Monday, December 9, 2013

REVIEW: 'Sleepy Hollow' Sets Out to Discover What Happened to Ichabod's Son in 'The Golem'

FOX's Sleepy Hollow - Episode 1.10 The Golem

Ichabod enlists Henry Parrish to help him communicate with Katrina, but in the process, a menacing danger is unleashed from purgatory.





Two weeks ago, Sleepy Hollow revealed to Ichabod that he had a son and tonight Ichabod sets out to find what became of him. The series enlists the help of John Noble yet again and turns in yet another fun yet emotionally satisfying hour in "The Golem."

The reason why so much of this works is because of Tom Mison's performance. He gets the audience emotionally invested in this material and care when we otherwise would not. In the moment where he confronts the Golem, we feel Ichabod's pain and sorrow as he tries to reason with the creature before ultimately having to take it down. Mison gets us to care about the demise of the Golem and the emotional resolution it achieves for Ichabod and his son.

So much of the show so far has been about the Ichabod and Abbie dynamic. They are the two Witnesses and their fates are intertwined. Watching them battle the forces of evil every week while trying to make since of it all has been loads of fun. Realistically, it should be a surprise to no one that certain fans actively ship those two as a couple.

However, Ichabod is still emotionally in love with his wife Katrina. I will admit it was a little difficult to feel that way since we've seen so little of the two of them together. Their interactions in the flashbacks have been pleasant. I see why those two would fall in love with each other. But in the context of the present-day stuff, it was missing a beat a little bit.

But all that changed tonight when Ichabod went to see her in purgatory. That was a strong sequence that showed just how strong their love is for one another now in the most tragic of circumstances. It is unfair and upsetting that they couldn't share a tender kiss before having to flee the forces of evil.

I do have a question to pose though. Is Katrina an important enough character for you? Right now, she has only been defined through her relationship with Ichabod. She shows her usefulness in the start of this episode. But as soon as she was off the screen, I didn't really think about her again until the very end of the episode. Ichabod's traveling to purgatory to talk to her could have had very big consequences for Katrina. She cannot leave that place. So Ichabod's presence could have forced Moloch to torture her even more. That didn't really seem like a thought that crossed the show's mind. The episode itself wasn't lessened by that quality-wise at all. But it was a brief though I had by hour's conclusion when Moloch confronted Ichabod with his declaration for taking Abbie's soul.

Some more thoughts:
  • Ichabod Reacts to Modern Ways: The current meaning of English words and funhouse mirrors!
  • I totally believed for a second that the show was gonna pull a Kathy Bates on American Horror Story and resurrect Jeremy into the present-day.
  • Again, Orlando Jones is asked to carry a B-story that just feels routine and out-of-place compared to everything else. It is important to the overall narrative sure. And the show has actively given Jones something of bigger weight to do with the character as of late. But the only thing about this story that piqued my interest was when Moloch shifted into the bodies of the pedestrians to give Irving a warning.