Sleepy Hollow Recap “The Root of All Evil”: Two Sides of the Coin

In the latest Sleepy Hollow recap, Ichabod and Abbie have to track down an ancient and evil coin that unleashes the darkest and most vile thoughts in any person’s mind…

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

It seems I’m constantly giving Sleepy Hollow credit in my recaps for finding new and creative ways to take history and give it a spin and a twist to fit a particular story or plotline unfolding in the show. The creators behind the series called this move ‘twistory’ where they take a particular story or character and take what really happened to them, heat it up, melt it down and rebuild it in the image they need for the show. Whether it’s General George Washington’s secret army or Benjamin Franklin’s battle against evil, Sleepy Hollow has taken a huge list of historical figures, places and events and made them part of the show’s mythology.

This week’s episode was no different, but the stakes were raised as Sleepy Hollow managed to toss in Benedict Arnold, Judas Iscariot and 30 pieces of silver tainted by evil as the witnesses fight a battle on a new front as Henry Parrish aka Jeremy Crane aka The Horseman of War starts to build his new army to help the coming of Moloch.

With that let’s delve into Sleepy Hollow — “The Root of All Evil”

No Refunds

Ichabod and Abbie head to the psychiatric war to visit Captain Irvin, but upon arriving they find out that his new lawyer barred them from seeing the former police chief. Things only get worse when they find out that his attorney’s name is none other than Henry Parrish. The dynamic duo tracks Henry down thanks to a cab he took from the hospital, but when they find him he’s inside a bank and not up to any nefarious business, or so it seems. When he exits the building, Ichabod is ready to give chase, but a few seconds later a shot rings out and Abbie is called into action.

A teller from the bank has shot a guard and she’s demanding all the money handed over to her for years of service and no compensation or appreciation for the hard work she’s been in over the years. Abbie tries to reason with her, but before her conversation can get too involved, the new chief Reyes shows up and puts a bullet in the suspect, thus ending the standoff. It also ends Abbie’s chance to question the woman, who went from happy teller to gun toting psycho in a matter of seconds.

The pair are stunned at how the woman transformed in mere seconds and that’s when they realize that Henry likely had something to do with her sudden shift into kill mode. A search of the security tape shows that Henry entered the building to do a currency exchange, but one of his coins ended up in the pocket of the teller who eventually went mad. Seeing the coin jogs Ichabod’s mind about another of his secret missions while operating under General Washington during the war.

He was teamed up with the greatest traitor in American history, Benedict Arnold, before he turned his back on his country. It seems Washington’s mission had them seeking out some silver coins but after Benedict finished his work, he quickly turned from that moment on and decided to turn his back on the United States and work with England instead.

Not until later when Ichabod and Abbie meet with a contact of Jenny’s named Hawley, who deals in rare and supernatural artifacts do they realize that the coins in question were actually Tyrian shekels — the same Roman currency from the city of Tyre, used to pay Judas 30 pieces of silver to turn on Jesus. These 30 pieces of silver were cursed and anyone touching them would go from good to evil in an instant, or so it seemed. At first, explaining away Benedict Arnold’s betrayal of his country by merely touching a cursed coin somewhat angered the history buff that still lives somewhere inside of me, but thankfully Sleepy Hollow circled back on this mythology just a bit when the true nature of the coin was explained a few scenes later.

The True Nature of Evil

Ichabod and Abbie head back to do more research to try and find where the coin disappeared to, but instead they run into Henry, who is now passing himself off as a full time attorney (wouldn’t father be proud?). Ichabod and Henry finally have a go at each other while discussing the evil coin being passed around that touches someone and eventually turns them into a soldier for Moloch. Ichabod believes the coins are the personification of evil and can make anyone good do very bad things.

As it turns out, the coins only magnify what’s already breeding inside a person naturally.

Henry: “Turn? The coin doesn’t turn anything. It simply reveals what’s already there — the darkness in all of you. No matter how small the seed.”
Ichabod: “I’m afraid, sadly, you underestimate the good in people”
Henry: “Afraid? You haven’t begun to know fear or sadness. I’m glad you survived that box I put you in so that you too can witness first hand people’s true nature.”

