Great Washington’s ghost!
Monday’s (Jan. 13) ‘Sleepy Hollow’ was electrifying from start to finish. Ichabod’s super skinny jeans (aka The Devil’s Trousers,) ‘Fallen’-style chilling possessions, breaking and entering, demon vanquishing, family bonding and a head-scratching hauntingly historical twist. “The Vessel” fantastically sets the stage for ‘Sleepy Hollow’s’ epic season finale.
It was the “squee” heard around the world…Ichabod Crane enters the scene wearing a western-style shirt and skinny jeans! Like jegging level skinny. Abbie sure has a great sense of humor because putting Crane in that ultra-modern ensemble was just laugh-out-loud funny. Tom Mison’s reaction is priceless. If Ichabod gets new clean clothes, they need to resemble or at least fit as comfortably as his 17th century garb. Maybe Abbie should watch ‘Kate & Leopold’ and take note of Hugh Jackman’s updated wardrobe. Keep the long coat, throw on some stylish slacks (not jeans) and try a soft structured shirt. Allow Crane to adjust to the modern age in moderation. I like Crane’s clothes as is because it is a part of his character, but something must wear and tear eventually. Maybe over time they can introduced new articles of clothing bit by bit, just for practical purposes. Whatever you do, don’t touch the hair. I love his long locks. Come to think of it, if Crane let his hair down while in those skinny jeans, he may have looked a little rocker-chic kind of like Jared Leto. What did you think of the shocking wardrobe change? Should Crane keep the jeans? Were you hoping for some kind of ‘Pretty Woman’ style shopping montage?
Ok, moving on to the life-threating, scary supernatural stuff.
Crane is still freaked out by Moloch’s warning (“Moloch is coming for your soul. He says I will deliver it to him.”) He fears for Abbie’s life, despite her confidence in their ability to stop Moloch’s evil apocalyptic plan. Abbie tells Ichabod not to worry. She thinks Moloch has “boondoggled” (way to use your thesaurus Sleepy Writers) Crane by playing mind games and sending him on a fool’s errand. I really hope Abbie is right, but Moloch proves otherwise by sending one of his demons after the Irvings.
The demon who threatened Captain Irving and his daughter Macey in the park is still pestering him. Irving has brought the vendor into the station for questioning, but the guy doesn’t remember a thing about their conversation. Detectives Morales and Jones think Irving is imagining things because the dude has a completely clean record, but they still do as they are told. Irving remembers the woman (the lady the demon jumped into) who witnessed the whole encounter and wants her to give her account of the events. As this woman enters the station, we see that she is still possessed by the demon. She touches another cop and the demon jumps into his body. A few minutes later, Irving gets a call from inside the station warning him that Macey is in danger. Irving has until sun-down to hand over Washington’s Bible or else Macey will become the demon’s new vessel. Way to up the creepy factor by writing “The Bible” in dripping blood on the ceiling so that only Irving can see it. When Irving confronts the possessed cop, the demon transfers into Jones’ body. You know this won’t be good.
Irving calls his priest and tells him about the demon. The Father concurs that even the Vatican believes “the Devil can take hold of a mortal soul.” He tells Irving to take his family somewhere safe and he’ll meet them there. Irving also reaches out to Ichabod and Abbie for help. He sees where Crane keeps Washington’s Bible and asks them to search for answers on how to deal with demon possession. While Irving sets his family up in a safe house, Ichabbie gets to work.
Abbie and Ichabod go through Sheriff Corbin’s files and watch his taping of an exorcism. As we discovered in the sneak peeks, Jenny was possessed by a demon when she was 19 years old. Corbin successfully exorcised the demon out of Jenny. Abbie is utterly shocked by this revelation and she calls Jenny to see what she remembers from her experience.
Jenny wants to save Macey from any danger and watches Corbin’s video. The demon prophesizes that Corbin will die at the hands of the Horseman of Death, then the demon says he will kill Jenny’s sister. Abbie wishes Jenny had told her about what happened, but Jenny dismisses it as even a remote possibility at the time. Jenny says she doesn’t know how Corbin exorcized the demon and feels she can’t be of any help, so she leaves. Elsewhere, Irving enlists Jones and Morales to help move his family to a safe house.
When they reach the safe house, the demon jumps from Jones’ to Morales’ body. Then Morales promises Irving that he’ll watch out for Macey. Oh this really isn’t good. Meanwhile, Ichabod gains insight on how Jenny really feels about her past possession.
Ichabod has done a wonderful job of bringing the Mills back together. He reaches out to jenny and she opens up. After they saw Moloch in the woods, Jenny was haunted by black-out spells. Even after the demon was gone, Jenny had evil thoughts about Abbie. She didn’t trust herself, so she deliberately had herself arrested to protect Abbie. How sweet! The demon left a mark on Jenny and she always had a feeling it would come back. Ichabod fears that the demon will have someone else kill Macey, so he asks Jenny for her help.
