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Sleepy Hollow: The Sisters Mills

I find I'm not paying as much attention to Sleepy Hollow as I once did. This episode was fun, but frankly, what I came away with was Ichabod Crane stoned at the dentist.

Not that Pandora isn't interesting. There seems to be something going on there other than just your standard apocalyptic evil. For instance, Sumerian, not Greek? Maybe Ichabod and Abbie actually are "Napalutu," destroyers? Abbie doesn't "crave mortality?" Very confusing. But Pandora did get to do her best Nurse Ratched this time. I like Shannon Sossamyn. I'll give it time.

Unfortunately, the A plot mostly reminded me of a truly terrible Buffy episode about a child-killing monster that adults can't see. The multiple choice bit on the citizenship test got my Buffy brain going, too. "This is the SATs, Buffy. Not connect-the-dots."

The monster itself was actually pretty creepy, though, I'll give them that — especially the way it walked on four limbs but upside down. I liked the Paul Revere dentistry stuff, with the silver nitrate and the dentistry tools that fit together as a demon-killing weapon. We met Paul Revere before, back in season one. Not the same actor. No matter.

But really, the episode was about two sisters saving two much younger sisters. Abbie and Jenny save people — it's what they do. And after years of estrangement, it has brought them together, and that's lovely. The best sisterly moment was during the tooth fairy stake-out, when Abbie finally confessed to Jenny that she had found their father, and Jenny said, oh yeah, I found him five years ago. Very in character for both of them. I'm sure this will lead to them confronting their father, and that might actually bring them closer. Or blow them apart. Hey, I don't know.

Tom Mison is still why I watch, though. I enjoy everything he says because of the way he says it. "How now." "In sooth." That bit of con artistry that he did on the phone where he said he was the curator of an exhibition at the Hudson Valley Historical Society and Armory was adorable. So was his presentation on George Washington to the school children, and seeing him totally stoned at the dentist. Although the logical part of me was wondering why he got laughing gas for a cleaning.

The Betsy Ross love interest flashbacks are doing nothing for me, though. Could we have free range flashbacks back again, please? Ichabod navigating the "choppy brine of citizenship" with Zoe Corinth was a lot more fun, and all they did was text. If Pandora is Sumerian instead of Greek, maybe Zoe is what she appears to be. That would be nice for Ichabod. If Zoe isn't just being set up as cannon fodder.

Bits:

-- We have two new cast members: Zach Appelman (Joe) and Lance Gross (Danny Reynolds). I have no opinion to express about this development.

-- I gather that Ichabod's serious stab wound in the previous episode is all better?

-- Abbie was already making up excuses not to report for work. As I said before, this FBI thing just doesn't work for me.

-- Along with the other weird stuff, Pandora told Abbie that God told Pandora's father to beat her until she "forgot all language" and sell her into slavery. And that she got her owner to feed her father to a lion. Maybe that's what is in store for Papa Mills?

-- Very little development in the Sophie Foster situation. (The woman who stole the Shard of Anubis.)

-- The famous Bones/Sleepy Hollow two hour crossover is next week! I used to watch Bones because of David Boreanaz, but haven't in years. 

Quotes:

Abbie: "We share a roof, Crane. I know a lot of things I can't unknow."

Ichabod: "Little wonder, you had a silver specie nestled in your ear!"
Saffron: "It was in your hand the whole time."
Pretending to pull a quarter out of a child's ear was probably all the rage in the eighteenth century.

Ichabod: "There once was a lady from cork,
Whose pa made a fortune in pork.
He bought for his daughter
A tutor who taught her
To balance green peas on her … ouch!"
That would be 'fork', I assume?

Ichabod: "Many fairy tales derive from darker origins, subsequently lost in translation. I do not recall Disney's Cinderella featuring the wicked sisters cutting off their own feet."
Absolutely true. They were mostly intended as cautionary tales. Like, if you wander off into the woods, a witch will cook and eat you.

Ichabod: "…George Washington. A great man, but who is not in fact the wealthiest man in America. He did not farm his own hemp, although he did partake in laudanum tincture from time to time. But who didn't?"

Joe: "I don't know. Sounds like you're overthinking it."
Ichabod: "As is my way."

Ichabod: "I'm adorable."
Well, he is.

A bit better than next week, but not what I wanted. More arc, please!

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

2 comments:

  1. Yeah, I agree. I actually fast-forwarded through huge chunks of this episode, because I just can’t with the Betsy Ross stuff and the MOTW bits do nothing for me if the main characters aren’t directly involved (apparently MOTW stories in general don’t do it for me anymore). But I did enjoy the Sisters Mills material, the assorted Ichabod things, and Shannon Sossamyn being evil out and about in the community. I get bored whenever she’s in the cave with the treevil, but she is super creepy when she’s in modern day dress and being all “nice” to people.

    I was thinking maybe Abbie sent Ichabod for some “sedation dentistry,” which I believe is designed for folks that are so scared of the dentist they need to be knocked out to even get through a cleaning. Given Ichabod’s past experiences with Paul Revere, I can see him being a perfect candidate for that approach. :)

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  2. I liked Sleepy Hollow last season... and I like it this season as well. Because... well... because I like Sleepy Hollow. But I do get what a lot of people are saying. I think there should be more direct confrontations between Pandora and our two witnesses. In my opinion, you are exactly right, Billie; it's time for more arc. I believe we need to know what big evil mountain Ichabod and Abbie need to climb or cause to come crashing down! And I would love to see Ichabod navigate modern dating. That would be hilarious!

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