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With only one episode left before Sleepy Hollow's holiday break, it's understandable that the writers would work to squeeze in as much detail as possible. Enter "The Golem" where the information came so rapid-fire it's starting to feel like we're all about to fail a pop quiz in the morning.
So, in a very bloated nutshell, here's what went down: It's Christmas time in Sleepy Hollow, and despite the tranquil beauty of twinkle lights on every corner, Ichabod is in a huff. He wants to know what happens to his son and explains that they need it as part of his Moloch offensive (even though he could have just said he wanted an answer about his son and we'd have accepted it). He's called in Henry (John Noble) the sin-eater to help him take a little vacation to purgatory. Henry balks, then strangles Ichabod so he can get close to death and thus jump to purgatory and find Katrina. Sure, no problem.
Once there, Katrina tells Ichabod that she left Jeremy with Grace (Abbie's ancestor) because her coven was hunting her down for saving Ichabod. Just then, a stitch-mouthed demon comes after them and Ichabod retreats back to the real world, where he leads Henry and Abbie on a journey to find his son, who he's just learned is named Jeremy.
At the library, they find records that place Jeremy as a baby who conjured fire by crying and killed Grace and her husband. The records end there, but Henry notes that he can sense the sin (lying) on the librarian and they seek her out only to find that something (that stitch-mouthed creature) already killed her. Naturally, they take all of her stuff and rifle through it.
They find signs that the librarian was part of Katrina's coven and probably knew who Ichabod was. Then they find a small journal with a drawing of a doll Katrina gave Jeremy as a baby; Henry feels pain connected to it and jumps into a vision. There, he sees Jeremy being whipped by a priest until his rage manifests itself in magic and a drop of his blood turns that doll unto a Golem. The Golem is marked by its creator's greatest passions, and in this case, protects the creator from his fears. The Golem killed the priest back then and in 2013, he killed the woman from Katrina's old coven.
They assess, by looking at the dead librarian's things, that the Four Who Speak As One (the witches who trapped Katrina in purgatory) are in town and that the Golem is probably going after them since they hurt Jeremy's mother. Ichabod (with the excruciatingly slow assistance of Henry and Abbie) figures out that these four other witches could probably free Katrina, so he might want to save them. When he gets there, they won't free Katrina and they confess they killed his son, so he leaves them to be crushed by the Golem's cartoonish clobbering hands.
While the Golem stalks around the carnival where they found the witches, Henry helps Ichabod decipher the witches' clue: Jeremy's blood kills the Golem and since Ichabod fathered Jeremy, his blood will do it too. Ichabod gives the Golem a chance to understand human emotions (because that seemed so likely) and then stabs him, only to lay by his side and say farewell as if the Golem was actually his slain son. Grief is a funny thing.
When everything seems as if it's wrapped up in a nice bow (including Henry's declaration that they're destined to work together and Abbie's gift of an embroidered Christmas stocking—er, hosiery item for Ichabod), but Moloch has one last life-ruiner. He appears to Ichabod in a vision and tells him that not only is Katrina part of his torment plan, he's also going to kill both Ichabod and Abbie. The twist? He says Ichabod will deliver Abbie's soul to him before his evil work is done. Oh come on, we know this can't be true. Right? Right? Someone hold me. I'm scared.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!The final episode before Sleepy Hollow’s holiday break was full of fast-paced information. Unfortunately, it didn’t leave room for much else.
We open with our weekly lesson in the differences between Revolutionary War America and contemporary America. This time, Ichabod explains the difference between "egg and grog" and "egg nog." I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice to say, the creamy rum drink we know and love today sounds a lot better. When Ichabod’s done explaining history, we’re treated with a vision of him chopping wood (I like his brain, too, I promise), exerting his frustration over not knowing the whereabouts of his son. Now that he’s learned he had a son, he’s sure that Moloch chased him down as a means of finding Ichabod and this is why they need to find Katrina. You know, "I love my wife and I’m curious about what happened to my son" would have been a totally legitimate reason, too.
To do so Ichabod calls in Henry Parrish (John Noble), the sin-eater, to connect Ichabod to purgatory so he can speak with Katrina. Henry puts up a mild fight (there’s no time for a real one on a fast-paced episode like this) then agrees to help. But in order to connect Ichabod to purgatory, he needs to get him as close to death as possible. Naturally (or a word that means the opposite of that), he lunges forward and chokes Ichabod while asking him to think of Katrina as his destination. Abbie’s only mildly confused by this and lets it continue, though you have to wonder about an old man’s touch being a little less than exact, so it was mildly terrifying to watch.
