Recap and Review: Sleepy Hollow 2.8, “Heartless”

Their bonding time is interrupted by Abbie who is trying to get a bead on Henry because she reckons that he will be more dangerous now that they’ve “bloodied his nose”.

Meanwhile poor misunderstood Henry is up to devilish no good.  He has a canopic jar containing a well preserved heart which starts to beat steadily and glow a bright shade of demon red as Henry completes his incantation and smiles.  It’s fabulous to be Henry when you’re played by John Noble!

A comely nekkid lass appears before Henry.  He’s very pleased.  Henry tells her that it is time to get to work.  Oh oh!

We cut to the nexus of evil nightlife in Sleepy Hollow,  a horrid techno-dance pit of Hell on Earth.  A shy little nerd is watching a happy nerdette that he will never have the nerve to approach.  No worries because Henry’s succubus is here to make all of his dreams come true, that is up until the moment she sucks the soul/life force out him.  Ashes to ashes, dust to dust!

Speaking of dust, Team Witness arrives on the scene and Abbie knows Henry’s to blame as soon as she sees the body. Cue another round of their ongoing disagreement of can Henry be redeemed.  Also, Abbie cutely tries to clue Ichabod in on modern hook-up culture; however he seems well grounded as a result of his apparent penchant for reality television.  Oh, and he and Katrina were regulars at the dance clubs of yore gavotting and waltzing the night away.  No wonder Abraham was pissed by their hookup.  This is scandalous behavior!

At Frederick’s Manor,  Henry and Abraham are having a mirror to mirror to do about Katrina’s whereabouts.  Henry abruptly hangs up when his fair lady arrives with a fresh soul to nourish little baby Moloch.   The lady blows red smoke into Moloch’s bell jar womb.

Meanwhile Team Witness is several steps behind again, until wonder of wonders, miracles of miracles… Katrina is actually helpful and provides valuable intel! This may be a first for this season.  She sees the crime scene photos and recognizes that the pattern of wounds overlays the life force line.  Also she tells them that some creatures and mystical paraphernalia target the life force and this very area.  Yes!  Obviously she is a succubus.

Anyhow,  the discussion is curtailed by a painful vision of baby Moloch at Frederick’s Manor in Henry’s crib.  So sweet!

She’s not herself and wonders if she can have some quince tea, just like  Abraham used to make for her.  Instead Ichabod takes her home for a rest, abandoning poor Abbie to takeout for one.

The next victim is a chick who’s a third wheel in love with the girlfriend of a male pal.  She goes to the parking lot to cool off because her guy friend thinks  she’s into him.  She’s a goner once she’s stalked and kissed by the succubus.

Abbie touches base with Ichabod after she receives word of the second body.  He’s uncovered several creatures that feed on human vitae.  She’s going to see Hawley to find out whether he knows of any occult paraphenalia that steals souls/vitae.

Hawley is still very smitten with Abbie,  giving her sweet lovelorn glances constantly.  He’s desperate to turn their meeting into more.  She’s still shooting him down.  He casually fusses, reminding her that he risked his life for her during the Wendigo incident.  He’s starting to remind me of Ichabod if Ichabod were easygoing, blond and louche. She still doesn’t have time for a drink, so he starts macking on the foxy brunette at the bar in front of her.  Oh, he was clueless about the killings.

Ichabod totally gets the vibe when she rehashes her meeting with Hawley.  In fact just talking about Hawley turns Abbie’s mind towards sexy times, causing her to realize that victim number one was alone in the backseat of his car because he was expecting to get a little something something from his killer.

Katrina has been eavesdropping and hears enough to connect the dots; however before she can identify the creature, Abbie jumps in because she’s also pieced together the obvious conclusion.   Yup.  It’s a succubus.   Ichabod is bug eyed and gobsmacked to see his two ladies getting along, working together and besting him. 

Or perhaps he’s finally grasped that Abbie and Hawley are sweet on each other.  Later in the car Ichabod awkwardly informs Abbie that it’s fine if she wants to court Hawley,  as if it’s any of Ichabod’s business!  Of course he’s a man of yore and feels responsibility for her as the only gentleman in her life to oversee these things.  It’s sweet if outdated; in other words,  totally Ichabod!  Abbie says she is too pragmatic to mix the Witness business with pleasure.  It also sounds like she has been unlucky in love.

Anyhow, I am still gobsmacked myself at Katrina’s usefulness this episode.   She tells us that succubi are drawn especially to secret desires,  and they can mimic the desired lovers to seduce their prey. 

