Sleepy Hollow 1:07: The Midnight Ride

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Sleepy Hollow 1:08: The Necromancer

By: P.S. Griffin

Summary:

Wherein we learn that there are more skeletons in Ichabod’s past or at least one very large and menacing one!   Yes that pesky Headless Horseman returns and tries to get ahead (and a head) in this apocalyptic battle.  There are decapitations, history lessons and both sides do crafts in this fast paced, two episode story arc.  Two recaps and one review follows as we race towards the season 1 finale with our two witnesses.


Recap: The Midnight Ride:  

Listen my Sleepyheads and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.  It’s one if by land; however no amount of lights will suffice to prepare one for that Apocalyptic Horseman of Death nipping at one’s heels.  Especially when he’s three heads down and only the head of Paul Revere to go.  As we know Paul Revere survived and delivered his message that the regulars (and one most irregular Headed Horseman) were coming.

The vibe is far less dramatic back in modern Sleepy Hollow.  Abbie has purchased provisions in mass bargain warehouse quantities.   Ichabod is gobsmacked especially in consideration that the patriots nearly lost the war because they were starving.   Then he is incensed that water is a commodity to be purchased and stock piled because modern Americans have sullied their vast natural resources.   Abbie as usual barely reacts yet is visibly amused.  Ichabod’s curmudgeonly fussing is both charming and predictable at this point.

The witness banter stops because there’s only one hour until sunset.   Remember the Sin Eater and Katrina both warned that the Headless Horseman would return at dusk.  Yikes! Y’all are cutting it close this time witnesses.  I guess Ichabod needed some alone time and Abbie wanted to show she cared by feathering his nest because he nearly died from a heart stopping poison mere minutes ago.

Ichabod has to rush off to meet his friendly neighborhood Masons.  Those friendly guys who were so honored to meet him; and tranquilized, restrained and politely tried to kill him by forced suicide. Apparently they know a way to defeat the Horseman without killing Ichabod and Ichabod is keen to learn the details.  How was the plan that saves Ichabod their plan B?!!  For shame Masons. 

Abbie declines to accompany him to visit the Masons because they have an official no girls policy.  You tell him like it is Abbie!   It’s not as if Ichabod has ever held hos gilded tongue.

Abbie goes to the station instead where she is accosted by her alpha male ex Morales.  He is delighted she’s lost the dude in the moldy frock coat for a change because he wants to rekindle their “close” friendship.  She agrees to coffee but tells him to “temper expectations please”.  Girlfriend!  I am going to appropriate that line.  Gratitude!  Sparticus: Blood and Sand fans will note that I appropriated that line too.

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The spring in Morales step is quickly lost as he walks by a dark alley and hears someone calling him.  To his horror and my delight it’s another one of Abbie’s unrequited suitors and he’s dying to be Abbie’s one and only.  Undead Andy does some freaky body adjustments because that broken neck is still giving him trouble.  He still has his deadpan humor as he responds to Luke’s questions: “Rumors of my demise… have been pretty much true.”  He also warns Luke off of Abbie because only Undead Andy can save her.  He manhandles Luke and tells him that a war is coming and he better choose a side.  Welcome to the dark side of Sleepy Hollow Officer Morales, where too many things refuse to die. Luke chooses the other side… far from Undead Andy and Abbie. 

Abbie receives a charming voicemail from Ichabod who although he’s mastered this modern technology speaks as if he’s writing an old timey letter.   To wit, Ichabod has decided that the Masons need to stop their sexist nonsense and include Abbie because she is too important to the cause.  Therefore she needs to stop on by chez Manly Mason.  He ends his aural message with “Yours respectfully, Ichabod Crane” causing  Abbie’s heart (and mine) to grow three sizes.  It’s sweet and full of Ichabod’s educated revolutionary flare.  Yolanda from On star would be jealous.

Ichabod enters the abode of true gentlemanly arts and is miffed that no one is there to greet their illustrious guest. Gracious hospitality is clearly the best recourse after attempting to force suicide on him.  He quickly finds that his hosts have lost their sexist, mannered, fraternal heads; he hears an ongoing scuffle and grabs ye handy gentlemen’s sword with which to foil foul play.  Luckily Ichabod is a slow creeper and the Headless Horseman clombers off without his head but still a head in the game as it were.  Onwards fearsome red eyed Pale Horse, away!

