“Sleepy Hollow” Recap: The Only Real Secret Here is Abbie’s

The latest episode of Sleepy Hollow, “Whispers in the Dark,” sounds like an Isley Brothers song. Indeed, this episode might as well have actually been called the Isley Brothers song, “Footsteps in the Dark,” since there were just as many darkened footsteps as there were secrets. Footsteps such as Ichabod’s who has just made himself at home in Abbie’s house, seemingly for an ulterior motive.

Yeah, he’s there because he doesn’t have a place to stay at the moment, and it’s only right that he put in his share of the chores to earn his keep. But he feels like he’s trying to move in…to Abbie’s heart. He’s certainly putting in work, I’ll give you that, what with doing the laundry (and getting set up for what could have been an anime-esque nosebleed at the sight of Abbie’s unmentionables), cooking breakfast? Lunch? What was that? What time of day was it even for Abbie not to be in an office somewhere? Anyways, Ichabod’s macking continued when he got insanely jealous around her new boss/former love interest, Daniel Reynolds, giving him not just one set of “I’m gonna get you, sucka” eyes, but eyes three times over. And I don’t think that’s even including the Alpha Male eye triangle he did as he looked from Daniel to Abbie. It’s like he was nonverbally saying, “Listen, man. She’s mine. DON’T TOUCH HER OR I’LL KILL YOU LIKE I KILLED MY WIFE!” (Some of my dark sense of humor is coming through here, but you get the jist.) Don’t even talk about him getting her to open up about her big secret, because the fandom has gone crazy with glee over it. Speaking of secrets…

As Funky Dineva would say—is it me, or was Ichabod’s secret not, in fact, a secret? All he had was a small regret of an action that didn’t even happen? Man, please, Ichabod. I should also point out that Ichabod’s worries have routinely never been anything that actually amounted to anything; remember when Jeremy/Henry showed him the thing with Cicero? Remember how Ichabod thought he killed Cicero or was somehow responsible for his death when all Ichabod did was not kill him?

Or, maybe I should be more sensitive and suggest that perhaps Ichabod has a touch of Pure O. I’ve some of the OCD tendencies myself, so I get worrying about stuff that has only occurred in your mind. But, since Ichabod might not have OCD, I have to ask why the writer behind this episode thought Ichabod’s almost-treason was a big enough secret to rest a whole demon’s motives on it.

If there was any secret the whispering wraith should have been hungering for, it should have been Abbie’s secret. Abbie’s secret was an actual big, juicy secret, filled with actual guilt, remorse, fear, and anger. Abbie’s secret is that she found out who her dad was and that he’s still alive in the area. She’s scoped him out, stalked him, wanted to walk up to him and do something, and above all, hasn’t told Jenny about it. Do you know how mad Jenny’s going to be when she finds out? Which leads to the elephant in the room: When are we going to find out who he is? Now that Abbie’s Dad has been invoked, he must be revealed!

To go back to Ichabod’s non-secret for a second, perhaps the demon only stayed on Ichabod because he knew of their shared history. Maybe he just wanted to kill him. But if he wanted to kill him, why not just do it? I know Pandora’s rules are that she wants to know the secrets or whatever, but if Marcus Collins (the human side of the demonic force) just wanted him dead, why not just do it and risk Pandora’s wrath? IDK.

But one thing I do know about is how awesome Betsy Ross is. I think fans are happy that Betsy has been kept in the past and, even though I was ready for her to join Team Witness, I have to say that I’m actually glad she’s still in the past as well. When Clifton Campbell told TVLine that there was only so much they could do with Ichabod and Betsy’s relationship, it never occurred to me that it might be because she’s dead.

But, it seems like there’s a pointed reason that she’s still dead and hasn’t joined Team Witness in the future. Now, perhaps I’m just making up stuff, but perhaps there hasn’t been any attempt to revive Betsy because her purpose is to show the similarities between her and Abbie and, by extension, the similarities between Ichabod’s relationships to both women.

I’d love to know what the storyboarding is for this season, since we’re two episodes in, and there have already been a slew of similarities and callbacks shown between Abbie and Ichabod and Betsy and Ichabod. In this episode, we have Ichabod picking up Abbie’s lingerie and having his mind shut down and in the past, we see his mind shut down over Betsy in her underwear (as well as his concern for what it seemed like Betsy had done to get the Redcoat’s redcoat). We also have the classic calling of “Crane.” Both Abbie and Betsy use that when talking to him. I’m just putting it out there; we’ll see what happens over the course of the season.

Also interesting to watch over the season is how freaked out Joe is going to be once he learns what Jenny and Abbie are actually doing. He’s right that he has a right to know what’s going on and what his father was trying to do, especially since he nearly died over the Shard of Anubis (that kidnapping scene was a great scene, btw). Jenny’s gonna tell him, and I can’t wait to see what happens. The theme of the night was to get secrets out in the open, and I’m glad that the side-story tied in with the main one nicely.

As for the secrets of the Body Count Brigade (i.e. the fodder characters for the story)? IDK. I don’t even remember what they were, and honestly, their secrets don’t matter. They were embezzling money or somesuch, but what we’re here for are the monsters and Team Witness, not regular crime.

Overall another solid episode. The show really has come back in full force, and I’m glad to see that the ratings are proving that the audience is coming back as well. Let’s keep up this momentum! By the end of the season, I want the show to be back at S1 numbers!

What did you think of the episode? Give your opinions below!

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