Sleepy Hollow has a pretty well-established formula by now. Every episode begins with Crane doing something modern, then a monster shows up, then Hawley delivers some exposition, then Henry ends the episode doing something nefarious. It’s effective, but it has me worried that season two is going to turn this show into a harder-edged Grimm or Supernatural, which I don’t want because I’m not a 17-year-old girl who spends all day putting Doctor Who GIFs on Tumblr.
I digress. Crane and Katrina are watching some knockoff version of The Bachelor when Abbie shows up, and the awkwardness is pretty palpable. The feeling of being a third wheel is a running theme throughout “Heartless,” which unfortunately doesn’t feature anyone singing a Kanye song.
Henry summons a succubus because if nothing else he is very, very persistent despite the fact that everything he’s summoned so far has wound up pushing up daisies by the end of each episode (and most of those things were dead to begin with). The succubus gets right to work, killing a man and a woman in short order and draining them of their life force. It’s not long before she turns on Hawley, who just got rejected by Abbie at a bar (free dating tip, slick: do not try to nail two sisters in succession, especially if, like the Mills sisters, they have easy access to guns and a strict zero tolerance policy for bullshit). Anyway, Crane and Abbie show up to save Hawley from the succubus (actually called an Incordata).
Crane is none too happy about Hawley’s “intentions” toward Abbie, who is unhappy herself at Crane and Katrina making her feel like something of a third wheel. This culminates in a shouting match between Abbie and Katrina, one that’s been brewing for a few episodes, before Crane calms them down. This scene felt cathartic for the show, and it was good to get it out of the way. We all know Katrina isn’t going anywhere – or is she? (Foreshadowing.)
So obviously the succubus gets destroyed, but the approach to doing so is actually pretty novel. Crane and Hawley go to a nightclub to bait her, while Abbie and Katrina go looking for the succubus’s heart, which must be destroyed before her body can. Obviously it’s nothing new to make pairs of former adversaries (which might be too strong a word, but screw it), but Sleepy Hollow gets away with this on the strength of its ensemble. I’m still not entirely sold on Matt Barr; he looks a little Spencer Pratt-y to me, and I figure he must know someone on staff, because Hawley has been in every episode since his introduction. He’ll either die this season, or make it to the opening credits next season.
The big twist, which I thought was cleverly done, comes at the end, when Katrina decides to return to Abraham. On one hand, it’s more or less a return to her role as spy that she inhabited at the beginning of the season; on the other, more generous hand, it’s a chance for more interactions with Abraham and Henry, the latter of whom she and Ichabod still think can be saved. Ironically, if anyone can be saved, the more logical choice is Abraham.
A Few Thoughts
- The look on Katrina’s face when she saw the infant Moloch was by turns horrified and loving. Great facial acting by Katia Winter
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The ghostly fingers scraping at the side of the jar of life force was a very cool visual
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