My job is to be critical. I get paid, right now, in self-satisfaction and smugness. I like to take long hard looks at things and determine whether they are worth my time and energy. There are plenty of ridiculous things that I love, and plenty of things I -should- like, but don’t. Sleepy Hollow has kind of been one of those things. However, now that I’m finally starting to really convert to this show, I’m hopeful that this is the episode to cement my fan loyalty.

If we all remember from last week, Jenny is going to be released from the hospital, Ichabod is still friends with everyone from history, Abbie interrogates everyone, Brooks is still alive and of questionable loyalty and oh yeah – THEY TRAPPED THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN. 

Abbie teaches Ichabod a fist bump. Wait, lemme check….yup! His naivete is still adorable.

I mean…the episode also starts with a bunch of the same ‘just go with it’ mumbo jumbo we’re so accustomed to. Thomas Jefferson’s wife is a witch. He built a chamber that has an interrogation window in it. Candles will last forever. And, in the never-ending-arc of complication, Brooks, apart from being an undead Benedict Arnold who apparently likes Abbie, is also a gosh darned necromancer. And what is a necromancer? Not the traditional ‘sorcerer who works with dead people’, noooooo. He is the Headless Horseman’s ‘voice’. 

Also, lest we forget, the Horseman’s horse is still meandering about. No worries, it conveniently runs into a Hessian hunter. The hunter, not being dumb, realizes what’s happened and immediately steals a relic needed to break the hex on the room the Horseman is stored in. Everyone in this show is just a litttttle too clandestine for my liking.

We’re then treated to another Ichabod flashback, this time via a necklace that once belonged to Katrina (although Ichabod is not the one to give it to her. INTRIGUE!). And, since we’re doing more flashbacks, we get more scruffy historical Tom Mison. I’m not complaining, even if the beard is incongruous. I’m also wondering how Katrina went from weird peasant lady to colonial royalty. This gets addressed, and we are led to believe that, for some reason, Katrina and Abraham are in an arranged marriage. Abraham is later on made out to be kind of a jerk about her breaking up with him.

I’m super liking how awesome the Jenny/Captain team is. I’m not such a big fan of the line, “Check your math, Adolf.” in reference to a Hessian, because, y’know. Do we really need to lump all Germans in with Hitler?

That awkward moment when you have a tattoo suspiciously similar to the Hessian bad guys. (Me, I do. /sigh)

Let’s chat about the Headless Horseman’s…chatting. I like the effect, the set up. I’m not such a big fan of him losing his…head…(I’m sorry) in conversation so casually. I mean, let’s bait the Hessian version of Death, and then the power grid goes down. YAY.

Meanwhile, back in flashback land, Ichabod decides that the moment to tell his distraught best friend that his now ex-fiancee is now in love with himself instead is in the middle of enemy territory while on an important mission. Then a duel happens! And it’s awesome! And they let Ichabod get kicked around a little bit, ‘cus no one is perfect! Actually, while we’re on this theme, Ichabod has some character development! Exclamation points!

The breakdown of minutes I enjoyed amounted to about the last 15. The last 10 are awesome, as per usual. I really wish the episodes could sustain that kind of excitement for the whole shebang, but I guess I can settle for 10 minutes of awesome. I don’t want to spoil it, but I was pleased with the plot twist.