After such an explosive second season premiere, Sleepy Hollow settles down a little bit with “The Kindred” by establishing the status quo of this year’s arc. Everything still revolves around Ichabod and Abbie, but the story and characters surrounding them have much more distinguishable shapes. Following an absence in last week’s episode, Orlando Jones’ Frank Irving makes an inglorious return as we meet his replacement; the Katrina plot takes a surprising and somewhat frustrating turn; the battle between good and evil rages on.
Irving, even behind bars or tied to a gurney, has become a character with a commanding presence. If you look back at some of the initial reviews of Sleepy Hollow, you’ll probably encounter plenty of skepticism about how Jones fits into this show. But the ways in which the writing staff handled his story last season made him compelling and sympathetic to the point where I was ever so slightly disappointed that he wasn’t part of last week’s premiere despite how packed it was. And even though Irving remains interesting during his scenes in “The Kindred,” I’m worried that newcomer Leena Reyes is going to go through the same motions of early-season-one Irving: doubting Ichabod and Abbie to the point of lunacy. There ought to be character conflict in Sleepy Hollow in addition to the more plot-driven, supernatural conflict but not at the expense of that conflict existing for its own sake. Reyes being a glorified roadblock isn’t interesting, and I think many viewers had issues similar to that regarding Irving last season. So, on the one hand, that should give reason to hope that Reyes will undergo meaningful development (her previous relationship with Abbie’s family might be a direction for this). On the other hand, though, “The Kindred” portrays her almost entirely as Generic Antagonist in the form of Strict Boss. That might be an acceptable role in a different series, but Sleepy Hollow has only just expanded its main cast from four to six members, which is still a very small core. That means every supporting characters matters, and if Irving (or Jenny, now) is sidelined in some way, no one can afford to be an archetype.
Following on from some of that semi-frustration, I can certainly anticipate many viewers scratching their heads about Katrina’s choice to stay with Abraham. The way the situation plays out has internal logic–a mole is a valuable asset in this war. But Sleepy Hollow has been teasing the reunion of Ichabod and Abbie since its inception. Maybe it was foolish to expect Katrina to join the team this season, but changing the dynamic in that way gives the writers a chance to prove they can maintain the magic of the Ichabod-Abbie relationship even when another piece is thrown in the mix. That test, however, will have to wait. At the very last, “The Kindred” sets time aside–brief though it may be–to give Ichabod and Katrina their moment together. I can’t imagine Abraham’s attempts to make Katrina jealous of Abbie’s relationship with Ichabod will be all that effective, and yet I also wonder if there is some element of that in her sacrificial decision to stay behind enemy lines. Regardless, it’s great to see Katia Winter finally get some meaty scenes to work with.
All of this is necessary and critical preamble, since the rest of “The Kindred” is fist-pumpingly good. There have been several memorable monsters in Sleepy Hollow thus far–several sequences that have been genuinely creepy. “The Kindred” doesn’t follow suit in tone, but it matches those instances of creativity and execution in its mini-epic of a showdown between the Kindred, the Horseman and Jeremy’s flaming swordsman. The effects of the Kindred once he has been resurrected are surpassed only by the make-up team’s efforts with his design. To put icing on the scene’s cake, the choreography of the fight is concise and crafty. “The Kindred” lacks some of the mythological depth of other episodes that go out of their way to build the history of Sleepy Hollow, but anything lacking there is quickly forgotten once the action begins.
Now that the cast of characters has splintered, it’s great to see some more confidence in the show’s willingness to give Jeremy and Katrina’s viewpoints more screen time. Again, the scenes might not always be the most effective compared to what’s going on with the central duo, but I get a clear sense that Sleepy Hollow is evolving while maintaining the identity that won over so many people last year.
Thoughts from the Horseman’s Head:
– Really? Are we really still doing electroshock therapy threats in 2014? Can’t these just go away from television forever?
– The final Jeremy/Irving scene is a superb bit of dramatic irony. The added touch of Irving signing the document in blood unwittingly does wonders for the cliffhanger.
– While the war rages on, I’ll be more than happy to get Abbie’s continuous recovery from the trauma of Purgatory. That couldn’t have been fun.
– Things That Confuse Ichabod: pens at banks and credit cards. Maybe that ought to be Things That Enrage Ichabod.
– That’s Sakina Jaffrey in the role of Reyes coming off a solid role and performance on Netflix’s House of Cards.
– One thing that apparently hasn’t changed in centuries: men are too stubborn to ask for directions.
– If you were looking for more Caped Crusader imagery on Monday night Fox, intentional or otherwise, witness the bats in the cave that Ichabod and Abbie explore.
[Photo via FOX]
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