Review: ‘Sleepy Hollow’ Continues to Deliver with “The Kindred”

Maria Millage ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

This week’s episode of Sleepy Hollow kept up with the fast pace and twisting storyline that the first episode set as a precedent. It finally gave witnesses Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) and Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) a weapon to use against the Horseman of Death.
The episode centered on what will likely become an overarching plot line of the second season—rescuing Crane’s wife Katrina (Katia Winter) from the clutches of her former suitor, Abraham, who now happens to be one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Though Katrina was not in fact rescued, the need to distract Abraham was enough for Ichabod to slip in yielded another war asset.
The episode continued the show’s famous rewriting of history with the continuation of the Benjamin Franklin plot line from the season premiere. Through extensive studies of Franklin’s journal, Crane and Abbie discovered something. With the assistance of Sleepy Hollow’s resident witch coven, Franklin had assembled a hodgepodge of body parts to create a variant of Frankenstein’s monster called “the kindred” that would be strong enough to fight the Horseman of Death.

Viewers also finally got their first look at Captain Irving (Orlando Jones). Locked in prison for the murder of two men caused by a demon possessing his daughter, Irving is now locked in a fight for the insanity plea with Sleepy Hollow’s new police sheriff, an intense looking woman who so far has made it clear she takes no prisoners.
The episode was just as witty and entertaining as it was in the past, featuring more of Crane’s lack of knowledge about the world after 1781, the year of his death. Despite the intriguing plot line and the extremely intense sequence of the monster battling the Horseman of Death, the episode felt a bit too hurried. It was as if the writers had been trying to cram too much into the time frame of the episode. This is especially jarring after the season premiere, which was paced almost perfectly with enough action to keep viewers on the edge of their seats without rushing through the story so fast that they were left reeling.
Katrina’s story arc is also starting to feel a little stale even though it is only two episodes into the season. The amount of time viewers see her in captivity, while Crane and Abbie cavort elsewhere in their attempts to bring down the two currently risen Horsemen of the Apocalypse before the other two can be called to attention, still remains to be seen. If she continues to be a useless character that mainly exists to cause tension between Crane and Abbie over his desire to rescue her without regard to anything else, that timeframe will likely be extremely short.

Abraham continued to attempt to woo Katrina in this episode. Whereas in the previous episodes that consisted of slinging an unconscious Katrina over his saddle and riding off with her or tying her to her chair, this episode introduced a new tactic. Abraham called attention to the growing bond between Crane and Abbie, something that also has not been lost on viewers. Most are desperately hoping that Crane and Abbie are the endgame of the writers and that perhaps the introduction of Abraham in a larger role this season might present the perfect window of opportunity to push out Katrina as Crane’s romantic interest and edge in Abbie in her place.
Overall, the episode had snappy pacing and there was never a slow moment, though, at times it felt rushed. It had the classic gothic feel that viewers have come to recognize with Sleepy Hollow and did not disappoint on the creep factor (Benjamin Franklin stitching together dismembered body parts, anyone?), both of which have become famed tenets of the show.