My heart immediately flutters for Hawley who is hopelessly devoted to Abbie.  Sure enough,  he has been spied, stalked and seduced!  Poor Hawley.

Luckily for him Katrina is well enough at the moment to be even more useful.   She asks for a map and a candle  and uses them to scry for the succubus’ location.  OMG!  Abbie knows exactly where she is. 

Team Witness scrambles to save Hawley.  They interrupt the feeding.  She’s gone full demon except for her sexy lingerie.  It takes Hawley,  Ichabod and Abbie to hurt her enough to make her run.  Hawley uses the crystallized tear of an effreet to jolt her, Ichabod hits her with an iron rod and Abbie shoots her, naturally.  

Hawley is saved and apparently none worse for the limited feeding; however,  now Ichabod knows Hawley’s secret desire as he stares longingly at Abbie like a little boy looking at a candy store.  Matt Barr is truly excelling at selling Hawley’s unrequited love.

Meanwhile,  Katrina has been having more baby visions.  As she describes what she sees they realize that these visions are happening now and are not repressed memories of Henry as a baby.  Abbie also realizes that the succubus is feeding so frequently because she’s feeding little baby Moloch so that he can grow into a big, strapping demon king.  This makes sense because everything Henry has done of late has lead to unleashing Moloch on Earth.

This leads to another fight about Henry between the girls.   This quickly segues into the sane old argument whether Henry can be saved and escalates into who deserves to be at Ichabod’s side stopping the Apocalypse.   Ichabod talking his two ladies down from all out war is comic gold in Tom Mison’s able hands (literally).  Wimmenfolk and their volatile emotions are scary!

The spat is resolved through research!   They learn this succubus is an inchordata or heartless one.  Also for some reason, killing the first of its kind and gifting the charred heart to an Emperor spawned St. Valentine’s Day. Leave it to these writers to ruin a perfectly fabricated holiday!  The real takeaway is that the heart is stored separately and must be destroyed in order to kill the succubus’ body.  Okay then!

Katrina knows that the heart must be on consecrated ground and Abbie’s intel tells her that Henry has it at the cemetery.  Ichabod tells Abbie to go with Katrina for protection eliciting an eye roll from the Leftenant. She gets him back at him by telling Ichabod to take Hawley along on his succubus hunt because only he has seen her human form. Ichabod barely registers a wince. 

So we have Abbie and Katrina looking for the succubus’ heart and Ichabod and Hawley looking for the rest of her.  Do we think the warring pairs will become friends once they are forced to rely on each other for survival.   You betcha!

So we start with our first odd couple,  the fellows,  whose time at the dance club is spent thusly.  Ichabod rants about the noise and mood lighting.   Ichabod attempts to chat with Hawley regarding his intentions towards Abbie.   Hawley tries to shut down the topic but can’t help but ask if Abbie has asked about him.  Hawley sees the succubus.   Ichabod follows whilst Hawley checks in with Abbie.  The Succubus has chosen Ichabod as her next meal because he desires the relationship that he used to have with Katrina,  when he still trusted her. 

Whoa!  This means that Ichabod was in love with his fantasy of Katrina and not the real thing.   This bodes poorly for lasting love for the Cranes.   All of a sudden I recall the humorous introduction where the two Crane’s describe love very differently as the watch reality TV dating.

Our second odd couple are at the cemetery.   They engage in some girl talk as they search and start to understand each other by telling each other exactly how they feel.  Katrina admits that she clings to what feels right in her heart and Abbie admits her history makes it easy to see a mother’s love as misguided. 

Having hashed out their differences the women work together beautifully.  Abbie notices a series of hex signs over the doorway of a crypt.  Katrina finds the canopic jar. It has been charmed by Henry with a perception spell so everyone sees their own greatest fear.  

For Abbie it’s maggots and for Katrina it’s rats.  Abbie faces her fear immediately,  braces herself and sticks her arm in, rummaging around for the heart.  Yuk. Yes.  Abbie is just that badass and absolutely committed to defeating Moloch and the Horsemen.

Katrina starts the immolation spell but is shocked to unconsciousness by a protective  hex before she can finish.  Abbie shoots the jar to break the hex, picks up Katrina’s spell book and finishes the spell.  The heart bursts into flames,  stops beating and turns into a dead, charred lump.

Back to the fellows.   Instead of working together they’ve split up.  Hawley has given Ichabod a special and untested demon killing knife. It takes a while for Hawley to realize that Ichabod is in trouble.

Ichabod is locked in a storeroom with the Succubus who senses strong  desire in him as well as the doubt of love gone sour.  Yikes!  She’s a chatty one.  Ichabod stabs her to no avail because her heart is still beating at this moment across town. Ichabod’s a sitting duck as she starts to feed. 

