Sleepy Hollow: Season Finale

The BEST Parts:

Zombie George Washington. Because why not? Oh yeah, and there’s a map to get from earth to purgatory and back.

The cops want to arrest Macey for the Possession Murders, and Captain Irving can’t allow it – he confesses, and it’s all sad and gloomy as he ambles through the precinct in handcuffs and NOOOO he needs to fight the coming apocalypse. RELEASE HIM, dammit.

Crane desperately wants to save Katrina from purgatory, but Abbie thinks using the map could bring about their destruction and pleads with him not to. He makes a big show about burning it up and vows his allegiance to her, but wait…he has a photographic memory! Crane goes back to his cabin and gets his sketchbook, which turns out to be a good idea because…

Henry Parish has a very bad dream, and shows up to tell everyone the war is coming TODAY. He says he saw Moloch raise the Second Horseman from the ground, and the only way to stop him is with a binding spell. Only a powerful witch can do a binding spell, and as Crane points out all the witches they know are dead. Everyone agrees Crane and Mills should go into purgatory and rescue Katrina, and let’s face it, watching them go into purgatory is what we were waiting for.

Abbie ends up locked in her childhood dollhouse in purgatory, with younger versions of herself and Jenny (creepy!), and manages to get her memories back. Not much she can do, though, because she has to wait for Katrina to come back and soul-swap before she can get back to earth.

Jenny, trying to be helpful, goes to the old church Corbin went on about in his tapes. She wants to know what they’re missing, what the big secret could possibly be. She hears a clicking in the wind and discovers a sign and grabs it and runs for her Blazer, only to be stalled by the Headless Horseman. She wrecks and looks pitiful and bloody and unconscious.

THE SIN EATER IS HENRY PARISH IS THE SECOND HORSEMAN IS JEREMY CRANE. Oh boy, was I NOT expecting that. Possibly one of the best twists EVER. Admittedly, I’m a little sad – I loved Henry. He was old and sweet and I genuinely believed he was aiding the good guys. Not only did he confess to being the Second Horseman (Crane and Katrina look at each other like, FUCK), but he is JEREMY CRANE. Moloch resurrected him thirteen years previously, and Abbie and Jenny watched and then got their memories stolen. Talk about misdirection.

The Sin Eater/Henry Parish/The Second Horseman/Jeremy Crane hands his mother over to the Headless Horseman, who rides off looking as pleased as one can without a face. Jeremy then dumps his father into his vacated grave and buries him alive.

The WORST Part:

I wanted to see some serious FIGHTING between Crane, Mills, and Moloch’s minions. It seems all Abbie needs to do is point her gun and they shatter and that isn’t very exciting. While I love the emotional roller coaster the show has everyone dangling from, so far our two heros decipher clues and go on treasure hunts. They haven’t done a lot of bloody hand-to-hand. I greatly appreciate the intellectual warfare, but this IS about an apocalypse. I don’t care if I sound like a barbarian, bring on the fight scenes.

The PERPLEXING Parts:

Washington’s secret underground burial tomb is as pristine as it was 200 + years ago? No water damage (hello, it’s on an island), no dust, no rats scurrying in corners? Not even a stray cobweb? Maybe that scene could have been a tiny bit more authentic.

Um, I hate to dwell on this (no I don’t) but if Henry Parish/the Second Horseman/Jeremy Crane really wanted to screw Crane and Mills, and it seems he did, why did he warn them not to eat or drink in purgatory? Why did he give that touching speech about the two of them holding on to each other? I realize he was still playing the part of their friend the Sin Eater, and it’s not like it worked out for them, but it was still risky.

Brooks is turned into a veiny, pointy-headed monster by Moloch and sent to the island to thwart our heros. His arrival promises to deliver bloodshed, but the Sin Eater grabs him and works his magic and Brooks collapses. Seems like the Sin Eater interfered with Moloch’s agenda, or was Brooks’s transformation just for show? Or maybe the Second Horseman has his own ideas and is going to be in BIG TROUBLE when he reports home to Hell?

Final Thoughts:

Wow. This is one season finale that delivered.