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Sleepy Hollow: Pittura Infamante

"I'm sorry your date night didn't go well."

Well done. Surprisingly creepy, too.

I love what they've done with mirrors as portals, and what they did with that painting was equally cool. The changes in the painting and the excellent shuddery special effects creeped me out and even made me jump out of my seat once. (I particularly commend them for the one when the artist turned his head and looked at Ichabod and Katrina.) The inverted cross, the body hung like the Tarot card of the Hanged Man, and the blood not coming off the hands, again, well done.

Maybe the date night idea didn't come off quite as well, though. Seriously, Katrina needs to go back to the eighteenth century or something, and the Crane date night at the Historical Society sparked a discussion about that very thing. Ichabod, despite his insistence on hanging on to his Colonial duds, is referring to the present as his own time, while Katrina was longing for the past and reminiscing about her friendship with Abigail Adams.

(It was fun to have a Founding Mother for a change, and I'll give her this: Michelle Tractenberg didn't once make me think of Dawn Summers.)

And maybe I would have enjoyed this rather cool episode more if it had been Ichabod and Abbie instead of the Cranes. Why did they have our heroine basically sitting at her desk for most of the episode? There was that nice conversation with Frank, yes, and I liked that Abbie has already considered that Frank might be (1) in an Andy Brooks sort of situation, and (2) Henry's creature, because I wouldn't expect her to miss that. I also liked that she and Jenny were already considering the unwelcome possibility that they might have to find a way to kill Frank. I also liked the creepy way Frank appeared in the mirror of the interrogation room — that had to be a deliberate parallel to the painting plot.

So it wasn't a perfect episode. What bothered me even more than the way they didn't use Abbie was Ichabod and Katrina jumping into the painting without leaving so much as a text about where they were going. What if they'd gotten stuck in there forever? Plus, when Ichabod and Katrina entered the painting, they walked around the Colby house as if their task wasn't the least bit urgent. Wasn't a man's life at stake? And at one point, Ichabod left Katrina in a room alone with the painting. Yes, she's a powerful witch, but come on. For that matter, why did Jenny have to dig up that body alone, at night? Even I knew that the very gooey body was going to come back to life when Jenny removed that last platinum bullet.

But really, I'm nitpicking. Mostly. Except that I'm going to talk about Ichabod's hair now.


Look at this. What were they thinking? Did the director decide that they wanted Ichabod in a Gibson Girl? If they had wanted Ichabod to look sexy for date night, they should have had him let his hair down.

And I'm done now.

Bits and pieces:

-- In the flashback, Abigail Adams called the future Henry a "little monster." Where is Henry, by the way? He's been missing since the mid-season finale. I want to know what happened to him.

-- Abigail Adams was assisted in trapping James Colby in the painting by the Reverend Knapp from season one.

-- Didn't the covered-in-blood Colby look like Lilith in True Blood? It looked like someone painted him head to toe in cranberry sauce.

-- There was mention of John Adams as the defense lawyer for Jack-the-Ripper-like murders in 1781 Durham. I didn't find anything about that, although John Adams did famously defend British Army soldiers in 1770.

-- The mighty Wikipedia has an interesting entry for "pittura infamante." I know something about art but had never heard of it before. Although I did immediately notice the resemblance to the Hanged Man tarot card.

-- Yes, of course Supernatural did an episode about a killer trapped in a painting ("Provenance.")

-- Jenny was wearing a killer outfit in the previous episode. Katrina outdid her in this one.

-- When Fox renewed three shows this week, they did not renew Sleepy Hollow (yet), and acknowledged that the show needs "fixing." I honestly don't understand why they don't just eliminate their two dullest and least organic characters, Katrina and Hawley. Sooner rather than later. Please.

Quotes:

Ichabod: "How can one be both business and casual?"

Abbie: "An event at the Historical Society. Pretty much the opposite of putting the past behind you."

Abbie: "Which reminds me, no name-dropping Founding Fathers tonight. No first hand accounts of your apprenticeship with Benjamin Franklin, your fling with Betsy Ross…"
Katrina: "You had a dalliance with Betsy Ross?"
Ichabod: "Betsy who?"
Abbie: "Good answer."

Ichabod: "In modern America, touching in public is quite permitted. Also warrants the expression, 'get a room'."

Abbie: "You can take the girl out of the eighteenth century…"
Ichabod: "But it is a more formidable endeavor to remove the eighteenth century from the girl."

Abbie: "This isn't our first round with a resurrected friend."

Abbie: "I guess even treasure hunters have Yelp reviews."

Ichabod: (re: Sheriff Reyes) "It seems one of us will always be out of her favor."

Very good, despite my nitpicking. Three out of four inverted crosses,

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

6 comments:

  1. I think that the writers are trying to whip up enthusiasm for Crane and Katrina but I just don't see it. As gorgeous as she is, that actress and Mison don't have one tenth the chemistry that Crane and Abby do.

    Although I do admit that the dress that Katrina was wearing was a stunner. Was it me or did anybody else think that Abby looked a little jealous?

    And I kept waiting for somebody to feed Frank. The guy was hungry.

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  2. I think maybe we got our first hint of Henry in the ending kicker about Frank being off the hook. The new captain said some sort of evidence turned up to vindicate him. I strongly suspect that "legal eagle" Henry Parrish had something to do with that, because he wants his new tool to be free to wander about in the world.

    I didn't mind this one. I agree that sidelining Abbie is a huge problem, but I thought getting a solid episode of the Cranes just working together without all the Henry/Abraham drama (except for small references to past events) was refreshing. I agree that Katrina and Ichabod really don't have much chemistry, but if she's sticking around, they may as well make her slightly less annoying and occasionally useful.

    I was super excited to see Jaime Murray in the preview for next week. Of course, I'm not thrilled that the episode seems to be about giving us some Hawley backstory, but at least we'll get Jaime Murray!

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  3. I still thought of Dawn whenever Michelle Trachtenberg showed up unfortunately. But Abigail wasn't in the episode too much.

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  4. Katrina's strongest episode this season which isn't saying a whole lot for her, is it? She has little chemistry with Icky (especially in comparison with Abby) and while her witchiness gives her the potential for having a purpose but she has astonishingly little personality. Figure out what to do with her or cut her loose, writers! She's bringing down the whole show! (No offense at all to Katia Winter. I really don't think this is her fault)

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  5. I rather disagree with those who say that all the problems are not Winter's. Perhaps. Except, throughout the episode, all I was aware of was that she was acting. Not once did she make me believe that she is Katrina. I can't put my finger on what is irking me, but something about the way she is playing the character is taking me away from the show.

    I don't think I can quit this show all together as I love the Crane 'man out of time' stuff, but I'm getting close to my breaking point...

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  6. I agree completely with you when it comes to katrina. She does nothing for me and I find her presence more annoying with each passing episode. Love the man out of time, and Ichabod and Abbie stuff. As a big Buffy and Supernatural fan I also find myself looking for the parallels between the shows. I hate to admit to knowing this but Charmed had a similar story line. I demon was stuck in a painting...

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