Sleepy Hollow – Sick Burn

By: Stacy Miller

The episode opens with Malcolm Dreyfuss (Jeremy Davies) sitting on the grass near the White House when an old man in chains is dragged before him. It is Ichabod (Tom Mison).  Malcolm is pleased that his “old friend” is in the condition he is in. Dreyfuss tells Ichabod that people are really hurt animals; sheep who need a shepherd to led them. He is awakened by Jobe (Kamar de los Reyes) who questions him about his vision, which appears to be set some time in the distant future.  Dreyfuss tells Jobe that he is positioned to become the best thing to ever happen to America.

Meanwhile, Ichabod is trying to take a selfie.  Molly (Oona Yaffe) tells Ichabod that he is doing it wrong, but when she takes Ichabod’s cell phone away from him to show him the correct way Molly drops it and breaks the phone. Diana (Janina Gavankar) gives Molly her phone to use and Molly takes a selfie with Ichabod to post on Crane’s “Pictagram.” She comments that it’s useless though because he doesn’t have any followers. Ichabod wonders what the world would be like if Washington or Franklin were alive to spread their messages to followers.  They are interrupted by the arrival of internet sensation Logan MacDonald (Robbie Kay), who borrows Molly’s phone to take a photo of them at the event. Suddenly, Logan falls down and passes out.  Diana and Ichabod spot a strange, glowing symbol on his arm. Ichabod tells Diana he’ll investigate further while she takes Molly home.

At the Thomas house, Molly questions her mother about the security cameras Diana had installed.  Diana wants to ensure that she’ll be the first to see any supernatural evil that enters their house. Jenny (Lyndie Greenwood) is there hanging a Tibetan shield that will help with their security.  Molly goes upstairs and Diana leaves her daughter with Jenny while she goes to the hospital to check on Logan.

Meanwhile, Alex (Rachel Melvin) is on a date with an annoying guy she met on Tinder, the online dating site.  Jake (Jerry MacKinnon) is also there to serve as her backup in case she needs rescuing from the date.  Alex’s date wants her to look at an online video. Then, he falls over and the same glowing symbol Logan MacDonald had appears on the man’s arm. At the hospital, Jake is sanitizing his hands. He is afraid of germs. Ichabod arrives at the hospital to learn about Logan’s condition and finds that Alex’s date suffered the same affliction.  Alex thinks it’s a normal illness and Jake thinks monster flu. Suddenly, Alex’s date bursts into flames. “I hate it when you’re right,” Alex tells Jake.

At The Vault, Team Witness discover that the strange symbols causing illness are appearing all over the DC area. Ichabod asks Jake to bring him the journal of Paul Jennings (Zae Jordan) in which the White House slave recorded an account of an outbreak during the War of 1812 that he dubbed Fire Flu. This affliction seemed to spread through a pamphlet; those who read from it became infected.  Alex realizes that the Fire Flu is spreading in this century by way of a video posted on Logan MacDonald’s Instagram.  Diana calls Molly to ask whether she watched any Logan MacDonald videos.  Fortunately, the answer is no as Molly is at Jenny’s trailer and they had been out hiking.  Diana asks Molly to put Jenny on the phone and tells Ms. Mills to make sure Molly doesn’t watch any videos.  Alex tells Jake that she watched the video and shows him her arm. Alex has been infected!

Diana and Ichabod take to the streets of Washington, DC. Crane tries to warn the people, urging them to “Switch off your mobile devices, they are now a weapon.” Of course, no one listens to the strange man. A female jogger who watched the video is infected and bursts into flames.

Meanwhile at The Vault, Alex locks herself in the tunnels.  She’s afraid that she will burn down the place. When Diana and Ichabod return, Jake tells them that Alex is infected.  He is visibly upset and worried about Alex.  But the best way to save Alex is to find out how to break the infection curse so it’s back to research.  Ichabod discovers that Paul Jennings was an operative of Agent 355. “He worked in this very vault.” But Paul Jennings wasn’t alone, he worked with a team which included Samuel Wilson (Rick Espaillat), who would go down in history as Uncle Sam, Davy Crockett (Daniel Parvis) and Native American Sacagawea (Dayana Rincon) of the famed Lewis and Clark expedition. Further research uncovers that they are looking for a Djinn (Fedor Steer) a demon who uses the curse to lure his victims to his lair where he consumes their souls.  The only way that Paul Jennings’ team could defeat the creature was for one of them to read the cursed pamphlet to lead the others to the Djinn.  Samuel Wilson decided to read the pamphlet to take the curse onto himself. Once inside, Wilson was able to use powerful magic to flood the Djinn’s lair with unholy lightening to strike the creature down.  But, unfortunately, Samuel Wilson’s heroics cost him his life and he had been consumed.  Jake vows that Wilson’s fate won’t be Alex’s. All those infected (including Alex) march in a line towards the Djinn.  “I am ready to burn with you,” Alex says, almost trance-like.

While Team Witness is trying to save one of their own, Jenny is showing Molly a ritual that August Corbin showed her that helps choose the path you will walk in life. Molly choses the Tibetan Singing Bowl, which mean she will be an oracle.  Suddenly, Molly gets a vision in which she sees an old and alone Ichabod.  Back at The Vault, Diana shows Ichabod a syringe full of a special blend of acetaminophen and African wormwood that if they shoot into Alex’s arm should bring her body temperature down.  But they need to find the Djinn.  Ichabod tells Jake and Diana that he’ll take the curse upon himself and lead them to the Djinn.  However, Jake has already allowed himself to become infected; knowing the Alex would have done the same for him. Jake, Diana and Ichabod find the internet service farm where the Djinn has set up operation.  The infected are walking towards the creature willing to burn for him.  Team Witness spring into action with Diana shooting Alex with the syringe and then shoots the Djinn into Ichabod who pulls the power on the Djinn’s plan by electrocuting the creature.

Team Witness return to The Vault.  Alex vows never to use a dating app again.  Ichabod tells Diana his fear that his role as a Witness may mean one of his friends ends up in an early grave.  Jenny tells Diana about Molly’s vision.  Something is coming, but what?

In the final scene of the episode, Malcolm is painting the Hindu symbol for eternal life on his new version of the American flag. He welcomes Logan MacDonald his “Patient Zero” saying that the others will be arriving soon. Logan can feel himself changing, becoming something more, and is eager but Malcolm urges patience.  “American wasn’t built in a day and she won’t be brought to her knees in one either.”