In Which I Review Sleepy Hollow (1x3)

Say your prayers little one
Don't forget my son
To include everyone
I tuck you in
Warm within
Keep you free from sin
'Til the sandman he comes
Sleep with one eye open
Gripping your pillow tight
Exit light
Enter night
Take my hand
We're off to never never-land

---Metallica, "Enter Sandman"

I'm not sure when TV decided that the Sandman was more than just a delightful little pixie man who sprinkled his magic dust for good dreams into the eyes of children, but ever since they did, they've run with it. Maybe it has something to do with the idea of vulnerability when we're asleep and how we fear that we might never wake again, and thus a being who assists in sleep is suddenly seen as malevolent and dangerous. This episode dragged once again. The overarching arc was put on hold for another MotW episode, this one less scary than the previous and also much less fun. I laughed less and found myself looking at the clock more. Step it up, Sleepy Hollow. Don't fall into the MotW trap and forget your pilot episode because kitchy and cute are great but you can't rely on it forever.

This is now the third episode (out of three mind you) where dreams have played an important part. In the pilot, Ichabod and Katrina had a plot altering dream moment, and then in last weeks episode both Ichabod and Abbie had dreams, though of a different nature. In this weeks "The Triumph of Evil" Abbie has a prophetic dream that sets up our Monster-of-the-Week and then Ichabod and Abbie go on a magical mystery dream tour together. Shirtless. But we'll get to that.

Following a similar trend, this Abbie centric episode starts off with a dream that at first appears realistic. Abbie has been called into work to question a suspect, one with some sort of mental issues because a never-before-seen psychologist is trailing Abbie in her dream. Irving, the Captain of the station, leads Abbie to the interrogation chamber where Ichabod is questioning the suspect. This should really be your first big hint that something is amiss. It's bothering me how much leeway Ichabod has been given by the police force. Suddenly he's Abbie's new partner, despite most of the force believing that he's a mental patient. Irving, who is taking way too much on faith for me trust him, is fine with Ichabod at crime scenes and leading investigations. How is this not suspect? 

But I digress. The reality of the world quickly shifts as we learn that the suspect being questioned is Abbie herself, and suddenly we're in dream land. There are flashing lights and jumpy cuts and then a tall, albino like creature with talons and black pits for eyes, sand pouring out of them. We are then jolted out of the dream landscape and into reality as Abbie wakes up to a police emergency. There is a woman threatening to jump off a building and to no one's surprise, it's the psychologist from Abbie's dream. The woman, now with white cloudy eyes, gives a few creepy statements before jumping off the the building. Turns out she knows Abbie's sister Jenny. This isn't surprising. Last week we were formally introduced to Jenny, who looked like she was gearing up for a fight and even then I predicted that our two main characters would find themselves in need of her help. But there's a twist: Abbie and Jenny don't exactly see eye to eye. 

When Abbie and Jenny had their experience in the woods, Abbie kept a lot to herself. The girls were missing for 4 days and when they awoke, before being rescued by a farmer, they saw the horned demon creature moving through the woods. When questioned by the authorities, Jenny told the truth about what they saw, but Abbie was afraid she would be taken away from her foster family and so she lied and said she didn't see anything. Jenny was taken to a psych ward and Abbie lived with the guilt. 

Ichabod meet Jenny. Jenny meet Ichabod. Play nice. 

Jenny has a serious case of "bitch face" while talking to Ichabod and you can tell that unlike her sister, Jenny will not be taken in by Ichabod's pretty face and smooth accent. Jenny is unwilling to help but spends the entire meeting derailing Abbie and how Abbie lied all those years ago. The meeting is fairly fruitless except that it gives Abbie the chance to tell Ichabod the truth. Confessing her past lie, Abbie realizes that the monster will strike the old farmer who found the girls next. She's right and arrives in time for him to tell Abbie that "she's next" before he kills himself. 

So who is "he?" He is a Mohawk dream demon that Crane knows about because he fought along side Mohawks during the Revolutionary War. Go with it, it's convoluted and a little over contrived but at least they didn't get this knowledge from some book stored in their "convenience library." This dream demon comes for you if you've wronged someone, or turned a blind eye to their misfortunes. It's rather shocking that more people haven't died but for some reason he singled out Abbie--killing those who knew Jenny and refused to help her. Is Jenny in league with the horned demon? She seems pretty anit-demon to be honest, but she also has a lot of resentment toward her sister and her past. Since the demon is Native American in origin, Abbie and Crane go in search of a Native to help them out. This leads them to a used car salesman which seems rather politically incorrect even as Ichabod delivers his "politically correct" rant about how the Natives were the backbone of America and how could we wipe them all out. The Shaman-Salesman agrees to help out the duo and puts them into a dream state which involved magic tea, being half naked, and scorpions. It felt like everything except the kitchen sink was piled into this episode. Abbie and Ichabod come together in the dream world and defeat the dream demon when Abbie tells the truth about what she saw; the demon turns to glass and then shatters. The Monster-of-the-Week defeated, Abbie goes to see Jenny to try and resolve their issues only to discover that Jenny has managed an escape. Cue dramatic music. 

Miscellaneous Notes from The Triumph of Evil  

-- Eyes exploding into sand. Again with the pretty cool visual effects 

-- Hence forth, I shall refer to Ichabod as "Ichy" because of reasons. 

--What happened to the Mills' parents? This is the second time the story of Abbie and Jenny's family has been swept under the rug. It's obvious that they're saving that for a really big moment so it is probably monster related.

--Why did Ichabod and Abbie need to get undressed for the scorpions? And why didn't Ichabod have a fit over this? Last week he went on a rant about the price and tax on a bag of donuts; this week he was amazed by an energy drink, but somehow, having a half naked lady next to him doesn't upset his Revolution sensibilities? Because it should. You missed a gold moment here, Sleepy Hollow. That would have been comedic gold.

--People are already shipping Ichabod and Abbie. Abob? Icabbie? I'm not sure yet. They obviously have chemistry and it was very sweet how Ichabod wouldn't let Abbie go into the dream world alone but his wife is still very much on his mind. 

--Captain Irving knows something. I refuse to believe that he's just the man in charge and only shows up when he has to give Abbie orders.