Abbie, Ichabod, and Jenny face off with Hawley’s godmother, who’s a monster intent on stealing from Theodore Knox. Meanwhile, Irving is freed of charges and returns home, only for his wife to request Katrina’s clearance. Here is a recap of the Sleepy Hollow episode “Kali Yuga.”
Hawley leaves karaoke night early to meet a fence, but it’s a set up by his godmother, Carmilla Vine, who he’s been avoiding for a decade. She needs a little help breaking into the Knox estate. To convince him, she turns into a frightening creature and reminds him he owes her. After listening to Ichabod’s centuries-old song, Jenny worries that Hawley hasn’t returned. Abbie’s alarm in the archives sends her a text; the perimeter’s been breached. They find Hawley and Carmilla in the tunnels, but they both escape.
From the venom dripped out of the wound Ichabod gave Carmilla, the team discovers she serves Kali, the Hindu goddess of death and regeneration. Dividing and conquering, Abbie and Jenny get Carmilla’s name from a fence, while Ichabod recruits Katrina and spots the glowing ring of Orion. They realize Hawley’s target is Theodore Knox for its collection of antiques and dangerous weapons.
For a little backstory on Hawley: his parents died when he was twelve, so Carmilla, who he describes as the female Indiana Jones, raised him, until he ran away after witnessing her murder someone. She tells him she was caught by a cult and turned into a vetala. Knox has an artifact that can make her human. Caving to her begs, Hawley agrees to one last mission together.
Abbie, Ichabod, Jenny, Hawley, and Carmilla crash a party at Knox’s. As Hawley crack the vault’s code, a chatty Teddy Knox unintentionally stalls Ichabod. Jenny finds Hawley, but he steals her phone and locks her out. Carmilla, followed by Abbie, enters the now open vault and retrieves a Hindu artifact that turns humans into vetalas. Discovering her tail, Carmilla puts Abbie in a headlock, and Ichabod aims his crossbow at them, leading Hawley lock Abbie and Ichabod in the vault. Knowing Knox would’ve created a way out, Abbie and Ichabod uncovers the failsafe buttons, but Ichabod hits the wrong one. The walls grow spikes and begin moving toward them. Ichabod tries again. It’s right, and they’re free.
Tracking Jenny’s stolen phone, Abbie, Ichabod, and Jenny interrupt Carmilla’s ritual to turn Hawley into a vetala. They attack with iron and fire – the vetalas weaknesses. Ichabod sends a flaming arrow through a henchman, and Jenny frees Hawley, who then stabs Carmilla. She escapes through a window before he can kill her. Hawley decides to leave Sleepy Hollow to track her down, giving Jenny a goodbye kiss. Elsewhere, Abbie and Ichabod strengthen their bond with a karaoke duet.
In light of new evidence, a judge exonerates Irving of the charges. He returns home to his wife (Macey’s visiting her grandparents), but she’s hesitant to accept that he’s his old self. Katrina makes Irving down a potion to examine him. She concludes Henry has no influence on his soul, but Henry’s still alive. Embracing his wife, Irving’s eye catches the window; his reflection is gone.
Comments:
– While “Kali Yuga” was not a bad episode of Sleepy Hollow, it was not a particularly good one either. In the grand scheme of things, this season is suffering from a lack of purpose, so stand alone episodes, such as this one, feel fine while they’re on, but ultimately leave the viewer with a stagnant feeling. On a smaller scale, the potentially cool moments were not capitalized on in an effort to hash out personal storylines that never took off.
– The drama between Abbie and Ichabod, while partially understandable, also seems to be blown out of proportion. Neither one has actively worked against the plans of the other, and even when Ichabod sides with Katrina, how can Abbie blame him for believing in his wife over her, a woman he met only a year ago. Plus, it’s not like Abbie was using the ring of Orion anymore since it was in the abandoned archives.
– Having two face offs with the villain of the episode that came around the midpoint and wrapped up the story kept the tension and the excitement going. However, after these two events, having Carmilla escape to wreak havoc another day left no sense of satisfaction. Her strength and intelligence was nowhere near many of the other foes they’ve faced.
– The tumbler code that operated the vault and the vault’s self defense mechanism were both awesome obstacles to overcome, but the rest of the Knox estate was a cakewalk. Why were there not security guards stationed around? Ichabod being held up by Theodore’s interest in his bow was hardly believable.
– Trapping Abbie and Ichabod together in the vault provided for some good scenes, but it was such a forced way to get them to communicate.
– I think my main complaint about “Kali Yuga” was that it desperately needed flashbacks to break up the main story and stop the writers from resorting to commenting on the tension between Abbie and Ichabod to fill the airtime. Jenny did this twice, and both times accomplished nothing more than alerting the audience to a problem where there wasn’t really one.
– It’s concerning that it’s difficult to tell whether they were writing off Hawley for good or leaving his story for a grand return.
– In the category of rampant product placement, there’s the Mustang.
– Did anybody else notice how eagerly Abbie grabbed and downed that shot at the party?
– I don’t do the bar scene much, but that karaoke bar has got to be the most deserted drinking establishment to ever exist.
– Not your typical conversation about a potential suitor.
Jenny: How did Hawley get involved with a vetala?
Abbie: He went home with a succubus, remember?
– “The roster of our missteps is growing to karaoke catalogue sized proportions.” – Ichabod (to Abbie)
