Sleepy Hollow Recap and Review: Episode 2.03 – Root of All Evil

The Super Sleepy Dispatch

Recap and Review: Sleepy Hollow 2:3: The Root of All Evil 

Ichabod is jealous of another man because he’s a smarty pants and he needs the man’s help.  Abbie is smart, cautious and badass.  Jenny goes to a really dark place. Sheriff Reyes shows her soft side.  Henry is both a planner and a doer, all the while showing his handy side.  Irving is still screwed.  Katrina channels Icarus to Abraham’s chagrin.

Recap and Review: Apparently the road to apocalyptic victory will be won through crafting!  Henry is painting the finishing touches on his tiny model of the Tarrytown Psychiatric Hospital and places it in his very cool scale model of Sleepy Hollow. 

We transition to the real thing as Abbie and Ichabod try to visit Irving.  The nurse sensibly assumes that Abbie is there to admit Ichabod to his visible astonishment.  They quickly learn that they have been barred from seeing Irving by a Mr. Henry Parrish, IRVING’S LAWYER!  Ichabod makes the inevitable quip about lawyers.  Mine was better frankly (well it’s common knowledge that lawyers are harbingers of the Apocalypse).  Apparently they just missed Henry.   Does he finish a part of his model when his work there is done?  Poor poor Irving.

Ichabod has started chatting up his wife at every opportunity. He believes she will be able to provide information on Henry’s purpose.  Abbie is doubtful; she never sheds her pragmatism in this episode.  Hard won lessons tend to have that effect.

Abbie found a compassionate judge for Jenny’s trial and she received community service!  It seems like Abbie is a true magic worker!  We are talking about smuggling a duffle bag full of serious firepower onto police property. That strikes me as a felony charge in all fifty states.

Reyes is there to dispense tough love at Jenny’s release, chiding her not to end up like her mother.  All Jenny hears is that Reyes knew her mother.  Jenny remains too emotional to be level headed about her family history.  I think this weakness has made her ripe for demonic manipulation and can continue to do so.  Unchecked anger in the real world is a weakness because it can overpower both reason and morals; on a show frequented by the supernatural it opens one up for possession.

Abbie and Henry park outside a bank which was Henry’s next visit according to the cab company.  This is the perfect time to insert ironic humor.  Ichabod, seeing two men through a picture window inside a restaurant holding hands, comments, curious when that particular practice became acceptable.  Abbie assumes he’s referring to two men in love that are out, expressing their affection freely in public  Of course he was asking about wearing a hat indoors! LOL! Furthermore Ichabod is pissy about her innocent mistake because he served under a “well known” homosexual officer, Baron von Steuben, and watched the finale of Glee.  He seems contrite about the latter.

After Henry leaves they hear a gunshot ring out from inside the bank. Abbie calls for backup and goes inside to assess the situation. She finds a typically friendly and conscientious teller holding hostages and demanding money; the security guard is laying on the floor. As Abbie tries to talk the woman into giving up she and the viewers notice a suspicious dark caul on her face.  In the meantime Reyes arrives and takes a different tack by summarily shooting the woman when she becomes momentarily more aggressive and emotional.  Abbie obviously wishes for a different outcome whilst Reyes is uncannily calm and emotionless. A coin rolls out of the dead woman’s hand.

Abbie no longer believes in coincidences.  She’s already convinced that Henry is responsible for the teller’s violent fugue.  Of course she to stop it from happening again because she’s a hero extraordinaire.  I love that she’s taken the lead this season.

The next victim leaves the bank exhibiting the same dark facial veil and carrying a coin.  I sense that this darn coin is the root of all evil (for the time being at least).

We next see Abbie following up on her hunch by watching bank surveillance video.  Indeed Henry visiting the deceased teller and exchanged coins for money.  Strangely the teller stares at one coin and surreptitiously pockets it. 

Ichabod immediately demonstrates another one of his plot driven unbelievable feats of memory with requisite intuitive leaps to connect the dots.  Cue a revolutionary flashback to Ichabod participating in a mission lead by Benedict Arnold.  Oh how I love this show!

