SLEEPY HOLLOW: L-R: Nicole Beharie and Lyndie Greenwood in the ÒDelawareÓ episode of SLEEPY HOLLOW airing Friday, April 1 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2016 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Tina Rowden/FOX
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Recap: SLEEPY HOLLOW Prepares for Ragnarok

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Season 3, Episode 17 “Delaware”
Written by Damian Kindler
Directed by Mark Roskin

Platonic friends, my left foot. The way that Crane (Tom Mison) and Abbie (Nicole Beharie) have doughnuts and coffee together the day that they are to head off to the underworld is definitely not platonic. They need to quit sublimating with doughnuts and get a room. Crane makes Abbie a cappuccino with a self portrait in it, Abbie brings Crane home a bacon maple doughnut from a gourmet shop. Much sensuality ensues. Oh, and Crane can raise one eyebrow at a time.

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The girls, Sophie (Jessica Camacho) and Jenny (Lyndie Greenwood) argue against working with Pandora (Shannyn Sossamon) in front of her, since she is in the archives with them. Reynolds (Lance Gross) shows up to jump into the fray. He has a private kissee moment with Abbie. They have eight hours to stop the Hidden One.

SLEEPY HOLLOW: L-R: Lance Gross and Nicole Beharie in the ÒDelawareÓ episode of SLEEPY HOLLOW airing Friday, April 1 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2016 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Tina Rowden/FOX

I want to join your club. I know the secret handshake and everything. (Tina Rowden/FOX)

Pandora lays out the strategy: Abbie and Crane are to go to the catacombs because both are needed to restore the box and  she, Pandora, will be needed to stop the Hidden One (Peter Mensah). Crane and Abbie drive off and talk about Betsy Ross (Nikki Reed), who Crane says was not the same after she returned from the catacombs. He never saw her again, just received a Dear John letter.

Pandora says that the Hidden One will take the hourglass to the top of Bear Mountain because it is surrounded by ancient ley lines, which will increase the magic. The group decide to use the ley lines against him.

Abbie and Crane, on a small boat, flag unfurled, singing the national anthem. It’s not George Washington (Mark Campbell)  crossing the Delaware, but it’s beautifully shot. Abbie has a nice voice. The stars glow and they are not on the Delaware, but on the river Styx, gate to the underworld. Rowing through the mist, they talk about what they have been through and the people they have lost. This is maybe not the best time for such thoughts, but maybe that’s what you think about on the river Styx. They then turn to complimenting each other. I am wondering if they brought weapons or supplies or coins for the ferryman. The boat seems so small and empty. Around the bend is a wrecked boat and a score of bodies. Washington’s trip was upset by a saboteur, they find in a note by Betsy Ross. One of the bodies attacks Crane. It has a dark magic pendant on it. Crane suspects Washington may have known about the spy, and looks for a secret message in Betsy’s letter, which leads them to a portal between trees.

Team Witness is planting lightning rods along the ley lines. The Hidden One knows what they are up to and sends a storm. Everyone survives, but Pandora’s magic compass is broken. Joe (Zach Appelman) goes back to Jenny’s trailer to find a ley line map and text the coordinates to Sophie. Ezra Mills (James McDaniel), Jenny and Abbie’s dad, shows up while he is there. Meanwhile Jenny, against orders, tries to take a shot at the hourglass. The Hidden One sees her and uses her love (some kind of energy flows out of her) to turn Joe into the wendigo again. He changes in front of their dad. Jenny shows up and shoots the wendigo with a tracking bullet. She and Ezra take off.

Crane and Abbie find the catacombs. I realize it’s the first time he’s been there, physically. They find a secret room with Betsy Ross’s body in it.

SLEEPY HOLLOW: L-R: Nicole Beharie and Tom Mison in the ÒDelawareÓ episode of SLEEPY HOLLOW airing Friday, April 1 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2016 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Tina Rowden/FOX
It reads, here within lies the competition. (Tina Rowden/FOX)

Ezra takes Jenny to a secret room filled with weapons. It turns out he knew everything and knew Corbin and Nevins. He was the one who took the picture of them together that keeps being shown. He gives Jenny a gun that will take down anything.
Pandora confronts the Hidden One to buy time. He basically says he was a snake when she picked him up. The last rod is planted and a magical barrier springs up.

Jenny and Ezra try a spell on the wendigo. It doesn’t work, and Jenny shoots it to save her father. The wendigo turns back into Joe, who tells her it’s okay. Once again, Jenny’s distress isn’t very effecting.

The Hidden One overcomes the barrier and becomes rage incarnate. Some people just want to see the world burn.
The show ends with Betsy telling her story and thinking it’s still 1777.

Thoughts:
I’ve been wondering if they were going to find a way to bring Betsy Ross into the present. I know she isn’t there yet, but they can’t leave her in the catacombs. The two women were distinctly unhappy to meet each other and were sizing each other up. There’s definitely jealousy there.

I’m not going to believe Joe is dead until the funeral. I know he’s got a huge hole in him, but if he were a Winchester brother he’d have taken the bullet out, sewn himself together and killed the Hidden One by now. I know the Sleepy Gang has gotten overly crowded with the addition of Reynolds, Dad, and possibly Betsy, but Joe is the wrong one to lose, especially since we don’t know yet if they were renewed. He’s one of the best parts of the show. Maybe Jenny should have spared him the bullet and let him kill deadbeat dad.

It was a well done episode. The pacing was a bit uneven. There was a lot of jumping back and forth, and Sophie and Reynolds wasted some of the time Pandora bought them to talk instead of driving in spikes. Reynolds confessed to her that he had been told to keep an eye on Abbie, and now knew that that was wrong. He’s confessing to the wrong person. Reynolds is finally getting to show his heroic side, and becoming more likable. He accepted the new reality and became the leader of Team Witness with Abbie and Crane gone.

Next week it looks like Pandora expects a sacrifice to get her box to work. It also appears that Crane may raise the headless horseman to help. It should be an exciting season finale. Or end of the world, whichever.

A note to the Powers That Be: this is NOT the kind of shirtless scene I was asking about!

 

Sleepy Hollow airs on Fridays 8pm/7c on FOX.

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Teresa Wickersham

Teresa Wickersham has dabbled in fanfic, gone to a few conventions, created some award-winning (and not so award winning) masquerade costumes, worked on the Save Farscape campaign, and occasionally presents herself as a fluffy bunny or a Krampus.

2 thoughts on “Recap: SLEEPY HOLLOW Prepares for Ragnarok

  • I agree with you about Joe. Until I see the funeral (and maybe not even then), I’m not convinced he’s dead. I also agree he’s NOT the one to kill if they’re thinning the ranks (and let’s face it, the Scooby Gang is getting rather large).

    It was interesting to see Reynolds become the de facto leader of the group minus the witnesses. Personally, even if he is a hot shot FBI agent, I’d personally have felt he hadn’t exactly earned the position of calling the shots! And Jenny! Her impulsiveness and disdain for authority usually gets her into trouble, and this time was no exception. I didn’t even feel bad (for her) that the Hidden One struck back. 😛

    And I think I was less happy to see Betsy Ross than Abbie was.

    We’ll see how the end of the world goes (or doesn’t).

    Reply
  • Hahaha…It’s hard to imagine ANYONE being less happy to see Betsy Ross than Abbie was! I suppose Jenny should have become the leader of the group, considering her level of experience. But Reynolds is Sophie’s boss in her real job, so she may be used to him being the boss. And I agree about Jenny. She has a lot of reason to feel guilty for what happened to Joe, and not just because she pulled the trigger.

    Reply

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