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Sleepy Hollow: Paradise Lost

Ichabod: "Without the threat of apocalypse, what is my place in the world?"

This was a monster-of-the-week episode. Except it wasn't a monster. No, wait. Yes, it was.

I liked that the Sleepy Hollow powers that be didn't even try to make us think that "angel" automatically meant "good." Orion's look was outright demonic: pointed ears, freaky eyes, black wings, Crusader clothes, creepy holier-than-thou attitude. It wasn't a surprise that he turned out to be a harbinger of doom: a religious wingnut, pun intended, who wanted to bring about paradise on earth by stealing the Horseman's power and killing practically everyone.

Other than that, plus c'est la meme chose. The Apocalypse maybe kinda might be over, except now we have all these demonic bad guys escaping from Purgatory. Ichabod is still dithering back and forth between Abbie and Katrina over saving Abraham's humanity, and I still don't get it. I'm one hundred percent with Abbie on this one. He's the freaking Horseman of the Apocalypse running around beheading people every night. Okay, I wasn't engaged to him, but why is this still a thing? Is it just guilt about cheating on Abraham that is motivating Katrina?

No, wait. I don't care. Although I did think it was fun that Ichabod and Katrina were fighting about Abraham with an obvious figure of a back-lit angel directly behind and between them. And at least the battling Cranes are separated now. Poor Ichabod wound up on a tiny cot in the Archives, while Katrina has August Corbin's cabin. How fair is that?

I also liked that Abbie met an angel and immediately started pumping him for information. (Apparently God has no gender, creation didn't just take a week, and there's no word on Heaven.) How interesting, too, that Orion told Abbie and Ichabod that Witnesses are supposed to observe, not fight evil. Well, we knew Abbie and Ichabod were special. Although personally, I'd probably tune in if all they did was banter at a farm market.

So, to conclude. Just like the Kindred out there with the Horseman's head, Orion is out there in the wings, pun intended, and Abbie still has his calling card. I'm still unclear about whether or not the Apocalypse has been averted, but at least there is still evil to fight and Ichabod and Abbie will have plenty to keep them busy. At least Ichabod won't need to get a job as a greeter at Wal-mart or something. (Although wouldn't that be fun to watch?)

Plus Frank Irving is alive! That's good. Unless he's one of the walking dead, like Andy Brooks... hmm. Is that why Frank is still walking around? Because he sold his soul, like Andy?

Bits and pieces:

-- I felt mildly cheated that we didn't see the resolution of the cliffhanger, or what happened to Henry. Everyone just woke up and hugged it out. Will we find out what happened later in the season?

-- Sleepy Hollow continued to parallel Supernatural by introducing a scary and interesting angel. Although Orion was no Castiel.

-- George Washington didn't see an angel at Valley Forge. Apparently that was a fictional account that snuck into the historical record.

-- Abbie was talking with Ichabod on a cell phone about Orion, and Orion was standing right there. It just seemed to me that a powerful angel would have been able to hear both sides of that conversation. Right?

-- Diavoli. Sounds like a dish made with pasta and spices, doesn't it?

-- The scenes at Mabie's Tavern with Jenny and the nice bartender, Hawley and the magical eggs just sort of floated by me. Except that Jenny looked gorgeous.

-- The next episode is in two weeks.

Quotes:

Abbie: "The whole farm-to-table movement is on fire."
Ichabod: "I still fail to understand how that constitutes a movement."

Abbie: "Reinvention isn't such a bad thing. Have you ever had a Grapple?"
Ichabod: "I have had to engage in hand-to-hand combat on many occasions."

Ichabod: "Something supernatural is gestating. I'm certain of it."

Abbie: "A husband? You're really going there?"

Ichabod: "I shall need a job. A permanent abode."
Abbie: "… a 401(k), a mortgage, health insurance, credit cards, social security, an accountant, a dentist, your own set of wheels…"
A motorcycle, perhaps?

Katrina: "With Moloch gone, you're a horseman without an apocalypse."

Ichabod: "How can we be certain he is as he says?"
Abbie: "Wings are kind of a dead giveaway. Can't trust an angel, who can you trust?"
Ichabod: "Lucifer was an angel."
Abbie: "Noted."

Abbie: "Do all angels speak perfect English?"
Orion: "To me, all language sounds the same."
Abbie: "That's got to be pretty handy on a European vacation."

Mostly set-up, I assume? Two out of four Grapples,

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

8 comments:

  1. I wish the writers would either give Katrina something substantial to do other than feel guilty over her 'failures' as Henry's mother and Abraham's fiancée. Either that or kill her off, she's not working at all for me like this. The first season she was this powerful witch, a force in the fight against evil, and now she's just an apologist for the men whose atrocities she blames herself for.

    Too bad for Abbie Castiel didn't show up instead. Although on second thought, I'm not sure season 4 Cas would've been a huge improvement.

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  2. Yes, exactly. It's like the writers have something in mind that we're just not seeing. But at this point, it's never going to be good enough to pay off, you know?

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  3. Totally agreed, ladies. Katrina's insistence on saving Abraham was ridiculous and annoying. Abbie was completely in the right in wanting to just finish him the hell off, so I kind of hate that the writers completely undermined her by having the angel turn out to be worse than the Horseman of Death. Seriously, show? You can't just let Abbie be right and Katrina be wrong? I hope whatever Katrina does to "fix" Abraham kills them both and we can just move on.

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  4. oh boy ... what happened to this show?! I keep watching, but it's just ... SO BAD. What demon took over the script writing?! I hope it's not Moloch!

    I guess the biggest problem is that there's no tension anymore. No romantic tension, no apocalyptic tension, no police tension.

    Not sure what angered me most: the completely useless and badly acted angel, Katrina, Katrina, Katrina, or Katrina. Oh, and now Hawley suddenly remembers he still likes Jenny? That's so CHEAP, writers! At least give him a decent and meaningful death if you don't know what do to with him.

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  5. Too bad they didn't take everything from Supernatural and skipped the scenes of Orion flying becasue the CGI looked so fake...

    Irving = Horseman of Famine?

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  6. Patryk wrote: Irving = Horseman of Famine? Good catch, Patryk. That might be the reason he was downing half and half.

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  7. My take on Irving's return was that he went to Purgatory when he died, and was one of the escapees when Moloch died. I do suspect he's a Horsemen, or will be (the other two still have to show up sometime, right?)

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  8. This reminded me too much of Supernatural. I'm all for a good homage, but come on. This was bordering on a cut and paste.

    I'm with TSK. I assumed Irving had come from Purgatory. Having said that, how creepy did he look?

    Time for Katrina to go. Not only do the writers have no idea what to do with her, but she and Crane have absolutely zero chemistry. When she was trying to get him into bed, I kinda cringed.

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