Sleepy Hollow – The People v. Ichabod Crane

By: Stacy Miller

The episode opens with Jenny (Lyndie Greenwood) coming to Diana’s (Janina Gavankar) house. Molly (Oona Yaffe) answers the door. “Hi, is your mom home?” Jenny asks. “Yeah, but she told me I’m not supposed to talk to you or your friends,” Molly answers as Diana ushers her daughter inside. Jenny tells Diana that they came to talk, but Ichabod is not there even though they had decided that they would do this together. Jenny tries to explain that she knows the difficulty that a Witness faces and wants to help Molly and Diana get through it. This would be easier if Ichabod were there with her, but the question is – where is Crane?

At Dreyfuss Industries, Malcolm (Jeremy Davies) is working out. He asks Jobe (Kamar de los Reyes) for the progress in obtaining the next talisman. They are also looking for a map that will help them know where to assemble their treasures.

Jenny arrives at Ichabod’s and steps in the black substance on the floor leading to the closet. When she opens the door, Jenny finds it is covered in a webbing. Bringing a sample back to The Vault for analysis, Alex (Rachel Melvin) identifies the compound of chemicals as Spider Silk. Jenny wonders whether they brought something evil back from ‘J’ Street when they trapped The Horseman. Whatever it is, Alex notes it doesn’t like light as she holds up sample jar to the lamp. Jake (Jerry MacKinnon) pulls out Benjamin Franklin’s journal. It talks about a strange substance he found in 1778 displaying outer worldly properties. A farmer in Maryland had gone missing and his body was discovered a week later in the Aberdeen Woods cocooned in the substance. The body was found in Cava Despervari, which translates as “The Cave of Despair.” Jenny decides to go to the cave even though Aberdeen is an army facility. She won’t be deterred and doesn’t want Jake and Alex to go with her. “This is out of your league, it’s easier if I go alone.” After Jenny leaves, Jake tells Alex they should go with Jenny as their days of sitting on the sidelines are over. Plus, the cave is home to something known as “The Slayer of Hope,” which doesn’t just kill its victims. “It feeds on their misery until it drives them to kill themselves,” Jake tells Alex.

Meanwhile, Ichabod (Tom Mison) is the cocoon in The Cave of Despair. He wakes up to find himself in an 18^th century courtroom on trial. “What in God’s name is this?” Ichabod asks. He is being accused of neglecting his duties as a Witness and is charged with murder. “Murder, whose murder?” Ichabod asks, “Who is making this accusation?” He’s shocked when his accuser enters. “Hello father,” greets Henry, Ichabod’s dead son. Ichabod insists this is not real, but Henry (John Noble) begs to differ, reminding his father he has seen spirits come back from beyond. We get flashbacks to remind us of Henry’s story; how he felt abandoned by his father and how in the end Ichabod killed him. Ichabod decides if Henry is real then Ichabod must be dead and he is standing in judgment. Henry agrees that Ichabod is facing judgment “For the murder of Abigail Mills.”

Jenny is caught breaking into the army facility. She lies that she and her boyfriend Pete were on the trails and got separated. The soldiers believe her until her wire cutters fall out of her bag. Jenny is arrested for trespassing on a government facility. Jake and Alex watch the scene in the car from a distance. They have to help Jenny. Jake has an idea. Back at the trial of Ichabod Crane, Henry gives his opening statement that Ichabod doesn’t deserve to have another child, wife or friends because everyone he touches dies.

Meanwhile, Diana is able to get Jenny released. Diana says that Jake called and told her the trouble Jenny was in and also that Ichabod was missing. Agent Thomas also tells Jenny that she has read Jenny’s file. Jenny says that Diana can’t deny what’s happening to her or Molly because it will catch up with her. Diana and Jenny find Ichabod in The Cave of Despair covered in the Spider Silk cocoon. Jenny tries to cut him out. Suddenly, a creature appears and Diana shoots it and the creature flees. “Diana stop, you’re hurting Crane!” Jenny shouts when she sees blood on Ichabod. Meanwhile, at the trial in Ichabod’s mind he bleeds. “What is happening to me?” Ichabod wonders. In the cave, Diana and Jenny realize the creature and Ichabod are linked and if they kill the creature, they kill Crane. As Jenny can’t cut Ichabod out of the webbing, she and Diana leave to work on a plan.

