The faceoff with Moloch and his minions takes several new turns and even the life of a beloved team member. Here is a recap of the Sleepy Hollow episode “The Akeda.”
Recap:
On their way to Frederick’s Manor, lightning kills Abbie’s car, so she and Ichabod commandeer a motorcycle. They sneak into the Manor. Laying string around the flags on Henry’s model town, they discover it forms a pentagram. Katrina’s pleading draws outside, where Headless has her chained in a ring of fire for the binding ritual. Ichabod fights Headless with the sword of Methuselah, demanding Headless to give up Moloch’s location. Abbie frees Katrina, who extends her amulet’s enchantment so everyone can see Headless as Abraham. He reveals that using the sword means losing your soul. Ichabod thinks he’s bluffing, but Katrina doesn’t.
With Abraham chained in the Masonic cell, Katrina tries a personal approach to get information. Nothing yet. Katrina reminds Ichabod who the real enemy is – Moloch. If they kill him, Henry’s soul will be free. Abbie finds mention of the sword next to the biblical story of Abraham’s near sacrifice of Isaac. Jenny confirms what Abraham said about the sword, and she has an idea – someone who doesn’t have a soul should wield the sword – like Irving. She finds a code in Irving’s voicemail, which leads them to his hideout. With the sword, Irving demands information from Abraham. Moloch is burning each of the four white trees to release lightning, blood, a demon army, and cement the mergence of Earth and hell. Katrina wishes to spare Abraham in case he has more information later. Ichabod allows it.
To weapon up, they recruit Hawley and take his entire arsenal. It hails blood, causing Hawley to believe Jenny’s tale. While Katrina enchants the weapons, Abbie introduces Hawley to Headless and asks him to babysit the horseman. Confronting Katrina about her feelings for Abraham, Ichabod questions their marriage, and the two agree to table it until the fight is over. The A Team trudges through the forest as demons rise from the ground. Abbie gets shot in the shoulder, so Jenny takes her to the safety of the church. Facing off with the War Soldier, Irving chops off his arm, then kills him, but not before receiving a fatal slice to his own stomach. Ichabod and Katrina join the Mills in the church.
Sword in hand, Abbie gives a rousing speech about willingly sacrificing their lives for the world. Moloch tells Henry he’s replaceable and sends him to retrieve the sword, not pitying Henry for his wounded arm. In the church, Henry immobilizes the Mills with roots and gets the sword to his throat courtesy of Ichabod. He begs his father to kill him. Ichabod mentions that Abraham and Isaac were given a ram to sacrifice instead. Moloch is their ram. Ichabod’s desire to free Henry’s soul puts a tear in Henry’s eye, but then Henry throws him down, steals the sword, and takes them captive. With Abbie, Ichabod, Katrina, and Jenny tied to the four trees, Moloch orders Henry to sacrifice his mother. Ichabod volunteers as tribute. Henry lifts the sword and swings it around to stab Moloch.
Comments:
– “The Akeda” proved once again how good Sleepy Hollow is with creating stakes and suspense and including multiple consecutive twists. It was a solid midseason finale that seemingly closed the book on Moloch’s reign, but left many of the other weapons of his attempt on Earth.
– For a guy hell-bent on bringing about the apocalypse, Moloch did not get to wreak much havoc on Earth. This was good for the residents of Sleepy Hollow, but bad for the sake of entertainment. The more drama a character creates, the more stakes there are, the more heroic it makes the main characters look. It felt like a bit of a letdown that Abbie and Ichabod weren’t even the ones to defeat Moloch, and Moloch did not get the chance to fully demonstrate his power.
– Only showing Moloch’s head or hands and often blurring them with a fiery background effectively amped up the spooky factor and kept him from coming off as what could easily have been a goofy looking monster.
– Am I the only one who found it far too convenient that Abbie and Ichabod managed to loop the string around the flags to perfectly form a pentagram on the first try? Also in the convenient department was Ichabod walking in on Katrina’s conversation with Abraham right as she was saying how she cared about him.
– Hawley, who sounded more southern in this episode, perfectly exemplified his own character when he told Ichabod “nice work” on marrying a witch. The humorous moment didn’t ring as strongly as it could have though since Ichabod and Katrina found their relationship in serious trouble, which I’m saddened by. Their relationship in the first season was so hopeful and joyous that to see it almost at the point of breaking is hard. They have an amazing relationship, and I’m not saying this in a shipper sort of way, but more like a “Katrina has done nothing but try to help Ichabod, plus someone on television needs to have a happy marriage” sort of way.
– Irving seemed doomed to die since he lost his soul at the start of the season. He went down fighting, which I applaud, but I felt like they could have done more with his character this season to really amp up the feeling of loss. That being said, having Abbie’s cries drowned out with music was a haunting way to show her reaction to his death.
– Sometimes, I think the writers just try things and hope they get away with it. It makes things unexpected, but it also makes them confusing. Henry’s arm, for example. It gets wounded in Irving’s fight with the War Soldier, but the War Solider dies with no effect on Henry.
– Katrina’s face of stone when she was tied to the tree and Henry was about to kill her was flawless.
– Including the story of Abraham and Isaac felt a little too “on the nose,” especially since it wasn’t an actual clue. It was merely an unnecessary attempt at foreshadowing, a way to trick the audience into thinking Ichabod could sacrifice Henry, and an odd source of inspiration for Henry turning on Moloch when Henry already knew Moloch was not unwilling to punish or demean or possibly replace him.
– Now I’m especially curious to see how the second half of this season unfolds. How do you top the Biblical apocalypse?
– “If ever there were justification to commandeer a vehicle, the apocalypse would be it.” – Ichabod. A few things about this: 1) How many shows can get away with their lead characters matter-of-factly stealing a motorcycle and encountering no consequences? 2) The derivation to the theme song that played while Abbie and Ichabod were riding along was a nice touch. And I will always love the fact that this show still has a theme song. 3) Ichabod wanting a motorcycle was an all too adorable moment.
– “I’m going to have to do something less fun, aren’t I?” – Hawley
“Still a party. Just a hunting party” – Jenny
– “War is hell, and more accurately, we send War back to hell.” – Abbie
– “You brought roots to a swordfight?” – Abbie (to Henry)
