Best episode of the season, by a long shot.
The episode began in Lara's dystopian future where Dreyfuss is a supernaturally powerful immortal dictator, and if anyone talks about freedom, the Riders will show up, sort of like a mystical SS. And yet, there is secret talk of freedom, with a scarred, older Jenny Mills holding classes to teach the children of the resistance about the freedoms of the past.
Turns out that, after Diana was turned into the Horseman of War, Molly's life was terrible. Later, when she was a teen and Dreyfuss adopted her and named her Lara, he never told her what really happened to her mother and Ichabod. When the Horseman of War killed Jenny (wow, that particular scene got to me), Lara caught a glimpse of Diana's face under the Horseman's armor, and that was what made her start to question Dreyfuss. She found Ichabod, gray and scarred, alone in a prison because there are no other prisoners (why? Did the Horsemen kill them all?) and Ichabod gave Katrina's Traveler spell to Lara so that she could go back in time and save Diana. (Nice continuity there.)
I had gotten the impression Dreyfuss might be redeemable because of the way Lara talked about his kindness toward her, but it seems obvious now that it was all an act on his part, a means to control Lara because she's a Witness.
The way that Diana and Lara interacted in this episode, present day, was somewhat unemotional. No fierce hugging or tears, but the connection started to emerge during their exposition-filled discussions in the car, as Lara joked about dragon spleens, new cell phones and earrings. The possibility that the two of them will have to establish a whole new sort of mother/daughter relationship while Molly is eleven and still in the picture is sort of fascinating. There is no guidebook for situations like this. Except, you know, Ichabod did sort of go through it unsuccessfully with Henry, didn't he?
This episode was somewhat light on the Ichabod until Lara went in search of his splintered psyche armed with the decoupling spell Katrina tried to do with Bram (and again, good continuity there). Our two Witnesses got to really connect for the first time as Lara retrieved Ichabod's soul from that glowing abstract octagon-shaped upright coffin, and I just realized that Lara rescued Ichabod from a prison not once, but twice in this episode. It was very like Ichabod to choose to remain in his psychic prison a little longer so that he could use the Horseman's armor to save Jenny, Jake and Alex from the last of the zombie Hessians.
I absolutely loved Henry walking into the inner sanctum after his "serendipitous conception" from Despair's Webbing, which I think was from "The People v. Ichabod Crane." John Noble's creepy grin gave me the shudders; I kept thinking of the way the Mayor unexpectedly walked into the library inner sanctum in "Graduation Day." And then Dreyfuss' reaction to Henry made me laugh when Henry walked into the enemy camp, ready and eager to replace Ichabod as the Horseman of War.
But the thing is, how much of this resurrected being is the old, evil Henry Parrish? It wasn't just Despair's Webbing that created him, because it was combined with Ichabod's blood from the dagger. Henry said that he was the son Ichabod chose to remember, plus it was Henry who gave Lara the knowledge she needed to retrieve Ichabod. Is it possible that this particular Henry Parrish loves his father and that he's about to turn into a Horseman double agent, just as Ichabod did? If one of the Horsemen chose to fight the other three, what would happen?
So all of the pieces are now in place for the season finale. I was pleased when the action moved back to Sleepy Hollow, back to the Masonic cell, the Archives, even Corbin's cabin. I also really enjoyed the return of the zombie Hessians and the fight with the Greek fire. Gorgeous spooky photography as the Hessians came out of the water. Very nice.
Bits:
-- The opener with "America the Beautiful" and the shaky cam of the transformed Capitol building felt like it came right out of The Man in the High Castle.
-- And the shots of the four Horsemen riding gave me frissony flashbacks of "Comes a Horseman," one of my favorite Highlander episodes.
-- In the dystopian future, there is no good television. That's horrifying.
-- Jenny was again encouraging Jake and Alex and suggesting that they were ready for prime time.
-- The zombie Hessians were raised to recharge Headless' axe. Which they did.
-- Facial scars are a big deal in the future apocalypse. Rampant hair is in fashion this season, too. Jeremy Davies' presidential hairdo reminded me of our current president's. I wonder if that was on purpose?
Quotes:
Dreyfuss: "War. What is it good for? Absolutely... everything!"
Dreyfuss: "Boy. Time travel sure complicates verb tenses, doesn't it?"
Jake: "And I thought Crane's time travel act was trippy."
Jobe: "It was shielded from my senses. But nothing stays hidden forever. Not from me."
Dreyfuss: "I love it when you get all ominous like that. Gives the best kind of chills."
Henry: "What a serendipitous conception. But I suppose all birth is a miracle."
Diana: "This is Crane's son? He's kind of old."
Jenny: "Tell that to your grown daughter over there."
Diana: "Point taken."
Henry: "Ichabod has become the Horseman of War, hasn't he? Like father, like son. Or is it the other way around?"
Lara: "You're gonna believe a man who was a jar of goo five minutes ago?"
Jenny: "Unless anyone has any better ideas than the jar of goo?"
Ichabod: "Before I fully divested from the avatar, I took advantage of its power to come to your aid."
Jenny: "Instead of the Horseman controlling you, you were controlling it?"
Ichabod: "As they say, turnabout is..."
Jake: "...is freaking awesome."
Ichabod: "Close enough."
Henry: "What fools these mortals be."
I very much enjoyed this one, which gives me hope for a satisfying series finale. Four out of four dragon spleens,
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
Who doesn't love a good dystopian future that's thwarted by judicious application of time travel, am I right? :)
ReplyDeleteIf the series wasn't cancelled Lara would make a good addition to the cast. Two witnesses with combat ability are better then one.