Sleepy Hollow Episode 2.2: My Faith in You is My Greatest Weakness

Don't hate me  'cause Neil Jackson's beautiful.

Oh, Sleepy Writers, truer words were never written! But enough about you and me; let's move on to Episode 2.2., “The Kindred,” written by Mark Goffman and Albert Kim. As long as you are still on their side, Team Stop-the-Apocalypse is going to be just fine, and I will know my faith is not misplaced; this week, you demonstrated without a doubt that you are. The pace and tone of this episode worked beautifully, the relationship beats were interesting and well-handled, the humor was on point, creative, and very, very funny, the action and horror bits were tense and scary, and you began to pay off some of the emotional tensions initially addressed in the premiere. But best of all, the band is back together, with lots of drama being set up for the rest of the season.

Episode 2.2 opens not long after our heroes return from purgatory, with the goal of freeing Katrina from the Headless Horseman's nasty grasp next on their agenda. Ichabod's terrifying vision that Katrina will be beheaded and “married” to Headless in a gruesome ritual visually sets the stakes for her rescue very high, effectively coercing us, the audience, into going along on yet another (ultimately doomed) expedition to liberate our perpetually imprisoned redhead.

Act I includes plenty of recap exposition, but most of it is handled deftly. The only bit that really didn't work for me was Abbie absurdly telling Ichabod who the Horseman of Death is. Ichabod's meta-sarcastic response, on behalf of the audience, “thank you for reminding me” didn't improve the situation. Attempts to make it seem necessary--“the point is, you know him”--couldn't salvage the awkwardness. But the banter which follows--“he once called the palace at Versailles 'quaint'”--gives us some lovely insight into both Abraham's character and Ichabod's.

Sheriff Reyes' exposition of Abbie's backstory For Those of You Just Tuning In--“You were a rising star in the department, accepted to Quantico...”--works a great deal better in context. More importantly, it's a good introduction to Sakina Jaffrey's wonderful Leena Reyes, who so far has managed to be tough and all-business without necessarily being a villain, thus making her both believable and interesting. The drops of reality Reyes bring to Sleepy Hollow, both by imprisoning Jenny and asking, “um, why do we need a history professor on staff?” are both essential for grounding, and most-welcome, as earthly foils for our heroes are often lacking.

In Episode 2.2, we also begin to see more of Abbie's core, her character's astounding focus and bravery, which keeps her on point no matter what. Nicole Beharie is a delight to behold, and an absolute marvel as she balances Abbie's heroic strength and intelligence with a touching and believable vulnerability, particularly where Crane is concerned.

We begin broaching the fierce heart of this episode as soon as Abbie and Crane climb into the BatSUV to hunt for Katrina. Although Abbie initially seems a little too healed and balanced from her time in purgatory, we do get to see more of her angst later. Meanwhile, her direct questioning of Ichabod's motives, focus, and loyalties, and his sincere but seemingly ineffectual attempts to reassure her, provide the delicious nougatty center of this episode.

(BTW, just out of curiosity, how does Ichabod know Katrina is a witch of tremendous power? The only time he's witnessed her using her power she wasn't exactly at her best, and she has yet to figure out how to adequately elder her son, War-the-Warlock. For all he knows it was the late Reverend Warlock's talents that kept Ichabod alive lo those many years).

Recon at the Horseman's carriage house provides more magical Witness electricity, as both Ichabod's passionate recklessness and Abbie's calm reason prove valuable. We learn that both the Horseman and Katrina are present, and that Ichabod's vision appears to have been accurate: a creepy altar has been built just like the one Ichabod saw in one of those thousands of Conveniently Informative and Relevant Books back at the archives. While we're on the subject of how our Amazing Witnesses Just Know Things, how is it that Abbie can tell Abraham's wacko altar isn't finished? Did she really study the drawing that carefully back at the Bat Cave (I thought Ichabod had the eidetic memory), or did she take some weird Learning Annex class she never told Ichabod about?

