TV REVIEW: Sleepy Hollow “The Weeping Lady”

Ichabod Crane brings all the obsessive and possessive girls to the twenty first century yard and they’re like “For you I’ll go all dark.”

This week’s Sleepy Hollow, titled “The Weeping Lady,” saw Crane having more than his share of girl problems as some well known folklore sets its sites on the small town.

The episode begins by bringing back a familiar face from season one, colonial reenactor and Ichabod Crane aficionado “Miss  Caroline.” Ichabod has turned to reenactments to provide himself with some good old fashioned 1800s comfort, which offers us a better sense of what he actually does on his off days while also providing Caroline enough time to fall head over heels. Considering the fact that Ichabod was all about the courtship when he was younger/older(?), it comes as a surprise that he doesn’t notice that that churnin’ signals some yearnin’.

There is an awkward moment where Caroline learns that Ichabod is married, followed by Abbie walking in and Caroline mistaking her for Mrs. Crane. It ultimately ends in the young woman running off and Ichabod feeling distraught over the ladies that romantically love him. Being the gentleman he is, Abbie and Icky set off to see his fellow reenactor so he can make amends, which he does, but it ends up costing Caroline her life.

Abbie is there on the scene after Caroline’s body washes up on shore, where upon seeing the body, Ichabod all but mentally crumbles. Determined to find out what killed her, the witnesses set off down the river bank for clues. In no time they find one — Miss Caroline’s cup to be exact, along with some fresh tracks that Abbie traces back to a pair of teenagers that macking at the spot earlier that night. Lucky for Abbie they had a run in with this week’s monster and were able to properly identify her as “The Weeping Lady.” As the legend goes, she is a harmless ghost that, jilted by her lover in life,  floats around in death wailing after being sent to a watery grave.

The duo makes their way to the library to learn a bit more about their local version of the tale, and in an unexpected surprise, Abbie runs into two people: Hawley and The Weeping Lady. Both encounters don’t go as well as they could have if we’re being honest. Hawley apologizes about his cowardice with The Pied Piper and Abbie semi-accepts his peace offering, but not without dishing some (necessary) side-eye first. As soon as Hawley feels he’s effectively been let off the hook he wanders away. It’s then that Abbie hears wailing at an inappropriate volume for a library.

It’s an odd thing to see Miss Mills approach something that is clearly a monster and cannot be harmed by say… a bullet, particularly after her realistic and understandable hesitancy with going into a haunted house last season. The suspension of consistent characterization, however, lent itself to a rather heart wrenching moment between our witnesses. The Weeping Lady overtakes Abbie and she is pulled under into her black hole lake. Ichabod races to save her and after a nerve-wracking struggle pulls her out. Holding a soaking, chilled and not-breathing Abbie in his arms we all wail like that green eyed lady. This is just not okay, not at all.

Pictured: Tom Mison and Nicole Beharie — Photo: © 2014 Fox Broadcasting Co.

Ichabod apparently doesn’t know what to do when it comes to a drowning person so he just hovers over Abbie freaking out. Enter Hawley to save the day by putting his lips on her’s.  After reviving her, he seems more proud of it than she. Abbie is just happy to be alive and Crane feels the same. Cue all of our hearts melting. Almost getting drowned did ultimately work out for them though. While Abbie was down in the ground with wet and wailing, she snagged a piece of her outfit, which Ichabod was able to identify as belonging to Mary — a woman Crane had been promised to way back in the day. Supposedly she had gone back to England after miraculously maturing out of her child-like jealousy of Katrina. Except she didn’t. Someone killed her. (Side Note: How awkward and horrible must it be to have every one of your relationships be steeped in secrets and lies?)

At the same time they learn this, they also discover the green eyed monster took Ichabod’s letter from Katrina, which was sent earlier in the day through magical carrier crow. 10 points for Katrina finally using her powers! Another 10 points for letting us see her use them again after The Weeping Lady pulls a drag me to hell on the real Mrs. Crane. Before that rescue mission that ends up not being a rescue mission occurs, the witnesses must learn about Katrina’s whereabouts. They pay a visit to Team Moloch’s camp and upon their arrival are almost run over by Headless. They take the empty house as a sign to snatch up Katrina, but when they enter there’s no one home — minus Ichabod’s letter and a familiar inky black puddle. Abbie’s quick thinking is able to link the puddle to the river where they find Katrina having wrestled herself free (using Ursula like green orbs) from The Weeping Lady’s grasp.

Mary isn’t one to go out without a fight though. The ladies work on a dark magic spell while Ichabod chases the ghost of his former betrothed around with a crossbow they got from Hawley earlier. Crabe hits his mark and that’s when things go from a squirmy level of awkward to “Woah, should I leave the room? This seems super personal.” When Ichabod asks Mary what happened she uses her last ounce of energy to point directly at Katrina. *Insert Jay-Z backs out of the room gif* Ichabod turns to his wife for answers and we learn that Mary never went back to England. The reason? Katrina accidentally killed her.

