SLEEPY HOLLOW 1.06 Recap: Sin Eater

This week’s episode opens with Ichabod and Abbie watching a Little League baseball game.  The Mini-Red Sox are beating the noble Mini-Cardinals while Abbie talks about how anyone can play baseball, so it’s an expression of the spirit of democracy.  Then Ichabod stands up and yells at the umpire, even though Abbie says that a call hasn’t been made yet.  Clearly, she missed the part where Mini-Middlebrooks fell down and obstructed Mini-Craig and the part where Mini-Ortiz blasted a ball off of Mini-Wacha…I’m not at all bitter about the World Series, am I?

Anyway, Abbie tells Ichabod she’ll take him to a Mets game one day, and I’m like, “Why not travel to Busch Stadium and teach him about the Louisiana Purchase?” After the game, Ichabod visits Katrina’s grave, where he gets captured after a blow-dart to the neck.  At this point, the story diverges into two alternating plots:

Abbie’s Plot:

Abbie is driving down the highway when she enters a dream-vision where she’s in an abandoned house with a crying baby in a stroller.  She tries to check on the baby when Headless Hal burst into the room, wielding his broadax willy nilly.  She runs from the Horseman until she enters another room with chanting witches at a table.  They disappear and Katrina shows up.  She tells Abbie that Ichabod is in great danger because of his connection to the Horseman, so Abbie needs to find someone called the Sin-Eater, who can break the blood bond between them.  Then Abbie wakes up with her car in a ditch.

She goes to Irving to ask for help.  He is extremely skeptical (and pretty much marks skepticism as a virtue on par with virginity), but he gives in and Abbie requests to see Jenny.  Abbie goes to see Jenny and after a little bit of sisterly squabbling, they set out to find the Sin-Eater.  Jenny starts checking off-the-grid databases she found with Corbin and says she’s heard of a figure that fits the Sin-Eater’s description (gobbling people’s sins instead of absolving them, as a priest does) in Algeria and other places abroad, but he disappeared.  They start going through records of prison inmates that the Sin-Eater visits, all of whom have the same last words, “I am sanctified.”  They eventually figure out that he lives under the identity of the last inmate he visit, a John Turcotte and then an Ian Kellet.  They find out he’s up east (in Massachusetts, I believe).

They track the Sin-Eater down and Abbie tells him they know his real name is Henry Parrish, though we have no idea how she and Jenny figured that out.  Turns out the Sin-Eater is much-buzzed-about guest start John Noble (Walter Bishop for Fringe fans; Denethor for us Lord of the Rings nerds).  He lets the Mills sisters into his hotel room and tells them that he no longer steals sins because it’s like looking into the deepest parts of people’s souls and losing himself while he’s in there.  He quotes scripture, so Abbie pulls out the “pale horse and the Rider was Death” line from Revelation and Parrish agrees to help.  He uses Abbie’s connection to Ichabod (which she insists is “strong”) to find Ichabod.  His sight flashes to the tunnels beneath Sleepy Hollow and he says Ichabod is underground.  Abbie wants more information, but he says that enough to find Ichabod.  So Abbie and Jennie head for the tunnels.

Ichabod’s Plot

Ichabod wakes up in some dank place where a lean, lumpy-faced man asks him to confirm his identity.  The lumpy-faced man is James Frain (Thomas Cromwell on The Tudors), and he has one of those “I AM EVIL” faces, so he is not to be trusted.  Ichabod claims James Frain is a Mr. Rutledge, some descendant of the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence, Edward Rutledge* (whom Ichabod knew well, since he knew all of the major Revolution players well, apparently).  It turns out this Mr. Rutledge was a Mason and naturally, Ichabod is/was also a Mason because a bunch of Revolutionary dudes were Masons (including his beloved General Washington) and because Ichabod can do everything.  He gets New Powers as the Plot Demands, after all.

*Side Note: Edward Rutledge is the character who sings the super-creepy “Molasses to Rum” in the musical 1776.  If you want a happier song, try The Egg (“The Eagle.” “The Dove.”  “The Turkey!”).  I’m sure Ichabod eavesdropped on the entire musical.

Rutledge asks Ichabod about a phrase (possibly Latin?) that means “Order from chaos.”  Ichabod recognizes it and says he first heard it from a dying man, a house slave named Arthur Bernard.

