adjusting to the new sheriff in town. Leena Reyes (Sakina Jaffrey) seeks to “bring some sanity” back into the town of Sleepy Hollow.
After some behavioral deduction and a bit of historical research, Abbie and Ichabod determine where Abraham is keeping Katrina. When he finds the same sketch from an apocryphal text in Benjamin Franklin’s sketchbook, Ichabod suggests raising “The Kindred” to aid in Katrina’s rescue. Back in revolutionary times, Katrina and her coven (The Sisters of the Radiant Heart) provided Ben Franklin with a spell that would summon a creature to rival the Horseman of Death in strength and invulnerability. Franklin put together a patchwork man out the strongest body parts of fallen soldiers, but the spell was never completed: they lacked the vital ingredient, a piece of the Horseman himself.
Though they argue whether the benefits outweigh the risks, Abbie ultimately gives in to Ichabod’s plan. She visits Irving in prison and urgently inquires where he hid the Horseman’s head. She also commends his bravery in going to jail, but encourages him to tell the truth and go for an insanity defense. He submits to a lie detector test and ends up on Sheriff Reyes’ radar.
Reyes is not putting up with any of the suspicious shenanigans that Crane and the Mills sisters get up to. Or Irving – she sends him to Tarrytown Psychiatric for evaluation (with some rather questionable therapy treatsments!). Also, she’s mentioned she is familiar with the Mills family, which is both a pro and a con. Though Abbie and Jenny don’t recognize her, Leena Reyes attended a few of the house calls made to the Mills home in their childhood. While this allows us to get more hints about Abbie’s “little bit, totally crazy” mother (her words, not mine), the new sheriff also doesn’t have any qualms about searching Jenny’s bag because she is “familiar with her file.” Which turns out to be very inconvenient when Miss Jenny is carrying a bag of weapons to bring to her sister and Ichabod.
Jenny takes one for the team and prevents Abbie from trying to take responsibility for the illegal firearms. My favorite princess of the apocalypse is jailed for violating her probation, leaving Ichabod and Abbie to raise The Kindred on their own. However, Henry and Abraham/Headless are expecting them. (Also, it looks like Henry summons his gift from Moloch in the previous episode with a pen – does “controlling it with his soul” involve some sort of blood magic?) Before the fight, Katrina manages to emotionally manipulate Abraham to delay the binding ritual until she submits of her own free will. (Points for Mrs. Crane!) While Headless/Abraham is fighting The Kindred with backup from Henry’s War Horseman Puppet, Ichabod successfully sneaks in to rescue his wife.
Only she says no.
If Katrina flees with Ichabod now, Abraham will hunt her down mercilessly. “He thinks in time I will learn to love him,” she says, declaring she will use her close position to gather information about Abraham and Henry’s plots for Moloch. She also admits she had “more than a measure of responsibility” in what happened to their son and will attempt to save him. Meanwhile, Abbie joins the fight as both backup and further distraction, but is nearly overwhelmed by the two Horseman. The Kindred pointedly protects her and allows her to escape with Ichabod.
Although the Kindred is now MIA, Abbie fully believes the creature is on their side. Katrina may prove to be their trump card now that she’s their mole, and though Jenny is still jailed, she trusts in Abbie to eventually get her out. But SH is the best at throwing in obstacles, twists, and surprises just as an episode nears its conclusion, and this one was no exception. I was going “FFFFFUUUUUU—” at the TV when Jeremy Crane Henry Parrish introduced himself as Frank Irving’s new defense attorney.
And that pen he was suspiciously crafting earlier? Not for his War puppet at all – it’s a pen with which he cleverly tricks Irving into signing a contract with his own blood.
Verdict: I love Katrina as a character, but she’s been sorely underused and subjected to a lot of criticism by members of the fandom. It was good to see her actually putting her mind to use by manipulating Abraham, but the episode raised just as many concerns. His earlier words about Ichabod’s bond with Abbie seemed to strike a chord – are we going to have to worry about Katrina’s alliance wavering? Also, it’d be really nice to see her actually put those “extraordinary abilities” as a witch to USE one of these days. It seems like with Katrina (and ONLY with Katrina) the writers are falling prey to the “tell-instead-of-show” habit which is baaaaad. On the plus side, we got more Ichabod-struggles-in-modern-times quips, more glimpses into Abbie’s past, and it’s nice to see another female cop in town, even if I don’t trust her. For that, I’ll give the episode a 2.5 out of 5.
Just what are Henry’s plans for an unsuspecting Irving, and do they have anything to do with why Jenny has a gun pointed at Abbie in the promo for next week? What about Abraham’s claim that soon “this world” will no longer exist? STAY TUNED, SLEEPYHEADS.
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