Speaking of the wacko altar and even wackier ritual scheduled to be held there, why weren't Ichabod and Headless married by their blood tie? Too groovy for prime-time Middle America? It seems like Katrina's bloodtie is going to make her immortal. As a witch, wasn't she already? Finally, in the nether-realms, wouldn't Katrina be considered a bigamist until Ichabod's definitely dead, and wouldn't honorable Abe take issue with that?

Inquiring minds want to know, writers.

And the Emmy for Most Telling Side-Eye
goes to Nicole Beharie

Act I ends with a hilarious, tense, and emotionally satisfying scene involving the original trio at Crane's cabin. The reinforcement of both Jenny and Abbie as extremely smart cookies through Jenny's marvelous “I know what the Codex Tchacos is [thank you very much],” combined with Abbie's giving Crane The Side-Eye-That- Speaks-a-Thousand-Words as he explains the Kindred, was awesome. But, really, guys: was both a flashback showing us Abraham's head and Abbie saying “his head” really necessary? One or the other, not both. Nevertheless, when Abbie tells us “we're talking about raising a monster,” we have a terrific act break.

Once we're past Henry's boring scene with Moloch (why does he keep sorta kinda covering his eyes like he's saying the sh'ma, but then look at Moloch directly?), and back in Crane's cabin, we get treated to the delicious sanity of Abbie's “this is insane! You are talking about making a carbon copy of the Headless Horseman!” followed perfectly by Jenny's matter-of-fact, “except with a head.” Gorgeous writing, and Exhibit A of why we need way more of Jenny Mills, and way more of this trio in general!

Jenny and Abbie are both VERY CLEAR that this is a really, really bad idea, but Ichabod will not be deterred. As HeadOverFeels so perfectly observes, “this is Sleepy Hollow, and we’re never not going to sew the head of a devil’s minion onto the reconstructed parts of revolutionary soldiers who were just going about their own business, fighting against taxation without representation, if given the chance.”

How clearly, how painfully you make Abbie choose between sane, rational Jenny and passionate, flying-by-the-seat-of-his-pants Crane when deciding whether they will raise the Kindred or not. Despite Jenny and Abbie making exceptionally well-reasoned arguments for why raising this monster is a terrible idea, Crane won't budge, and much to Jenny's dismay—she speaks for all of us when she understates, “the last time we went on a mission to save Katrina it didn't end well”--Abbie ultimately sides with Crane, a little too quickly for my taste, given the sensible counter-arguments against raising the Kindred. How beautifully Lyndie Greenwood communicates Jenny's disapproval and disappointment without a word.

Back at Team Moloch HQ, Abraham and Katrina have another exes' quarrel which makes my hair stand on end. When Abraham tells Katrina, “the man you love never existed; the Ichabod you know is a deception,” this feels like a VERY IMPORTANT CLUE. Maybe we're just meant to see more of Abraham's brokenness, the profound betrayal he felt by Ichabod, but it seems frighteningly like something we should into which we should stick a pin. Pin stuck.

When Abbie visits Irving in prison, he says “tell me what's going on out there.” Tragically, Abbie demurs, and that decision to protect Irving from last season's mind-blowing finale will prove a huge mistake by the end of the episode. But Irving does manage to give Abbie the intel she needs, that Headless' head is well-protected in the Sleepy Hollow Savings & Loan. You have to love Irving; his practicality grounds all this nuttiness so well sometimes.

Thus we are set up for the most delightful scene of the episode, and one that is destined to be a classic of the Sleepy Hollow archives: Ichabod is introduced to credit cards.

Request for the DVD:  Mison, in character,
let loose in the props room. 

As you've been told a thousand times, and rightly so, the bank scene was brilliant, as was the callback to the wedding industry. Much has been written elsewhere about this scene, so I shan't go on, except to say that Mison's performance is absolutely perfect—he has the seasoned chops of a comedy pro--and this was gorgeously written and marvelously directed. The straight “men,” Abbie and the bank officer, are fantastic—the scene could not have worked were they not played by such generous, skilled actors, yielding the floor and the drama, of necessity, to Mison.

