Sleepy Hollow - S1E10 - The Golem
Previously, on Sleepy Hollow: “Sanctuary”
Outside the cabin, Ichabod is taking his son-losing anger out on a poor pile of wood; when Abbie arrives and starts to make jokes, he is none too amused. We do get a lesson on eggnog out of it, though-that Ichabod. Even when he’s grumpy, he’s willing to educate us. He cannot understand why Katrina never told him about his son, and even more so why Moloch was after them both. Even though Abbie doesn’t have any answers for him, she agrees that she were in Icky’s shoes, she would move mountains (“freaky mountains” at that, which totally sounds like a sex move) to find out why as well. Luckily for the both of them, Ichabod has a plan. And that plan is pulling up to the cabin as we speak-it’s Henry Parrish, resident Sin Eater!
Icky has some convincing to do to get Parrish to help him; not only does Parrish not think he can do it, he doesn’t think Icky really understands the consequences of a living soul going into the realm of the dead. Icky won’t be swayed, nor can his loyal companion Abbie be frightened off. Without any further hesitation, Parrish gives Icky the double handed Vulcan death grip, and Icky is transported to the creepy nightmare house of Abbie’s episode 6 dreams.
A baby is crying, and curtains are wafting into the windows of the darkened house. As Ichabod approaches the baby carriage-is this his son?-it starts to roll on its own, moving towards the stairs. Just as it teeters on the ledge of the first step, Ichabod catches and pull the cover back. That’s no baby! That’s some sort of creepy voodoo doll!
Ichabod hears a noise behind him, but it’s only his dead wife. She’s terrified that Icky is present, since she didn’t summon him, but he is there for the truth and politely demands answers about his son. She tells Ichabod her story: she learned she was pregnant after she buried him, and even though her Coven was chasing her to Europe and back to get the location of Icky’s grave, they didn’t know about the baby either. Once she found Sanctuary at the Frederick’s house and gave birth to their son Jeremy, she knew she had to abandon him with the Frederick’s to keep him safe. As soon as she moved, The Four Who Speak As One, the most powerful witches from her coven, banished her to Purgatory. Ichabod, a little shocked that her own coven turned against her, swears to her that he will save her and they will all be reunited, but as he does so the door starts to bang from the outside. Katrina orders him to go back to his own time, and none too soon, as the door is blown off its hinges and a giant monster bursts through the doorway. Is that Moloch?
Crane blinks awake in his own time and his work-wife Abbie is there to catch him as he falls to the ground. He tells her that her ancestor Grace kept his son once Katrina abandoned him. They swear to each other that they will figure out what happened to him, and as they do, the ground rumbles outside. A hand reaches out of the soft ground somewhere beyond the cabin and pulls the rest of its faceless, disjointed, deformed body out of the ground.
Ichabod, out of his Purgatory stupor, starts to contemplate his family tree and any of the 6000 offspring he might have if his son survived. Abbie has a better idea than standing around doing the math-they should go look at the Sleepy Hollow Historical Society’s records. Man, this town has everything! Parrish has to get going to catch his 8:05 train, so they start from the cabin back in towards town, but not before Crane and Abbie double team him with their talk of duty and family. They wear him down and he agrees to stay for 4 hours longer. That should be plenty of time to get the job done, right? They pull off and head to town to check the records, all the time being watched by a growling, faceless hulk of a…man? Demon? Monster? What IS that thing?
Back in town, the Cap’n is quizzing his former priest about that sermon he gave that one time about the two witnesses and Revelation. The priest remembers it instantly-I imagine it would make a pretty riveting speech-but only has bad news for the Cap’n: the word “witness” is just another word for martyr, which is NOT looking good for Ichabod and Abbie, nor for any of their apostles (read: the other musketeers). Poor Cap’n. His daughter got hit by a car, his wife left him, and his life of public service and trusting in the cause is apparently going to end in some sort of fiery death.
While the Cap’n remembers that going to church only makes him feel worse, Ichabod harasses the local historic librarian who did not get a chance to memorize the contents of their local branch. He turns to start searching the book piles when Abbie catches him under the mistletoe…and all of a sudden no one is making eye contact with each other. Sure, sure, there’s nothing at all between him and Abbie. No chemistry whatsoever.
