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Sleepy Hollow: Ragnarok

"What is there for me in a world without you?"

Did they really just do that?

I've stuck with this series through a lot of changes in the past three seasons, but a re-set that leaves Ichabod in search of another partner does not work for me. Unless Abbie's "eternal soul" manages to find a female Mills relative who will also be played by Nicole Beharie.

Except that we have the internet, which tells me that Nicole Beharie is indeed leaving the series.

While I will freely admit that Ichabod as a character is the core of the story, it has always been his partnership with Abbie that I loved most, the differences that made them better together. I simply don't understand why the showrunners didn't get that. Was it something the fans saw that the producers did not? Such things happen, I suppose. Did they not know what they had?

I guess I should discuss the rest of the episode, not just the end.

The Hidden One went out with a whimper, even though Jenny shot him with a bang, and I was so not surprised that Pandora desired godhood for herself. If this turns out to be the last episode of the series, it was appropriate and a lot of fun that Ichabod brought back Headless in order to take down Pandora. It was like hanging out with an old friend. And you gotta love a big impressive cemetery scene with flying tombstones. Yes, remind us of how cool this show used to be before you kill it off completely. Did I say that out loud?

And then, after Pandora's box exploded in the Masonic cell and Ichabod was knocked out, we had several mystical scenes where Ichabod and Abbie said their goodbyes. The prison, with Abbie in her old uniform and Ichabod with his long hair. The Archives. The swing in front of her house. If this death had been earned, if it had worked as part of the show's narrative, these scenes should have made me cry -- especially that final fist bump, and his low bow to her before she vanished into the ether. She got Ichabod where he was supposed to go, and her job is done... but now he has to find her again. How does that make sense?


Honestly, the scene I enjoyed the most was the sepia-tinted waiting room where Abbie got to eat pie and ice cream with August Corbin again. It was such a lovely reminder of the pilot episode. It was even lovelier when August hugged Joe, and I can imagine them in the afterlife together. That actually did make me cry a little.

But don't I recall an earlier instance where August offered Abbie pie and ice cream, and she wasn't supposed to eat it or she would be trapped in Purgatory forever? I can accept that this was a different mystical place and Abbie knew that right away, but it made me wonder if the writers were assuming that we'd forgotten. Or that we would automatically know that this version of August Corbin was the real one, and he wasn't offering demonic pie and ice cream this time.

They did pay off the Jack Walters subplot by introducing a possible framework for season four. Ezra Mills gave Ichabod a letter from President Washington that started a supernatural evil-fighting agency of the government, and Ichabod is supposed to be its head. Such an organization could be interesting, and honestly, I'd tune in to watch Tom Mison read Ichabod's shopping list. Does that mean I'll watch season four, if there is one? Probably. Would you?

Bits and pieces:

-- I enjoyed the opener in the Catacombs because Ichabod and Abbie were at full banter, and I loved the idea that they had to make Betsy go back without telling her the truth. And that Ichabod has watched both Star Wars and Star Trek.

-- Pandora loved those nursery rhymes right until the end. I wish Pandora had been cooler. The Pandora/Hidden One thing was not a success.

-- At least Jenny made it to the end of the season. Although she seemed awfully calm considering she just lost her boyfriend and her sister. Couldn't they have left Joe alive, at least?

-- Jenny said that she would spread Joe's ashes in the lake by his father's cabin. That was a nice thought.

-- Abbie's tombstone reminded me of Buffy's. "Abigail Mills - 1986-2016. She bore witness..."

Quotes:

Abbie: "I know you well enough to know when you're buggin'."
Ichabod: "Very well, perhaps I am a little more than moderately agitated."

Ichabod: "We cannot let on that we are from the future."
Abbie: "Or we risk damaging the time stream. I get it. I saw Star Wars."
Ichabod: "Trek, not Wars, but yes. As Captain James Tiberius Kirk learned the hard way in the most memorable episode 'City on the Edge of Forever'."
That should have given me a clue that our heroine was about to die.

Betsy: "Lieutenant? There are no female officers in the Continental Army."
Abbie: "It's a pet name."

Betsy: "Your heart belongs to Abigail Mills."
Ichabod: "She is my partner."

August Corbin: "He was a soldier. Like his old man. Like you. A soldier knows when to make a sacrifice, keep the world turning. Springsteen making records, kids on swings, trout's in the stream, all that good stuff. You made that same sacrifice, Abbie."
Abbie: "It was me or the world."

I am deeply disappointed with the choices that the producers made with what was initially a unique and enjoyable series. If this is the finale, it will leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Two out of four dark riders of the Apocalypse,

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

6 comments:

  1. All things aside that I hated about Season 3, I thought the overall "wrap-up" and seeding for a potential Season 4 was quite well done in this episode. The farewell scenes were powerful and lovely. Ichabbie at its best.
    Oh well.
    Nicole Beharie wanted out and who can blame her. I guess the showrunners did not have much of a choice in the matter.
    Will I watch Season 4 if there is one?
    Hmmmmm....

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  2. I'm out. The show isn't the same without Abbie. At least Betsy isn't in the present.
    I don't know if they ever knew what they had..

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  3. I stuck with this show through it all. I even liked Season 2 (which everyone almost universally hates). But this was a head scratcher for me. The chemistry between Abbie/Nicole and Ichabod/Tom was the absolute shining star that made it all work. If it was a series finale, Nicole Beharie would get her wish anyway, so why not end on a higher note than that? If it was a season finale... then I'm not sure where they can go that the loyal will follow. And I agree about the whole Hidden One and Pandora. She stands up to her a*&@ole of a husband, gets her own power obsession... and then... gets defeated in 10 seconds?... By the Headless Horseman who drops in for 30 seconds? Messy.

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  4. I think it's exceedingly unlikely they'll be another season, but I guess I would watch it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I haven't watched this show for a very long time, but this makes me sad.

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  6. Sleepy Hollow has indeed been renewed for a fourth season, but as much as I love Tom Mison's Ichabod and even though I'll probably keep watching, I'm not planning to review it. If you're a writer who would like to cover the fourth season of Sleepy Hollow for Doux Reviews, here's how:

    http://www.douxreviews.com/2001/01/so-you-want-to-be-guest-writer.html


    ReplyDelete

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