Sleepy Hollow – S3E16 – Dawn’s Early Light

Previously on Sleepy Hollow, ‘Incommunicado’

The Hidden One, who is in desperate need of a less tedious name, is still pretty pissed at Pandora for helping those puny humans. Pandora has looked pretty pissed herself for the last few episodes, and I think we’re all waiting for the episode where she gets to deal out her comeuppance. Based on those meaningful looks she’s been sharing with his hourglass, we’re not going to be waiting much longer.

Papa Mills is putting in quite the effort to get back in Abbie’s and Jenny’s good graces. It’s hard to tell if it’s working on Abbie, but Jenny is absolutely not having any of it… until later, when he brings her her favorite out of town candy. I never would have pegged badass Jenny Mills as a pink taffy kind of girl, but it was enough for her to realize that Papa might just actually care about her and she can maybe put her angry face away.

Back to the Shack

The meat of this week’s episode is courtesy of Pandora, who needs her box reforged in the catacombs in order to get it back up and running. It’s the only thing that will stop The Hidden One, and oh yeah, they have 48 hours before all of humanity is over. With some fairly uninteresting research and discoveries about Betsy Ross (collective groan), Crane figures out that the Delaware River (the one Washington crossed) is the entrance back to the ‘combs. Also, they’re going to need Ross’ original Stars and Stripes to get there, although no one seems to know the details of how that’s going to work just yet.

If you ever loved an Ichabod Crane flashback, this episode probably cured you of that. Conversations between Crane and Ross that are supposed to be coming off as tender and caring are more tedious than anything else. Can you imagine working with someone like Crane on something as big as saving humanity, and the only way he’ll participate is if he gets to stop and tell story after story of his previous, more “interesting” life? It was so charming back when the show started and now I just want to shake him by the shoulders and tell him to get on with it already.

All That Glitters

So they discover that the original flag was made with gold thread, and that the gold opens the doorway to the catacombs. There aren’t a lot of details as to why that makes sense, but at this point it doesn’t really matter, does it? They go to “recover” the original flag from a Paul Revere Museum and barely have time to figure out it’s a fake before they’re attacked by the late-blooming Monster of the Week, The Eternal Soldier. Or rather, they accidentally woke the monster up who was guarding the key to the catacombs. Ta-may-to, ta-mah-to. I’m surprised none of these monsters have a safe word so that Crane can tell them that they’re fighting on the same side and stop throwing fireballs, dammit. Monsters can be so single minded.

The B team figures out that the fake flag is a code and get the Witnesses to Ft. McHenry with the quickness. I hate that Joe and Jenny are relegated to the squint work, even if they are damn good at it.

Remember all that flirting Abbie and Danny were doing at the gym, and how she just had to tell him something important… later? That later is right about the time Danny finds Crane and Abbie running out the door, the Eternal Soldier finding them, and then the Soldier finding Danny. He’s a good sport about it, fireballs and all, as Abbie quickly runs down the list of things she’s been fighting and secrets she’s been keeping from him as they make their escape. He almost takes it too well, although once he talks to Sophie about it he has the decency to look at least a little freaked out. Maybe he was just putting on a cool face for Abbie.

I guess The Hidden One and Pandora have just been hanging out in their cave being mad at each other while all of this has been happening around them. Pandora finally tells Hidden One what’s up: She’s no longer interested in being treated like a slave by her lover and that those puny humans actually taught her about love, and trust, etc. When he goes to THROW A LIGHTNING BOLT AT HER (the clearest sign yet that this is an abusive relationship), he misses her because she really only astral projected there. She basically knew that was going to happen, although I doubt any of the rest of us were surprised by it either.

Science, bitches!

The B Team’s code works, and at Ft. McHenry the Witnesses find a secret entrance at a statue of Orpheus, who has been name-dropped all over this episode. They get inside and find the original flag, and when that damned Eternal Soldier finds them again, Jenny and Joe save the day with liquid nitrogen and a swift kick to the head. Real flag recovered.

Abbie meets up with Danny in his office, who is just weirdly cool about monsters being real. He hands her a drink while she reveals her feelings towards him, and he responds by wondering what Crane is doing this second. And then he KISSES HER in his completely see-through FBI Office! (Just so you know, the next scene is NOT him being redressed and removed from his position because of an inappropriate and highly visual workplace relationship with a subordinate.)

In the morning, Abbie is back with Crane. They meet at a park at sunrise to try to make the flag “work”, but it’s not until the sun shines on the flag that it comes to life to reveal the sparkly map that Washington used to get to the catacombs.