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Despite its origins in absurd supernatural and mystical forces, Sleepy Hollow does get sweetly sentimental on occasion. There have been moments of great friendship and understanding between Abbie and Ichabod on more than one occasion, but this week, just in time for Thanksgiving, our duo and their cohorts actually take time to meditate on family and what the holiday actually means.
Irving and Jenny are without a side mission this week, however, they do suddenly develop an inexplicable sexual tension out of thin air. It's something that gets the notice of Irving's daughter Macy, who witnesses Jenny inviting Irving to Thanksgiving dinner – an offer he accepts right as his ex-wife and Macy arrive. Macy's not very fond of her father, but Jenny tries to convince her that he's actually an alright guy while his ex-wife is threatening him with a possible full custody battle if he doesn't have Macy out to visit him in Sleepy Hollow more often.
But new character, Lena Gilbert has much bigger family problems. She's finally secured the deed to her ancestors' house, Fredricks Manor, but when she gets there her security guard is killed and she's trapped in a closet full of branches. When Abbie and Ichabod arrive on the scene – because Lena's a billionaire and billionaires aren't allowed to be missing – they find the house is haunted. The clue: the house shuts all its own doors and shutters and traps them. When they finally locate Lena, they free her from the vines (which bleed when they're cut, oh joy) and spend way too much time explaining how everyone is related to the house as the tree creature who owns those bleeding vines comes after them.
They're separated and Abbie sees a ghost who turns about to be mistress of the house, Grace Dixon. Grace leads Abbie to a vision of Katrina giving birth to a son Ichabod didn't know about. Abbie supposes this is because Katrina couldn't tell him she was a witch and that her coven was at Fredericks Manor and that Lachlan Fredricks was a part of it. In the vision, the tree creature grew inside the grounds in order to beat Lachlan's protective hex, and as soon as it awoke, it killed Lachlan and went after the baby. Her vision cuts out at the most suspenseful moment – before we find out if Baby Crane lived – because of course it does.
Ichabod is distraught, but they must find Lena, who is taken yet again by the walking tree. They find her a pitch black room and shoot the tree's roots to avoid accidentally shooting Lena in order to free her. Abbie has another vision of Katrina escaping at the back of the room and she leads them all to safety. But Ichabod, filled with the love of family, seeks revenge on the creature who went after his wife and child.
Then comes the fight. Ichabod's got cuts and bruises, he's wearing a billowy shirt, he's wielding an ax, and he's a beloved literary character with a British accent. It's like they churned this guy out of the fetish machine. (Not complaining.) He defeats the creature who threatened his wife and child and returns to the precinct where he's gloomy about Thanksgiving because it just reminds him of the family he doesn't have (you and every un-cuffed human this time of year, buddy).
Abbie suggests they attend Jenny's Thanksgiving, where Irving and some sudden and not entirely convincing sexual chemistry will be engrossing Jenny's attention while Ichabod and Abbie spend time drinking rum to come to terms with the fact that they're all they've got. And Abbie discovers that she's related to the woman who helped deliver Ichabod's child into the world.
Somehow, this supernatural series managed to end its "Thanksgiving" episode on a rather grave, yet entirely realistic note about family and finding thanks and togetherness during the holidays, which actually makes us love it more. It's like Ichabod: brains and supernatural, completely improbable brawn.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Despite its origins in absurd supernatural and mystical forces, Sleepy Hollow does get sweetly sentimental on occasion. There’ve been moments of great friendship and understanding between Abbie and Ichabod on more than one occasion, but this week, just in time for Thanksgiving, our duo and their cohorts actually take time to meditate on family and what the holiday actually means.
The episode begins as a Washington D.C. billionaire named Lena Gilbert (no relation to Vampire Diaries’ Elena Gilbert, though I did do a double take when I heard her name the first time) comes to Sleepy Hollow to take possession of her ancestors’ home, Fredericks Manor. Before we can learn much about this pretty, privileged lady, she’s wrapped up by living branches and pulled into a closet. There is something seriously rotten in what she thought would be a nice vacation home.
