Date night went to hell in a handbasket for the Cranes last week on Sleepy Hollow while Abbie dealt with Irving’s return.
Crane and Katrina go to a historical society outing and mind their manners about calling out bullsh-t on factual inaccuracies. The evening is emotional for Katrina, who has clear recollections of her friend, Abigail Adams (Michelle Trachtenberg). As it happens, those flashbacks aren’t accidental, and they arm Katrina and Crane to battle the boogedy of the week — a serial killing portraitist whom Abigail banished to a painting.
Back at the station, Irving has come in on his own, and Abbie is thrilled to see him but also suspect about what he actually is. She tells Frank’s wife that he is back, but she won’t let them reunite, and she tells her why.
Jenny goes to get magical demon bullets from a corpse (which hilariously reanimates when she digs out the last one, so she has to put it back). She hands them off to Abbie in case they’re needed for Frank, but Abbie instead puts them to use later to save Katrina and Crane, who venture into the landscape of the murderer’s portrait in an attempt to vanquish him, only to have him follow them out.
As the episode closes, the Cranes realize they still have some work to do on their marriage, and Abbie and Crane sort out that neither is allowed to disappear on the other — she comes to find him when he doesn’t answer his phone.
Tonight, Defiance‘s Jaime Murray pops in to play someone with dangerous, and old, ties to Hawley where he’s the damsel in distress. I’m totally down with that.
Something I’m not totally down with? At last week’s TCAs, FOX renewed a handful of shows but hasn’t yet committed to Season 3 of Sleepy Hollow, because TPTB are tinkering with it in an attempt to right the ship (their characterization, not mine) and regain their lost audience share.
I still LOVE this show. I’m OK with the changes we’ve had, because Crane and Abbie are still intact, and their scenes together, no matter how small (and I will admit I wish they were longer and there were more of them), still resonate.
I love Hawley’s energy — as long as he doesn’t play the Mills sisters off of each other. All respect to John Noble, but I feel like the Henry-free return has lightened the load a bit on the show. I’m OK if Katrina gets a sabbatical, too, but I do not feel she’s killed the show. I’m the kind of viewer who just quits a series outright if it ceases to speak to me. I don’t hate watch, so that makes zero sense to me as a thing that some folks choose to do. Life is short. There’s other sh-t on TV if this isn’t your thing anymore.
Personally, I want Sleepy Hollow to continue. I want the fans who still love it to speak louder than the fans who are waning. I think there are stories left to tell that utilize this fantastic cast and I don’t want them to go anywhere yet. I just don’t have a tremendous amount of faith in FOX as a network that will ride this out. It’s always dicey when you tinker with a show that’s niche to begin with, talk about that tinkering months before those episodes air, and then make decisions (or threats) about renewals based on whether that already-small audience will wait.
I’ve loved and lost shows to FOX before. If we lose this one, too, shame on them. I’m grateful for the ride so far.
Here are a couple of sneak peeks of tonight’s new episode.
Photo and Videos Courtesy of FOX