Sleepy Hollow - Episode 10 - Recap - The Golem
Sleepy Hollow - Episode 10 - Recap - The Golem
FOX's new smash hit Sleepy Hollow does not mess around when it comes to monsters. Another eyeless beast, this week's titular golem is a patchwork nightmare! Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) was usually depicted as a weak-chinned coward before this show, but this Ichabod is a soldier and a courageous hero, both helpful qualities against hordes of Hell monsters that want to bring the Apocalypse on early!
The episode opens with a bit of a different tone than usual. Most weeks have started with Ichabod hanging out with Abbie and not grasping some concept of modern times (to great comedic effect), but this time, we get a brooding Ichabod, distraught over last episode's news that his wife Katrina had a secret son by him. Ich wants more info on the kid, so he's called in their old friend The Sin Eater, Henry Parrish (guest star John Noble)! A trip to visit Katrina in dreamland has her deliver us the whole backstory. The boy's name is Jeremy, and she hadn't known about her pregnancy until after Ichabod was locked away in his Horseman-bound hypersleep. Anyway, the kid survived (though he did cause a few fires with his baby witch powers), and if Ichabod did his math right, there could be as many as 6,000 Crane descendants running around! Hoo boy! Of course, the crew is being stalked by a monster now.
This monster is a beast created (perhaps partly by accident) through the magic of Jeremy Crane, Ichabod's long-lost son. It's a golem, created from a childhood doll Katrina made for him and imbued with the strength to protect Jeremy. Ichabod has a visit with some witches, called The Four Who Speak As One. They've forseen his arrival, which they say will "seal our fate", which is rather ominous and not at all why Ichabod came to see them! The witches also reveal that they buried Jeremy alive for his golem stuff in the past. The golem can only be stopped with Jeremy's blood, but Ichabod's blood ends up working just as well. Magic isn't real picky about this sort of thing. Dad blood, son blood, same thing!
In the episode's other plot, Captain Frank Irving (Orlando Jones) is having a crisis of faith. He's talking with his minister, but that's not much help for a guy who has been helping a time-traveler fight demons in his spare time. He does seem to have become a more attentive father, though. That's good at least. Then there's a weird incident in the park, where a follower of Moloch threatens Irving's daughter, but before he can find out what the demon meant, it leaves its host, a confused dude who doesn't remember saying weirdo demon biz. I love that Orlando Jones is on this show, and I'm glad his character is getting more episode real estate assigned to his plot! It's cool to see how the supernatural Hell fight is helping/hurting regular people, and we get some of that in Captain Irving.
At the end, there's a little holiday nod (Abbie gives Ichabod a wrapped present) and a tease for next week (Ichabod has a vision where Moloch says Ichabod will kill Abbie). This little ending part is my favorite thing in the episode! This episode was just as good as most, I guess, but I kind of found the cool monster to be wasted! I liked the concept and the design, but he didn't get to do much and didn't have a very distinct angle compared to, say, last episode's tree monster. It's fine though, because this is still probably my favorite new show. Anyway, here's a preview for the episode!