Parrish, gunning for the useless librarian’s job, finds the book in a number of seconds. What exactly was the librarian’s role that she could only vaguely point to the pile of books behind them? They flip through the book to find the last account of Jeremy Crane -actually, the last account of Grace Frederick. It seems she died in a house fire, which according to the townspeople was set by the infant Jeremy who could set fires just by crying. The next morning, in the ashes, Jeremy was completely unharmed, at least before they sent him away to the orphanage. I think we’ve all seen enough musical theater to know how this is going to go for Jeremy.
There’s no further information about Jeremy in the book, but 5th Musketeer Parrish thinks that good-for-nothing librarian could help them out. Actually, he knows she can-because lying is a sin, and she’s a filthy liar! As they realize she’s nowhere to be found, they hear the beep of her car. She’s trying to make a sneaky escape, and as she is about to back out a roaring, hulking, faceless monster stomps towards her car. Our hero collective runs outside as she screams, but all they have left to face is a steaming mangled pile of car with one librarian arm poking out at a weird angle.
The Cap’n is at his wife’s house to pick up Macy, and hello there! Did the ex-Mrs. Cap’s get a makeover since last week? Cap’n makes a heartfelt-but-mumbled apology to Cynthia’s feet about always being gone-it clearly touches her (and Macy, whose well-oiled wheelchair allows her to eavesdrop without notice), but too little too late…for now, at least. Another side story for another episode, I predict.
The former librarian must have no immediate family, because Abbie gets lightning-fast access to her personal archives and brings them to the batcave. When she drops an old metal box on the table, Parrish is startled by more than just the loud noise. The box is sealed with the symbol of Katrina’s coven. Ah, so snarky librarian wasn’t just being unhelpful! She was a member of the coven, and recognized Ichabod. Parrish almost collapses as he gets nearer to the box, saying it is filled with anger and pain. Well by all means, we should get it open immediately! Icky pries the lid open to find…a drawing. Suck it, Parrish! It’s just a drawing of Patrick Starfish!
Oh, it’s a drawing of that creepy voodoo doll that was in Jeremy’s pram. That’s weird. Parrish feels out the aura of the drawing and starts to have flashbacks: the priest who ran the orphanage was very mean to young Jeremy, and one day he finally had enough. His pain and rage, and also a little bit of his blood, woke the power his mother left him: his very own hand-crafted, one of a kind Golem.
(Golems are awesome and old-school folklore, a giant man made entirely of clay who will only do the bidding of their one master. Their origins come from Jewish mysticism. Who knew Katrina was a member of a coven AND the Tribe?)
Ichabod, who sees the Golem as the manifestation of Jeremy’s daddy issues, recognizes it as the source of violence that has been following him this episode. It was the Golem trying to break down the doors while he spoke with Katrina! Then it killed the librarian-the Golem followed Crane back from Purgatory, and now it is extracting revenge on the members of the coven!
Wait, is that a bad thing? The coven witches turned out to be the worst sorority ever. This seems like a story line should be able to resolve itself.
Macy, who you might have already recognized as the adorable Prue from Hunger Games, is having an outing with Papa Cap’n, spending her time trying to explain the internet to him. He’s right, little lady—Vines are kind of silly. She gets distracted by all the people who have fully functioning limbs, so she and Papa have a little chat about staying strong and not being beaten by a weakness. As he goes to get her some hot chocolate to, ahem, keep her strength up, the hot chocolate guy goes all pedophiliac on him about how his daughter, and then his eyes flash milky white-that’s no pedophile! That’s a demon! Cap’n attacks the man, but the demon jumps into the woman behind him before anyone notices. Shaken by the demon’s designs on his daughter, and also by the police attention he drew to himself by attacking an innocent vendor, he and Macy make a quick exit stage right.
The librarian’s safe has also arrived at the batcave, but all Abbie has found are tickets stubs from traveling carnivals from the last 100 years. Ichabod is sulking in a tunnel just, and he confesses to Parrish that Jeremy’s rage is a result of him not being there for his son, on account of his death and burial and whatnot. Parrish comforts with some very kind words, and those words spark an idea in Ichabod. Washington’s bible! He flips to Psalm 139 and a reference to an inanimate man made of clay-the Golem, or as Abbie puts it, a magical attack dog, imbued with its creator’s most ardent passions. In this instance, Katrina’s desire to keep Jeremy safe.
