Now that’s what I’m looking for! Mystery, ghosts, horsemen, spooky legends, red herrings up the wazoo. And a couple history lessons (accuracy questionable).
Dashing Ichabod shows Abbie the way to the lost colony, literally walking on water.
Ichabod moves out of the motel and into Corbin’s cabin,complete with acknowledgement of last week’s bullet holes. That’s pretty good for a show not known for its continuity. The show is settling into a nice rhythm of acknowledging Ichabod’s unfamiliarity with the world without being overwhelming. Spackle, Scotch tape, clam shell packaging, and plastic in general. Ha!
This week we get the Sleepy Hollow version of the Roanoke Island legend. It’s much more interesting than Supernatural‘s version (“Croatoan”), but then, the primary focus of each was quite different.
A mysterious boy appears in Sleepy Hollow with a mysterious disease that quickly turns into a plague. Leave it Smartypants Crane to figure out the lad comes from the lost colony of Roanoke, North Carolina. (They didn’t have two-letter postal abbreviations for states back then. Heck, they didn’t even have states!) But it’s Abbie who figures out the plague’s cure, with the help of a potentially mysterious woman in the chapel—who turns out to be just a woman. It’s red herring #3.
“Hey! What about red herrings #1 and #2?” you ask. Red herring #1: Mimosa pudica, that plant in the woods that Ichabod touched; the same plant Abbie refused to take from Creepy Roanoke Girl. I was sure that was going to be the source of the plague. Wrong! Red herring #2: Jones and Morales. Morales was going to show his evil side and Jones was going end up dead. Nope. But Morales being on the dark side could just be another red herring.
And how about that call from Oxford University, telling Morales that Crane is a tenured professor on loan to the Westchester County law enforcement? Nothing strange about that!
Katrina, the good witch of exposition.
Katrina’s back after a two-episode absence. At least they had the forethought to explain it. Again, pretty good for a show whose continuity is not its greatest asset. She doesn’t give us much new information, except there’s a reason she’s stuck in purgatory. But we’ll have to wait until sweeps to find out what that reason is.
So Moloch oversees Purgatory (or “pergatrie” if you’re British). And determines where the souls end up? What are the odds of a demon sending anyone to heaven?
It was great to see Charles Malik Whitfield again, but they really misused him. Where was the brass and sass of Victor Henriksen? Sleepy Hollow missed a great opportunity to create a memorable character.
And how about that ending? Did not see that coming! Thank you for the explanation, Mr. Smartypants. (I use that term with the greatest affection.) Without your summation, I might have been awake all night trying to figure it out.
In three weeks: John Cho! James Frain! Abbie cries! A guy from Fringe (which I never watched). And Tom Mison looking hilarious in a Colonial wig.
SciFi Chick (s) 
Moloch only became a demon in the Judeo-Christian tradition – back in pagan times (or so I’ve been told) he was a god of the harvest.
That little plant was one of the inaccuracies of the week – the “sensitive plant” does not grow wild in New York State.
Inaccuracy number 2 – with hospital regs up the wazoo – that little rip on the shoulder of the hazard suit would have NEVER flown under the radar.
My daughter lives in Westchester county and we’ve been laughing ever since the first episode when I phone messaged her asking if she’d seen any wolves and she replied ‘only in the bars.’ LOL
The plant is not native to NYS – neither is the lost colony of Roanoke. As well as with the ripped hazmat suit – you have to suspend your belief for 1 hour while watching this show.
Yes, I find these shows so much more entertaining when belief is suspended. 🙂
“Only in the bars.” Hahaha! You Dempsey girls!
Now Ruth, you know just because you might have been a pagan god does not mean you were good. Remember “Hold Nikar,” god of the winter solstice? They tried to eat Sam & Dean for Christmas! 😉
I think when Ichabod woke up he said Katrina was in A purgatrie. Which is a holding place, right? It doesn’t have to be THE purgatory.
A plant doesn’t have to be native to an area to grow there. Someone could have planted it and then it spread. People gardening and then walking in the woods, whatever.
I think Morales is just a good detective who is naturally suspicious. I think JONES is one of the sleeper cell people who will turn out bad. But Irving definitely knows more than he’s showing. He’s entirely too accepting of Crane and all the weird events. I’d like to believe he’s like a descendant of Washington’s mystic team who was waiting for Crane and the horseman to return rather than a bad guy. We’ll see!
I have to admit I’m liking the show enough to be bummed that they’re only doing 13 episodes. I agree with the showrunners that some shows shouldn’t be stretched out over 22 episodes, but I’m not sure this is one of them. The story is so deep and far-reaching.
Whenever there’s a British accent involved, I turn on the close-captioning. They did actually refer to it as small “p” purgatory. (I don’t capitalize THE purgatory either, but the way they talked about it, it seemed to be one of several purgatories.)
Several folks on TWoPsaid the same thing about Jones. I totally missed it. In the previews, John Cho asks Morales to pick a side. So he definitely could be a good guy.
You should read the Sleepy Hollow recaps at io9.com. They are hilarious, and the screencaps of Irving have me laughing out loud.
I agree, there’s a great story to be told. But fear not, Sleepy Hollow is getting a second season. But not an additional back 9 for season 1. Only 13 episodes are ordered for season 2, but the entertainment industry being what it is, I can’t think they’d let a cash-cow like Sleepy Hollow go with a short season.
There’s actually been a lot of talk about doing more shows with shorter seasons. EW did a piece on SH last week and the showrunner always intended it to be 13 episodes a year and says he hasn’t changed his mind. So I doubt they’ll go longer. I think the network television is more open to it overall, given how well it works on cable and how problematic the longer seasons have been for shows like LOST that had to find filler stories.
I’m okay with shorter seasons, but if they do that, then I prefer the cable model (a summer season and a season that starts in January, like they do for shows like Covert Affairs and White Collar) as opposed to the BBC model (where they give us 10-13 episodes and then we have to wait 15 months to get any more).
Yep, I prefer the cable model over the BBC one any day. Especially when they have cliff-hanger endings.
Hey, I just saw your last paragraph in your other reply. D’oh! (No one ever said I’m a good reader.) I’d sort of lost my fervor the show until this past season. Jeremy Carver’s done a terrific job of making things interesting again.
I’m so glad I found you at Goodreads! I didn’t know how to contact you and really missed your cyber company. Oh! I’ve downloaded your first Soul of the Dragon book. As soon as I’m done with The Hobbit, your up. 😀
Yikes! I’m not sure that’s a good book to follow. LOL Mine will be quite stark in comparison to his language.
Thanks so much for getting the book! 🙂
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