The Headless Horseman’s origin story is revealed when Abbie and Ichabod recruit Andy Brooks to communicate with him. Here is a recap and review of the Sleepy Hollow episode “Necromancer.”
Recap:
Leaving Headless alone for a sec, Abbie teaches Ichabod the fist bump – an expression of elation, teamwork – but Ichabod remains confused. After Abbie informs Irving that not even nukes will destroy Headless, Ichabod spawns the idea to interrogate him. Irving is not convinced he’ll talk, you know, on account of him not having a head, so they’ll use someone who’s already dead. Tearing through Andy Brooks’ hideout, Abbie and Ichabod discover that he’s Headless’ necromancer. When Brooks returns, they don’t give him much of a choice but to help them communicate with Headless.
Per Abbie’s order, Irving brings Jenny into the station, which she’s less than thrilled about, until he mentions they have Headless. Now we’re talking. Irving hears of a situation at an antiquities store, and upon investigation, he and Jenny find that a relic capable of breaking a hex spell has been stolen. The Hessians’ next stop: the power grid.
With Ichabod looming over Brooks to chat with Headless, an emerald necklace falls from Headless’ body. Brooks sports black eyes and Headless’ voice. The necklace was a gift from Katrina’s betrothed – not Ichabod, but Abraham Van Brunt. Cue the flashback. Abraham asks Ichabod’s opinion on which necklace to give Katrina; Ichabod picks the emerald one. After Abraham gives it to her, he leaves, incidentally giving Katrina and Ichabod a moment alone. Katrina’s no fool and knows Ichabod picked it. She’s breaking her engagement with Abraham. Ichabod’s a little worried since Abraham’s his bestie, but Katrina’s taking control of her life and marrying for love.
When Headless reveals he knows all about Katrina’s secrets and fate, Ichabod looses his cool, even more when Headless mentions that Ichabod betrayed and killed his friend. At the power grid, Jenny and Irving encounter a few opponents, then a few more. Irving called in the cavalry, but it’s too late. The town’s power goes out.
Flashback to 1774. While delivering the Declaration of Resolves, a heartbroken Abraham learns why he lost his beloved Katrina and challenges Ichabod to a fight. Ichabod refuses to draw his sword, until he’s left with no choice but to defend himself. Suddenly, a Hessian shoots Abraham. Abraham orders Ichabod to deliver the Declaration instead of fighting the attackers and four coming horsemen.
Irving brings Jenny to the dungeon and preps to block all entrances so the Hessians can’t get in to break the hex. Their plan is foiled when Brooks performs amateur surgery on himself to retrieve the relic. Headless breaks free and challenges Ichabod to a fight. Swords drawn, Ichabod realizes it’s Abraham. Flashback once more. Moloch turns the dying Abraham into a Hessian, promising revenge against Ichabod and Katrina as his prize. Back in the present, Headless and Brooks are swooped away. Abbie and Ichabod figure out that Katrina’s a captive until Headless reunites with his Horsemen brethren and that they can use his weakness for Katrina against him.
Review:
“Necromancer” was almost unnoticeable as Sleepy Hollow’s version of a self-contained, or bottle, episode. It was just as important and enthralling as the others. It told a story heavily set in the past to bring a sense of understanding to Headless’ vengeance in the present and gave us new insight into Katrina’s importance in both time periods. While there was not a significant amount of progress made in the direction to defeat the Horseman, this episode revitalized the fight between the two sides and left our heroes with an idea on how to gain the upper hand, despite Headless escaping back into the world.
Abbie and Ichabod’s grand plan to keep the Headless Horseman tied up was doomed to fail from the beginning, though not by any fault of their own. Since Headless has been established as the main source of conflict in the series, it simply does not fit the story to have him not wreaking havoc. It was not surprising to see him regain his freedom; however, it was surprisingly soon. The effect of Headless’ capture on the town’s well being, aside from the brief loss of electricity, was a missed opportunity to demonstrate how much clout Moloch truly has over the coming apocalypse. Is he a puppet master pulling each individual string on his minion demons, or has he simply set everything in motion to unfold on its own, leaving his minions with the freedom to bring about destruction in the manner they find most efficient? If anything, “Necromancer” reinforced the Hessians’ skill of efficiency and their servile nature. Brooks channeling Headless came off perfectly creepy and further asserted the wonderful insanity of Sleepy Hollow.
“Necromancer” revisited the series’ source material and added its own spin to Abraham Van Brunt in order to fit him into the reimagined world of Sleepy Hollow. One of Katrina’s suitors who was fond of pranks and jokes in the short story, the series changed Abraham into a more serious gent, though his fondness for Katrina remained in tact. This fitting and necessary change elevated the original tone from lighthearted jest to somber reality. In Washington Irving’s writing, Abraham may or may not have disguised himself as the Headless Horseman and pulled a prank responsible for Ichabod’s disappearance, but the horseman of death tied to the coming apocalypse wouldn’t be a very good villain for this drama if it was all a joke.
In a way, this episode humanized the immortal, unwavering, malevolent Headless Horseman, but not enough to excuse his actions, nor take any sympathy away from our heroes. The tale of a good guy being drawn into the realm of evil for revenge after something went awry in his life rang familiar – it’s a classic origin story that’s just as relevant here as it is within other stories. Combined, love and revenge can arguably be the most powerful motivating factors, so of course it drives an honorable man into becoming Death.
It was enjoyable to see more of Katrina’s personality outside of her usually frightened and vague self. For the first time, we get a sense of the love between her and Ichabod. By picking out the necklace, Ichabod demonstrated his understanding of her personality, and by going against her prearranged marriage, she demonstrated his importance in her life. These flashback scenes, which were beautifully done and pleasantly surprising, were incrementally more impactful than the dream sequences in which we simply hear about how they have a bond. Perhaps for the first time since Ichabod was interrogated in the pilot, Tom Mison reminded us of the scope of his acting talent when Ichabod lost his cool over Headless taunting him about Katrina. This action assertes that he believes his relationship with Katrina is far from over. Their supposedly epic love story is finally starting to appear as such, although it still has quite a ways to go.
The amount of importance that Katrina holds in this series is severely misrepresented by the lacking amount of screen time that she has been give so far. While that was slightly less true this week, it’s still amazing that with all of the knowledge that she possesses and her central position in the conflict between Ichabod and Headless that she is such a background character. It’s understandable that the writers would not want to use her knowledge or her witchy abilities as a crutch to avoid difficult storytelling, but it has become more and more difficult to connect with and to care about a character that we know so little about.
Speaking of storytelling crutches, Jenny’s plethora of useful information about Headless (and other demons) seemed too convenient this week. Her addition to the team has been great to watch and she provides a new personality to a small cast, but it’s cause for concern. Without having a flashback episode that explored her past of acquiring knowledge and artifacts for Sheriff Corbin and explained the breadth of wisdom she gained, the amount of useful information that she possesses is essentially limitless, so any nugget of wisdom she shares seems like a convenient contrivance.
Although “Necromancer” was light on Abbie scenes, her presence was just as vibrant as ever. From checking up on Ichabod’s mental stability and reasserting her faith in his goodness to teaching a confused Ichabod how to fist bump to admiring that he’s “got some game” when it comes to women, she provided more heart and the ever-needed comic relief. Plus, she summed up the series in one quick quip about death: “Rules on that status have gotten a little bendy.”
