This week’s episode of Sleepy Hollow began with auctioneers at Claridge’s Auction House preparing for an auction and one of the items was the journal of John Dee, Queen Elizabeth’s most trusted adviser and, according to legend, the royal court’s sorcerer (reminds me of Jafar from Aladdin). This then led to the murders of one of the auctioneers and the security guard at the hands of someone who looked like a shorter version of Van Helsing, but later on turned out to be Solomon Kent (played by guest star Jonathan Schaech), a feared warlock among witches. Apparently, Kent came back from the being trapped in Purgatory after Moloch was killed and is wreaking havoc in Sleepy Hollow.
The warlock took a spellbook known as the Grand Grimoire, a book filled with dark and powerful spells from the auction house, and it was believed to be written after the 18th century with instructions to summon Lucifer himself. Our favorite Witnesses caught wind of the murders and the theft of the Grand Grimoire and began their hunt for Solomon.
Since magic does not play into Ichabod and Abbie’s wheelhouse, they turned to Mrs. Crane for help, and for once, Katrina finally proved that she is a powerful witch, as her magic continues to grow stronger. The scene where she turned a pure white daisy into a red one was very nicely done in terms of special effects. The search for Kent also delved into the paranoiac history of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692.
Katrina then told Ichabod and Abbie later on in the episode the story of the warlock, who was a reverend in Salem. Katrina’s Dutch grandmother, Helena Van Tassel, who surprisingly looked a lot like Katrina herself, moved there with Katrina’s mother to be a part of Kent’s coven. However, Kent lost his way when he became infatuated with a young woman named Sarah Osborne. He gave her a brand new knife to replace her dull one, to which she accepted with gratitude, but when Kent moved in to kiss Sarah, she tried to push him away and he accidentally stabbed her with the knife. Feeling desperate, Kent used his magic to transform Sarah’s face into a demonic one and announced to the entire town that there were witches among them. Katrina’s grandmother was among those who were hung for witchcraft.
It turns out that Kent wanted the Grand Grimoire to turn back the clock (Back to the Future, anyone?) and fix his mistake so that Sarah can live. However, that would mean history itself would be re-written and all the events that occurred would be altered. In short, if Ichabod, Katrina and Abbie didn’t stop Kent from obtaining the missing half of the Grimoire, then evil might triumph over good.
Later in the episode, Captain Irving tried to get back into Abbie’s good graces by telling her that he wanted to start over again with a clean slate. Though I wanted to believe him, I had a sinking feeling that the good Captain was not what he seemed to be because at the end of last week’s episode, we saw that Irving didn’t have a reflection, meaning that his soul might still be tied to the Horseman of War even though Katrina gave him a clean bill of health. It was then later revealed at the end of the episode that Irving is indeed under Henry’s control when the former Captain handed the Grand Grimoire to Henry after stepping on Kent’s neck to finish the warlock off. Talk about a plot twist.
It was nice to see John Noble back reprising his role as Henry Parrish. The scene where he interacted with Mary and Ronnie Rawlings at the motel made me hope that perhaps he would turn good instead of staying evil, but that hope was short-lived when Henry told Ronnie that fathers aren’t what they cracked up to be, which might be hinting at both Moloch and Ichabod. He then killed those gang members who were threatening Mary and her son, as he came to an epiphany that he is now in charge and nobody can stop him, cementing the fact that Henry is at a point of no return.
The scene where Ichabod, Abbie and Katrina tracked Kent to the warehouse where the missing piece of the Grand Grimoire was located was intense, especially when the warlock told Katrina to give into her dark side (*cough* Star Wars reference). When Katrina’s eyes turned white as she tried to unleash the full potential of her magic, it made me wonder if Katrina will go down the path of evil. I hope that she won’t for Ichabod’s sake.
I enjoyed the scene where Ichabod texted Abbie to meet him at a house that was for sale, saying that he will need to find his own place someday, preferably one with granite countertops; that whole scene was amusing. Watching Ichabod attempt trash-talking when he was trying to lure the blood demon out at the warehouse and when he was kicking Kent’s butt was kind of a facepalm moment for me, but then again, he is a man from the past so he would need some more practice in that regard. Maybe he should take Abbie up on her offer and go see a hockey game.
It’s kind of a bummer that Captain Irving’s now on the side of evil, but I guess that this will make things that much more interesting as the show moves forward toward its second season finale. Who knows? Maybe he’ll turn on Henry like the way Henry did when he turned on Moloch.
This episode gave me hope that the second season of Sleepy Hollow will finish on a strong note (it’s been a very rocky season), and I think the show will return for a third season. The cast is beyond awesome, and it would be quite a shame if the series did not return for at least a third season after this one ends.
What did you think, Sleepy Hollow fans? Did you enjoy Katrina’s involvement in this episode and do you think she will go to the dark side? Are you surprised that Henry is back and with Captain Irving on his side? There’s only three episodes left of Season 2 of Sleepy Hollow, so make sure you watch!
[Photo via FOX]
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