Since we’ve just come off hiatus we, naturally, begin with
a bit of a recap of what happened last season. Abbie sacrificed herself to save
Jenny from the new big bad – and said new big bad is not happy about that. That
leaves Jenny, Ichabod and Corbin to find Abbie
And it’s quickly clear that Ichabod is driving himself to
desperation – pushing too hard, taking too many risks and generally going to
cause a whole lot of problems (and trying to cook a frozen lasagne in a pan).
We are somewhat focused on Ichabod’s mourning and
desperation here, but we also have a nice moment when Jenny makes it very clear
that Ichabod isn’t the only one in pain here. It’s a nice slap down and an
essential moment in a genre where Manpain tends
to eclipse everyone else’s grieving.
Of course, Abbie is also an FBI agent which means there
are other people looking for her (another element I like – sometimes people
disappear on TV and the real world just doesn’t seem to care). Particularly
Agent Dany Reynolds, her boss, is pretty desperate. Only he’s focusing on
Ichabod – reasonably, he is a suspicious character, an unexplained part of
Abbie’s life and one of the last people to be seen with her.
Agent Foster is the one taking point on investigating
Crane – and trying to ensure that Reynolds doesn’t lose his ever loving mind as
well since he may be going down the same path as Ichabod.
One of Ichabod’s reckless plans involves a rather dubious
magical artefact he hope will summon Abbie from the underworld. It’s poorly
researched, hasty and reckless – everything Jenny warned him about. Instead of
summoning Abbie, it summons a Japanese vengeance spirit (yes, insert my
recurring complaint about Sleepy Hollow
is the way it raids supernatural legends from all over the world – but not the
culture or the people). That spirit sends lots of cryptic messages – but not
just to Ichabod, but also Agent Foster
Agent Foster gets a rapid introduction to the
supernatural world – and she accepts this quickly. No, really, we’re spared the
whole standard “this can’t be real!” scenes partly because she’s given pretty
unequivocal proof of the supernatural almost instantly and she doesn’t doubt
her own eyes but also because she’s spent her life studying the supernatural
because she’s pretty certain woo-woo was responsible for her parents’ death
She’s an interesting character but I’m torn. I’m torn
because Abbie is in the supernatural world, apparently for some time. I’m torn
because this episode ends with a rather poignant and powerful flashback to
Ichabod and Betsy learning that hard lesson that not all of their partners
survive and sometimes there are no miracles. I’m torn because the episode ends
with Ichabod learning that his obsession with freeing Abbie is dangerous and
distracting him from stopping Pandora. In short, I’m torn because there’s a lot
of indications that Abbie won’t be rescued soon – or even at all – and just as
she goes onto hiatus we have Agent Foster step into an Abbie shaped hole
oh-so-neatly.
In other words, it has a slight whiff of a T-Dog Chain
where one Black character disappears to be quickly replaced by another.
However, I’m more hopeful because Abbie is still around and clearly the meta
plot is rescuing her. Agent Foster and Abbie are also main characters who have
either been heavily developed or are being developed – and though they have
similarities, they’re definitely very different characters with different views
and opinions. Agent Foster looks like a character in her own right, not just Abbie
#2. But at the same time will the show be able to support both of them?
Basically, I like Agent Foster and would definitely like to see her around –
but not if it comes at the cost of Abbie’s prolonged or permanent absence.
With Foster onside she helps deflect some of the
suspicion from Ichabod with Danny Reynolds so we don’t or shouldn’t have many
episodes of his suspicion.
Meanwhile Jenny and Corbin Junior are looking for Pandora
and the new big bad (he who wants to cull humanity for the sake of more nature)
which involves lots of crafty shenanigans from Jenny and surprising badassery
from Corbin. Along the way Jenny and Corbin confirm what has been on the cards
for a while now: they are a couple. And Jenny addresses some of her own major
grief and guilt issues about Abbie who, after all, sacrificed herself to save
Jenny
We end with a little troubling suggestion that we’re
going to get a lot of Monster of the Week episodes – with all kinds of creepy
crawlies heading to Sleepy Hollow. I find it troubling because that means we
are very likely to have many episodes with Abbie still locked away.