Abbie looks at one of the traveling carnival posters and recognizes the black-veiled ladies in the picture. They’re the séance ladies from her Episode 6 haunted house dream-and also The Four Who Speak As One! Librarian witch must have been communicating with them through their carnival act, helping them keep tabs on Sleepy Hollow. If they are the ones who banished Katrina to Purgatory, they’re probably the only ones who can bring her back, and that means that our heroes now have to get to the carnival and stop a Golem.
Crane rushes ahead of Parrish and Abbie into the carnival, claiming first right at kicking some witchy ass. Actually, he says he just wants to have a stern word with them, but still makes his partners wait in the car. He walks into the witch tent with his “If you’re so psychic, guess my name” bravado, but is quickly creeped out by these four women shrouded in black lace and candlelight.
They can’t read his aura and ask to see his palm, and where the rest of us would turn right back around with a big ol’ Nope, he hands his hand over. Realizing who he is they raise their veils, revealing opaque eyes and pointy, filed teeth, speaking in chorus like an updated version of Macbeth’s Weird Sisters. His arrival means that their fate is sealed; tonight is the night they will die.
Ichabod offers to save them, if it means they can save Katrina, but they refuse with a long discussion about how you can’t change your fate and staying on your path. When he tells them the Golem is coming for them, they still won’t budge, but instead blame him for bringing the Golem back from Purgatory where they had banished him. Katrina tried to avoid change the course of fate first by saving Ichabod from death and then by creating the Golem for Jeremy’s protection. To put the course right The Four had to get rid of the Golem, and then of course do away with Jeremy as well. Jeremy was too strong to just kill, so the put a curse on his heart to stop beating and then buried him alive. Death begets death, and since they killed Jeremy they must die-but not without first telling Ichabod that Jeremy’s blood can stop the Golem. That’s witches for you, always sending mixed messages: “don’t save us…but if you’re going to, here’s how to do it!”
Crane runs out of tent to the sounds of screams and crashing. Sounds like the Golem is already here! He calls for Abbie and Parrish, and quickly relays the story of the witches and the Golem and the Fate. They turn to go back for the witches, but see the Golem emerge from their discarded tent; they clearly are not going to be recurring characters. Abbie goes to shepherd the civilians while our male heroes scramble for safety as the Golem destroys the carnival, and as they run for cover Ichabod discovers he’s been hit with fun house mirror shrapnel. Removing the bloody shard, he realizes that Jeremy’s blood came from him, and with it he can stop the Golem!
Abbie yells for Crane from across the grounds as the Golem stomps towards her. Crane dashes for her, holding the monster off at shardpoint. With the Golem’s attention, he makes an ardent plea: Jeremy is gone, there is nothing left to protect. They both have to let him go. The Golem looks like he is backing down, then in one final roar of rage lunges towards Ichabod. Ichabod stabs him with the bloody shard, and the Golem is defeated. But as he falls, Ichabod holds his hand and tenderly lowers him to the ground. As the monster lets out his last sad groan, his body disappears and our three heroes are left holding Jeremy’s toy doll.
The weekly batcave wrapup actually takes place at the Police Station this week, where Parrish is trying his damnedest to make a hasty exit; can you blame the man? Abbie presents Ichy with his early Christmas present: some oversized hosiery with his name on it. How odd—and how adorable! What a positive, chummy ending to an otherwise melancholy episode. Abbie steps out to get some food, and as Crane turns to put his stocking away, the mirror behind him shatters and he is sucked into its forested reflection. So much for our uplifting ending!
Ichabod probably recognizes the creepy Purgatory wood by now, he’s been there so often, but demands that someone show themselves. A distorted, demonic voice answers, and Moloch answers as he circles Crane. With a mouth full of marbles—seriously, demon, enunciate!- he tells Crane that when he knows the sign of the saint’s name, war will take form and the end of days will begin. Crane again demands that he appear, and all of sudden he appears nose to nose to Crane and backhands him to the ground. Next time Ichabod should be more specific, and demand that he show himself a good 10 feet away. The demon stands over Crane with an impending threat: he will die soon, along with the second witness. Moloch touched Abbie’s soul once, and he will have it again.
Next Week on Sleepy Hollow: another hiatus. This episode was chock full of 5 or so references to the Christmas season, as our heroes are getting some down time between now and January 13th, with a 2-hour season finale on January 20th.
