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Sleepy Hollow: The Weeping Lady

Ichabod: "Katrina sent a bird bearing a message for me."
Abbie: "I'm assuming that's not some Colonial euphemism?"

Ichabod Crane, Colonial heartbreaker.

Poor "Miss Caroline." She was actually churning butter and sewing period clothes for the object of her desire, only to get drowned by one of his old flames. At least her infatuation with Ichabod and his obsession with "staying in character" gave the producers of Sleepy Hollow another opportunity to expand Crane's eighteenth century wardrobe. He wore quite a spiffy outfit to Caroline's very re-enactment funeral.

It shouldn't be surprising that Ichabod was such a heartbreaker back then as well as now, since he's unfailingly noble as well as extremely attractive. Not noble enough to marry Mary Wells, though, to whom he'd been promised since childhood. Let's see. Mary Wells was jealous, irrational and wouldn't take no for an answer, a total negative female stereotype, and she turned into a spirit that wept eternally about being jilted, another negative female stereotype. At least she was a benign spirit. That is, until Henry Parrish decided to cause some serious mischief for his parents.


With all of the terrible things they've been through, Ichabod and Katrina have remained steadfast in their love for each other — at least until now. Maybe they just weren't together long enough back in the day for Ichabod to notice that Katrina might not pass the smell test. Note that we didn't see what happened at the top of that cliff. Did Katrina kill Mary? Katrina also used Abbie to help her with a dark spell to get rid of the Weeping Lady. Was Katrina deliberately endangering our Abbie?

Not to mention the ending, where Moloch told Henry that Katrina is a "hellfire shard" and a "chosen vessel." It looks very much as if Katrina is on a scenic trip to the dark side of the Force, if she isn't already there.

Katrina said she faked the letter to keep Ichabod from being noble, from going back to England to explain Mary's death to her family and endangering his advent as a Witness. But it just didn't ring true, and Ichabod has now realized that trust and honesty might be an issue with Katrina. It's an interesting development. I almost felt sorry for Bram, who wasn't part of Henry's dastardly plan. Bram wants to win Katrina's love without trickery. Pretty noble for a Headless Horseman of the Apocalypse, huh?

Lots of other good stuff in this episode, too. Since I'm a librarian (and a Buffy fan), I love it when there are scenes in libraries. The effects they used for the Weeping Lady were suitably creepy, and I enjoyed how Abbie wasn't intimidated by a ghost showing up in the stacks. The drowning sequence was intense, and the fact that Ichabod didn't know CPR made sense. Good thing Hawley was there in a pinch to save Abbie. (I bet that Ichabod will sign up for a CPR class before the next episode.)

But despite his rakish blond hair, attractive outdoor living room and newfound willingness to help out, I am still not warming to Hawley. Is the character just not clicking with me? When Jenny showed up and started smooching with him, I was going, "Oh, no." And not in a good way.

But I did love the final scene of Henry sitting on the floor with his legs splayed out, crying like a child having a tantrum. Things aren't going well for him. Henry needs a win, or he could be in serious trouble with Moloch. Not that I want Henry to have a win.

Bits and pieces:

-- Miss Caroline, who by the way resembled Katrina, had a novelty cup: I [heart] Founding Fathers. That made me smile.

-- The place names on this show are always cool. Like "Blind Brook River," which is difficult to say three times fast. Showing up in the nearest body of water felt a little like stuff that happens in the new show Forever.

-- This week's man out of time bits were Ichabod's description of what a lover's lane used to be like in his day, and his reference to paramedics as "mobile doctors."

-- Of course, Supernatural did something similar to the Weeping Lady with a "Woman in White." Maybe I should just shut up about Supernatural parallels.

-- This week's supernatural gadget was Van Helsing's crossbow.

-- Tom Mison had a difficult time working with his avian co-star.

Quotes:

Ichabod: "Oh, look. She comes bearing a selection of delicacies from the Far East."
Abbie: "Commonly known as Yummy Food Szechuan."

Abbie: "Anyone could tell that girl had a case of Crane on the brain."

Henry: "I relish any chance to cause my parents pain."
Aww, Henry. So in need of therapy.

Abbie: "Just send her a text. It's the way it's done these days."
Ichabod: "A missive composed by thumb cannot adequately convey emotions."
Abbie: "Hence, emoticons."
Ichabod: "Oh, yes. A grimacing lemon caricature. That should do the trick."

Hawley: "There's a lot going on right now. Monsters, creatures, Armageddon … it's a weird time."

Moloch: "I want the witch turned, not dead. She is one of the hellfire shards. A chosen vessel."
Wow. That really can't be good.

Three out of four swatches of Scottish black lace,

Billie
---
Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

10 comments:

  1. So I guess the real question is whether Manqué Sawyer, Captain Mad TV, Abby's sister, or Katrina will end up as the next Horseman (or Horsewoman).

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  2. According to TVLine, Michelle Trachtenberg will play Abigal Adams in an upcoming episode.

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  3. Grimm also did a take on the weeping lady in a season 2 episode: La llorona. I guess every "monster" show must have its take on the legend!

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  4. One thing I liked about the library scene - no horribly stereotypical librarian going "shush" (I'm a librarian too). Actually, there was no sign of any library staff - was the library self-service?

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  5. Hawley really is a low-rent Sawyer isn't he? Except not half as funny and charismatic as the real deal.
    More of Miss Jenny please.
    Ah Ichabod, heart breaker extraordinaire.
    Katrina's kinda scary, I wonder if she killed Mary..

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  6. Hand up - another librarian!

    My biggest question is how they explained away a near drowning in the middle of the library to the paramedics!

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  7. As the endgame couple in this show is fairly obvious, I am interested in the route they are taking Katrina. She is certainly showing herself as not a very trustworthy person.

    Did anyone else feel that Crane's not knowing that Caroline was interested in him a bit of a stretch? It made for a funny scene, but didn't quite ring true for me.

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  8. Hayley is just like Duke on Haven. I tried to relate him to other classic bad boys. Like Maze said, Sawyer from Lost came to mind, but here is really no comparison. The crossbow made me think of Daryl on the Walking Dead, but Daryl has more dignity. Overall, Hawley seems to be a very formulaic character.

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  9. Well, that is exactly what I didn't want to see: Ichabod getting hurt. First by the death of Miss Caroline (which brought me close to tears), then by Katrina's lies. The funny thing is, I still think she really does love him and supports his cause. Or at least supports the role he needs to play as Witness, whatever that is. But he's right that he can't trust her. And without trust in a relationship, you have nothing.

    Count me in on Team "not warming to Hawley." The guy bugs. It's probably the "low-rent Sawyer" thing. It's like he wants to be Sawyer, but isn't anywhere near charming enough. Which just makes him more irritating.

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