Back at the safe house, Irving’s priest borders the door with salt to keep the demon at bay. Jones thinks it is weird so Morales has him remove the salt. He thanks Jones and then snaps him in half like a twig. Man that’s cold. RIP Det. Jones. Now Demon Morales is in the house. Let’s hope Ichabod & the Mills figure out how to stop him before it’s too late.
The gang studies Corbin’s footage and pick-up on the effectiveness of salt (All fans of the genre know by now that salt is something you learn to keep on hand at all times. It’s always the first lesson in Demon Hunting 101.) They then play the tape in reverse to understand the demon’s incoherent tirade of mumbo-jumbo. Crane recognizes the language as ancient Aramaic (of course) and the demon identifies himself as Ancitif. He says, “Ancitif cannot be defeated.” Abbie looks up Ancitif and he is indeed a powerful demon known for possession.
First sited in 1647 when he possessed a group of Catholic nuns. He is known to be a leader of a legion of Moloch’s minions sent to destroy disciples like Irving. A blessed French lantern from the time of Louis the 14th can cast the demon out of its vessel and send it back to Hell. Crane says Ben Franklin brought some over to be used during the Revolutionary War. Jenny also recognizes it as an artifact she helped procure for some crazy End of Days preparation group led by Corey Weaver. She knows where they can find it, so the trio heads out on a road trip to retrieve the lantern. While they get one step closer to helping the Irvings, Ancitif gets closer to Macey.
Morales keeps an eye on Macey when Cynthia confronts Irving about what’s really going on. In a very revealing conversation, Cynthia tells Frank that the Irving ladies are stronger than he thinks. Creepy! Since the demon asked Irving how strong Macey is. Now we’ll get to find out if Irving’s little fighter has the moxie to tackle a demon. Frank’s phone rings and Cynthia steps away. Abbie fills Irving in on what they learned and tells him they will be there as soon as they can with the lantern. After Abbie hangs up, Morales calls. Irving hears the demon’s voice say, “Sundown is upon us. You have failed.” Frank rushes into the house but he’s too late.
Ancitif has possessed Macey. The demon takes over and makes Macey super-scary looking (great special effects, as always.) Demon Macey kills the priest and threatens to kill Cynthia next if Irving doesn’t hand over the Bible. Irving is left with no choice. He calls Abbie and tells her that he’s going to get Washington’s Bible from their bunker. Crane & Co. realize that Irving’s call means Macey has been possessed, so they high-tail it to Weaver’s compound.
Abbie doesn’t want Jenny to get busted, so she insists on stealing the lamp herself. Jenny guides Abbie and Crane over the phone until they break into the storage unit. While Ichabod gives Abbie a boost to grab the lantern, Jenny breaks into Abbie’s mobile arsenal. Weaver confronts Ichabbie for trespassing and stealing his property. Weaver doesn’t care if Ichabod and a cop need to “commandeer” the lantern because they don’t have the right to do so. Ichabod assures them that the war between Good and Evil has already begun. Ichabod begs them to comply, but they’re not feeling it. Suddenly, Jenny appears atop of a truck behind the gang of Doomsday madmen. She’s fully locked and loaded, so they simmer-down and listen to her. Once Jenny promises Weaver that he will get his lantern back, he lets them go. After all, these dudes know what Jenny is capable of. Bottom line: Don’t mess with the Mills.
Back at the bunker, Irving discovers that the Bible is missing, so Ancitif is pissed. When Cynthia asks what happened to their baby girl, Frank realizes that Macey is still inside her body. He apologizes to Macey for trying to fix her. He now realizes that she is strong and she can fight the demon. For a second it looks like Macey is back, but then the demon raises Cynthia by the neck and says that Macey is gone. Luckily, Jenny steps in to interrupt.
Ancitif remembers Jenny and taunts her. He knows she still feels the darkness within and thinks about killing her sister. Abbie steps up and challenges him to come after her directly instead of using kids as pawns in his twisted game. When Ancitif charges towards the Mills, he is stopped by a salt barrier. Ichabod comes through a side door and encloses the remainder of their salt-trap, locking the demon in. Crane holds the lantern up, as the light shines brightly, he commands the demon to show its true self. Ancitif warns that their plan is already in motion and “darkness will reign.” Crane casts the demon back into Hell and Macey goes back to normal.
In an emotionally charged and moving moment, Abbie walks over and hugs tearful Jenny. It is like the anger and pain from the past has finally been lifted. For the first time, the Mills sisters are on the same page. Everything they have done that hurt each other has all been out of love and protection. Aww!