But billionairesses who’ve dated George Clooney (Abbie’s mystical Internet tells us so) certainly aren’t allowed to go missing, so when Irving gets wind of her disappearance, he sends Ichabod and Abbie after her. Of course, this couldn’t have come at a worse time, as the seasonal depression brought on by a lack of loved ones during Thanksgiving has overtaken Ichabod. He needs Katrina because she’s his family and the fact that they now need her to save the world too only makes it worse. Abbie gives him the night off, but of course, duty calls yet again.
Before running off to find her, they find that Lena had notes with the name "Katrina C." written in them. Abbie says it’s a coincidence, but Ichabod knows that the notes refer to Katrina Crane, his wife. Abbie and Ichabod consult the Internet (super high-tech police stuff, here) and find that Lena’s a descendant of Lachlan Fredericks, who was a charter man of the Continental Congress. (See: important dude.) To make matters worse, it appears that her home, Fredericks Manor, is haunted or cursed, because it has had no residents for longer than a few weeks since Lachlan Fredericks died. Sure, guys. Head right in, guns a-blazing. Great idea.
When the duo arrives, something is very, very amiss. Ichabod immediately remembers that he’s visited the house before. It was a sanctuary for freed slaves who worked there of their own choosing for fair wages; Lachlan was an early abolitionist. However, in present day, the house plays host to violence. Lena’s private security guard is dead and there are bloody hand prints all over the floor, signifying that someone -- Lena -- was dragged away from her slain protector.
Suddenly, Abbie loses her cell signal (haunted house: 0, Sleepy Hollow’s underground tunnels: 1,000) and the doors begin closing on their own, trapping them inside. To add to the mounting claustrophobia of the episode, Abbie then sees a ghost and loses her mind a little. Apparently she can handle a headless horseman, a pool of blood and demons, and severed heads carved out like jack-o-lanterns, but ghosts are where she draws the line.
Luckily, Ichabod distracts her when he finds a copy of Gulliver’s Travels that belonged to Katrina. It contains a letter he asked Washington’s aide to give her should he die in battle. There’s a little Duh moment here – Lena did have Katrina’s name in her notes – but at least Ichabod knows he was right about the connection. He notes that once upon a time, this house was warm and inviting. In his memory we see a smiling Lachlan and the mistress of the house, Grace Dixon, a former slave. Ichabod assumes that Lachlan’s uncommon humanity earned him many enemies and that the issue may continue to haunt his descendants, i.e. Lena. Wrong, but you're getting warmer, Ichabod. Much warmer.
Finally, they find Lena in the closet and they cut her out the branches that bind her, only to find that this tree bleeds like a severed limb in a 1970s horror movie. Outside, a tree creature that senses the cuts and springs to life as the trio wastes time filling everyone in on their family histories instead of, oh I don’t know, escaping the horrible tree monster headed their way.
At that same moment, Irving is just a ball of sunshine. Or he’s back to being the textbook grumpy police captain. Yep, that sounds right. He assumes that Abbie is ignoring his calls (she’s only involved in a dangerous supernatural mission and lack of communication probably signals trouble, but okay, Irving), but he’s really upset with Jenny, who "accidentally" took a gun after their trial mission at the power plant. She manages to curb all his anger by inviting him over for Thanksgiving with Ichabod and Abbie, just as he’s about on his last nerve. He suddenly softens and gets excited about pie with a glint in his eye. Oh, you betcha there’s suddenly a romantic connection here. It’s kind of out of left field and there was no indication of any of this, but hey, it has to start somewhere, right? For the moment, however, a visit from his ex-wife snaps him out of it.
Back in the hell house, Lena tells Ichabod that her ancestors were likely witches and he adds that Lachlan and Katrina were likely part of the same coven. While trying to get to the bottom of this mysterious house issue, they realize that the creature has infested the house (no, really?) and they should probably try to escape. They find a secret passage in the walls, but lose Abbie and must continue on when the tree-meister rears his ugly head. (Or is that a branch? Nubbin?).