Abbie drives up in time to see the potentially disastrous tableau with Ichabod framed by windows on one side of the breezeway and H.H. (yes finally tired of typing that out) on the other.  She races in heroically to find Ichabod mourning and fuming or fuming and mourning.   Also whatever dope the Masons had on H.H. is gone and the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington has been deliberately vandalized by slashing the canvas across the neck.  Ichabod realizes that H.H. wants his head.  Doh!  Wasn’t this his entire purpose in the premiere and didn’t Katrina already tell them how to defeat him which was clearly supported by him running away at daylight even though he was winning.  The Pilot spoiled this episode’s magic solution folks.

This is one of those headscratching occasions that sometimes befoul genre shows because they must have one off monster of the week (motw) episodes that deflect storylines from the actual main plot.  Supernatural writers are maestros at ignoring ongoing plot and existing canon in their pursuit of the imperfect motw episode.

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The great skeptic Irving and his crackerjack police team arrive to another lurid crime scene. Irving is annoyed to find more seared decapitation and tells Abbie that her official report better not include the words “headless horseman”.  He asks who the victims were, prompting Ichabod to wax loquacious about his noble brothers and friends the Masons.   Irving just wants to know why there are more decapitations in his town.  I like this new snarky Irving that has had it with Abbie and Ichabod’s ridiculous explanations.  Too bad this fellow is short lived.

That slashed iconic G.W. portrait has told Ichabod that H.H. wants his head.  Ergo H.H. thought that the Masons had it because they are the traditional caretakers of arcane relics and knowledge.   Aha! So that’s why they were all decapitated.  Tradition!  And to curtail information of how to defeat said Headless Horseman it seems, since they promised Ichabod a solution and pages were sliced from a book by an edged weapon.  

Abbie helpfully reminds him that the other Horsemen of the Apocalypse will rise once H.H. gets his head.  Since H.H. has suddenly become a real threat because of the writing,  they decide that now is the time to get down to the business of destroying the damned thing.  Paradoxically Irving decides to retrieve it from the lab for them even though this must go against every police procedure in the book.  Abbie and Ichabod’s argument for destroying the head is basically dude people will keep losing their heads and dying whilst all you can do is inform their families of their horrible demise. This argument works because the whiplash inducing plot demands it.

Irving had taken the head to a wildlife researcher for tests.  He has zilch despite all of the CSI style analytical mumbo jumbo because it’s supernatural y’all!  Before science dude can get Irving a carry-out box, H.H. shows up and starts doing what he does best.  Jones sells Irving’s competence amidst sheer and incredulous terror as he escapes with his head as well as the Horseman’s with no time to spare  and absolutely no wiggle room.  He out maneuvered the Headless Horseman!  The man has stellar cojones and mad skills.  Science dude and a research specimen do not fare as well.   Alas poor science guy we barely knew ye.

It’s obvious that my initial distrust of Irving was misplaced.  That still leaves us with the mystery of why he has been so accommodating of the most unprofessional investigation this side of anywhere.   These are real law enforcement professionals save Ichabod, not Winchesters!

Props to H.H. who remains the awesome spectre of Death armed wirh trusty broad axe and modern machine gun.  He rocks.  I cannot help but wonder again where he was these past four episodes only one of which was truly as awesome as H.H. (“The Lesser Key of Solomon”).

Irving promptly delivers the head and admits that his money has always been on Abbie and Ichabod being absolutely bonkers.   No such luck with H.H. visibly stalking Sleepy Hollow.   What follows is a fabulous destruction montage where our witnesses employ everything from strong acid to explosives to destroy the head.  Nothing works.  Abbie and Ichabod are on their way to check out an industrial compacter when they notice the four if by decapitation lighting display that H.H. set up on their behalf.  To their horror H.H. has been bitten by the crafting bug. The freshly decapitated heads were lined with molten silver and turned into lanterns.  It’s groovy and ghoulish and gruesome.  H.H. is obsessed with getting his head.  I remain impressed with his nonverbal communication skills.

