Sleepy Hollow: Beware the Tree Monster (S1: E9)

Normally I don’t create my own titles for these recaps, but this time I couldn’t resist. They can call it “Sanctuary” if they want to, but the house was unsafe for a far longer period of time than people took refuge there. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Lena Gilbert, a fun-loving billionaire, is interested enough in her family history to buy a colonial home in Sleepy Hollow that belonged to one of her ancestors. She and her bodyguard go to check it out, and she’s tromping around excitedly when she opens a closet door and finds a bunch of tree roots. She starts yanking on them, annoyed, and then panics when one of the roots wraps around her wrist and imprisons her.

Just as Crane and Mills are about to go home and enjoy Thanksgiving, Irving tells them to look into Lena’s disappearance. She’s not just missing, she’s filthy rich, and it’s a priority. The GPS in her car is stalled in Sleepy Hollow, and Crane and Mills reluctantly agree to look for her. They find the colonial mansion. Crane is dismayed – it belonged to his good friend Lachlan Fredericks, and when he last visited it was a sanctuary. He finds the disrepair alarming. They go inside and find Lena’s bodyguard in a chair, dead. The strange scratches and gouges on his face make it seem as though he was attacked by an animal.

Abbie tries to call for backup, but her radio isn’t working. When they try to go back outside, doors start slamming all on their own. Abbie freaks out a little – she isn’t a fan of haunted houses. It doesn’t take long before they find Lena in the closet, completely wrapped in branches. They pry her loose and the angry tree monster they overlooked in the front yard gets up and stomps toward the house.

I love this show, I do, but the bad guy is literally a tree monster. His roots have cracked and overtaken the foundation of the house. Crane, Mills, and Lena are looking for a way out but with no success. Lena is babbling, begging them not to do what they’re doing, which I guess is rescuing her, because she’s afraid to make the tree angry. Crane asks her about her research, and why she wrote “Katrina C” on the paper. She explains that Katrina Crane was the last visitor to the house before it was abandoned. Cue the ominous background music!

Abbie saves Crane from telling her that Katrina is his wife by describing them as relatives. The tree monster gets inside and starts chasing them, and they get between the walls of the house to try and escape. Abbie is separated from Lena and Crane. She sees a woman in a white dress. The ghost asks her to follow her, and Abbie does. She has a vision of Katrina when she was at the manor, giving birth. The woman, Grace, is helping her through labor. She’s telling her to push. A couple of crows smash into the closed window, startling Katrina but she’s too preoccupied having a baby to worry about them. Abbie watches as Katrina’s son is born, and given to her.

Lachlan tells Katrina that Ichabod would have been so proud. More crows smash into the window, and Lachlan says the hex that keeps the property safe from evil has been breached. He tells Grace to take Katrina and the baby to safety and goes to the front door. The tree monster punches through his chest and that’s the end of Lachlan Fredericks.

Abbie snaps back to the present and finds her way back to Crane. She tells him that Katrina came to the manor to give birth to a son, and Ichabod is not happy. He says he would have known if she were expecting. Abbie says maybe it was secret for a reason. Abbie explains that Moloch was after Katrina and the baby. Crane wants to know what happened to his son. Abbie doesn’t know.

They hear the monster grumbling about and rush to the basement, since that’s the one place they haven’t gone. (I completely support that decision. If you’re already in a haunted house, being held captive, WHY explore the basement?) He’s holding Lena hostage.

Crane remembers that earlier when they freed Lena from the closet one of the roots started bleeding, and shouts at Abbie to shoot the roots. She starts firing at the roots, which are everywhere, and it’s clearly hurting the monster because Lena escapes. Abbie gets another badly timed vision of Grace taking Katrina and the baby out through a secret passage. She shouts at Crane and Lena to move it and they make it outside.

Abbie’s ready to hit the road, but Crane is furious. He takes a hatchet from the back of the Jeep and tells her not to follow him, if she knows what’s good for her. He goes back into the basement and challenges the tree monster. He starts hacking him to pieces with the hatchet. He knows who sent him, and he’s outraged that Moloch would attack his wife and baby. The tree gets in a few good hits, but it ends with the tree getting a hatchet in the face and strict instructions to give Moloch Crane’s regards.

Jenny invites Irving over for Thanksgiving dinner, which leads to an awkward confrontation with Irving’s ex-wife and daughter. The ex-wife is threatening to take full custody of Macy because Irving isn’t keeping his word about having her over on weekends. COOL IT, Cynthia, did you ever think Irving is trying to save her from a headless harbinger of death?

Abbie invites Crane over for turkey, but he’d rather mope in the evidence room. She tries to ply him with rum, but all he does is tell her Grace was her ancestor, which ties everything up in a pretty bow. They pour rum into cups and toast to finding family. I get the impression Ike is talking specifically about finding his son.

The previews for the next episode make it very clear that he might not want to know what happened to his little boy, and I’m speculating like crazy. Did Crane’s kid choose evil? Did he sell his soul? Is he a prisoner of Moloch, like Katrina is? Aside from that, I hope the next big bad is something more intimidating than an overgrown tree.