Sleepy Hollow S02 E01: This Is War

Holy Purgatory on Toast! The season one finale of “Sleepy Hollow” left us with a few dilemmas. Henry Parrish is not only the second horseman of the apocalypse, but he’s also Ichabod and Katrina’s long lost son, Jeremy. The Headless Horseman has Katrina, Ichabod was buried alive and Abbie is stuck in a doll house with her twelve year old self. With Jennie trapped in an overturned car and Captain Irving behind bars, it’s just another happy day in Sleepy Hollow. Not! We need a miracle so grab hold of George Washington’s bible and follow me.

Trick of the Mind

At first, I thought I had dozed off during the first few minutes of the show because it began with our crime fighters celebrating Ichabod’s birthday. How did Ichabod (Tom Misen) get out of that pine box, how did Abbie (Nicole Beharie) escape from Purgatory and, how the hell did they capture Jeremy (John Noble) aka the second Horseman?

Still confused, I watch as Ichabod and Abbie find a manuscript belonging to Benjamin Franklin and Ichabod not only tells Abbie all about Ben’s nasty habits, but the real reason for the experiment with electricity and the key. That’s no ordinary key. That key controls the portal to Purgatory, but to find it, they need to use Benjamin Franklin’s (Timothy Busfield) very own phonetic alphabet. Tell the truth. How many of you knew about Franklin’s invention of a new alphabet? Well, it’s true and you can check it out here.

When Ichabod is unable to remember how he escaped the box and then suddenly has trouble breathing, I realized I wasn’t having a senior moment after all and that the writers intentionally used this ploy for Jeremy to find the location of the key.

Jenny

Jenny (Lyndie Greenwood), who is alive and held prisoner by Jeremy, knows about Ben’s manuscript. Jeremy uses a Spock mind meld to suck the information from her. Jeremy also overuses the “This is War” line a few too many times and, for reasons that I don’t understand, speaks Romani Greek to his henchmen. While Jenny tries to escape from Jeremy’s clutches, Ichabod has found a means to break free from his grave; gunpowder. He comes to Jenny’s rescue after receiving a text message. What?

Katrina

Yep, Ichabod’s wife is a captured guest at the headless horseman’s dusty abode, but we get to see a shirtless horseman and he’s buffed! Abraham (Neil Jackson) tries to play nice with Katrina (Katia Winter) and even offers her food, but she stabs him. Oh Katrina, you silly girl. You have two men fighting over you and you can only pick one. Which one will it be? With the help of a magic amulet, Katrina is able to see the Abraham with his head intact, and ladies, he is a real cutie pie.

Purgatory

The purgatory of “Sleepy Hollow” is nothing like the purgatory described by the good nuns to the wanton sinners in my grade school. Instead of a place to contemplate your sins, this purgatory resembles the bowels of hell. Abbie is stuck in a place where nothing is what it seems; it’s confusing not only for her, but for us too. Is Andy Brook (John Cho), our little Pez head cop, really with Abbie or is she hallucinating the whole thing? Moloch (played this year by Derek Mears) is his usual frightening self, but the scenes with him are too short. There are rules in Purgatory that need to be followed if you want to survive: don’t drink or eat anything.

Conclusion

There were some scary scenes in this episode and there were some funny scenes like Ichabod trying to send a recorded message to Abbie in case he was blown to smithereens. His angst over failing to save the message was something I often struggle with since I bought my new smart phone. I had to laugh when he could not reverse the getaway car with him and Jenny inside.

I love when the writers throw in some real history like Ben Franklin’s alphabet or his connection to a real life group called the Hellfire Club. Since Franklin was a Freemason, this should make for interesting reading. Want to know what drove me crazy. Why did the actors keep repeating the same phrase, “This is War.” We got it the first five times it was said, but that said, I love Jeremy’s new suit of armor.

The show was good, but I do have one complaint and it’s important. Why do the people behind this series or any series, feel it necessary to rush the storyline? I would have enjoyed the start of season two of “Sleepy Hollow” more if we had to wait until the second episode for Abbie to escape from Purgatory. Why are we rushing? And, “Sleepy Hollow” is not the only show doing this and it takes away from the quality of a show.

All in all, I was happy for the return of this series and I hope to see all my little horsemen next week, same time, same station.