Sleepy Hollow Recap ‘The Kindred’: The Monster Inside

Ichabod and Abbie concoct a plan to rescue Katrina from the Horseman but it involves resurrecting a monster of their own on the latest Sleepy Hollow recap…

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

When we last visited ‘Sleepy Hollow’, Ichabod managed to help get Abbie out of purgatory while still perplexed at how to rescue his beloved Katrina from the evil clutches of the Horseman of Death aka her old fiancé Abraham. The latest episode finds the Witnesses trying to get Katrina free of the Horseman while employing a powerful weapon first created by Benjamin Franklin over 200 years ago that the colonials never got to put into action.

The episode titled ‘The Kindred’ touched on several underlying issues at the heart of ‘Sleepy Hollow’, most notably the overt attraction felt between Ichabod and Abbie and the viewers aren’t the only ones picking up on it these days. Even the Horseman notices the bond shared between the two Witnesses and he uses it as a ploy to drive a wedge between Ichabod and Katrina, who he is trying to convince to stay with him for all eternity. For all of Ichabod’s pleas and attempts to stay loyal to Katrina, it’s clear he’s a man torn between two centuries and possibly two women as well.

The episode also reveals a new plot being unleashed by Henry aka Jeremy aka the Horseman of War after he receives a visit from his master Moloch.

Let’s not waste anymore time and get into the recap for this week’s Sleepy Hollow episode ‘The Kindred’.

Dreams Become Nightmares

Ever since Abraham kidnapped Katrina during the season one finale, Ichabod has been imagining the worst case scenario for what’s happening with his wayward wife. In his latest dream, drawn from his investigation into the lost chapters of the Bible, he sees Katrina tied to a pair of posts with Henry acting as priest and the Horseman determined to cut off her beloved head as a symbol of their undying union that will be bonded forever once this ceremony is complete.

Ichabod’s dream wakes him up to the reality that he has to find Katrina now instead of later or this nightmare will come true. He’s able to deduce that the Horseman’s limited speed and need to be inside when daylight comes, there’s only so many places he could go with Katrina in tow. He also knows Abraham very well and while his main objective these days mostly involves severed heads and shotgun blasts, deep down he’s still the same pompous, entitled and material brat that he always was. Ichabod finds a location where Abraham is most likely hiding out and sure enough when he visits there with Abbie, he spots the red-eyed horse of death outside before catching a glimpse of Katrina through an open window.

His instinct is to run and save her, but Abbie reminds him that it’s a fool’s errand to go up against the Horseman mano a mano. Despite his desires to reclaim his bride, Ichabod knows deep down she’s right and they need a plan to save Katrina but it’s going to involve a serious distraction to lure the Horseman away.

A New Sheriff in Town

Before Abbie can go help Ichabod rescue his wife, she first has to meet with the new sheriff in town, who is taking over for Captain Irving after he confessed to killing two people at the end of last season. Sheriff Leena Reyes is a no nonsense former border patrol cop, who comes from Sleepy Hollow and actually knew Abbie’s mother after answering several calls to their childhood home many years ago.

Reyes is clearly not interested in excuses about the supernatural and she’s here to clean up the mess Irving left behind. She questions Ichabod’s role with the department and when she discovers Abbie’s sister Jenny in the archives toting a bag full of guns, Reyes has her arrested. Jenny takes the fall to protect the greater good, but it’s clear this new sheriff is not going to be cooperating with the team any time soon.

Battle Plan

The bag full of guns Jenny was supposed to bring was serving as backup to the real plan set forth by Ichabod and Abbie this week. To take on the enemy, Ichabod reads a story about a monster created by the colonial forefathers that would help them raise a beast capable of beating the Horseman of death. Benjamin Franklin constructed this Frankenstein like creature, pieced together from different soldiers left dead on the battlefield with the strongest parts all sewn up with the intention of bringing it to life while pledging the monstrosity to pure loyalty for the side of good.

Ichabod is able to locate the gravesite where Franklin had the creature buried but in the middle of unearthing the warrior known as ‘The Kindred’, he has an interesting conversation with Abbie. She tells Ichabod about her time in purgatory and how it almost broke her. Things got so bad that when she finally spotted the fake Ichabod, who was offering her a drink of water she knew she shouldn’t take, Abbie almost imbibed it to quench her thirst for his companionship.

