SLEEPY HOLLOW Recap: ‘Kali Yuga’

Anyone else feel like the real SLEEPY HOLLOW is coming back? “Kali Yuga” looked like it was going to be a Hawley-centric throwaway, another 45 minutes of wheel-spinning in a season that’s taken too long to go anywhere, but it turned out to be a solid episode of television that ended with a jolt and started as a joke in the writers’ room. Now we’re getting somewhere.

The War

Ichabod and Abbie’s double date (calling it like I see it) with Hawley and Jenny is cut short when Hawley leaves to make a deal. He meets up with a woman named Carmilla, who raised him after his parents passed away in a car accident when he was 12. Not to speak ill of the dead, but did Hawley’s parents think through their legal guardian plan? People named Carmilla Pines don’t raise kids. People named Carmilla Pines wear trench coats in back alleys and murder people for treasure.

Hawley’s been running from Carmilla since he realized that she’d kill to get her way. After he left, she was turned into a vetala, an undead human being who exists in Hindu law to serve the goddess Kali.  Now, she needs him to help her break into the Knox estate (as in Fort Knox) to retrieve an artifact that she says will make her human again. Hawley agrees, because poor planning runs in the family.

Thanks to Abbie’s cop work, Ichabod’s photographic memory, and Jenny’s interrogation skills, the team tracks Hawley to the estate, where Theodore Knox is throwing a party. Teddy spots Ichabod’s old crossbow and stops him for a chat; Ichabod gives Abbie the “please save me” face, but she mistakes it for “I’ll catch up” and goes on ahead. Jenny, meanwhile, finds Hawley cracking the coolest safe ever and asks him to rejoin the team. He locks her in a closet.

Ichabod breaks away from Teddy Knox just in time to find Carmilla clutching Abbie. He takes aim with his bow (“Harm her and you will seal your fate”), but Hawley steps between them to diffuse the situation. He promises to go with Carmilla if she’ll spare Abbie and Ichabod’s lives. Carmilla compromises on locking the Witnesses in the vault. As soon as she and Hawley get away, she drugs him.

Back in the vault, Ichabod finds a row of buttons, each with a different alchemy symbol. Pressing the wrong button will probably kill them, which means that it’s finally time for Abbie and Ichabod to talk about their issues. You didn’t think they’d face death until they knew they could face it together, did you? They both worry that they’re not communicating well. Maybe they’re afraid that if they want to have a real conversation, they’ll have to talk about Katrina.

On the fly, Ichabod remembers that Knox stole a lot of cannons, which seems like as good a reason as any to hit the Iron button. The vault goes into lockdown mode, and our Witnesses are nearly impaled by a wall of spears, but Abbie encourages Ichabod to let go of all of the facts and answer the most basic question of all: What did Knox love? Gold. The man loved his gold. Conspicuous greed saved two lives today.

Abbie and Ichabod find Jenny, who probably kicked down the closet door ten seconds after Hawley left and spent the rest of her time eating hor d’oeuvres and making a plan. Hawley has her cell phone, which they track to an old building. Inside, Carmilla has Hawley strapped to a table; she wants to make him a vetala so he’ll never leave her again. She cuts into his chest and recites an incantation as a statue of Kali — the one she stole from the vault — levitates above him. Abbie, Ichabod, and Jenny fight off Carmilla’s minions and free Hawley, but just as Hawley is about to finish his maternal figure for good, she bolts.

In the archives, Jenny and Hawley share a vulnerable moment. She gets now why he finds it so hard to open up, but she wants him to know that he has family in Sleepy Hollow, too. Hawley thanks her, but as far as he’s concerned, that’s exactly why he can’t stay. He feels like she deserves better than what he’s given her. She trusted him, and he betrayed her. Hawley’s place right now is out there hunting down Carmilla. He leaves Jenny with a kiss, and while I think the show is tighter when he’s not around, I’m also genuinely moved by Hawley right now. Don’t tell anyone.

The Key Players

It looks like Hawley’s road trip might free up Frank Irving for an actual storyline, and that’s always good news. Representing Frank in court, Cynthia argues that her husband only confessed to murder under duress, and in light of that mysterious new evidence, the state won’t be pursuing any charges against him. Frank is free. Cynthia never really thought she’d get this far, and she’s jumpy at the thought of family dinners with Macy and a man who might still be possessed by the Horseman of War. Before their daughter can come home, Cynthia has to know for sure that Frank is okay. She calls Katrina.

Katrina seems more interested in the whereabouts of “her son” than in the condition of Frank’s soul, but she puts on a nice show anyway. She lights a few candles, arranges a circle of leaves, and has Frank drink something. We flash through his experiences with Henry, including the blood contract, the vision of Frank as a soldier, and the moment when he ran the sword through War’s armor. He opens his eyes, and Katrina tells him that he’s safe. Whatever bound him to Henry is gone now. Frank and Cynthia embrace in relief, but he can’t see his reflection in the glass door.

Did Katrina knowingly lie to Frank? Is this her official turn to the dark side? I’d like to say yes. She’s made too many mistakes to be a sympathetic character, and she’s driven a wedge between Abbie and Ichabod that just can’t stand. It’s time to watch them fight against her, not over her. Given how often this show forgives her behavior because she’s a mother, I’m only cautiously optimistic that they won’t forgive this too, but I’m still optimistic. You don’t lie to Frank.

Also, Katrina does not get to call out any magical woman, much less Mary Poppins, for not being progressive.

The Witnesses

We were promised karaoke, and we got it — and it was even better than I dreamed it could be. Ichabod gazed (really gazed) at Abbie while she rocked some Gnarls Barkley, then proceeded to sing an old sea shanty about a man with syphilis while Abbie defended his voice. (No, Ichabod, you should not have sung “the one about the bass, ‘bout the bass,” but you are welcome to recite pop song lyrics as long as you want.)

They enjoy each other’s company, and they know it, which is why it might take a near-death experience to get Abbie and Ichabod talking, but it’s a fun night out that really solves their problems. Nothing cements a partnership like learning to harmonize. This is how they operate: Abbie does incredible things while Ichabod looks on in awe, and Ichabod does endearingly earnest things while Abbie supports him, but they’re both at their best when they’re together. Jenny knows it. Jenny Mills is the hero we all need.

What did you think of this episode?