Hawley comes to the rescue and gets knocked on his tookus.  The Succubus switches to Hawley, roughing him up to boot.   Ichabod rouses and throws the blade into her back.  It annoys her enough for her to come at him in anger.  He finds Hawley’s gun and shoots, killing her finally.  The fellows exchange quips and insults but seem to be friendly for a change.

Abbie has roused Katrina and helped her out of the crypt.   Abbie concedes that they couldn’t have won this victory against EVIL without her; Team Witness is stronger with Katrina on it.  Katrina smiles genuinely at the compliment,  yet her face is sad.

Katrina says that she knows Henry will try again.   She believes that she must slay Moloch herself to save her son.  Katrina can feefeel lthat Moloch is not at full strength yet.   She will use her wiles, her relationship with Abraham and Abbie’s friendship with Ichabod to convince Abraham that Katrina came back to him because Ichabod is lost to her, having moved on to a new life with Abbie. She needs Abbie to explain things to Ichabod.

So Katrina is honest and upfront with Abbie.   Their friendship is solid now.  Yet she cannot be completely open and honest with Ichabod; and seeds of doubt already have blossomed in his heart.  Sigh.   The star-crossed Cranes will come to their senses only when it’s too late I fear.

The fellows made it to the cabin.  Shirtless Hawley sits golden skinned in the early morning light bandaging his many muscles.  Abbie shows up and helps to tend his wounds.  She gives him the dead, charred lump of succubus heart as a token of her gratitude for his service.   He likes the gesture.  “Thanks. It’s not every day a girl just gives me her heart.”  Abbie threatens to punch him.  This may be their first mutual flirting. 

Ichabod shows up with a box of balms for Hawley and notices that Katrina is absent.  Abbie tells him of Katrina’s decision.  He sees it as a bold move that could pay off.  As Abbie said earlier,  relationships evolve, and he trusts his love, his wife and believes her to be a skilled operative. 

I am not sure I agree with that assessment,  nor probably would Abbie despite her compliment.  It’s great that Ichabod can now trust Katrina to take care of herself.   There are now two characters that have seen Katrina’s competence.  This means we are finally moving her away from the damsel in distress trope.

Katrina returns to Abraham and he brings her to Frederick’s Manor, overjoyed that she has come willingly to their side.  Henry looks   like the cat that ate the canary.  He asks if she’s wearing her necklace and allows her to see the baby.  The necklace glows and she sees a beautiful baby boy not an evil, deformed demonic bairn.  She smiles in delight at the sight of sweet Moloch.  Skilled operative or  duped again?  Henry’s grin suggests the latter.

Additional Thoughts: 

“Heartless” was written by Albert Kim and Directed by David Boyd.

I thought the episode was a fun romp that mixed up the usual pairings.  It was great to see Abbie mugging over Ichabod’s grasp of modern mores.  I like that both Abbie and Ichabod are starting to see lovestruck Hawley’s inherent charms.

I loved that the show finally let Katrina do something.   She and Abbie ended up being a great team.  I find it to be very irksome that as soon as Katrina gets the opportunity to join Team Witness,  she turns around  and trots back to Abraham’s side. 

I understand why she did it.  Henry is her son, her responsibility and she abandoned him when he needed her before.  She has to save him and killing Moloch is the surest way to achieve it because she doesn’t have to count on Henry c hosing the side of good on his own.

Frankly,  it can only be Katrina because of her relationship with Abraham; and from her perspective,  she realizes that she is the only person that will give Henry every chance to change for the better.

The problem is that Henry is better at everything.  She was completely ineffectual the last time she went undercover.  I don’t think she has the nuts to kill anything.   She was bested by illusory rats and Henry’s magic at ever turn in this episode.She. Henry knows exactly how to push her mommy buttons.  I fear that Henry and Abbie are right, in that Katrina’s emotions will be her downfall.

This is the second time this season that Abbie has filled in for a powerful witch.   Do you suppose that Abbie Grace Mills, descendent of another powerful witch named Grace, is both a Witness and a witch?  Abbie is my spirit animal and my hero!

Ichabod was neutered for most of the episode because of his feelings about Katrina and his need to protect her.  Of course this is the best reason to keep Ichabod and Katrina separate.

I was absolutely wrong about Katrina being evil; however,  I am completely in sync with Ichabod regarding her secrets and dishonesty.  It is off putting.  Likewise her facility for manipulation and her penchant for doing her thing without discussing it with Ichabod.   It bodes poorly for their future in so many ways.