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The awesome lighting display inspires Ichabod’s thought processes.  Sam Adams also coated the inside of his lanterns with silver.  Lanterns makes him think about Paul Revere’s famous ride.  Apparently Ichabod played a role that night too.  Ichabod was guarding Adams and saw him give Revere a Masonic manuscript with a familiar symbol on the cover: the devil’s trap that is tattooed on the back of H.H.’s head.  Ergo this manuscript must contain information about how to defeat H.H. and it was updated since Ichabod and H.H. went to sleep.

Time for an aside.  WTF.  Seriously?!!  Ichabod is a highly evolved example of the Mary/Marty Sue trope, especially the Mary Sue as Idealized Character and Mary Sue as Infallible character; see http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue.  I don’t think anyone that watches the show needs more explanation. 

Mary Sue characters are typically considered to be a sign of poor writing.  However in Ichabod’s case I think the writing is a deliberate choice.  This is why characters,  especially Abbie mock him with affection.   He’s a walking cliche that is going to receive major comeuppance.  His all knowing, self satisfied and self-righteous mien will lead him blindly off of that primrose path into darkness.  

Y’all know I think his beloved Katrina is playing him for a fool.   Those that have watched ahead know that he will play the grand fool hanging from a tree in Moloch’s apocalyptic tarot.

Still knowing that the characterization feeds into the tragedy of his inevitable fall does reduce the whiplash from Ichabod’s dizzying feats of mental prowess, which inevitably causes these moments to seem silly.  This is where the rollercoaster plotting fails the story.  I would prefer less intrusion by supernatural guide and fewer insane deductions pulled from the air, and more good old-fashioned research and fact finding leading to … well a lead.

Somehow they discover that the manuscript  Ichabod remembers is at the Tarrytown Museum of Colonial History.  This gives us an opportunity for more indignant Ichabod at the misinformation about Paul Revere and his midnight ride. Hey, At least he wasn’t a rum beggar!  Me I am still excited that I called his inevitable appearance after the Pilot because he was a famous midnight riding patriot and a renowned silversmith. 

We have a short moment of disappointment to learn the manuscript is on loan, followed by joy at hearing it is scanned and online!  Not only is the manuscript available yo our heroes but it’s been preserved for future generations!  Ichabod has little room for joy this episode with the cost of bottled water still weighing heavily on his frugal colonial heart.  Only the fear of arsenic poisoning outweighs his inalienable right to drink free water!

They return to the heroic lair where Ichabod learns about the perils of the internet.   Windows disappear and pop-ups with alluring brazen women distract him from the task at hand.  As usual Mison is perfect in these scenes.

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Ichabod also realizes that the manuscript is in code, a Vigenere cipher, and impossible to decipher without the cipher.  Ichabod happens to see the glint of silver from the mouth of the Horseman’s head and turns the head over to see the front teeth were backed with silver onto which the word “Cicero”was tooled.  We learned about Cicero, the freedom fighting collective, from Arthur Bernard, the prisoner in Ichabod’s flashback.  Cicero helps Ichabod breaks the code and Paul Revere is indeed a rum beggar!

Meanwhile Abbie tries to break her coffee date with Luke Morales;  however he is too scared to answer the phone when she calls because his encounter with Undead Andy has really given him the heebies jeebies.  She leaves a terse message.  

Undead Andy gives Abbie more than the heebie jeebies when he tries to meet cute in the umderground tunnels with some sad story about how he is indentured to the Headless Horseman, who is EVIL incarnate as far as Abbie is concerned; and alak alas he did it all to protect her.  His creepy, stalkerish love for Abbie exudes from his milky undead eyes.  Poor Abbie is barely able to keep her composure.  Seriously… she just can’t deal with him now. 

Undead Andy does tell Abbie that H.H. cannot be destroyed because he’s Death, but he can be trapped.  Ichabod the gallant finds them and alpha males his way into their twosome.  He has the same Intel and knows how to trap H.H.  I roll my eyes because KATRINA TOLD YOU THIS SUPER SECRET INTEL IN THE FIRST EPISODE! Of course it requires the Undead Andy agrees to give H.H. a message from Ichabod to come to the cemetery at nightfall if he wants his Head.

