Abbie, Ichabod, and Nick Hawley track down the Pied Piper after he lures a young girl into the forest. They uncover her family’s secret connection to the Piper, while Irving uncovers a secret about himself. Here is a recap of the Sleepy Hollow episode “Go Where I Send Thee.”
Recap:
With Abbie in the passenger seat, Ichabod speeds around like he’s in a game of Mario Kart. At a halt, he confronts Abbie about why she wants him to learn this skill – because she’s afraid she may die in the fight. That’s not allowed on his watch. They receive an amber alert about a missing ten-year-old, Sarah Lancaster. Abbie knows the mom, Beth, because she was the kind and trustworthy caseworker for the Mills as kids. Trekking through the forest, Abbie and Ichabod find the always bad sign of blood on a tree and follow its path to a hollowed out bone carved into a flute. Ichabod uses his musical talent. The sound draws Abbie deeper into the woods. Ichabod snaps her out of it to discover that the Pied Piper summoned Sarah to his lair. Ichabod recounts the story of an entire garrison being lured outdoors and slaughtered during the war.
They come up with a plan: use Abbie as bait, only she’ll listen to the music through earbuds in a phone. It’s working. But, before they find the Piper, they find Hawley, having been wounded trying to get the flute. They discuss the Lancaster curse. During the revolution, Daniel Lancaster hired the Piper to stop the garrison from pursuing his daughters. The Piper became a demon by trading his soul for speed. Then, Daniel betrayed the Piper, so out of revenge, the Piper kills a female descendent every generation on her tenth birthday when the bones are perfect for making flutes. Creepy. The girls die from starvation and exposure, not murder, so Sarah may still be alive.
Although Ichabod disapproves, Abbie strikes a deal with Hawley: knowledge in return for the flute. Ichabod and Hawley, who’s skeptical of the truth, follow a tranced Abbie to a staircase leading into the Earth. Sarah’s chained up inside. While Abbie frees her, Hawley encounters the Piper. Looks like he’s a believer now. With the help of explosions, Abbie, Ichabod, Hawley, and Sarah make it out alive, but the Piper’s not dead yet. Hawley demands the flute now, so Abbie hands it over, but not before breaking it in half. No way she was giving him that power.
When they return Sarah, Abbie and Ichabod notice Beth’s look of disappointment. They comb through police records, learning that if the Piper doesn’t receive his prize, he kills every child in the family. One must be sacrificed for the whole. Abbie and Ichabod rush to the Lancaster house, where gurneys abound, but Beth and Sarah are gone. They locate her in the woods; she’s got Sarah and a gun. The Piper arrives and instigates a fight. Ichabod follows him down a well and almost meets his end when one of his noise-cancelling earbuds pops out. Abbie saves the day by driving a flute through the Piper’s heart.
Irving, still in Tarrytown, reads about the Horseman of War in the Bible. He hallucinates himself into a post-apocalyptic fight where fires rage and he, as a demon, slays everyone. Back to real life. The Bible bursts into flames. Later, Henry visits Irving to say he can fight or have money for Macey’s medical bills. Henry guides him to a Bible verse: “Behold, all souls are mine.” Irving realizes he signed the contract in blood.
As Abbie and Ichabod revel in their victory, Hawley hands the flute to his buyer, who couldn’t care less that it’s damaged. He then gives it to Henry, who crushes it and has a little taste.
Comments:
– “Go Where I Send Thee” felt like an “off” episode of Sleepy Hollow for various reasons. Although the twist on a classic story fit well into the world that they have created, the execution and additional plot points of the episode were less welcomed. Regardless of the numerous criticisms that I’m about to delve into, it was still an entertaining hour of television.
– Usually, the atypical directing style – the upside down camera, the beheading experience – adds to the appeal of the episode, but in this one, the unstable close-ups on Abbie as she was drawn by the flute’s call and the shaking shots of the Piper’s effect were more distracting than enhancing. Perhaps this was because they were done for a more realistic depiction of these events than the mere amusement factor that they’ve used when capturing Headless’ actions.
– In addition, the fact that Sarah was so unbothered by everything that was happening to her took away from the believability of the story. I know sometimes you can’t put much stock in child actors, but it was just strange that they barely utilized her.
– Since there was a snippet of Ichabod driving in the season premier, it is no surprise that he is finally learning this modern day skill, and if you’ve notice, I’m often fond of the Ichabod vs the present moments because they can be some of the best in an episode. However, Ichabod intentionally take Abbie for a wild spin was a reckless action that seemed out of character for him. He’s rarely, if ever, a jokester, and I hesitate to call this character growth because it goes against instead of enhances the well-composed, honorable man that he is.
– Still on the topic of Ichabod vs the present, his facial expression when he tried on the noise-cancelling headphones for the first time elicited an audible laugh from me, but the cappuccino scene was over-played.
– Irving having lost his soul to a horseman will hopefully give us a clearer look at the process of becoming a demon than what they explained with Andy Brooks. I always felt like there was untapped potential with him, so here’s a chance to explore the same topic with a character we’ve already grown to know and care about.
– Katrina’s absence in “Go Where I Send Thee” was acceptable because her storyline did not fit into this episode, but the absence of Jenny was highly noticeable and somewhat perplexing. She would have been a helpful asset to have when fighting this monster, and since it was not a police-sanctioned case, one would assume that Abbie would have included her. I can think of no reason not to include her, aside from behind-the-scenes decisions.
– Oh, Henry, what are you up to this time?
– “I have faced many enemies on horseback – horsemen without heads – even discovered my own son is the apocalyptic Horseman of War. Thus, how challenging must it be to guide the power of three hundred horses using only one’s right foot. … Let us release our own horseman.” – Ichabod
1 Comment
Jenny has to do community service for her recent transgression, so Abbie is going to want to minimize Jenny’s involvement right now since it’ll only take one slip for the new captain to throw he book at Jenny. Also, Hawley’s a potential love interest for Abbie this season, he’s getting screen time.