Washington sent orders ostensibly to stop a British counterfeiting ring; Arnold knows that the real objective was to obtain a cache of ancient silver coins that was slated to be melted down and restamped as new coinage.  Arnold stares at the cache intently and pockets a coin before becoming one of the most notorious traitors from American history.  Ichabod notes that he was a great officer and loyal patriot before turning coat.  Great use of actual history show!  You never fail to impress!

Meanwhile the coins new owner is making a bomb…

Oh joy!  It’s the time in the show that we check in on the literal sleeper plot involving Katrina and the haplessly romantic and completely neutered Abraham.  It is hard to recall those heady days as the Headless Horseman when HE owned Sleepy Hollow through his wanton violence and decapitation.  I lament the waste of this awesome character.

Katrina’s eavesdropping and sewing seeds of discontent in Abraham.  Henry is having none of that.  Immediately sussing that Katrina is manipulating Abraham with false promises and feminine wiles.  He cautions her that it is dangerous to deter Abraham from Moloch’s plans.  She tries the same tack on him, playing the mommy card and wondering why Henry is shackled up in Frederick’s Manor where he was born.  Henry is annoyed at her insinuations that he has a heart.

Jenny is back to hanging at the archives with our duo.  She has just enough time before community service to suggest that they talk to an old contact of hers who hangs out at the river when he’s in town.  His name is Hawley and he’s a relics hunter specializing in rare occult paraphernalia.

Abbie is furious to find out that Jenny used her account to hack into Reyes’ personal file.  Jenny is beside herself with rage because she discovered that Reyes was the officer that had their mother committed to Tarrytown, splitting up their family and leading to their mother’s suicide after losing her daughters.

Jenny is also angry and incredulous at Abbie’s foreknowledge of Reyes previously undisclosed involvement with their family, as well as her matter of fact acceptance of the facts because she understands that Reyes was doing her job.  The sisters have no common ground on this issue,  perhaps because it started them on their dramatically different life paths.  We learned last season that Jenny’s life has been much harder than Abbie’s, and losing their mother was the definable moment that started her downfall. I wonder too if Abbie was more aware that their mother’s behavior wasn’t normal and possibly dangerous to the girls.

Abbie and Ichabod find this Hawley fellow down by the river.  He is played against type appearing more like a hippy styled maryjane purveyor than anything else.  He isn’t immediately helpful despite Abbie name dropping Jenny; however he perks up when he hears enough details for him to realize that there’s money to be had.  Ichabod hates him on sight, claiming that he knows the type; Hawley is a profiteer loyal only to the faces on his money.  Ichabod is always good for a lovely turn of phrase.

Soon Ichabod also hates him because he’s one cool, smooth dude and a smarty pants, vying with Ichabod for info dump moments. 

Hawley wants to come along and offers useful information to secure his place on their team.  He says that the coin was probably a shekel,  a Tyrian shekel.  Ichabod is excited because that was the coinage in the casket that Benedict Arnold secured before turning traitor. Yep! Exactly thirty silver shekels from Tyre were in the casket.  Abbie’s thinking cap turns on and she realizes that the thirty coins were the same ones paid to Judas for betraying Jesus “Christmas” Christ to the Romans leading to his crucifixion.   Boy if any coin is EVIL and cursed it surely would be those particular coins.  The revelations play out faster than it took me to type this paragraph;  in other words this speedy exposition is friggin’ miraculous.

The heroic consensus is to decline Hawley’s offer of help.  They also think that Henry is using the coin to recruit people.   Please,  he’s clearly using it to create violence, discord and chaos.  This episode sees the witnesses chasing after the coin rather than planning a move against either Horseman or helping Irving who has been abandoned to Henry’s machinations for two days now.  This is Joker levels of brilliant mayhem (The Dark Knight). 

In the meantime the young nebbish with the coin has been busy building a bomb and blowing up daddy’s flower shop with daddy inside.  A sad business that.  And Henry is viewing his completed town model with pride.  A weird endeavor that.

The bomber is in custody.  Abbie reviews more bank surveillance video and sees Mr. Nebbish picking up the coin dropped by the teller.  Ichabod notes that a Tyrian shekel is the same approximate size as a quarter.   Abbie goes to review the bomber’s personal effects in the evidence room in order to substitute a quarter for the shekel.   Of course Henry is the bomber’s lawyer and was once again minutes ahead of our Witnesses.

