“Sleepy Hollow” 2.2 – The Kindred (8 out of 10) – Written by Phillip Iscove, Albert Kim, & Len Wisemanl; Starring Tom Mison, Nicole Beharie, Orlando Jones, Katia Winter, Lyndie Greenwood & John Noble; Rated TV-14; Aired on Fox 9/29/14
Seeing as that I failed to provide a review of last week’s Season 2 premier of “Sleepy Hollow”, here’s a quick recap:
Ichabod escaped his coffin by blowing up the ground above him; Abbie Mills was able to escape purgatory with the help of Andy Brooks; Jenny Mills survived her car accident; Captain Irving is behind bars for the murders that his possessed daughter committed; Katrina is now a prisoner of the Headless Horseman; and Henry Parrish is still an evil dick, but now he’s an evil dick with mind-controlled armor with a fire-sword thanks to Moloch.
After the events of last week, Abbie, Ichabod, and Jenny are all back together now, continuing their war against the pending apocalypse, however, Katrina is still in the clutches of the Headless Horseman (aka Abraham Van Brunt) and her son, Henry Parrish. The Headless Horseman has the ability to appear as Abraham to Katrina and wants nothing more to make her love him – which, of course in his mind can only be accomplished by removing Ichabod from the picture by killing him.
So, how do two Witnesses to the Apocalypse go about fighting the powerful Headless Horseman so they can rescue Ichabod’s wife? Create a monster of their own of course! As it happens, Benjamin Franklin, with the help of Katrina’s coven, created a monster comprised of the “most powerful body parts” of fallen soldiers. This monster could then be raised with the sole purpose of battling the Headless Horseman. However, Franklin and his witches lacked a key ingredient – a piece of the Headless Horseman. Unable to bring The Kindred to life, it was stashed away.
Luckily for our heroes, they have access to the Headless Horseman’s head, and work to obtain it and bring The Kindred to life, utilizing him/it to fight the Horseman while Ichabod sneaks in to take Katrina away. In a twist though, Katrina opts to stay with Abraham as a mole, spying on him and Henry to determine exactly what their plans are.
Coming off a solid first episode of it’s sophomore season, “The Kindred” was a solid follow up. Ichabod and Abbie are back at it, fighting the forces of evil, even if that means raising a monster (“Franklinstein’s Monster”) – an option that Abbie questions from the beginning, with Ichabod willing to do whatever it takes to rescue his witch-wife. An important point that is addressed here is that these two both have some major weaknesses: Abbie’s being her blind faith in Ichabod, Ichabod’s being that he is willing to do almost anything to rescue his wife and ensure her safety.
With Captain Irving in jail for murder’s he didn’t commit, it was only a matter of time before a new sheriff came to town, and that happened this week with the arrival of Sheriff Leena Reyes. It took nearly an entire season for Captain Irving to come around and see exactly what was going on in Sleepy Hollow, but with him behind bars and sounding like a crazy person anytime he even hints at what really happened, Abbie and Ichabod have a new obstacle in place. Jenny gets caught gathering weapons from the on-site weapon cash by the new Sheriff, landing her in jail, and Reyes quickly dismisses Ichabod as their “History Expert” and is keeping a close eye on Abbie.
The Kindred is a wild card of a plan at best. Ichabod and Abbie successfully raise the monster and he serves his intended purpose in spades with a climactic fight between him and the Headless Horseman, with the Horseman of War eventually getting in on the brawl. “Sleepy Hollow” has always excelled with the action aspects of the show, and this monster throwdown was awesome to witness. By the end of the fight though, all three were still standing and The Kindred was nowhere to be found. While he/it did seem to protect Abbie at one point and facilitate the escape of her and Ichabod, the fact is that another monster is now out there somewhere in Sleepy Hollow, and I’m sure he/it will show up again.
Henry Parrish – the demented son of Ichabod and Katrina – is putting in motion another plan to bring Moloch forth. While the big picture here is still a bit unclear, the end game is the same one our heroes have been trying to prevent since the premier episode of the series. Parrish may be older and not as spry as other characters, but he is cunning, devious, and incredibly dangerous; and now that he has been gifted some powerful mind-controlled armor, his threat has never been greater. Parrish ends up being Captain Irving’s saving grace at the end of the episode, saving him from electroshock therapy as his “lawyer”, but it’s certain this will end up putting Irving in an even worse position than before as he signed a mysterious contract in blood (unknowingly, thanks to some pen-customizing by Parrish), which could not possibly end well.
“Sleepy Hollow” is the show I have been looking forward to returning the most this Fall, with perhaps the only exception being “Arrow”. This show caught everyone by surprise with its first season and so far, the second season is continuing with the strengths of the first and upping the ante. The roster of characters continues to grow, but ample time is being devoted to each, allowing for proper fleshing-out of each. While I was a bit on the fence of the Headless Horseman being able to appear as Abraham-proper to Katrina, I’m actually now appreciating the fact that we can get some thought-process and intentions from the character.
Next week’s episode will be introducing another semi-regular character to the fold, and I’m sure the story will continue to move forward at a great pace. Fans of “Sleepy Hollow” can relax now, we are two episodes in to the second season, and if it is any indication, the quality of the show has remained intact, if not better, and we are once again in for a hell of a ride.