Once in purgatory, Ichabod finds Katrina in a church with the same creepy black doll Abbie saw when she visited Katrina. Katrina is upset that he’s there because Moloch will surely find him, but he demands answers about his son. She says that she didn’t know about the pregnancy until after Ichabod died and that every time they’ve met in purgatory or dreams, she’s had limited time to get her message across. It seems reasonable enough, so Ichabod continues to listen. She named their son Jeremy and that when she learned she was pregnant she was on the run from her coven, who were hunting her down for saving Ichabod and changing fate. She escaped to the Fredericks’ home (as we saw last week) and had her baby there, but she didn’t keep him. Knowing her coven would never let up, Katrina left Jeremy with Grace (Abbie’s ancestor who helped Katrina escape that gnarly tree beast) and her husband, leaving only the ugly doll that keeps appearing to Abbie and Ichabod for Jeremy to remember her by. Katrina made the doll (good thing she wasn’t a toy maker because that thing is terrifying) and she left it with Jeremy to "protect" him when she couldn’t. "Remember this part, it’s important later," it screams the extreme emphasis placed on this damn doll.
Once he hears this, Ichabod vows to come back for Katrina, but not before he jaunts back to the real world for a bit because dear me, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but there’s a giant ogre or demon with stitched eyes and lips coming after you, Ichabod. Ichabod lands back in Sleepy Hollow with one mission-- the same mission he had before he left -- find out what happened to Jeremy. He doesn’t know it, but it just so happens the stitch-mouthed monster somehow followed him back to the real world, so he’s about to have yet another problem on his hands, too.
To solve this unsolvable mystery, Ichabod does a little math: he could have up to 6,000 offspring. Crap. Abbie suggests they check the old Sleepy Hollow records because more likely than not, the kid didn’t it make it all that far. For reasons they don’t yet understand, they decide it’s important to keep Henry around, so Abbie regales him with their collective back stories-- they’re all without any real family. (Despite the fact that Abbie has a sister Jenny, but maybe she doesn’t count). They’re meant to work together. Again, Henry holds off with mountains of stubbornness only to let it all go like a big breath and agree to stay until the 12:44 AM train.
Meanwhile, Irving is visiting his pastor in Manhattan where he learns about about the story of martyrs and apostles. He takes it to mean that his job as a cop has likely doomed him and he’s frustrated because all he wanted to do was help people. Oh, I’m sorry, stopping the four horsemen of the apocalypse from showing up and killing everyone -- regardless of whether or not you live to tell the tale -- is most definitely helpful. Maybe put together a will and ask your daughter to throw you a parade when you go if you need glory, dude. She might even be a little more willing since Irving’s trip also involves a visit with his her and a few longing glances at his ex-wife.
At the library, Ichabod is facing off with the librarian, who won’t lead him to the town records. Ichabod brushes past and finds them himself pausing momentarily under the mistletoe and looking at Abbie as if he might kiss her, but luckily she rolls her eyes and moves on. (Thank goodness. Do we really need romance where there’s already such great friendship?)
The records stated that Jeremy started a fire by crying and burned down the church, killing Grace and her husband. They know nothing beyond that. But Henry -- whose presence makes sense again -- says he can smell the sin (lies) on the librarian. She knows more. Unfortunately, she’s already in her car outside where the stitch-mouthed creature has found her and crushed her, leaving only her bloody arm. Maybe that’s what they smelled. Naturally, Ichabod and Abbie just take all her stuff and start going through it. She did lie to them, after all.
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At Abbie and Ichabod’s de facto headquarters, Henry notes that one of the librarian’s boxes is filled with pain. Though, if she was always that salty, there’s probably more than one with a little of that. Still, Ichabod listens and recognizes the symbol from Katrina’s coven on a box that looks nothing like the others (go figure that’s the important one). The box contains a journal with a drawing of Jeremy’s doll and it’s apparently laced with more pain than Henry can bear. The pain gives him a vision in which Jeremy is whipped by a priest until his rage manifests itself and a drop of blood from his nose turns his doll into a protector, who then kills the priest. And now that clobberer is the guy who’s sort of a big ol’ problem.
