"Sleepy Hollow" recap: "And the Abyss Gazes Back"

Another day, another monster, am I right? There were a lot of fun (and surprisingly deep) moments in “And the Abyss Gases Back,” but it would seem that the most horrific moment happened in the last few moments. That moment would be Katrina getting impregnated by her own son via a demon spider. ICK.

As a quick synopsis: Abbie and Ichabod have to save Joe Corbin, Sherriff Corbin’s son, from his curse as a Wendigo—a curse put on him by Henry Parrish via the crushed Pied Piper’s bone. Now, that that’s out of the way, let’s break down the episode point by point.

Joe Corbin (and Henry): At first, I wasn’t here for him, what with him calling Abbie a charity case and such. But the more we got into his character, I came to care for him and feel bad for him. He felt like his dad didn’t care about him. It’s true that Daddy Corbin was adamant about helping Abbie clean up her act, but Daddy Corbin didn’t think Abbie was any better than Joe. He just a big heart with love for everyone! Too bad Joe learned that too late, but at least he got cured of his Wendigo curse.

I know that there was a loose parallel between Joe Corbin and Abbie’s faith in him to change and Ichabod’s faith in Henry’s ability to change. While I admire Ichabod’s resilient attitude towards his son (because what father wouldn’t want to save his son?) I think that Joe’s storyline was a fake-out. I do think that Henry’s more of a petulant child which gives the illusion that he could be easy to turn. Evidence of this is when Ichabod gives the understatement of the year, saying that Henry’s going through a rebellious phase. But the difference between the two stories is that Joe wanted to change back to the man he was before Henry cursed him. Henry, on the other hand, is adamant about ruin his parents’ lives. He doesn’t want to change.

Joe’s observation to Ichabod about him telling Henry he loves him is neat. Novel, even. It seems like that’s all Henry’s searching for, anyway.Even if Ichabod verbally said “I love you” to Henry, would it solve anything? I don’t think so. I think Henry would still find a way to twist Ichabod’s well-meaning declaration of fatherly love into something sinister. In short, Henry wouldn’t believe Ichabod since his head is so full of doubt, hurt, and Moloch’s lies.

Here’s some advice my sister gave me just yesterday when I was reaching out for some advice about a situation. It’s a longer, more involved story, but the jist of it is that I felt someone had wronged me years ago and I wanted them to acknowledge their wrongdoing and apologize to me. She said that sometimes it doesn’t matter if someone says sorry or not; the words won’t matter if you still hold resentment and haven’t rid yourself of self-made lies and feelings of resentment. You’ll always find a way to feel like a victim if you keep defining yourself as such. Ichabod could tell Henry he’s sorry until he’s blue in the face, but until Henry actually decides to stop living in his victim narrative, then he’ll always find his satisfaction in ruining his parents.  I went a little Iyanla there, but this show takes you there sometimes.

More on Henry: Basically, I think Ichabod will have to do like some parents with troubled kids. We’ve all heard stories of parents with kids in bad relationships, hanging with the wrong crowd, or hooked on substances. They’ve tried to help them as much as they can, but the child just won’t learn the lesson until they hit rock bottom. If that’s the case, the parents have no choice but to let them go until they learn their lesson for good and actually reach out for help themselves. Ichabod’s just going to have to reconcile with himself that he tried his best and will just have to work on saving the world without his son at his side. Hopefully he won’t have to pull a Good Reverend Doctor Purify move and kill his son to “cleanse his soul,” as it were. That’d be too hardcore.

But honestly, Henry is way too down the rabbit hole of evil if he’s going to impregnate his own mother with a demon spider/spawn. WTF is that?! That right there is all kinds of messed up. There’s a Tumblr article listing some deeper reasons as to why this impregnation idea is a bad one, but just on a standard characterization level, I would think this would put the death knell in any plans Ichabod had at reuniting his family any form. His son is the Horseman of War, the same son has impregnated his own mother with a demon seed, and both Katrina has poisoned the marriage with her lies. There is virtually no way to come back to the family table and have any Leave It to Beaver moments. Ichabod needs to cool out from everyone with the last name Crane.

Jenny and Hawley: I’m glad to see that the Jenny-Hawley-Abbie triangle tons of folks feared isn’t really coming together. I figured it wouldn’t , if I may toot my own horn. Abbie’s way too devoted to Ichabod and the cause now to think about anything with Hawley. Jenny is too devoted to her sister, their new relationship, and the cause to blame Abbie for Hawley’s wandering eyes. If anything, I’d think Jenny’s only a few seconds away from calling Hawley out on being a prick of the highest order. To me, she interpreted Hawley’s actions as his own, not ones that were egged on by Abbie. Jenny’s going to knee him in the groin soon, and I can’t wait to see it.

Yes, there’s still Ichabbie: It’s past being a done deal, isn’t it? Ichabod’s been frustrated with Hawley ever since he realized Hawley had an inkling of interest in Abbie, but he really let his jealousy fly freely this episode, tearing up paper in aggravation while Hawley talked with Abbie, angrily rapping on the desk as he entered the Witness Clubhouse to get their attention (they were only looking up stuff about Wendigos), and of course, his delight in showing Hawley up with Big Ash with his knowledge of Shawnee culture.

(As an aside, let’s make a petition to get Eddie Spears a regular spot on Sleepy Hollow. Who doesn’t want to see Big Ash again? Also, let’s have Jenny get with Big Ash. They seem like they’d be a good duo.)

Of course, there was the yoga scene, but what I really loved in this episode—aside from seeing Ichabod curse people out on Halo—was that “ride-or-die” attitude Ichabod’s exhibited ever since the first episodes of Season One. No matter where Abbie might go, Ichabod will follow, and that’s really sweet (and sexy, if we’re being honest).

To be fair, Ichabod was never given a chance to ride-or-die with Katrina since he died on the battlefield and was entombed shortly afterwards, but he’s had ample time since. Have we seen him try to pull a ride-or-die, like when she wanted to stay with the Horseman? Nope. He just left her there. “But it was her decision!” you might say. Well, it was also Abbie’s decision to stay in Purgatory even after she summoned Ichabod there. But Ichabod shut that decision down lickety-split. And, to quote Abraham, Ichabod and Abbie were only separated for “mere hours” before Ichabod blew the ground up to escape and get his Witness out of Purgatory.

Poor Irving: I really feel for Irving this week. He’s in a real bind and sadly, he’s beginning to lose faith. It would be all too easy for him to kill the man that paralyzed Macey and ruined his family. But just sending another soul to suffer in his place wouldn’t just result in Irving getting even. It would lead to Irving becoming a monster. This leads to a theory: Does Henry really have Irving’s soul? Because if he did, wouldn’t Irving be completely out of options? It would seem that if Irving killed the drunk driver and became a monster,  that would be him actually losing his soul. Henry’s just toying with him now. He wants Irving to become a monster willingly. That’s the only way his evil can really take effect.

I think that’s all I have to write about this week’s episode. What did you think? Give your opinions in the comments section below!

Photo credit: Fred Norris/FOX