What a fascinating episode of Sleepy Hollow, right? The episode, “The Art of War,” could have also been called, “Talk to Her,” since that was the subtext of the night. The quick synopsis is that the Shard of Anubis, the red jewel-esque thing that absorbed into Jenny’s palm, slowly turned Jenny into the servant of Pandora and her lover, the Hidden One (Peter Mensah). But as Team Witness (including Joe) are trying to save Jenny from the shard, they also have to battle the demons Nevins unleashed, the Norse Berserkers, who were trained by Nevins to be on the shard’s scent. The shard that now runs through Jenny’s veins, meaning she’s the target.

(“The Norse Berserkers” would be a great name for a sports team, by the way.)

But the other synopsis is that there are emotions of love and confusion going on! Joe and Ichabod have a quiet heart-to-heart as they’re looking up ways to save Jenny. Both of them counsel each other on their current woes — Joe’s dilemma of telling Jenny he loves her and Ichabod’s anxiety about Abbie leaving Sleepy Hollow for a better FBI post and leaving him feeling uprooted. Both of them tell the other that they need to “talk to her,” and eventually, both do just that.

Of course, it’s easy to say who had the spicier of the talks. Joe finally “told” Jenny about his feelings in a kiss that she reciprocated. Truth be told, they might as well have kissed in the boxing ring, since that already looked pretty sexual. I don’t think Joe told Abbie about he and Jenny’s newfound relationship, and frankly, there was no time, seeing how the Berserkers were still out in full force. How they end up killing the Berserkers was quite clever; using Ichabod’s knowledge of Daniel Boone’s takedown of the Hessians and the Redcoats, Abbie, Ichabod and Joe used vials of Jenny’s shard-laced blood and poured it on the Berserkers, making them attack and kill each other. Well, all accept for one; Ichabod delivers the final blow to one with the kinda corny line of “Send our regards to Pandora.” Not everything needs a poetic finish, Ichabod. Just do an Abbie and kill the doggone thing.

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After killing the Berserkers, Abbie and Ichabod finally have their heart to heart. Now, I know right now they’re “friends,” but Ichabod is mighty concerned about his relationship with Abbie to say that he’s in  “relationship” with Zoe, a relationship that seems just as frivolous as Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton’s seems to so many people. In any case, it can be easy to see why he’d be having panic attacks over Abbie possibly leaving; since Daniel was out of town, he left Abbie in charge of the precinct. Was she there ever? From this episode, it seems like she wasn’t, and in real life, that would mean the precinct would be in shambles by now from lack of leadership. But the new position made Ichabod think about the future and how their bond won’t always consist of them fighting monsters. He wants them to stay together, but is afraid that monster-fighting is the only thing that’s keeping them together. He knows Abbie wants to leave and do her own thing, but he’s afraid that that means he won’t have a part in her life.

I very much identify with this; being the oldest of four kids, my identity has always centered around being “the oldest sister.” The one who looks out for people when they can’t look out for themselves. Now that my siblings are all grown up and are developing their own lives, I sometimes feel left out in the dust like Ichabod. Kinda like Ichabod, I too feel like I need to be dragged into the new frontier; his being the 21st century, mine being just basic adulthood with a new, separate identity from my “oldest sister” role.

Thankfully, we both have people willing to walk with us as we find our ways. Abbie tells Ichabod that he’s got nothing to fear; Team Witness will always be there to help him figure out the 21st century. They are happy to be his anchor to the world, and from what I inferred, it seems like she’ll always be happy to be that anchor for Ichabod.

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Overall, I thought this was the best episode of the season so far. It was cohesive, had its fair share of love, concern, action, monster research, and of course, 18th century flashbacks.

Some final thoughts:

• I guess Jenny and Joe weren’t raised as closely together as I thought. Since I was under the assumption Joe felt that Abbie and Jenny were the closest he had to sisters, he wouldn’t want to mack on one of them like that. But whatevs; they aren’t related, right? They weren’t legally adopted siblings. Jenny/Joe is happening, regardless of how I feel about it, so I’m neither here nor there.

• How excited are we for the Hidden One? I’m excited to see the love story between him and Pandora. It already looks like it’s going to be one of the steamiest romances Sleepy Hollow‘s ever seen (or perhaps, until Jenny/Joe, the only steamy romance we’ve seen, since all of the other ones have been duds at best and diabolically evil at worst).

• The Winter Finale is upon us! (Hooray! I’ve been reviewing and recapping shows all season, and I need a break.) What do we expect to see this finale? I expect for there to be some big set pieces, of course, but will there be more declarations of love and devotion? Will we finally figure out what the term “destroyers” means in relation to Abbie and Ichabod? Will Zoe finally reveal her true identity? Will they be able to save Jenny from the Shard? I’m waiting impatiently to see.

What do you think? Write your comments below!