According to the manuscript the sun is the only way to trap Death and they need a witch to turn the moon to the sun.  Cue Ichabod bemoaning Katrina his wife the witch being unreachable in Purgatory.  Again with feeling: KATRINA TOLD YOU THIS INFORMATION SIX EPISODES AGO YOU DOLT!  Thoroughly modern Abbie realizes that they can use ultraviolet light and forego the pesky witch clause. 

The UV defense is a great concept.  It was the best part Dracula II: Ascension,  the first sequel to Dracula 2000.  Of course the problem with traps is that supernatural entities that cannot die have a way of breaking free.

Abbie,  Ichabod and the now eyes wide opened Irving have a crafting session, hoping their kung fu will defeat that of their headless opponent.  To occupy time they burst Ichabod’s bubble about his man crush Thomas Jefferson.   In all fairness,  it is a logical response to Ichabod’s frequent name dropping.   Yes.  Ichabod was a slave owner, slave fornicator and quip plagiarist.  The latter two sins mess with Ichabod’s head. Alas poor Ichabod you didn’t know the man or the icon who was a rum beggar for sure!  Just use your anger against H.H.  Abbie seemed all too pleased to educate Ichabod on Jefferson’s failings and the wonders of DNA analysis.

This episode’s heroic tete a tete has our two witnesses realizing that they have no one but each other.   Ichabod’s beloved is trapped in Purgatory.   Abbie has realized that she can’t really be friends with Luke (or anyone else) because she cannot share the important things in her life with them.  Hmmm… Irving seems like he can be a friend from now on and what about little sister Jenny who has accepted the supernatural since she first was exposed to it.  Nonetheless it is a nice you and me against the forces of hell moment. 

It’s time for the cemetery showdown at sunset.   Ichabod taunts and rides away from the Horseman whilst carrying his lit head.  Yep they crafted his skull into a lantern.  Take that you headless corpse you!  Ichabod leads H.H. into the underground tunnels which we now learn has handy graveyard access.  Ichabod expresses relief that he made it… just. 

H.H. descends to find the tunnels full of lit skulls hand painted to look like H.H.’s special one and only.  Ichabod runs one way with a head and Abbie runs off with another.  H.H. stomps around crushing fake skulls wirh his strapping boots until he has Abbie cornered with the real skull which gives itself away by the glint of Revere’s silver backing.  She’s fallen and she can’t get up! 

Abbie crawls away seemingly helpless with a sprained ankle as she calls for Ichabod.   When H.H. hits the spot Irving hits the lights; they go on and he is trapped.   Yep.  Ultraviolet light will get you every time.  Stay safe and don’t tan kiddies! Ahem… 

And this my children is how you trap Death, the Headless Horseman.  I am happy for our heroes and worried for Ichabod who seems to have something to prove.

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Recap: The Necromancer: 

We pick up exactly where we left off in the previous episode.  The Horseman is trapped and thoroughly subdued as if he were a sculpture of a bound slave by Michelangelo. 

Abbie is as worried as I am about Ichabod’s mood.  He’s  too emotional and angry.  He is also jonesing for revenge and expecting that this dance with H.H. will give it to him.  Thirdly and perhaps most worrisome is Ichabod’s holier than thou belief that he is in the right. 

Hubris thy name is Ichabod.  I want to shout that pride goeth before a fall you tragic fool!   Revenge is a dish best served cold!  Emotions cloud judgement!   Sadly Ichabod is on a roll and incapable of reason.   Abbie is unable to appeal to his better self.

Abbie and Ichabod share a fist bump, his first. Our three heroes admire Thomas Jefferson’s handiwork in designing the underground devil’s trap chamber which is beautiful and functional.Ichabod takes the opportunity to make an unkind quip at the expense of the French. Fir shame Ichabod!  In this timeline the English are vomparable to demons. 

Abbie asks Irving to touch base with Jenny since these events coincide with her release and homecoming.

