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Sleepy Hollow: Blood and Fear

"That's a whole lotta knife. Even for Sleepy Hollow."

I have to say that flashing back to a fourteen-year-old Ichabod was probably the best part of this episode, mostly because it sets a precedent. So Abbie wasn't the only Witness to confront supernatural evil when she was a kid. That makes sense. Even though 1763 Eton felt just a little like Hogwarts.

But the Jack the Ripper stuff made my eyes roll. Maybe it's because Jack the Ripper comes up so often in science fiction that it's gotten old. (There's even a Jack the Ripper episode in classic Star Trek.) I did like the little twist that it was an enchanted knife, not a guy, and that Ichabod managed to foil it by injecting himself with malaria. Although I didn't see any mention of malaria in the wiki page about the Siege of Charleston.

Another thing that I found tiresome is the cliché character of the nerd turning to evil because he can't get the girl. I found myself rolling my eyes again when Nelson was staring at pretty Emily because you could just feel where this one was going. Enter Pandora, with her assortment of attractive wigs, disguises and purple high heels, doing a Faith Lehane on the dance floor.

That Treevil is getting really big. And fortunately, Shannon Sossamyn is good enough to make chanting nursery rhymes to a great big tree work. Pandora knows all about our Witnesses, and apparently, it's personal because… she's all alone in the world? Did Abbie and Ichabod take out someone Pandora loves? Was she perhaps Moloch's girlfriend?

Speaking of love interests, Danny Reynolds wanted to have dinner with Abbie and "clear the air". When they had that little tete a tete in his office instead, I was expecting his eyes to turn red or something after she left. Maybe that's unfair. Maybe Danny will turn out to be a cool love interest for Abbie.

But if Abbie can continue sorta kinda flirting with her boss, couldn't Ichabod get something going with the lovely Ms. Corinth, who is clearly interested in him? So interested that she's going to use her connection in Congress to cut through some red tape for him? I hope Ms. Corinth doesn't end up as (1) a victim, or (2) evil. In Sleepy Hollow, it's usually one or the other. Ditto, Danny Reynolds, even though I like Ms. Corinth a bit better.

Wait. Corinth is the name of an ancient Greek city. That can't be a coincidence, since Pandora is also of the ancient Greek persuasion. Could it?

Finally, and completely divorced from the action, Jenny and Joe are hot on the trail of the Shard of Anubis, and they even found it -- along with a young woman relic hunter who might be another August Corbin acolyte. Jenny and Joe are turning into a team, and with a big uh oh parallel, Jenny thinks Joe deserves to know the truth about his father. I hope this father-in-Saratoga thing doesn't break Jenny and Abbie apart. They've come so far since the series began.

Since it's been in three episodes now, the Shard of Anubis can't be just the usual McGuffin. It's an important McGuffin and possibly related to the main season storyline. Could it be the doodad that brings down Pandora?

Bits and pieces:

-- It makes absolutely no sense that Ichabod won't let Abbie sign the historical landmark paperwork because he wants to do it himself. A plot bit that exists to create another plot bit, I suppose.

-- Recreating the blade from the attack is one thing. But how did Abbie recreate the shape of the handle?

-- Abbie showed Ichabod a photo of her dad that didn't show his face. Which means it's likely they haven't cast him yet.

-- In the 1763 flashback, we did not see Ichabod's father, probably because he is now a cast member on The Flash. But we did see a servant named Stephens, who seemed to know more than he was saying.

-- The young woman relic hunter mentioned that she has a boss. I'll bet we'll see that boss pretty soon.

-- Nelson is now in Tarrytown Psychiatric, which is turning into the Sleepy Hollow version of Arkham, or Belle Reve.

-- The well-publicized Sleepy Hollow/Bones crossover is in two weeks. I'm still confused about how they're going to cross over a fantasy series with a forensics procedural. We shall see.

Quotes:

Ichabod: "Thomas Jefferson would have railed against the 'coffee break' to his dying breath."
Abbie knew exactly when Ichabod in a tirade would start ranting about Thomas Jefferson. Loved that.

Ichabod: "What brings you to this abyss of red tape and apathy?"

Randall: "You sure you're related to August Corbin?"
Joe: "Hey, I'm not the one handcuffed to a shower railing."

Abbie: (to Nelson) "I would tell you to drop your weapon, but I see that's not really an option."

Ichabod: "To the Greeks, Pandora was 'she who sends up gifts from beneath the earth that mortals may learn to fear their gods'."
Okay, I guess we can take that literally?

A fairly good monster of the week episode, and finally some promise that there may be arc to come,

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

3 comments:

  1. Best episode so far. No Betsy Ross is why. I'd prefer miss Corinth if Ichabod must have a love interest and it's not Abbie.
    Pandora is hella scary.
    Loved Abbie and Ichabod working together as always.
    Yeah, I don't know how the crossover will work.

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  2. I also thought this was the best episode of the season so far. For whatever that's worth.

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  3. Doesn't Bones work for a place called "The Jeffersonian" or something like that? I'm guess that will be involved somehow.

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