Abbie is waylaid by Reyes while she is at the station and queried about her unauthorized access of Reyes personal files.  Abbie, clearly uncomfortable, says that she was curious about her connection to her mother, and mentions that she was surprised to find out that her Reyes was the one that committed her.  Abbie also realizes that her mother should have gone to prison based on the charges filed against her (kidnapping her daughters from foster care). It is here that we learn that this by the book hardass actually has a heart.  Reyes bent the rules for Abbie’s mother because she believed that commitment to the psych ward would provide her with the help that she desperately needed. 

Reyes also tells Abbie that Henry Parrish is still in the building. This leads to a confrontation between the Witnesses and the Horseman of War.  He’s in grand spirits our Henry asking Ichabod if he is proud of his son the lawyer. Ichabod grandstands that they know all about the coin and they will stop his EVIL plans.  Henry explains that the coin doesn’t turn people evil; it merely brings out the darkness within that every human being has.  Come on Ichabod,  surely you know that this is how demonic persuasion operates?  Stop watching Glee and start watching horror genre television. Henry promises more confirmation of the coin’s power.  Oh oh. Is that a veiled threat?

Reyes kicks Ichabod out of the station to which he replies with a passionate and loquacious argument for personal freedom; the kind of pissy and elegantly verbose diatribe that only Ichabod can carry off.  “Sheriff Reyes, I have tried to cooperate, but this country was founded by men who fought for nothing if not individual liberty, forged by the blood of men who refused to bow to a tyrant’s will. And as I stand in this public house of law and order, built to defend that very liberty, I declare I’m well within my rights to be here”!

Reyes indicates that she endeavors to protect the personal freedoms and uphold America’s hard won liberty for all of Sleepy Hollow’s citizens.  Therefore it is in their best in that she sees Ichabod’s official documentation since her research indicates that he doesn’t exist.  TOUCHE! Ichabod is visibly chastened and promises to bring his documentation to her tomorrow.  Of course he has none that would pass today’s scrutiny.

We cut to Jenny vigorously cleaning up graffiti.  To our horror the camera pulls back revealing that we are seeing her from Henry’s viewpoint as he watches from across the street.  He tosses the coin so that it lands in her sightline.  She sees it, distracted by the noise, and picks it up.  Jenny focuses first on her resentment of Abbie but quickly settles on Reyes as her first target.

Abbie and Ichabod meet Hawley in a bar.  He’s ordered beers for them which Ichabod cannot drink because he has no identification.   He complains again about the irony of fighting to secure this country’s liberty whilst having none of his own.  He also let’s us know that it is the plebian Paul Revere depicted on the beer bottle rather than the aristocratic Sam Adams.  Abbie declines her beer in an attempt to pacify Ichabod.

Hawley was smart to contact our duo.  Apparently Jenny came to him for a gun and didn’t seem like herself.  Since Jenny has been presented as a badass, gun toting mercenary who is highly emotional with clear anger issues, regarding her family history, I can totally visualize how unstable and dangerous she seemed.

Abbie and Ichabod assume that she is gunning for Abbie.   Hawley wants to know how they will handle the coin and prevent it from co-opting their darkness.  He proves that he can be even more helpful by telling them that he knows the legend detailing the safe handling safe of the Judas coins.

Hawley takes Ichabod to a church where he irritates Ichabod by knowing that the Tyrians were well known for their glass-making.  Ichabod is indignant that Hawley plans to break a window to steal consecrated glass, yet their need causes him to distract the priest by confessing about the mess that is his life at the moment.  This monologue is also worth quoting: “Well, my son abhors me, my wife is living with another man, I must confess to feeling a growing hatred in my heart, I’ve encountered a fellow whose arrogance is matched only by his annoyance… Now, I’m aware the laws of the land forbid me from cutting him down, but….”  He abruptly makes his adieus and leaves when he hears the sound of breaking glass.

I wonder if Ichabod understands that Hawley might speak about Ichabod in the same way if he were as pissy and indignant as our dear Ichabod. LOL!  His situation is hilariously modern despite being described in his quant, archaic turn of phrase.  Ichabod could be the leading man in an occult soap.  Having been addicted to Dark Shadows as a wee thing, I totally want this to happen.