Ichabod suggests they use Undead Andy as H.H.’s mouthpiece for interrogation.  They search the tunnels and find his sad, squalid hiding place which contains evidence of his creepy and unrequited love for Abbie.   Her face is filled with revulsion at the inescapable truth.  Poor Undead Andy has loved her since their school days.  The geeky friend that loved is even more uncool mow that he’s an evil zombie.

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Ichabod finds materials written in Egyptian hieroglyphs which apparently indicates that Undead Andy is a necromancer.  Ncromancy is magic that enables one to communicate with the dead.  I imagine that this is an oblique reference to the Egyptian Book of the Dead.  For those inclined see http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necromancy and http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead.  Being a necromancer doesn’t score points with Abbie.

Undead Andy returns and Ichabod requests his necromancing services for their interrogation.  Andy is reluctant because Moloch owns his soul and he is compelled to obey him.  Cue more disgust from Abbie as she realizes Undead Andy sold his soul.  He warns them that necromancy and confronting the dead/Death is really really dark mojo.  Awww… he’s protecting his sweet Abbie!

Although I am jazzed for more Undead Andy pining for his beloved whilst adjusting that broken neck, I am disappointed that there isn’t a Nazi necromancer.  After all the Thule Society were occultists as well as Nazis and we know that the show loves to take inspiration from Supernatural (“Everybody Hates Hitler”).  I also can’t help but wonder how Ichabod’s death would have killed H.H. if he’s actually dead requiring the services of a necromancer as opposed to Death which is a title not a state of being/unbeing. I thought the issue was that Abbie and Ichabod had his head and tongue! 

Color me confused.  Headache ensues…

Happily distracted by pretty scenery of the woods outside Sleepy Hollow. 

Two regular fellows out hunting find H.H.’s horse with the hellish, glowing, red eyes   One makes a call to report a missing rider except that he starts speaking German and shoots his comrade.  Hessian spellcasters leave no witnesses in their war of demonic terror.  This is pretty close to a Nazi necromancer so I won’t quibble.

Irving has had Jenny brought to the station by the popo.  She’s annoyed.   I am surprised she didn’t fight her way free given her checkered history with the law.  Not a smooth move mi Capitan!  He tells her the news of the hour about trapping Death.  During their conversation he gets a call about a disturbance at Adams Antiques.  Wanna bet there’s a Henry or Abigail Adams reference somewhere in there?

Jenny used to do acquisitions for the owner and is willing to provide backup to Irving.   Will coincidences ever cease?  Luckily Irving is a flexible thinker in regards to his volunteer staffing because Jenny is able to ascertain that none of the valuble assets are missing.  I don’t think she’s referring to monetary value.  She opens a secret chamber and finds Adams hiding inside.  I bet Irving is happy for a crime scene that doesn’t involve decapitation. 

Adams shows them an empty box decorated with druidic ruins that used to contain a magical item that could break a hex like that used to magically hold the Horseman in Jefferson’s demon’s trap room.  The men who took it spoke German.   Darn evil Hessians!  Boo! Hiss! NEIN! 

Jenny makes an intuitive leap worthy of Ichabod and sussed that the Hessians will take out the power grid to turn out the lights, especially those pesky ultraviolet lights.

The episode then bounces between two boy-girl heroic pairings fighting the forces of evil. 

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Abbie and Ichabod escort Undead Andy back to the magical holding chamber.   Ichabod taunts H.H. allowing his inner alpha male full access. He embodies the righteous indignation of the just as well as elements of Judge Dredd considering himself jury, judge and executioner. 

Sadly we see Ichabod’s hubris rear up and take him whole, a two-headed monster of know-it-all sanctity and blind revenge seeking ire.  Ichabod is not perfect and it bodes ill for our heroes and their noble mission.

A necklace falls to the ground as Ichabod’s gets in H.H.’s face to disrespect him.  Oh my!  The necklace belonged to Ichabod’s beloved.  Time for another colonial reverie.