Irving is dealing with some problems of his own. While strolling through the park with his daughter, he offers up a summer camp for kids in wheelchairs and she remarks that he always talks to her like she’s helpless. She’s strong and she’s not giving up. Clearly, this is meant to be Irving’s shining "don’t stop trying to save the world because it’s hard" moment. Unfortunately, he’s distracted when a demon inhabits the hot chocolate vendor he’s speaking to and starts asking if his daughter is strong enough to fight for her soul. Irving, of course, lunges at the guy, which sends the demon spirit into a nearby old woman (ooh, a new demon trick!) while the cops confront Irving. To just about everyone except the Sleepy Hollow cop, it looks like he’s lost his mind—a reading not lost on his disappointed daughter. Sorry, Irv. Guess that’s part of the whole sacrifice lesson you’re trying to learn this week.
Ichabod is wallowing in guilt over not raising his son (hello, you were "dead," so you’re kind of off the hook) and allowing him bring evil into the world. Henry speaks something that sort of sounds like reason, assuring Ichabod that if Jeremy is his son, there’s got to be some good in him. Henry uses the metaphor "molded from your clay" and it jogs Ichabod’s memory; he realizes that Jeremy’s doll-protector is a Golem. This means that the creature is filled with the passions and fears of its creator, Jeremy. This also means that since the coven tormented his mother, the Golem likely killed the librarian for her involvement and will seek out the others now that he’s finished her off. The problem is that they have no idea who the other witches are.
Luckily, they happen to be staring at a pile of ticket stubs from a carnival show called "The Four Who Speak As One." Abbie recognizes them from her encounter with Katrina and sees that the foursome is doing shows nearby. At a snail’s pace, our trio realizes that if those witches are in the coven, they were probably the ones who sent Katrina to purgatory; they can get her out. Then comes slow-moving step two: if the Golem is after the coven, he’ll go after the Four . And finally, step three, drawn out like teeth from a patient without Novocain: they must stop the Golem from killing the Four so they can free Katrina. Now that it took them so long to figure this all out, we can be certain none of that will work.
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When Abbie, Ichabod, and Henry arrive at the nearby carnival, Ichabod insists on dealing with the women who tortured his wife by himself. When he enters, they’re not sure who he is, but they read his palm and realize he’s lived since the 1700s. They deduce that only one person has that fate (Jesus, let’s hope so) and announce that his arrival means they will all finally die.
That ominous statement doesn’t really faze him, so Ichabod asks them to release Katrina in exchange for him saving them from the Golem. Instead, they decide it’s best to condemn Katrina’s decisions one last time and blame Ichabod’s second coming for all the pain that his family suffered in his absence. Ladies, lighten up on the poor guy. He feels guilty enough already. But it gets worse. They learned of Jeremy and his Golem and offered their help, but Jeremy didn’t want it, so they imprisoned the Golem in purgatory and used a spell to stop Jeremy’s heart. Bottom line: they put his wife in purgatory and murdered his son. Here are all the f**ks Ichabod gives about these ladies now: 0. Still, before he leaves them to be crushed by the Golem’s violent, cartoonish stumps, he learns that only Jeremy’s blood can stop the Golem. Damnit.
Luckily, Henry is around to point out the obvious: Jeremy’s blood came from Ichabod, so Ichabod’s blood can stop the Golem too. Voila. Conveniently, the Golem shatters a mirror, and a shard of it gets stuck in Ichabod’s shoulder, making for the perfect Crane Blood-soaked knife. Ichabod greets the Golem and thanks him for acting as the only father Jeremy ever knew and begs him to let Jeremy go now that he’s dead. Tell it to yourself, Ichabod. Ichabod has clearly lost it, because the creature just pauses and then lunges, forcing him to kill it. He kneels by the Golem and uses the dying creature to say goodbye to his son, and it seems he may finally understand that despite all the magical happenings, not everyone in his family cannot return through magic.
Before he leaves, Henry cements himself as part of the crew, saying he is fated to help them (sometimes…John Noble is expensive!). As the episode closes, Abbie gives Ichabod his Christmas present: embroidered hosiery (or a Christmas stocking). It seems all is well as Abbie runs off to get some comfort food, but this is Christmas time, not a Christmas story, and Ichabod is pulled into another vision. This time it’s Moloch and he says that both Abbie and Ichabod will die, but that Ichabod will be the one who delivers Abbie’s soul to him. This can’t really be true, can it? That would change everything. Of course, we’ve seen that sort of cliffhanger before on this show and everything manages to turn out alright, so enjoy your holiday instead of worrying about whether or not our heroes are going to die in January.
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