Sleepy Hollow Recap “Mama”: Suicide is Painless

In the latest Sleepy Hollow recap, Abbie and Jenny find out what really happened to their mother 15 years again when she committed suicide in Tarrytown psychiatric….

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

There have been a fair amount of complaints about this season of “Sleepy Hollow”, that the show hasn’t been as compelling or interesting as the freshman year of the breakout hit series.

Personally, I have noticed the bumps in the road as much because the things I adored about season one of the show are still there in season two. Ichabod is still over the top and British. Abbie is the voice of reason. Henry aka Jeremy Crane is still the creepiest bastard with the best “I almost sound like Darth Vader” voice on all of television. Sure, the constant shoving in the face of a new character like Nick Hawley has been somewhat frustrating while other favorites like Jenny and Irving have sat on the sidelines for most of the season, but thankfully things turned around with the latest episode titled “Mama” where Ichabod took a sick day and the rest of the cast went under the microscope.

The episode focused on a back story brought to life to learn more about Lori Mills, the woman who gave birth to Abbie and Jenny Mills, who killed herself in an asylum 15 years ago. The overall story for the season didn’t move forward much, but it was a well deserved break from “Henry-fest 2014” that has dominated much of this season. By the way, has anyone else virtually forgotten that the Headless Horseman is a bad guy on this show? Just checking.

Mama, I’m Coming Home

Let’s see how many mama songs I can quote in one recap because there are a lot of them.

That said — the story picks up this week with an ailing Ichabod, down with the flu and refusing to succumb to the fact that he’s under the weather. Abbie’s investigating three suicides that just happened at Tarrytown Psychiatric, the same hospital her mother died in and where her sister resided for years. According to records, the psychiatric ward usually experiences maybe two suicides in an entire calendar year, but now they’ve had three in succession so something sinister is at work.

Abbie is already on edge after spending much of the last week dreaming about her mother while imagining both of them locked in purgatory. The reason why mom keeps popping up is made clear a little bit later.

Since Jenny was locked up at Tarrytown for so long, she gets called in to assist her sister in the investigation. The first stop is to talk to Irving, who has the lay of the land at the hospital these days and he’ll be so excite to see them according to Nurse Lambert, who shows them into the receiving area.

One housekeeping note — Irving squashes the theory right away that he’s responsible for any of the deaths. Since his soul belongs to Henry now, the only way he can be free of his eternal obligation is to take a life. Despite those high stakes, Irving hasn’t done away with anybody at the hospital.

Irving does confirm, however, that the victims he met on this list weren’t suicidal in any of the run ins he had with them in the institution. Abbie and Jenny decide to go to the video tape evidence of the first victim’s death, and out of nowhere they spot a familiar face in the corner of the room while the man is hanging himself. It’s their mother Lori and she’s spouting something at the top of her lungs, and they immediately assume she’s an unrested soul and she’s coming back to claim even more lives, who have to kill themselves just as she did more than a decade ago.

Mama, Didn’t Kill a Man

There’s two so far in case you’re keeping count.

Abbie calls in Hawley for extra support because he has to show up at least once an episode even if it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. It’s not so much that I don’t enjoy the character or the actor (actually Matt Barr who plays him is quite good) but the way he just randomly pops up even without a purpose gets a little tiresome.

He does have the ability to buy some damn good Matzah ball soup, which he laces with some kind of sleeping agent, to finally force Ichabod to get some rest and stay on the sidelines for the rest of the episode. Abbie, Jenny and Hawley are quickly hauled back to Tarrytown after observing another patient trying to kill himself and they have to stop him before there’s another suicide victim.

They make it in time, but before they can investigate what happened, Abbie is whisked away to an abandoned part of Tarrytown Psych where she encounters her mother face to face. Mama Lori warns her daughter that it’s not safe for her here, but out of nowhere Nurse Lambert shows up and asks how Abbie ended up in the desolate end of Tarrytown Psych? Abbie plays it off, but Hawley and Jenny arrive just in time for Lori to leave them a message. It’s the code to a videotape session from the archives at Tarrytown. One that will hopefully have some answers.