FLASHBACK TIME: Ichabod is a Redcoat Lieutenant and his Captain makes him arrest Bernard, who seems to be a good man (and the first 18th-century person to sport an American accent).  Ichabod does so because he’s promised a Captain’s post, even though he clearly doesn’t want to.  That’s when he meets Katrina, who talks about how she’s a Quaker, so she believes in the power of all people.  You know who was raised a Quaker?  Richard Nixon.  He definitely believed in the power of himself as a person.  Anyway, Ichabod then watches some “traitors” (who might be innocent people?) get hanged in the town square and begins to feel guilty about his Redcoat-ness, especially since he just watched a young boy lose his father.  He talks to Katrina in the woods about it and she talks about how he has the gift to be a witness.  When she leaves, she says that she knows he’s a good man, and Ichabod looks lovestruck.

Ichabod eventually returns to Arthur Bernard and says he can free him if Bernard gives him the true name of a revolutionary “traitor” named Cicero.  A bloodied Bernard refuses.  Eventually, Ichabod’s Redcoat Captain forces him to take Bernard into the woods and shoot him.  In the woods, Bernard offers him a chance at some sort of mystical knowledge.  Ichabod says, “March.”  So Bernard does.  Ichabod shoots and purposely misses.  He asks if Bernard is Cicero, and he replies, “We all are” and tell Ichabod to go to Katrina and say the words that will let her know which side his heart has chosen.  Then, just as Bernard turns to run, the Redcoat Captain shoots him in the back.  As Bernard falls, Ichabod tussles with his Captain, who turns out to be a demon.

Ichabod survives that occult encounter and returns to Katrina, saying, “Order out of chaos.”  He’s a confirmed revolutionary now.

PRESENT DAY: Rutledge says that Ichabod’s story checks out because Katrina recorded it in the ledger sitting in front of them.  This also means that the Masons want Ichabod to kill himself in order to break the bond with Headless Hal.  Ichabod has to be willing to make the Ultimate Sacrifice for the Greater Good, like Arthur Bernard did (also like Jesus did?), so the Masons present him with a wooden box that houses a mysterious and most likely poisonous vial.

Then Abbie shows up and demands to be taken to Ichabod or she’ll “call the cavalry.”  Rutledge tells her that he and his men will not directly harm him, but she asks for alone time with Ichabod anyway.  Ichabod explains why he has to kill himself, so Abbie tells him about the Sin-Eater and there’s hand-holding.  He also calls her Abbie for the first time, and then he drinks from the mysterious vial.

Moments from Ichabod’s past flash before us when Abbie presents Ichabod to Parrish, the Sin-Eater, down in the tunnels.  Parrish says Ichabod is almost gone, but stabs his hand anyway and licks his blood.  Then he has Ichabod conjure Arthur Bernard so that he can confront what he considers to be his great sin.  Bernard stands in Parrish’s place and Ichabod repents for allowing his death to happen.  Bernard says that his death allow Ichabod to discover his true destiny and that what he sees as his sin is really his salvation, so he should let go of his regret, which is what ties him to the Horseman.  Ichabod insists that that will let the Horseman ride free, but Bernard counters that that will free Ichabod to stop him.

Ichabod does as Bernard suggests and his blood separates from Headless Hal’s.  When he wakes up, Ichabod says he no longer feels the Horseman (why hasn’t more of that been mentioned before?).  Everything is good for now.

But wait, the blood bond may be broken, but Headless Hal just discovered Ichabod’s Cave of Wonders.  Dun dun DUN!!!!!

This episode is hard to explain because it’s so dense, but it was a vast improvement over the last episode.  This episode alternates between the two plots in a balanced manner and the characterization was very good.  The Abbie-Jenny scenes were fun and interesting, as always.  And it was nice to see Katrina outside of the Phantom Zone-Narnia Woods, speaking lines that weren’t exposition (though they were exceedingly theme-y).  I’m also looking forward to John Noble’s continuing appearances as the Sin-Eater, who looks to be an enjoyably mystical character.  Have we seen the last of Mr. Rutledge and the Masons?  I hope not.  This episode added two new mystical elements that help grow the shows mythology beyond the demons-and-apocalypse and setup, and I hope we have many more future episodes like this one.

The Wisdom of Lt. Abbie Mills

“Baseball is about three things: First, tradition—rules never change.  You can always count on the grass to be green, the lines to be white, so no matter how crazy the world gets, it makes you feel safe like everything’s okay.  Second, it’s about teamwork–the players have to have faith in each other and watch each other’s backs, because without that, team don’t work.  And what I love is that this sport does not discriminate.  You can be a short long reliever, a long shortstop, black, white, Hispanic, and that is the American Dream.”

Sleepy Hollow airs on Mondays on FOX.