The necklace was a gift ftom Katrina’s former fiance, Abraham Van Brunt, who was also Ichabod’s closest friend.  Apparently Ichabod helped his friend chose it for Katrina knowing that she would prefer it to the expensive and gaudy piece that Abraham liked.  Not only does she love it but she knows that her true love Ichabod chose it.  She tells Ichabod that she will break up with her engagement with her arranged beau for Ichabod.  I am gobsmacked that the lovely Katrina has so easily lured the choir boy to betray both his homeland and best friend.  Why wasn’t Ichabod ashamed about this during “the Sin Eater”?

Back in the present, Ichabod wants to know if his possession of Katrina’s necklace means the Horseman knows where Moloch is holding her.  Ummm… Ichabod,  you know that he holds her in Purgatory.   I know revelations and plot points pile up quickly on this show, but  please try to put your eidetic memory to good use and keep up!

Irving and Jenny are at the power station.   It gets real really fast as heavily armed Hessians flit about.  Our new heroic pairing splits up so each can have their own badass moment before back-up arrives.  Evil triumphs despite heroic badassery and Jenny’s mad paramilitary skills in the form of an explosion that disrupts the power grid. 

Ichabod is now harassing H.H. because he thinks he must know where Katrina is being held. H.H. taunts back that he in fact does know but will never tell.  Ichabod believes that H.H. has been stalking him.  H.H. replies that Ichabod became his mission after he betrayed and killed his friend and partner Abraham.

The two nemeses face off as the ulraviolet lights turn off because of the unthwarted explosion.  Jefferson’s devil’s trap is now the only thing stopping H.H. However H.H. is no longer in a weakened state.  Abbie sensibly wants to stop the interrogation, however Ichabod refuses, insisting that he did not kill his friend.

We cut to 1774.  Ichabod and his friend Abraham are in Pennsylvania, charged with couriering the Declaration of Resolve to the Continental Congress through enemy territory.  Abraham is verklemt because Katrina has dumped him and returned the necklace.   Ichabod tries to tell him about all of the other fish in the sea and that oodles of lasses would be happy to have him.  Since these platitudes didn’t soothe Abraham’s feelings Ichabod inexplicably goes with the truth.  Katrina dumped him for Ichabod and they’re soulmates destined to be together.  Abraham doesn’t take the news of the happy couple well. Despite Ichabod’s attempts to placate him, the men start to tussle.  Abraham draws his sword wanting to exact satisfaction for the wrong and eventually Ichabod is forced to draw as well.

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Evil Hessians show up; they’re even masked, shaved and tatooed to enunciate their EVIL.  One shoots Abraham. Ichabod valiantly tries to fight the Redcoats but eventually has to abandon his friend for the success of the mission and runs off.  I am still agog that Ichabod apparently doesn’t feel guilty about this.  It’s a far worse scenario than sparing Arthur’s life only to see him killed by a demon.  Both men were shot by Redcoats but Ichabod is culpable in Abraham’s fate.

The evil Redcoat Hessians appear to be a squad of Zombie German Necromancers themselves.  This is actually a step above Nazi Necromancer, so well done show! They turn Abraham into one of them: a pentagram tantooed zombie Redcoat.   They recite a spell and raise him from the dead. 

Since he looks just like the rest of the squad I am not sure that he is Death yet.  I imagine Moloch must have performed that feat of occult magic.  I do love the conceit of the British relying on fearsome Hessian zombie mercenaries to win their war.  Mad king George indeed!

Abbie is very concerned about Ichabod and wants him to stop the interrogation.  He is far too emotional and angry.  Irving and Jenny arrive with news of the stolen magic item.  The good news is that the Hessians will need to break in to use the relic and recite the incantation in situ. 

Abbie, Irving and Jenny leave the chamber to get more weapons to defend the perimeter.  Abbie reminds Ichabod not to lose his cool.  The leave Ichabod with H.H. who is still restrained by the devil’s trap,  and Undead Andy who is chained to a chair.

Undead Andy pulls the magic artifact out from inside his body and performs the incantation which raises a passel of creepy crawl naked demons that go after team Abbie in the tunnels. Irving and Abbie shoot and shoot as demons seem to explode.

Ichabod continues his interrogation of H.H. and accuses him of betraying Moloch to pursue his vendetta against Ichabod.  He finally notices the hoodoo that Undead Andy has been doing in the corner, but not before H.H. is free. 

