Sleepy Hollow S02E02 – “The Kindred”

Kindred Sleepy Hollow

Headless Horseman, He-Man, I’ll defeat them all!


Sleepy Hollow “The Kindred”
Written by Mark Goffman and Albert Kim
Directed by Paul Edwards
Kindred Sleepy Hollow

When horses get LASIK!


Sleepy Hollow both returns to bringing us monsters while continuing the Apocalypse storyline and tying up some of the loose ends that still dangled after the season premiere. We get introductions to new characters and begin the plot lines that will take us through the rest of the year.

The most important thing that happens in this episode is the monster, which seems not to be the case, but it is. The monster, called The Kindred, is created from parts of dead soldiers from the Revolutionary War. It was originally build by Ben Franklin (Timothy Busfield reprises the role, though with clothes this time!) but never finished. Abbie and Ichabod manage to finish the monster using the head of the Headless Horseman. The Kindred is said to be the match of the Horsemen of Death, and is seen fighting the Headless Horseman to a standstill. But as there are two Horsemen of the Apocalypse running around, the Kindred is outmatched, though Abbie helps a bit during the fight. What is interesting is the Kindred also helps Abbie, and seems to know the plan of the heroes, and most importantly, does not die at the end of the episode. In fact, the Kindred escapes into the unknown, so there is a random unknown monster running around.

Kindred Sleepy Hollow

This show put 2/3rds of its black characters in jail in this episode!


The Kindred is important for several reasons. His origin as the result of a Frankenstein creation of dead body parts parallels Sleepy Hollow being the creation of a bunch of goofy science fiction and fantasy tropes that somehow work together into making an awesome monster of crazy. The Kindred grins and hisses at his friends, and knows their plans, helping them achieving it will providing an equal to the might of the supernatural Horsemen. Thus, I’m predicting random Kindred appearances throughout the series when the plot dictates that the main characters have to overcome something that should kill them. It’s also important that this is the first monster who isn’t killed or defeated in some manner. He escapes on his own terms after accomplishing his goals. Perhaps the writers realized that killing off all their monsters of the week was bad, because you can’t use them again. It shows how the monsters have grown to be a bigger part of Sleepy Hollow and are becoming entrenched in the mythology of the series.
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Sleepy Hollow S01E08 – “Necromancer”

Necromancer Sleepy Hollow

Jenny Mills could take down the apocalypse herself and still have time for dinner


Sleepy Hollow “Necromancer”
Written by Mark Goffman and Phillip Iscove
Directed by Paul Edwards
Necromancer Sleepy Hollow

WHY ISN’T LEGEND ON CRITERION COLLECTION YET?!???


Well, I was wrong, the Headless Horseman didn’t escape in the opening sequence of the next episode, it took him the whole episode to escape. Close enough!

What we get is an Ichabod episode, giving him some much needed characterization, and showing he’s not just a super human sent from the past, but isn’t always perfect and in control. We also get the return of Jenny Mills, being totally awesome as usual. There is Captain Irving kicking butt for a second week in a row, once he stopped being Captain Deny Deny, he’s turned into an action hero (who is still trying to keep everything under wraps, because it is crazy, because people will freak out, and because you don’t know who you can trust.) Katrina appears in this episode, and we find out more of why she’s stuck in limbo.

Necromancer Sleepy Hollow

Fox News is going to have a field day with this Colonial Terrorist Fist Bump!

Don’t worry, villain lovers, we got the return of crazy German Hessians! And lots of demons running around, necromancy (it better with a title like “Necromancer”!), and origin stories of your favorite headless guy who rides a horse. Though the story was a bit convoluted. Things don’t seem to match 100% with what we saw when Ichabod met Katrina. Abraham should have appeared in more episodes before this one, just to inch the emotional impact up a few notches.

Story problems aside, “Necromancer” delivered some good action, conspiracy, and nutso stuff, so I was entertained!

We begin where we ended, with the Headless Horseman captured! This is worth a fist bump, which Abbie teaches to Ichabod, who is both enthused and bewildered. They can’t kill the Headless Horseman, but he is held in a prison designed by Thomas Jefferson to deal with the worst kind of demons. Ichabod theorizes because he was dealing with the French! Oh, France, you’re a punching bag 200 years ago, and still today! The prison features UV lights – which weaken the chained Horseman – and is protected by a hex spell that keeps demons out. Totally secure, I expect it to be destroyed very soon.

Necromancer Sleepy Hollow

Colonial dinner parties were just people hanging around as crazy dudes build junk


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