(SPOILERS AHEAD (or, um, be-head?), so duck and cover, Sleepy Hollow fans!)
Season One, Episode Two: “Blood Moon”
Written by: Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman & Mark Goffman, Directed by: Ken Olin
After a mythology-heavy pilot, the second episode of Sleepy Hollow gives us a taste of what the show will be like normally. It looks like they’ll be mixing that case-of-the-week formula with a few glimpses at the larger mythology of the show. It’s a tried-and-true structure, but it could grow tedious very quickly.
Quick Breakdown
Katrina visits Crane’s dreams again. This time she warns him about a new threat: “Before the four horsemen will ride, an army of evil will make way for their arrival. The first dark spirit rises with the blood moon.” Crane wakes up confused but ready to tackle this new mystery.
Meanwhile, Irving is giving Abbie a hard time about this investigation of a headless horseman. The two cops who saw him have recanted and the video of Andy’s death does not reflect what actually happened. Irving is back to being skeptical, but he is giving her some loose “latitude” for the investigation. His mood seems to be completely opposite form what it was at the end of last week’s episode.
She teams up with Crane again. He’s confined to a motel room with a guard, and only Abbie can take him out. Crane tells her about the dream, but they don’t have any idea what it’s about. She takes him to Corbin’s funeral and tells him about how Corbin was a father figure to her.
In the morgue, that Pan’s Labyrinth-like monster that killed Andy is back, reviving Andy’s dead body. Andy chokes up a medallion and is tasked with releasing someone. That someone turns out to be a crispy witch. “The ashes of the pious will ordain your resurrection; take their flesh and you will reclaim yours.” He tells her. They speak in vague pronouncements like this constantly. It makes sense considering how old these demons and witches are, but it’s so affected that it borders on annoying.
In a stolen patrol car (that no one seems to miss), Andy pulls over a guy named Jeremy Firth. He makes him say his full name, so we know that’s the important thing. Andy drives away and the crispy witch appears and sets the car on fire.
When Crane sees the crime scene with Abbie, he instantly knows who is responsible – it’s really helpful that he has a photographic memory. He tells Abbie the story of Serilda of Abaddon, a witch he had encountered who burnt entire camps to the ground. To learn more about her, Abbie suggests they look at Corbin’s files which have been locked away in a storage room.
There’s a quick pause in the case, as one of the officers at the station grills Crane. Fortunately, they’ve been developing a cover for Crane, so he answers the questions easily. The guy, Luke, turns out to be Abbie’s ex – they broke up because she was leaving. There’s lots of sexual tension between them in their two minutes of shared screen time.
To get the files, Crane takes Abbie to a secret underground series of tunnels that they built during the Revolutionary War. As they walk around the tunnels, Crane talks about witch bones being buried in the tunnels, and they find some old crates full of gunpowder. This scene reeks of foreshadowing, and we can assume both of these things will be important later.
They get access to the storage room and check out the files. Serilda was burnt alive by a magistrate, and as she died, she vowed to desiccate the magistrate’s ancestors when she rose again. Turns out, his only living relatives have the last name’s Firth and Hemington.
Undead Officer Andy has found a Hemington, a little boy. He makes him say his full name, creeping the boy out. Abbie and Crane rush to the Hemington house, but Serilda has already been there. She didn’t kill the boy, though (He’s adopted!). Instead she stole his dad’s ashes for her resurrection ritual.
For the ritual, Crane says she’ll need her bones, which are buried in those tunnels they were just at. They chase her around down there, and Crane uses that gunpowder to blow her up. Before she dies, though, she tells him that Katrina is trapped in a “world between worlds,” and Crane is hopeful that he may be able to release her. Andy is in the tunnels as well, but Abbie doesn’t see him. Also, no one seems to have noticed that his body is missing from the morgue.
With the world a little safer, Abbie is visited by the ghost of Corbin. He gives her some fatherly advice and mysteriously tells her, “Don’t be afraid of number 49.” Corbin vanishes before explaining anything else. Fortunately, we don’t have to wait long for this mystery to be solved.
Cut to the mental hospital where Abbie’s sister Jenny is a patient. She’s in room 49, secretly not taking the pills the nurse gives her. She’s training hard, keeping her body in shape. But she’s still haunted by the Pan’s Labyrinth monster.
Rating
B
I’m rarely a fan of the case-of-the-week formula, and it seems like a new witch threat every week will grow tiresome. This “army of evil” is a great way to develop stories, but it will definitely grow monotonous. However, there is just enough of other mythology developments to keep my interest in the show. It will be interesting to see how this all pans out.
Now for some random thoughts and my favorite moments of the night…
Crane is still wearing the same Revolutionary costuming. Are they ever going to give him fresh clothes?
“Evil has found a new home in Sleepy Hollow.” Crane’s grim pronouncement was delivered perfectly, as horribly clichéd as it is.
I was amused when Frank Sinatra’s “Witchcraft” played on the radio while Serilda attacked Jeremy Firth.
LOST fans should recognize the name “Abaddon” as belonging to Lance Reddick’s character from season 4.
“If you’re gonna haunt me, be helpful.” –Abbie (to Corbin)