The sisters clutch hands just like they did when they were kids as they watch the tape with their mother sinking further and further into madness. She always screamed about demons chasing her and going after her daughters, but in those days she was just institutionalized and declared a raving nut job. Now Abbie and Jenny know there’s more to their mother, but this tape also reveals something else quite startling.

Lori proclaims in her old therapy sessions that Nurse Lambert has been telling her to kill herself and tormenting her in the hospital. The only problem? Nurse Lambert doesn’t actually exist!

Abbie realizes this is the same woman she encountered when she first entered the hospital and again in that abandoned part of the building. A brief search online reveals that Gina Lambert was an “angel of mercy” nurse, who would pump her patients full of sodium pentathol and then convince them that suicide was the best solution to their problems. In her own twisted mind, she was releasing them from a live in captivity. In reality she was just murdering people.

Eventually, Nurse Lambert was found out, convicted and sentenced to death by electric chair at her final place of residence — Tarrytown Psych. So ever since 1959 when she died, Nurse Lambert has been exacting the same kind of practice that got her put to death more than 50 years ago. Oh and one more problem — Nurse Lambert’s latest target is Captain Frank Irving.

Mama, We All Go to Hell

Three for three.

Abbie, Jenny and Hawley are able to race back in time to save Irving but now they have to figure out how to eradicate Nurse Lambert’s evil spirit from the hospital to stop anyone else from suffering the same fate.

Unfortunately, Lambert is onto them and she drags Abbie away while locking Jenny and Hawley up in Lori’s old cell in the solitary wing of the hospital. Lambert plans on inducing the same suicide thoughts in Abbie that she did her mother 15 years earlier. Lori Mills has other plans. She appears to her other daughter and her blonde headed companion and offers some help — her journal, the same journal that once belonged to their descendant Grace Dixon — is in the hospital somewhere and inside it contains a powerful hex that will get rid of Lambert once and for all. She’s been trying to cast it herself, but always shows up moments too late before Lambert disappears again.

For those that need a reminder — Grace Dixon was the relative of Abbie and Jenny’s, who helped to deliver Jeremy Crane into this world and was a nurse maid to Katrina all those hundreds of years ago. The family has been connected to the Crane’s ever since.

While Abbie’s being prepped for her “suggestive” therapy, Jenny and Hawley track down the journal and begin reading the spell. Once isn’t quite enough, but a second go round evaporates Nurse Lambert into mist. Day is saved once again.

Back in the hospital with a very much awake Ichabod, Jenny decides to hold a séance to bring their mother back one more time so they can have a proper goodbye. When she appears, Lori passes along some information to her daughters. First off she always knew Abbie was going to the witness and she’s destined to end this ongoing war with Moloch. Second, hidden in the pages of Grace Dixon’s journal are clues about a weapon of great power that could help them defeat Moloch during the end of days. Cut to next week when this object become the MacGuffin of “Sleepy Hollow” season two for at least one episode.

They Grow Up So Fast

Okay, I ran out of mama references.

Katrina’s appearance this episode was to show her being taunted by her son Jeremy/Henry as he said that if she really wanted to show her motherly instincts, she would help nurture this baby boy who was abandoned in his care. Clearly, Katrina is a moron because she knows this kid is going to grow up to be Moloch, but because her special talisman makes it appear to look like a real baby she just says fuck it and starts caring for the little boy. Only problem is one touch starts to infect her skin and as the black plague spreads, Katrina realizes she’s in some deep shit.

She decides to concoct an anti-evil potion out of flowers but as she goes to pour it on the baby or make him drink it, the crib is empty. A moment later a full grown boy at least 12-years of age is reaching for some bread on a high shelf. He proclaims he’s hungry before calling Katrina mommy. Oh Moloch is sprouting up to be such a fine young man.

One final thing — as the heroes exit Tarrytown Psych, they are stopped by a man running out into the middle of the street. It’s Captain Irving. He’s had enough of this incarcerated garbage and he wants out. He’s ready to rejoin the team even if he is a fugitive from justice. It worked out pretty well when Jenny decided to escape so why not him, too?

Next week as predicted when Sleepy Hollow returns, Ichabod and Abbie go on the hunt for the item from Grace’s journal that could help them slay Moloch once and for all.