Meanwhile Abbie is at the precinct to ascertain Jenny’s location.  The chatty desk officer tells her that Reyes is hunting in the nearby woods to woo more funding from a state official, and funnily Jenny is their too.  HA!  Abbie immediately realizes that she is not Jenny’s target.  I wonder if Reyes has inadvertently foiled Henry’s master plan to kill Abbie for Moloch.  After all Jenny and her closely held anger has been used against Abbie by Moloch and his minions before.

Our newly minted threesome of Abbie, Ichabod and Hawley are traipsing through the forest to Reyes location.  Ichabod tells Abbie not to trust Hawley.  Abbie says as far as she’s concerned they need to be careful about who to trust and better plan on trusting only each other.  Ichabod says

that they can trust Katrina too, and after noticing her reluctance to agree for the second time that day, queries her.  Abbie is extremely pragmatic noting that she doesn’t believe that a mother can turn against her child no matter what he’s done.  I recall that last week she believed that Ichabod the father was deliberately avoiding confrontation with his son.  Honestly I am not sure that Abbie completely trusts Ichabod either at this point.

Anyhow, Ichabod asks her if she thinks that he shouldn’t have allowed Katrina to stay with Abraham.  She’s a bit miffed by that and implies that it wasn’t his choice to make because Katrina is a grown woman, a witch and a redhead!  Poor Ichabod’s wit is failing him in this episode.   He’s zero for three.

Speaking of the eternally boring Katrina, now Abraham is miffed that Katrina is sweet talking Henry because he doesn’t think Henry will be receptive to overtures from his mommy dearest and of course she’s interferring with Moloch’s plans by meddling with his Horsemen. Katrina believes that the fact he moved into “his boyhood home” means Henry still has a familial connection to his birthplace and his mother.  Despite being disappointed in Abraham’s neutered presence around his beloved I think his concern is sweet.  I also note that both Horsemen have warned Katrina not to interfere with Moloch’s agenda. 

Hmmmm.  I don’t think Katrina is long for this world, although I think her death may inspire both sides to a new course of action. In other words she will be much more interesting in death and more vital to the story. Her character has been poorly developed and conceived from the pilot; whether as an exposition fairy or damsel in distress, she seems to function only as a plot device. 

Contrast this to Reyes development.  In only three episodes her ACTIONS have affected last season’s four heroes dramatically.  We’ve learned that she’s closely connected to the sisters through their mother.  Her past with the Sleepy Hollow Sheriff’s department provocatively suggests a relationship with Sheriff Corbin who we know was very much in the know and a mentor to both Abbie and Jenny.   Reyes appears to be mentoring both sisters in her hardass manner and we are starting to see a softer side indicating that she’s interested in their well being.  Very quickly she has been established as a very important person who is active in the story.  On the other hand, Katrina is using her feminine wiles to manipulate the three men connected to her.  Only poor Ichabod seems to buy it hook, line and sinker.  Both Abraham and Henry chafe at her attempts to control them, and warn her off of meddling in Moloch’s plans.  This is about as big a gaslight as the writers can shine on Katrina’s upcoming storyline.

I keep wondering why we don’t see Katrina actively engaging in witchcraft.  She’s the only character that gets short changed by the writing, which tells me that the writers are not interested in telling her story. She’s only there to rile up the men and spur them to action.  Once the plot gains more momentum I don’t think that she will be necessary.  Dead witch wheedling.  Ding dong this witch will be dead. That is unless Abraham quickly decides to ring those wedding bells and marry her in the hellish bonding ceremony introduced in the previous episode.

Back in the woods, Abbie and company have spied Reyes in the hunting blind and sussed Jenny’s location based on trajectory.  They split up to stop her from killing the new sheriff.   Abbie ends up taking on Jenny first and it’s a replay of her scene with the corrupted teller with far more emotional baggage.  In the background Ichabod and Hawley show up to provide backup as Abbie uses logic to divert Jenny’s rage from Reyes.  She tells her sister that Reyes can give them more information about their mother, and that Jenny should direct her rage at the dark forces that have been beating them in the battle of good versus evil.  Good points which rage crazed Jenny actually considers giving Ichabod the chance to tackle Jenny, knocking the coin out of her hand.  Abbie sees the coin and freezes.  Thankfully Ichabod kicks it away before she grabs it. Hawley neatly catches the coin on a fragment of stained glass and sandwiches it in place beneath another piece of glass placed on top.  Demonically engineered crisis averted in record time thanks to Hawley’s awesome help.  Ichabod turns to acknowledge this as the sisters hug.  Of course he’s disappeared with his booty.

