‘Sleepy Hollow’ Recap: The Golem Who Stole Christmas

FOX

Sleepy Hollow continues to be a fantastic mix of creepy monster-evil and traditional family drama. Last week Crane discovered that he was a father, as Katrina had given birth to his son after putting him under the spell that forever linked him to the Headless Horseman. This week he began a dangerous search to uncover the truth about his son’s life and the things he discovered were pretty frightful.

Christmastime = Family Drama, Forever

The episode began the way any proper Christmas episode should, with a few good quips about egg nog. Lieutenant Mills tried to school Crane on the modern-day Yuletide goings-on and he was (as usual) none too impressed by the way things had changed since back in his day. He also had more on his mind than the coming of Santa Claus, having invited an old friend — the Sin Eater — over for a supernatural session. The Sin Eater (AKA Henry Parrish) was able to send Crane over to Katrina’s realm where he confronted her about their child. Katrina revealed that she had been targeted by her coven after what she did to save Crane and — in her attempt to evade them — she fled to Europe where she discovered she was pregnant. She ran back to her safe haven (the home we were introduced to last week) to give birth to their son, Jeremy. Jeremy’s story once again linked Crane and Mills, as Katrina revealed that she had given the baby to Grace Dixon and her husband in hopes of keeping him safe from her coven. She had also made for him the creepiest looking doll ever, as a protectant.

The Truth About Jeremy

Crane, Mills, and their new partner in crossing-over-into-other-realms Henry the Sin Eater went to a historical library in search of answers about Crane’s progeny. They uncovered some devastating news – first, that Jeremy’s half-witchy blood started wreaking havoc on his community, as the sounds of his cries actually started whole fires (that scene was very Looper-ish). One of those fires resulted in the death of Grace Dixon and her family. And, second, Jeremy ended up in an orphanage, where he was the target of physical abuse at the hands of a priest. That abuse inspired such pain and anger in Crane’s son that the blood from his wounds brought his protectant doll (AKA the Golem) to life. And because Crane was now living, his existence called the golem back to Sleepy Hollow. His first kill was the librarian, who was actually a witch attempting to keep Crane from discovering the truth.

Like many characters in Sleepy Hollow, the Golem wasn’t entirely evil and wasn’t entirely good. On the one hand he was built to protect Jeremy, but he was also a dangerous killer. And pretty scary. Crane had to be the one to destroy him in the end, but first he discovered from the witches (known as the Four That Speak As One) that they had buried Jeremy alive. And after achieving victory over the golem and the coven (for their death was linked to Crane’s arrival), Crane was faced with a familiar horror: the Moloch. The Moloch tells him that his death is also imminent, along with that of the other witness. This was interesting because earlier in the episode Captain Frank had learned that the two witnesses in the Bible suffer the same fate. It looks like we can expect Crane and Mills to spend much of the season running from death, and as Frank now functions as an apostle of sorts, he’ll be running from a similar fate.

A Few Questions To Ponder Until Next Week:

Where in the world was Abbie’s sister Jenny? This week there was some borderline romantic friction between Frank and his ex, but we’re still rooting for Jenny and Frank to bring all their drama together and make sweet Sleepy Hollow love down by the fire … or at least go out on a date.

How much creepier are these monsters going to get? Last week it was a live scarecrow, this week a live doll? Whatever. We love it.

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