Monday, December 1, 2014

Sleepy Hollow 2.11: "The Akeda"

“Abbie, if there’s a chance no one has to die to win this war, we have to try.”
- Jenny

So when last we left our Witnesses and their enemies, Abbie and Ichabod had just obtained the Sword of Methuselah while Abraham and Henry set about raising Moloch and bringing hell on earth. Abbie and Ichabod are racing to Frederick’s Manor when the crazy demonic lightning storm strikes Abbie’s car and renders it un-drivable. So, they resort to the next best thing; a motorcycle with no helmets! Ichabod thinks the bike is pretty cool but they’ve got more pressing issues to deal with. They find the manor abandoned of people but they do happen upon Henry’s tiny town map. It seems the places he attacked had logic to them after all. They formed a pentagram around the city. Before they can locate Moloch, however, they have to save Katrina from the binding ritual that would make her Mrs. Headless. Ichabod fights Headless with the sword of Methuselah and breaks hi ax. He demands to know Moloch’s location on pain of death as Abbie frees Katrina. Without the magic of the cavern, I don’t know how Ichabod is going to get an answer. With how iffy he’s been on trusting Katrina, I’m not sure he’d be willing to take her word for it.

It turns out he doesn’t need to take her word for it (no he doesn’t find it in a book…not exactly anyway). Katrina extends the spell on the necklace she’s wearing and Ichabod demands to know Moloch’s location. Abraham explains that f Ichabod uses the sword, it will consume his soul and he will die. Katrina convinces Ichabod to forego turning his old friend into a wholly mess long enough to do some research and it’s a good thing she did. Jenny finds an ancient text that confirms that the person who wields the sword and uses it to kill, will die. So that means our Witnesses could both bite it if they have to face Moloch and Henry. Ichabod is understandably concerned about facing his son and the prospect of killing him. Abbie doesn’t even hesitate to call him on it. But Jenny’s got another suggestion; Captain Irving. They just need to track him down and let him do the wielding since Henry’s already laid claim to his soul. Ichabod fact checks this with Katrina after he interrupts her getting kind of personal with a chained-up Abraham. Yeah, these two are going to need some serious couples’ counseling when the Apocalypse is over.

Elsewhere in town, Moloch and Henry are starting to bring forth the other denizens of Purgatory. It turns out it is the same spot Moloch pulled Henry from the ground. Henry really needs to just grow up. Enough with all this “you’re my true father” bullshit. Add family counseling for the whole Crane family while you’re at it. Ichabod, back at the archives, professes that he’s ready to kill Henry if necessary, but he really hopes it doesn’t come to that (It seems also that Katrina shares his sentiment). The next obstacle is going to be getting Irving to join the fight. Ichabod and Jenny go in search of him in some old tunnels after they listen to his goodbye message to Jenny while Abbie joins Katrina at Headless’ cage. It seems Frank is up for the fight so long as Jenny and Ichabod swear to protect his family. I have to say, he gets a little creepy wielding the sword and taunting Headless. But it does the trick and Abraham gives up the details on where Moloch is to be found and what he’s doing. The four white trees are being burned and with each one comes more nasty stuff. The first one brought the lightning, the second brings blood (in the form of hail…gross), the third brings Moloch’s army and the last completes the merging of earth and Purgatory. Katrina begs them to spare Headless, citing his potential usefulness but I have to question her real motives. And based on the look on Ichabod’s face he’s sharing in my doubts.

The gang is going to need to weapon up as Jenny puts it which means dragging Nick out of a bar with some hot chicks to raid his arsenal. Katrina works on making the weapons Nick hands out more magical while Abbie leaves Nick to babysit Headless. And because the writers can’t seem to let Katrina be this badass witch they keep promising, they say that the merging of earth and Purgatory is messing with her powers so she’s weakening. And she and Ichabod have words which really needed to be said. They leave things somewhat angry but sort of settled. Until Moloch is defeated, they are not going to treat each other as husband and wife. With that settled, and with the third tree burning, they head off to face their enemies.

Moloch is concerned that Headless hasn’t arrived and so he sends a bunch of his soldiers and War (controlled by Henry) off to find him. We get a sort of power shot of the gang walking through the woods with weapons primed before all hell breaks loose (excuse the pun). Abbie gets hit early on and it’s up to Katrina, Ichabod and Irving to fight off the rest of the horde. They do a pretty good job and then Irving decides to take on War all by himself. He lands a few solid blows to the Horseman (which Henry feels) before getting sliced pretty good in the gut himself. Irving manages to finish off the Horseman (I’m assuming that means he severs it completely from Henry but we need confirmation on that) and then falls from his wounds. Katrina tires to save him with her magic but it isn’t strong enough. Well that’s one soldier down and in Henry’s service.

Henry is still the Horseman but he’s vulnerable and whining that Moloch wants him to go retrieve the sword. Moloch isn’t really impressed with Henry’s bitching. He points out there have been horsemen before him and there will be after. Henry may see Moloch as his father but to Moloch, he’s just a tool to be used and discarded when no longer useful. Back at the church our team is having a bit of what appears to be a meltdown, arguing over who will wield the sword. Abbie explains that they need to be willing the sacrifice the ones they love, not just themselves and so they all agree to take up the sword if necessary. Henry arrives on scene and Abbie confronts him. He uses roots to trap her and Jenny and then picks up the sword that Abbie dropped. Katrina does a bit of hocus pocus to show that it’s a fake and Ichabod appears behind his son with the real sword, ready to strike. We know he doesn’t want to have to harm his son but Henry isn’t giving him much of a chance. He locks all the doors and insists the only exit is with his death. Ichabod tries to implore Henry to let them pass so they can kill Moloch, citing the story of Abraham and Isaac from the Book of Genesis. But Henry uses his parents’ hope of redemption against them and drags them all to Moloch. But Moloch pushes Henry just a little too far by ordering him to kill Katrina despite Abraham’s bargain with Moloch. Ichabod begs Henry to kill him instead and in the end Henry kills Moloch, citing that a cruel and malevolent God can’t be worshipped. I have to say some people may have seen that as a shock but I didn’t. I could see it coming as Henry was giving his little speech. After all, he sees himself as Moloch’s son and he felt that no parent should be allowed to live who would sacrifice their child. So maybe the Cranes did get to him after all. We have a short recess before the Apocalypse continues in January. See you all then!

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