Sleepy Hollow 2×02 “The Kindred” Review

A New Sheriff Raises the stakes in this week’s Sleepy Hollow

This week on Sleepy Hollow, there is a new sheriff in town in place of Captain Irving, who is in prison. Ichabod and Abbie have to suffer the consequences of the new Sheriff Reyes taking control of the town, or rather, Jenny does. Ichabod and Abbie devise a plan to raise a zombie of their own to combat Abraham as well as distract him in order to rescue Katrina from Headless. We visit Irving in prison and see him try to reduce the security around him by using the insanity plea and transferring to Tarrytown (where Jenny easily escaped). Katrina devises her own plan to stay with Abraham in order to find out his bigger picture plan. A lot happens in this episode, so it’s hard to keep up, but let’s get started!

Abbie gets a blast from the past

Nicole Beharie’s performance when talking about Purgatory and when she’s confronted with images similar to those she encountered in Purgatory. Their discussion of weakness and Abbie’s attempts to remain stoic and not get emotional over those memories is really incredible to see. We can see Abbie’s strength in fighting back tears and terror that she is feeling inside and that is all thanks to Nicole Beharie’s performance. We can feel her holding herself back and trying to stay strong because this isn’t the time to think about all the emotions brought up about her mother and childhood.

“My faith in you is my greatest weakness.” ~Abbie

It’s clear she feels this sense of duty as a Witness and to keep it together and even relying on Ichabod, she fears she is isn’t independent enough or strong enough to fight on her own. Of course Abbie is strong enough and has so much strength and power against the demons who are after them. Ichabod just aids her and makes her stronger with his knowledge while she is the real warrior in the duo. Ichabod isn’t her greatest weakness, he is one of her strengths. Beharie is able to convey these emotions in Abbie so subtly just from a look to Ichabod or an expression in her face, that watching her on screen is a dream.

Katrina steps up her game

Abraham/Headless slaps Katrina with the truth that Ichabod got Abbie out of Purgatory after hours and yet it took 200 years to rescue Katrina from the same fate (something we pointed out in our last review). Sounds like Abraham ships Ichabbie just so he can have Katrina for himself, which is actually quite brilliant for his plan, considering how obvious the connection between Ichabod and Abbie is. Even the banker thinks Ichabod and Abbie are together!

“I do know that there is a greater plan in motion, and if I stay, I will learn it.” ~ Katrina

Katrina’s scheme of staying with Abraham to be a spy and find out his plan is very unexpectedly smart of her. Unexpectedly, because we’ve only ever seen her act in relation to Ichabod and for her to come up with this plan was a pleasant addition to her character’s list of traits. We finally get to witness some of Katia Winter’s acting chops as Katrina in her convincing Abraham that she wants to be with him. In fact, Winter’s performance is so convincing, it almost looks like Katrina might go dark and/or side with Abraham at some point later in the season. Abbie’s nod of respect for Katrina staying to gain further intel and Abbie trusting Katrina’s instincts that it’s for the right reason, otherwise Ichabod wouldn’t have left her there was an important thing to note. Though it was a brief moment in the episode, it is important to remember that the woman in Ichabod’s life all support each other and aren’t competing in any way.

The Captains go head to head

Frank Irving is back on our screens and looking a lot worse for wear, stuck in prison for confessing to murders he didn’t commit. It’s nice that he is still able to help out the team while behind bars and it’s great to see Orlando Jones’ face again! His plan to play the insanity card must hit close to home for Abbie, considering Jenny has escaped from that same asylum and their mother was patently crazy. The audience could already tell this plan wasn’t going to go well with Irving against the new sheriff who seems to know just about everyone’s dark backstory (except apparently Irving’s). What’s great is that Irving tries to convince the new Sheriff Reyes (Sakina Jaffrey) to believe in the very real demons the town has all dealt with before she arrived. She may know what it’s like on border patrol, but the Sleepy Hollow police department is guarding the veil between life and death, something much less concrete than what Reyes experienced. Reyes is so certain that whatever is happening in Sleepy Hollow isn’t as bad as the cartels, so it should be really fun to see her come to learn the truth about the town.

“She knew my mother, who was a little bit totally crazy.” ~ Abbie

What some of the audience may have no realized at the end of the episode, is that both Frank Irving and Capt. Reyes don’t know who Henry Parrish is. Just as we thought Irving knew everything he had to be wary of in the Sleepy Hollow word of demons, what’s even more horrifying is Ichabod and Katrina’s evil son and Horseman of War getting Irving to sign a contract with his blood. The question now is, what exactly was Irving signing and how long will it take for Ichabod, Abbie, and Jenny to realize what Henry is up to now in manipulating Irving for his own purposes. It’s never good to have both the head and former head of the police station to not know who’s the big bad!

FINAL VERDICT

This was a well-rounded episode with a rather amusing plotline of Ichabod and Abbie raising a Frankenstein’s monster-esque zombie as their own warrior. The writers for this episode, Mark Goffman and Albert Kim, continue to maintain the show’s famous balance between drama and comedy. Most brilliantly, the writers included a jest at their genre with the recitation of Latin from a book to raise the zombie failed after the first try with lack of stormclouds, action, and Abbie asking if he did it right. That moment was so perfect in poking fun at how seriously sometimes they take these demons that they need to insert these moments of lightness to maintain a good balance so the writers did a very good job of that this episode. The director, Paul Edwards, had such magnificent grasp on the lie detector scene and how well he integrated the new character into the fold of the establish leads was quite seamless. Additionally, Ichabod’s growing anger of modern economy will never get tired so bless Tom Mison for acting like the restraint of a pen on a chain was the most abhorrent thing he’s ever seen.

Questions, Comments, Concerns…

• Bless the entire bank scene, really, all of it
• What is Henry planning on doing to Irving?!
• How long do you think it’ll take for the new sheriff to learn the truth about Sleepy Hollow?
• Also how long is that new zombie supposed to stay alive and fight for the good guys?
• Was Katrina’s scheme clever or stupid?
• Poor Jenny, please rescue her!! She’s important, too!
• Also Irving please save Irving at all costs
• Might look twice at the pen I’m using to sign things from now on…
• Still laughing over Franklinstein