Finally it’s time for someone besides Henry to throw a bone Irving’s way.  Poor man is so outside the loop that he has signed away his soul in blood because no one told him not to trust Henry Parrish!

Ichabod gets past the duty nurse by pretending he’s there to see a super friendly patient that he met earlier in the day.  Irving walks by the recreation room, sees Ichabod playing checkers and comes over to see him.  Poor Irving is so happy to be getting out soon that he can barely comprehendh, let alone digest, the information that Ichabod tells him. He can’t believe his good luck is demonic in origin.  Ichabod explains that his lawyer is the Horseman of War as well as his long lost warlock son, and that if Henry is trying to spring Irving he would do best origin to stay put.  Irving also remains too gobsmacked to realize that he signed a contract in blood that he didn’t bother to read.  I am so annoyed that Team Witness forgot about Irving until it was too late that the thought that these fools deserve the Apocalypse crosses my mind.  I really liked Irving as our human window into the world of the apocalyptic supernatural.  I don’t want his mojo upgraded to evil minion of the Horseman. I enjoyed his very real conflict at confronting his limits in the face of the supernatural.

Meanwhile Abbie goes to see Reyes at the station because she heard her superior was looking for her.  Reyes has pulled her mother’s psychiatric file so that Abbie can learn more of her family history. It’s a kind act on Reyes part.  Abbie learns that her mother was tormented by demons and her actions were inspired by love and the desire to protect her two daughters.  It’s revelatory to Abbie who understands now how connected she and Jenny are to Moloch and the impending battle.

Again with emphasis, please tell me why Jenny isn’t the second witness?  All of the evidence points to both Mills sisters having this singular role.  Ichabod was inserted into things by Katrina’s manipulations and spells, and his own hubris.   Without question the founding fathers deliberately prepared him to be a walking encyclopedia of occult information, however I don’t think that he is the second witness.

Abbie and Ichabod go back to the bar where they met Hawley for their traditional post escapade heroic tete a tete.  Ichabod tells her that Arnold fought for the British after turning on the Patriots and he met him one last time on the battlefield when he saved Ichabod’s life.  He believes that Benedict Arnold was a good man and regretted subsuming to his inner darkness.

Meanwhile Hawley has come in and joined them.  He’s keeping the Judas coin safe for now because he reckons that the complete set of thirty will draw top dollar.  Still he’s not completely heartless.  He’s provided Ichabod with proper documentation just because. Abbie thinks that they can trust Hawley.  I agree. I think he will chose the side of good when he learns that they are fighting to stop the Apocalypse, over helping evil to earn a buck. 

All of this talk of trust and alliances brings us back to Irving and Henry.  Methinks that this is a damning juxtaposition for Irving.  We see him pacing in his cell deliberating his options.  Henry is at home staring at the bed in which he was born, apparently seeing the same vision that Abbie experienced.  With his deliberations complete he sets the bed on fire with a flick of his wrist.  Magnificent!  Methinks that Katrina has already lost the war for Henry’s soul.

Additional Thoughts: This was a strong episode with an interesting take on an evil coin that lead to backstory on both sisters and drew their deceased mother into the story, concretely providing evidence to support speculation that Jenny is also a witness.  Way cool!  In contrast Supernatural’s evil coin episode, “Southern Comfort”, had poorly researched historic tie-ins, heavy handed character development and lacked a smooth integration with ongoing mytharcs.  Dean Winchester deserves better.

As always Ichabod’s rants and the historic riffs were primo.  Is he more indignant than last season?  I think so.  His family problems must be weighing heavily on his mind. 

Did anyone else notice that Abbie’s mother provides subtext to Katrina’s storyline?   Both consider their children paramount.  Abbie’s mother died trying to save hers.

FYI, Baron Steuben who never married. left his estate to two men who had served as his aides-de-camp with whom he had had close, familial relationships (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Wilhelm_von_Steuben).

I am not sure about next week’s Pied Piper episode;  it reminds me too much of Grimm.

(Sleepy Hollow screencaps courtesy of Screencapped.net).