By 
Season two of Fox’s hit series Sleepy Hollow premiered with the aptly titled episode ‘This is War.’ The first season ended with Ichabod being buried alive (again) and Abbie trapped in a dollhouse in purgatory. I couldn’t wait to see how they got out of that mess and was disappointed to see that the series had opted to begin it’s sophomore season almost a year later from where it had left off.
I’m not a big fan of the time-jump-between-seasons trope. It can be an awesome way to reboot a series as it did with Desperate Houses but usually I just find it very lazy. For example when Alias did this, we got one cool cliff hanger followed by “that season where Vaughn was married to that annoying chick.” I was a little displeased when I heard that Sleepy Hollow would be doing the same but, after the awesomeness that was season one, I decided to keep an open mind.
Luckily, it was all a big fake out! Ichabod and Abbie only thought it was a year later due to some mind-bending courtesy of Henry Parish/Jeremy Crane/The Sin Eater/ The Horseman of War. The show did a pretty good job of keeping this twist under wraps. To quote Ichabod “I shall consider myself punked.” Here are a few key highlights from the episode:
Benjamin Franklin’s Key
It turns out that Franklin wasn’t flying that kite during a thunderstorm to try to discover electricity. He wanted to try to see if the key to purgatory was indestructible. “I was hoping the fires from the heavens would destroy it.” Moloch wants the key so he can unleash his demon army onto the world but luckily Ichabod gets it first and is able to free Abbie instead.
Jenny
When we last saw Abbie’s badass sister, she was in a flipped over car thanks to the headless horseman and her fate was uncertain. Thankfully she was revealed to be alive though held hostage by Henry. Bad guys are no match for her though and she quickly starts to fight her way out just in time for Ichabod to drive a car through the warehouse where she is being held. Jenny might not be one of the witnesses but she is the show’s Sara Connor.
Mirrors
We learn how Katrina was able to contact Ichabod and Abbie though a mirror. This is also how we first saw Moloch. With the use of an incantation, the soul trapped in purgatory can connect to someone on the outside. It’s basically a witchy version of Skype.
Abbie is able to do this in order to get a message to Ichabod via the side mirror of a car. I’m curious to see if this is the last time we will see this trick used by anyone other than Moloch. The only soul left in purgatory that could need it would be poor lovesick Andy.
Some other notable moments:
- Henry has a new Golem to play with.
- Katrina is still being held prisoner by the Headless Horseman.
- Ichabod doesn’t know how to drive a car in reverse.
- Abbie beheads an impostor Ichabod after she notes he doesn’t call her “Left-tenant.”
- If you eat or drink anything in purgatory, you’re stuck there.
- Where’s Irving?
Over all I felt that, while this was an entertaining episode, it lack some of the impact that was built up in the previous season. It served primarily as a set up for what’s to come while tying up some loose ends, so in that respect it is a good bridge from one season to the next.
What did you think of second season premiere of Sleepy Hollow? What were your favorite moments? Hit the comments to share you thoughts!
Comments