H.H. grabs a sword and hands one to Ichabod.   He still wants satisfaction.   I don’t blame Abraham.   The guy might have been a vapid, wealthy fop; nonetheless Ichabod did him a great wrong without remorse. 

This time Ichabod engages without hesitation because he believes the Headless Horseman has wronged him, depriving him of the happy life he should have had with Katrina.   Ichabod is thinking of himself not the well being of Abbie or the greater good.  It’s personal,  emotional and the road to ruin. 

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As the swordplay commences Ichabod finally susses who he’s fighting because only one man handles a sword like this.  DOH! Yes Ichabod it’s your old friend Abraham and you might have figured this out sooner, and noticed Undead Andy’s magical antics if you weren’t such a self righteous,  emotional mess.  I actually wanted to end that sentence with another word.

H.H. says that he died and made a deal with Moloch.  The zombie Hessians shaved his head and branded it with the Pentagram.  Abraham made his deal for Katrina; she’s the payment for his soul.  It’s sweet, sort of… Funny that both Abbie and Katrina have undead suitors courtesy of Moloch.  Did Undead Andy make his deal for Abbie too?

Andy finishes his incantation causing the demon redshirts to come to the chamber.  H.H. uses the distraction to best Ichabod;  however, Undead Andy tells him that killing Ichabod is verboten by their master Moloch.  Undead Andy asks Ichabod to tell Abbie that he’s sorry.  The demons whisk H.H. and Undead Andy away.  Ichabod is alone.

Ichabod let his emotions cloud his judgment and his personal needs take precedence over stopping the Apocalypse.   This is no way for a hero to act Ichabod!

You are A meSS!

At their end of episode pow wow, Ichabod admits that he feels responsible for his friend turning into the Headless Horseman.  Thank goodness for this small mercy!

He and I both wonder why Moloch doesn’t want Ichabod killed (yet).  I think it’s because Ichabod has a role to play (and a handler, Katrina).  Ichabod hopes that Katrina won’t be given to the Headless Horseman until all the Horsemen ride (because this gives him time to save her).

“Now more than ever, we need Katrina;” thus spake Ichabod.  This bodes poorly for Abbie and Team Witness because Ichabod is now focused on personal goals.  One wonders if H.H.’s true purpose was to derail Ichabod from the path of the greater good.

Vital Statistics:  

“The Midnight Ride” was directed by Doug Aarniokoski and written by Heather V. Regnier.  “The Necromancer” was directed by Paul Edwards and written by Mark Goffman and Philip Iscove.

Additional Thoughts:  

This pair of episodes rocked, and rolled the story along nicely.  I had been jockeying for a more human Ichabod. Boy they delivered! I was surprised at how far Ichabod fell this episode. 

I felt sorry for both H.H. and Undead Andy and I am expecting to feel sorry for Ichabod too.   They all fell for the love of a women.  As far as Ichabod is concerned I am still singing this tune by Led Zepplin:

(He’s) been dazed and confused for so long it’s not true.  Wanted a woman, never bargained for you… Soul of a woman was created below.

Still no love or trust for Katrina here.

Abbie is beyond reproach.  She has become the heart, soul and brains of Team Witness with her no nonsense common sense and unerring moral compass.  They can’t take this away from her which is a blessing considering she doesn’t get much else to do now that we are in the winter of Ichabod’s self involved fall.  I miss her competent badassery.   Unfortunately she’s a veritable witness to Ichabod’s series of unfortunate choices at this point.

I love the pairing of Irving and Jenny, as partners and potential love interests.

 
Abraham was Katrina’s preferred suitor in Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.   If you are too lazy to read it yourself Tom Mison will do it for you! The link is on Sleepy Hollow‘s Facebook: https://mobile.audible.com/?s_ref=%2Fpd%2FB00N0ETQO4%3Fsource_code%3DFBIGBWS09081490SZ.

In the next installment I will blast through three MotW episodes,  two of these contain major mytharc reveals.  Ichabod’s brief relationship with a doll in one is heartbreaking.  After that I will race through the two part finale.  Monday is the season two premiere after all! 

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