Alas, all the air is let out of the fun balloon when Leena Reyes insists on acting like a sheriff and arrests our beloved Jenny for arms possession (just doing her part for the struggle, as per usual) in violation of her probation. Imagine that? A sheriff acting like a sheriff. In Sleepy Hollow.

In Act III, happily, the plot slows down just long enough for us to dig into the emotional meat of this episode, naturally while Abbie and Crane search makeshift catacombs for a corpse assembled out of spare Revolutionary soldier parts. But not before Ichabod gets really worked up about Jenny's incarceration and executes the astonishing feat—for Captain Charming--of introducing himself to a woman with not-particularly-veiled anger and contempt. For her part, Reyes justifies her actions by tossing off that she has two decapitated bodies in the morgue. Really? Who are they exactly? When did Headless leave Katrina for a new killing rampage, and um, why? Are we ever going to find out?

Cut to Orlando Jones hilariously passing a lie detector test by telling the truth about how the reverend and Devon Jones were actually murdered last season, effectively convincing his jailers he's nuts, much to Reyes' chagrin. Did anyone else want to kiss Irving when he corrected his interrogator on the name of the demon who possessed Macey? “Ancitif. C comes before T.”

Back under Sleepy Hollow, Abbie and Crane search for “Franklinstein's monster.” As Abbie realizes she has failed to introduce Crane to Mary Shelley, Crane impresses Abbie with the fact that refusing to ask for directions is apparently hard-wired onto the Y-chromosome. (For “Nice to know even a man from the 18^th century can't ask for directions,” Mark Goffman and Albert Kim, I dub you honorary women this week).

The bats from the premiere—which apparently serve no other purpose than tying together these two episodes--reappear, and Abbie quietly freaks out, cluing Crane in to her PTSD from her time in Molochville. Abbie tenderly confesses just how vulnerable she became in purgatory, how she had never been so happy to see anyone in her life as she was Crane's evil twin (believing him Crane), and how easily she could have been lost forever as a result. In response, Crane--Mr. Sensitive-Georgian-Age-Guy so long as the matter does not concern him—blows it completely, telling Abbie she wasn't “to blame” for nearly falling victim to this deception.

Well, obviously she wasn't to blame, you insensitive oaf! Wonderfully annoyed, Abbie spells things out unambiguously for her suddenly clueless companion (and the audience). “Faith in you is my greatest weakness,” she confesses to Ichabod, in one of those moments that should have just dropped his emotional jaw. But Ichabod, King of Da Nile, stays professional. “That's what they want you to believe.” Then things really get interesting when Crane deduces that Abbie believes Katrina and Henry are his biggest weaknesses, and...we'll leave you hanging there, now, audience, because we have a plot to advance. Nevertheless, all of this was so much more emotionally fulfilling than any of the heavy-handed protestations of promise-keeping and eye-bulging emoting of the previous episode.

The lack of symmetry between the two Witnesses, their weaknesses, is heartbreaking, made all the more so by Ichabod's Absolute Refusal to Acknowledge The Depth Of Feeling Abbie Has Just Shared Which He May Or May Not Reciprocate Because He So Can't Go There Right Now. Nevertheless, he heard her, it's out there now, and I really, really look forward to this coming back to bite him in the ass.

(Irritating Question 104: How did Katrina spend 200+ years in purgatory neither eating nor drinking, yet Abbie was thirsty after a few hours?)

Katrina's and Henry's reunion is pregnant with wonderful unsaid emotions, beautifully played with welcome restraint by both John Noble and Katia Winter.

(Irritating Question 412: why is it that Henry can see Headless with a head?)

Huh?

Speaking of Headless, Katrina's last minute “Hail Mary” to convince Abraham to let her choose to be with him was both smart and very well-acted by both Katia Winter and Neil Jackson. In general, these two have a rather magical heat and chemistry between them. While I'm sick out of my mind of Katrina being anyone's captive, I am curious to see where this relationship goes. You, writers, and the fabulous Neil Jackson, tell us so much about Abraham that he would buy her story for a second. Ah, the blindness of wuv, twoo wuv.