As the episode closes, Abbie and Ichabod are back at Corbin’s cabin where Crane cleverly hid Washington’s Bible. Ichabod has been closely examining the Bible and realized that the stench on a specific page comes from a form of glowing invisible ink. He mixes up a lemon juice blend and brushes it on the stinky page to reveal a hidden message: December 18, 1799. Ichabod believes Washington wrote the date down himself, but that doesn’t make any sense. Abbie says the history books all say Washington died on Dec. 14th, four days before this was written.
How could Washington have written the message after he died? Was it his ghost? Are the history books wrong about the day Washington died? Ichabod has unmasked many historical secrets and this could be another one of them. Did Washington fake his death on December 14th? Could he have lived on under a different identity in order to continue his fight against Evil? We have so many questions!
Afterthoughts:
- The Mills: We saw a lot of growth between Jenny and Abbie in this episode. They truly have a heartbreaking story. All they had was each other and Moloch tore them apart. After seeing him in the woods that day, the sisters drifted away from each other. Ironically, on the outside things probably seemed like they were going according to Moloch’s plan. He was setting Jenny up to hate her sister, maybe even enough to kill her. But he was wrong. All of these years Abbie thought Jenny hated her when she was really acting out of love. Thinking back to the beginning of the season, we learned how Jenny was honest about what she saw when Abbie chose to lie. Jenny’s honesty got her locked up in a psych ward and she told Abbie she didn’t want her to visit. Every seemingly cruel act was done in an effort to distance herself from Abbie and protect her big sister. I am really glad the Mills have cleared the air now and are on the same page. I have a feeling that working as a team will make them even stronger in this fight again Moloch. Nicole Beharie and Lyndie Greenwood work so beautifully together. Whether they are bickering or embracing, you can feel their sisterly bond. I also love the way Ichabod interjects himself into their family business. It really is like he’s adopted them as his own family because he always tries to show each sister how much she is loved by the other.
- The Irvings: Well, Captain Irving’s family is now in on the big secret. When we first met Cynthia, she didn’t understand what kept her husband so busy in Sleepy Hollow. Now she knows that he is fighting in a war against Good and Evil. But before she realizes exactly what the problem is, she assures Frank that the Irving women are a couple of tough cookies. Macey herself said that she is a fighter and she keeps proving it. She hasn’t let the accident hold her back. She’s excelling in school and keeping a positive attitude. If anything, she’s handled the trauma better than Frank. This terrifying event provided a huge breakthrough for the Irvings. I really hope this leads to a reconciliation between Frank and Cynthia because you can see that the love is still there. I’m very curious to see what Cynthia and Macey have to say once they have chance to process everything that happened with Ancitif.
- Girl power: I really like how all the women on ‘Sleepy Hollow’ are so strong, yet realistically vulnerable. Although they may get into trouble, they are never quite damsels in distress. Abbie and Jenny save Ichabod just as much as he rescues them from danger. Plus, if it wasn’t for Katrina’s brazen spell, Ichabod wouldn’t even be alive today. Victories on ‘Sleepy Hollow’ always result in a group effort and I think that’s awesome.
- Possession: After Ancitif left Jenny’s body, she could still feel the darkness he left behind. Macey, like Jenny, was chosen to serve a specific purpose on Moloch’s behalf. Frank is being targeted as a disciple in this war. Even the priest told Irving that sometimes disciples are destined to die for their cause. Will Macey harbor ill feelings towards her dad? Will she hear evil voices like Jenny did? How will Morales be affected by the possession? Is he open to evil now? Will he become a bigger pawn in Moloch’s vicious game?
- Washington’s message: Theories for this twist are up for grabs. There are a lot of possibilities: did he fake his death, was it his ghost, did he write it before he died because the date has some significance, did someone forge it, etc.? Here’s what Mison told TVLine:
“This is Sleepy Hollow, and it’s in hidden ink, in Washington’s Bible that was buried with Ichabod. My spoiler is: Yes, something weird is going on.” (Now imagine that in Crane’s clipped accent, and you’ll feel exactly as stupid as we did when he schooled us.)
According this account of Washington’s death, he requested not to be buried for three day, so he was buried on Dec. 18th, 1799. He also asked to be “decently buried” instead of being placed in the vault. It will be interesting to see if any of these accounts come into play on ‘Sleepy Hollow’s’ retelling.
What did you think of “The Vessel”? What were your favorite moments (other than seeing Ichabod in skinny jeans)? What shocked you the most?
Share your thoughts below and stay tuned for more news!
‘Sleepy Hollow’s’ season one finale airs Monday Jan. 20 at 8 p.m. on FOX.