Back at the trial, Ichabod sees the true face of what’s he’s dealing with behind the mask of his son’s face. Ichabod reasons that the demon needs him alive. He decides to play along, begging the court to allow him to speak.

Back at The Vault, Jake tells Alex, Diana and Jenny of an account from Benjamin Franklin’s journal that talks about an incident involving Grace Dixon (Onira Tares), Jenny and Abbie’s Great, Great, Great Grandmother. Jenny tells Diana that Ichabod working with Grace and then Abbie two hundred and fifty years later wasn’t a coincidence. She talks about the bond that Ichabod and Abbie had and that they can be there for Diana and Molly, too. Alex scans the page from Grace’s entry. It talks about Valley Forge and a beast in The Cave of Despair that imprisoned a soldier’s mind in a spiritual trial to dredge up all the guilt the man was feeling to feed upon. Then it spread that despair to those around. “And many that were exposed were driven to the bleakest of ends,” Grace wrote. So, Washington was being literal and talking about the creature when he said “These are the times that try men’s souls.” Jenny says that this is what Ichabod is going through now and if they don’t free him, not only could Ichabod die but an army base full of soldiers could be driven to suicide.

At the trial, Ichabod gives his statement. As a soldier, he has suffered great loss. But that is the plight of a soldier. He talks about how Abbie made a choice, but adds that he would die a thousand deaths if Abbie could live. The creature wearing Henry’s face produces the coffin that Ichabod’s son spent two hundred years in and tells Ichabod he failed him while he was busy soldiering. Ichabod agrees the Henry demon is right, his first duty as a parent was to protect his child. “If you are a demon, you’re wearing the wrong face,” Ichabod says. He’s glad to have the opportunity to speak with his son one more time and to tell Henry that everything he did to protect people was because of him. Ichabod never gave up on his son and always loved him.

Back at The Vault, Diana calls Molly to tell her she going to be late. She tells her daughter to not have pizza (which Molly is eating) and that she can watch television once she finishes her homework (which Molly is already doing). Jake’s reading uncovers that Grace made a weapon against the creature that she called “The Fire of Joy.” Alex looks at the ingredients for the weapon. It’s doable except for one ingredient, Resin of Quicklime. Alex searches the computer for Resin of Quicklime and discovers it’s a high grade military explosive but also illegal. Jenny can get it. “I know a guy,” she says. But they also need a welding torch to launch The Fire of Joy. It can be found in The Smithsonian. Alex and Jake can sneak in to get what they need. At The Smithsonian, Alex and Jake get the welding torch. They hide when a security guard enters. Alex and Jake see Jobe kill the security guard and take a map. “Tell me again how you’re ready for anything,” Alex says to Jake.

At a bar, Diana and Jenny meet with Jenny’s contact to get the HMX. After scoring it, Diana and Jenny join Jake and Alex and they’re off to kill the creature and save Crane. The Henry creature asks Ichabod about his new partner Diana and her daughter Molly. He then shows him a vision of Alex, Jake, Diana, Jenny and Molly all dead. Back in the cave, Team Ichabod kill the creature, but that doesn’t wake Crane. It seems his soul is adrift. “He needs an anchor,” Diana says calling Molly. Diana puts the phone on speaker and Ichabod hears Molly telling him to never give up hope. That is enough to bring Ichabod back.

Alex and Jake return to The Vault. Alex comments that with the creature dead, the substance is inert. Placing the item on a table, she decides maybe she’ll throw it out tomorrow. After Alex and Jake leave, the substance begins moving again.