Sleepy Hollow: God, Honor, Fatherland (S1: E7)

Abbie and Crane make plans to meet with the Freemasons from the tunnels. They’ve become allies, and the masons are planning to reveal secrets about how to kill the Horseman. Except the Freemasons are all headless corpses when Crane arrives, because they set the meeting for after dark despite knowing that’s when the Horseman likes to come out and play.

Crane is pissed at the loss of his new friends, and throws some books around during his search for answers before realizing that the Horseman was looking for his head. As previously discussed, if he gets his head back the other three Horsemen of the Apocalypse rise and ride with him, bringing about misery, devastation, and the end of the world. He and Abbie quickly decide to destroy the head, but first they need permission from Captain Irving because it’s evidence in all of the recent homicides.

Irving still wants to believe the Horseman is a myth and that Mills and Crane are coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs. He complains that there isn’t any proof the Horseman exists. He’s reluctant to let them destroy the head, but goes to get it after hearing Crane suggest he’ll be giving next-of-kin death notices for the rest of his career if he doesn’t let them take care of it.

The head is at the lab where it was tested. The lab geek explains to Irving that he can’t determine anything about it because the standard tests are ineffective. Irving is looking for a box to pack the head in when the Horseman shows up and starts shooting. The geek gets it, but Irving is smart enough to grab the head and make a run for it. (I guess my theory that Irving was working for the bad guys was wrong.)

Not surprisingly, Crane and Mills have no luck destroying the head. They try to smash it, dissolve it in acid, and blow it up. The head remains eerily in one piece. Luckily, the Freemasons were in possession of a secret, coded journal with the secrets to destroying the Horseman. Crane works on decoding it after realizing the cypher is on the inside of the teeth in the Horseman’s skull.

Earlier, Morales tried to charm Abbie into being friends again. She agreed to a coffee date. Andy Brooks, who is still walking around with an accordion for a neck, warned him to stay away from Abbie. About the time Abbie calls to cancel the date because she and Crane (mostly Crane) are decoding the journal, Morales is looking PRETTY shaky about seeing his dead coworker and realizing this battle between good and evil is going to happen and he needs to choose a side. (Again, I may have been wrong about Morales working for the bad guys.)

Abbie gets stopped by Brooks in the tunnels. She pulls her gun and accuses him of selling his soul. He tells her he cares about her, and he wants to help her, but the Horseman can’t be killed – only trapped. Crane joins them with the news that Brooks is right – the journal says the Horseman can be trapped using sunlight. (Surprise! Brooks isn’t completely committed to being a bad guy, either. I’m 0 for 3.)

Crane wants to get a witch to get the sun to rise and trap the Horseman, but Abbie has a better idea: tons and tons of fluorescent lights. Also, they don’t know any witches besides Katrina and she’s sort of busy in purgatory. Irving helps them set up, and Crane is distressed to discover that Thomas Jefferson, his friend, was an adulterer and a slave owner, who also stole his quote: “The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”

The plan is to lure the Horseman into the tunnels using a bunch of fake skulls leftover from Halloween. Crane entices the Horseman to chase him by waving one around and then taking off and dropping into the tunnels. The Horseman follows, and sees a glowing skull only to pick it up and hear it cackle. He starts crushing them as he goes, getting more and more agitated. Abbie leads him to an open area and pretends to hurt her ankle. She’s on the ground, shouting at Crane for help. The Horseman is about to bring down the ax when TADA, a bunch of fluorescent lights come on, and he stands frozen and helpless. I was pretty sure the tunnels would have bad wiring and the lights would flash off and our trio of heroes would be toast. I was wrong. Again. At the end of the episode Mills, Crane, and Irving are all looking pretty pleased with themselves.

Now, I have to wonder just how evil the Horseman is if he was so easily duped by Halloween décor. Then again, just because he’s evil doesn’t mean he’s clever.