Our heroes manage to successfully raise the Kindred, just in time to interrupt their own beheading, in a scene which is such an idyllic combination of scary and hilarious this could only be Sleepy Hollow. Ichabod's “Romani Greek” incantation concluded, Abbie begins to nag him when the Kindred remains dormant. “Is that it? Did you do it right?” To which the male half of this old married couple naturally replies irritably (adorably), “I'm not the witch in the family!”

Ralph and Alice Kramden have nothing on
these two.  

The scene in which Crane is again reunited with his wife is marvelous—tender, romantic, and we finally get a bit of passion between our lovers. (Could you PLEASE stop putting candles between the camera and our couples embracing?!?! We get the metaphor; it's damned annoying). But, seriously Katrina—again with the refusing to be rescued??? Abbie's WTF Face speaks for all of us. I don't know if Abbie's getting tired of trying to rescue Katrina, but I'm getting tired of Abbie trying to rescue Katrina.

Nevertheless, thank you, writers, for giving Constantly-Captured-Katrina a somewhat empowering storyline. The concluding scene between Abraham and Katrina was beautifully played. But does anyone remember that Katrina used to be a Quaker? There are still lots of Quakers in the present day, and they could be a source of much humor. (Speaking of her being a Quaker, a) Quakers aren't supposed to use violence, and b) Quakers aren't supposed to lie. Those aren't minor failings in our tradition; they're pretty huge. Of course, we still do fail in that regard, but somehow the seriousness of that choice on Katrina's part should be acknowledged at some point).

While we're on the subject of Katrina, I really appreciate you showing us a bit of Abbie's PTSD from purgatory and allowing their characters to reflect Abraham and Henry's PTSD from their miserable “lives.” I'm really looking forward to seeing some serious PTSD evidence itself from Katrina once she's (kinda/sorta) out of danger. It would be great to see that combine with jealousy of Abbie and her love for Jeremy to create a potent cocktail which knocks her off her goody-goody ass, but I suppose we need a bit more time to like her first.

The final scene with Irving signing away his soul, or so one suspects, was horrifyingly brilliant. John Noble and Orlando Jones were exquisite, and it was deliciously awful learning that Henry has become a lawyer.

(Irritating Question #722: Did Henry really go to college without SATs or a transcript from the class of 1799, then onto law school without LSATs, and pass the bar, in between eating all those sins? Or is his lawyer-ness going to be explained some other way?)

I have to say you guys got a LOT done in 45 minutes. Between War's transparent attempts at sowing division between the Mills sisters in 2.1, and Abbie's very real need to sacrifice Jenny's freedom (temporarily we hope) to the struggle in “The Kindred,” we end with Jenny's fierce loyalty to her sister and thus the team under assault. Katrina has chosen to resume her role as spy, staying with Headless to gain intel on Team Moloch's Grand Plan; she may yet end up a beheaded Bride of Headless for her efforts. Abbie is entirely clear that her biggest weakness is her faith in Crane, and his biggest weaknesses are Katrina and Jeremy. Crane is entirely clear that he has no intention of admitting to, or accepting, either of these facts, so at the moment his biggest weakness is denial. And Irving—poor Irving—just signed God-knows-what in blood because Abbie couldn't be bothered to give him the lowlights of the Season 1 finale during her visit to him in prison. That can't be good.

The balance between the Ichabbie and Ichatrina feels was handled so deftly I am in awe. In this corner we have Ichabod advocating to raise a monster and risk losing the Horseman's head to rescue his wife, as well as the first (somewhat) passionate kiss between our hero and his lady. And in this corner we have mega-Ichabbie feels being confessed as a result of Abbie's purgatory PTSD, combined with Crane's cabin becoming the intimate new hangout for him and his Work-Wife Abbie (and Second Work-Wife Jenny). Hot tea and a roaring fire anyone?

I'm getting the delicious feeling that you are sowing seeds. As a farmer I recognize and respect this. As a writer I adore it. Because I know some of these seeds will bear foreseeable fruit, and some will bear strange, unforeseeable fruit, and some won't make it out of the earth, and like spring on a farm, at the moment, I have no idea which is which.

Well-played, Sleepy Writers. Well-played. Nice to have you back.