“That’s what scares me — my faith in you is my greatest weakness”
~ Abbie Mills

Ichabod then wonders if his search for Katrina might be the weakness that undoes him as well? Before they can find the answers to these emotional questions, they first need to unleash the beast to combat the Horseman. The creature is in tact, but he needs a head and the only mystical version they can use to resurrect it is the Horseman’s own skull, which is currently in hiding thanks to Captain Irving last season.

This forces Abbie to go see her wayward former boss, who has been locked away for weeks now while suffering the kind of punishment any former cop likely receives when landing on the wrong side of the iron bars. She shows concern for Irving, but he promises things will be okay because his ex-wife is currently procuring a new lawyer for him while he’s about to test out the insanity plea to hopefully get out of the pending charges looming overhead.

He does manage to tell Abbie that he’s hidden the Horseman’s head in a safety deposit box and gives her information on how to retrieve it.

At the bank, Abbie goes to get the head while Ichabod manages to make one employee rather uncomfortable as he preaches about the state of the union where establishments chain pens down to desks and hand out credit cards to people with the intention of only trapping them into a bill of sale they could never hope to afford or pay back. Abbie rescues the bank worker so she can grab the skull and they can hightail it back out to the estate where the Horseman has Katrina and the rescue gets underway.

A New Mission

Henry is visited by his master Moloch this week where he apologizes for not opening the portal to allow him entry to Earth while escaping purgatory once and for all. While Moloch is none too happy with his Horseman of war, he also tells Henry to stop looking for new ways to free him and concentrate his efforts on another matter instead.

Henry builds a quill early in the episode and when we see him next he’s showing up at the hospital where Irving has been transferred after a lie detector test revealed he actually believes all the madness he’s been spouting about demons and possession since claiming insanity as his plea. Henry reveals himself to be Irving’s new lawyer and immediately dispatches the sheriff, who is there harassing the former Captain for information.

Henry then offers Irving a pen with which to sign the contract so he can begin working on his case officially. The pen ‘accidentally’ pricks Irving’s finger, causing a little bit of blood to go onto the page along with the ink. Like Faust’s deal with the devil, it seems Irving just unwittingly signed his life away. What Henry plans on doing with this contract literally signed in blood remains to be seen.

Henry also manages to complete one more mission this week when he summons his Horseman of war armor gifted to him by Moloch to go out and help the Horseman of death in his battle against Ichabod and Abbie.

The Odds Get Evened

Ichabod and Abbie bring ‘The Kindred’ to the estate where Abraham is holding Katrina and after a false start, they are able to resurrect the beast and he begins battling with the Horseman on an even playing field. While the Horseman fights the Kindred, Ichbod rushes inside to find his beloved Katrina.

The only problem is she’s not going anywhere.

Abraham already planted the seed of doubt in Katrina’s head that Ichabod is still truly faithful and devoted to her, especially after he allowed her to be locked away in purgatory for months while he moved heaven and Earth to free Abbie in just a matter of days. Maybe she’s buying it, maybe not, but her plan involves staying behind so she can regain Abraham’s trust to hopefully feed information to her husband in his quest to save the world from the apocalypse. She’s also not ready to give up hope on their son Henry, who has gone all Darth Vader but deep down he’s still Jeremy Crane at heart. She also knows by staying, Abraham will be content, but if she leaves he will burn Sleepy Hollow to the ground trying to get her back.

It breaks Ichabod’s heart to leave her behind, but he flees with Abbie in tow. Before she goes, Abbie catches Katrina’s eyes and it’s clear Mrs. Crane is trying to keep a good poker face but she’s clearly concerned about the bond this woman his sharing with her husband.

With Katrina staying behind and tones that her trust in Ichabod is fading, does anyone else think that maybe she will eventually become the next Horseman of the apocalypse to join her former lover and her son? Just a theory.

Victory and Defeat

The Kindred’s battle with the Horseman ends up as three way dance when Henry’s battle suit of armor shows up to help as well. The Kindred is able to fend them off before he rides away in great haste once Ichabod and Abbie escape as well.

Back at home base, Ichabod and Abbie lick their wounds (get your head out of the gutter) while hoping that The Kindred will return to them because whatever this creature is or might be, it’s currently wearing the Horseman’s head, which could be good or bad depending on how this plays out. Jenny is still in jail while hoping her sister can get her out of trouble sooner rather than later. And Irving is about to find out what the Horseman of war is all about.

What did you think of the latest episode of ‘Sleepy Hollow’? Leave your comments below and don’t forget to come back in one week for the next installment of Sleepy Hollow on FOX, Monday night at 9pm ET.