Last night’s episode of “Sleepy Hollow” formally introduced us to one of the other horsemen of the apocalypse, gave us an answer to one of history’s colonial mysteries, and attempted to put Ichabod in some danger.
This episode, titled “John Doe”, began with what I thought to be a flashback to colonial times, but that was quickly proven to not be the case when the small boy running through the forrest almost got nailed by a car. Instead, it seemed that we had a boy misplaced in time, much like Ichabod; however the mystery quickly turns fatal as the young colonial boy that was found is carrying a deadly plague created by the horseman of the apocalypse, Pestilence. “John Doe” turned into some pretty standard TV fare with our two heroes racing against the clock to find a cure to the plague before people start to drop like flies.
This episode of “Sleepy Hollow” was no means bad, but for me, was the weakest episode thus far but still had a lot of highlights. First off, I have to say I was very happy to see Orlando Jones get so much more screen time this episode! I really enjoy his character, Captain Frank Irving, and hope he begins to play a bigger supporting role going forward. I appreciate the fact that he’s not “all in” on all these strange goings-ons in his town, but he’s not just outright denying the fact that there is some really odd things happening and is -perhaps sometimes reluctantly- supporting Lt. Mills’ and Ichabod’s seemingly “crazy” theories. We also have a nosey detective looking into Ichabod Crane (which is a side plot I appreciate) and we find out that there is a larger cover-up protecting Ichabod’s true origins; again, I’m sure the Captain has something to do with this, and it shows perhaps how far he’s willing to go to trust Crane and Mills.
Other highlights from this episode is the inclusion of the true historical mystery of the “Lost Colony of Roanoke”. It was an interesting take on what actually happened to this colony and Ichabod and Abbie were able to provide some closure for these colonists. We also had a different horseman as our antagonist this week with Pestilence. While he wasn’t necessarily a physical threat, the plague he was attempting to send out in to the world was genuinely creepy; seeing one unfortunate EMT succomb to the plague was very disturbing. Finally, we find out that our horned demon, Moloch, is keeping Ichabod’s witch-wife captive in Purgatory, so I’m sure there is more to come with that as well.
One final bit I want to mention. Many of us here at Big Shiny Robot! have been enjoying the hell out of “Sleepy Hollow”, but one running joke we continue to bring up is the fact that Ichabod continues to wear his colonial-era clothing! I chuckled when it finally got brought up this week, but I am guessing we won’t see Ichabod trading his current attire in to a pair of jeans and a t-shirt anytime soon.
While this week may have been a somewhat weaker fifth episode for “Sleepy Hollow”, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t a lot of fun. We once again had some great fish-out-of-water moments, the chemistry between Abbie and Ichabod is continuing to grow, there are some interesting subplots developing, the larger plot and story was moved along, and as I said earlier, more Captain Irving is a plus in my book.
Unfortunately, it’s going to be a couple of weeks before we get a new episode of “Sleepy Hollow” as it won’t be back until November 4 due to the MLB playoffs, but the preview makes it look like the show is going to kick into high gear when it returns!