Mary confronts Katrina (Katia Winter, R) — CR: Brownie Harris/FOX

Mary sent Katrina a letter asking to meet (by a cliff, no less). Once Katrina arrived, Mary flew into her regular angry fits of rage and lunged at Mrs. Crane, going over the cliff where she hit her head on a rock and died. Instead of going back and telling her suitor what was up, Katrina forged the letter from Mary Ichabod got. This isn’t the kicker, if you can believe it. The reason Katrina didn’t tell Ichabod about what happened wasn’t because she feared being jailed  or even having Ichabod blame her fr Mary’s death (thus she loses her love). No, Ichabod’s greater purpose couldn’t be stalled for 2 months so he could go back to England and properly lay the woman to death because WITNESS. Ichabod brings all the obsessive and possessive girls to the yard…

Just as this is revealed Headless strolls up all ready to take Ichabod, but Katrina sways him into letting her husband go. She follows up her big reveal with a “Let’s go home,” to Abraham, leaving everyone — including our witnesses — slack-jawed. Elsewhere, Henry is crying like a bitter troll baby because Moloch is mad he almost killed what could be the vessel for the third horseman of the apocalypse. Yeah, you heard right. Way to just drop that little tidbit in at the end there Sleepy Hollow. Back on Hawley’s boat, Jenny reappears to let her hair down and lock lips with the reluctant pirate before stealing his coffee.

“The Weeping Lady” offered viewers one of the most creative creature connections in recent memory. The Weeping Lady is a lore familiar to quite a few localities. Sleepy Hollow managed to take the well-known (translation: generic) tale and put their own interesting spin on it, simultaneously giving us more backstory on Ichabod while linking the monster to the series’ larger mythos. Three birds with one stone. For as wild as it was, the Crane family development was strong (in both logic and dramatics) without being overbearing, as it has been in the past.

Katrina’s big reveal solidified the fact that everyone has literally been more dedicated to Ichabod’s witnessing than he, but the emotional rift left in the wake of the reveal leaves much to be explored. Not only does it finally round out Katrina as a character (after 18 episodes), but it puts enough pressure on Ichabod to finally make romance his b plot. The mystery of Katrina’s past and future also adds an exciting weight to the larger story going forward, especially when it comes to the focus of the witnesses and the strength of their bond.

The biggest issues with this episode lied with two of its men: Henry and Hawley. Henry, while entertaining in the past, is becoming a bit repetitive. His bitterness might have also reached a point of dramatic exhaustion. One of the coolest things about Henry was that he wasn’t a sniveling, cackling, rub your hands together Scooby-Doo villain. I mean, he could be, but he could also be a stealthy, conniving and composed mastermind. If we want to actually feel for Henry, we should probably spend less time with his bitterness and more time with why he’s still so bitter.

Molloch is not happy with Henry (John Noble, L) — © 2014 Fox Broadcasting Co.

As for Nick, nothing against Matt Barr, but have we figured out what the point of this character is yet? Other than the looming and dreaded concept of him becoming the centerpiece in a love triangle with the Mills sisters (something I’d comfortably argue no one is really here for)? Rugged, a bit dirty, smarmy/charming — check, check, check. Ultimate purpose? Still blank.

Outside of those very minor issues, “The Weeping Lady” was an improvement in form over last week’s episode. We were able to see more of the ensemble while setting up (and addressing) larger plots. One can now say that Katrina Crane is nearly as developed as the other character regulars, and our witnesses have had a renewed sense of duty to each other and the larger cause. I am eager to see where things go, how characters develop, and where smaller plots will begin to intersect with the larger ones. Creating those connections was something the more procedural episodes struggled with last season, but “The Weeping Lady” proved the show can do it and do it well.

Other Thoughts:

• It was great to see two teenagers in a horror movie situation do exactly what they’re supposed to do: Run. Immediately.
• I liked Caroline and honestly was sad to see her go. It’s a lonely life a witness leads…
• We see you writers with your Mrs. Crane slip. We see you.
• Ichabod being flustered like a 19 year old boy was pretty high up there on his hilariously adorable moments list. Note to self: If someone churns you some butter and stitches you some britches that’s code speak for wife me.
• Ichabod cradling Abbie is more than I could have ever asked for. Thank you Sleepy Hollow gods.
• Since Mary lunged at Katrina who was standing next to a cliff, we could argue that Mary was trying to kill Katrina so it was either Mary or Katrina. That’s forgiveable. Straight lying to your husband about manslaughter? Not so much.
• That entire revelation scene was wild. From start to finish. That was wonderfully wild.
• Two ladies died this episode. Perhaps the show could work on making its victims more male in the future? Killing/endangering ladies for plot development is a nasty habit.
• Where’s Frank? No seriously, where’s Frank?
• Perhaps the most important question of the episode: Jenny got game, but will the show let her play?