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At the precinct, Irving’s daughter Macy confronts Jenny about "dating" her dad. So that’s definitely going to be a thing then, isn’t it, Sleepy Hollow? The two of them bond over having cops as family members, but Macy is pretty hard on her father, who she’s happy doesn’t see her that often. At the same time, Irving’s ex-wife gives him the green light to date (also known as complete apathy) and then says that he needs to have Macy visit more or she’ll file paperwork for full custody. He’s a little stuck because of all that supernatural mayhem he wants to protect Macy from, but he might lose his daughter altogether if he doesn’t comply. This sounds like perfect set-up for one or two things: Jenny comforting Irving over losing his daughter, Jenny helping Irving take care of his daughter when she inevitably comes to visit more often (forging a connection with the girl and Irving), or this is just a glimpse into his life and now it’s back to the background with him. Let’s hope that last one remains a joke and not a reality. Fingers crossed.
Meanwhile, Abbie is lost and yelling for Ichabod while a monster comes after her, because she is so wise sometimes. Luckily, she finds a thin wall to break through and escapes only to find the ghost of Grace Dixon, the one who scared her earlier. Grace begs for her to follow and that’s when Abbie sees a vision of Katrina giving birth to a child in the wake of Ichabod’s "death." As she pushes, ravens tap aggressively at the window, which means something awful is trying to get in. Spoiler: it’s the tree thing. Abbie realizes that she now has to tell Ichabod that he’s lost one more family member – something that he might not be able to handle in his state.
But Ichabod finds her and he’s lost Lena. She has no choice but to tell him what she saw; after all, they are in a giant, living riddle and every detail helps. At first Ichabod doesn’t believe that Katrina could have been pregnant without telling him, but Abbie says maybe she had to keep it secret (she kept the witch thing a secret) and that she wanted to have the baby somewhere were a hex would protect her, like Lachlan’s house. Of course, it is biologically possible that the baby was conceived right before Ichabod was slain in battle and that Katrina just didn’t have time to tell him, but yeah, go with that, Abs.
Ichabod demands to know what else Abbie saw. She says the creature seemed to be sent by Moloch and that it got past the hex by growing inside the property line, like a tree. Abbie saw the creature kill Lachlan, but the vision conveniently cut out before she (or we) could find out if Ichabod’s son lived.
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But they’ve got bigger issues to worry about. The tree creature has Lena, and once they locate the reluctant duo, they can’t see well enough in the dark to shoot at the creature and free her. They begin shoot the roots, which hurts the creature enough to free Lena while Abbie has another vision. She sees Grace Dixon leading Katrina and the baby out of a secret exit and has Lena and Ichabod follow suit.
Whew, right? Nope. Ichabod goes back in because of that thing that came after his son. The attempt was enough, plus he doesn’t know that Abbie just saw the baby get out safely. Ichabod has learned enough about modern marvels to know that bringing a flare to throw down will help him see the tree creature in the windowless room. (A gold star for Ichabod!) Then he gets down to business: slaying the creature who tormented the family he misses so dearly. Ichabod’s got cuts and bruises, he’s wearing a billowy shirt, he’s wielding an ax in a reddish room, and he’s a beloved literary character with a British accent. It’s like they churned this guy out of the fetish machine. (Not complaining.) He kills the creature and then returns to Abbie despondent, saying nothing but "I should like to go home now" as ravens overtake Fredericks Manor.
Despite the victory, the encounter is enough to keep Ichabod in his terrible mood. Not only does he not have Katrina, he’s also missing the son he always dreamed he’d have. To cheer him up, Abbie offers up an invitation to Jenny’s Thanksgiving (her invitation looks a lot like a bottle of rum though). He says he’d be terrible company, but she understands. She’s been alone for most of her life, and here’s where this show transcends its premise: Abbie gives a little speech about Thanksgiving being tough because we’re always reaching for this picture-perfect ideal. She wanted the perfect nuclear family Thanksgiving as a kid, and Ichabod laments the way in which he longed for a son to bond with him the way he bonded with his father. It’s so touching it almost hurts.
That’s when Abbie says the absolute perfect thing: the holiday is about embracing what they’ve got in each other, and appreciating what’s good about it. And while these two certainly don’t need proof that they’re practically family (in an emotional sense, anyway), a package from Lena arrives. It’s a family tree that connects Grace Dixon to Abbie’s mother, meaning that Abbie is a direct descendant of the woman who saved Ichabod’s son. As it turns out, they’ve been unofficial family since before Abbie’s time. They cheers to that, and while evil is crashing down all around them, it’s the perfect note to end on while the series takes a small break for Thanksgiving.
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