Ichabod and Abbie find this out when the second crime is committed by a person holding one of the coins. A son kills his father while lashing out that he was forced to work in the family’s business while his brother went off to college. With the coin in hand, the son builds a bomb and when his father opens the present, the flower shop goes boom.

The Perfect Target

Jenny only spends a couple of nights in jail thanks to her sister pulling some favors with a judge landing with her community service as her only punishment. Jenny hits the ground running by digging into Reyes’ background after learning that she knew their mother before she was committed to the mental institution that left them orphaned and alone. It seems Reyes wasn’t just a police officer in Sleepy Hollow during those days — she was the main person responsible for sending Abbie and Jenny’s mother to the mental ward in the first place. Obviously, Jenny is angry beyond words, but community service is calling and there are some graffiti laced buildings in town that need scrubbed.

It doesn’t take long for Henry to seek out poor damaged Jenny, however, and he immediately tosses the cursed coin her way. Once she picks it up, Jenny begins seething with rage going after the woman responsible for putting her here in the first place. While it seems that she’s going to kill her own sister, Jenny is stomping towards Chief Reyes and there’s a bullet with her name on it.

Signs of Weakness

Katrina remains a prisoner of the Horseman, but there’s dissention in the ranks it seems. The Horseman aka Abraham has a discussion with Henry like a petulant child wondering why he’s free to roam about the day and lives in a house across town while he’s stuck coming out only after dusk. Henry believes that his mother is poisoning the Horseman’s ear and he warns him against listening to her any further. The Horseman brushes off her next advance, but it’s clear she’s starting to get to him.

Meanwhile, Katrina comes face to face with Henry and tries to connect with him, but he turns and walks away. Despite his best efforts to put his mother in the past, Henry is currently staying in the haunted house we first encountered in season one, which is the place where Katrina gave birth to him all those years ago. In a rage, Henry sets the bed frame where she once laid on fire, but once again there’s something inside him that’s drawing him back to his parents and it’s not sitting right with the Horseman of War.

The Hunt Is On

Ichabod, Abbie and Hawley figure out that Jenny has been cursed with the coin and while they all first believe she’s going after her sister, a few moments later they realize it’s Reyes that will soon land in her crosshairs. Jenny stole a gun from Hawley and she’s on the hunt to kill the woman who put her mother in the mental ward, thus taking her away from them.

To combat the coin, Hawley devises a plan to steal stained glass from a church that was made in Tyre. The plan is to use the stained glass to neutralize the coin because where the silver possesses a curse wrought with evil, the glass has been blessed and since both come from the same place and time, they will neutralize each other.

Once they finally track down Jenny, she’s got her rifle pointed directly at Reyes, but her sister intervenes and distracts her long enough for Ichabod to get the gun away and knock the coin loose from her hand. In the rush, the coin is captured on the glass by Hawley, who promptly disappears from sight with his prize possession now in hand. Jenny is saved and Reyes lives, without ever knowing how close she was to being assassinated just seconds earlier.

A Visit Within a Visit

Since Ichabod is barred from visiting Captain Irving, he shows up at the hospital asking to see another patient instead. When Irving finally spots him sitting in the game room, he asks how long he’s been waiting to see him. It’s there that Ichabod has to share the wicked truth with his former ‘boss’ — the lawyer working so tirelessly to get him released is actually Henry Parris, the Horseman of War, and if he wants Irving out then there’s no better place to be right now than in. Irving doesn’t seem convinced because his family really needs him right now, so I begin to wonder if his loyalty might not waiver in the face of freedom versus captivity.

A couple of other notes about this week’s episode — Ichabod staring into a restaurant and noticing two gay men holding hands and asking if that is allowed now only to be reprimanded by Abbie, who explains that homosexual couples are just like any other couple and no one frowns upon that any longer. Ichabod interrupts and says that he served under Baron von Steuben and he’s completely okay with same sex love. What he can’t tolerate, however, are people wearing hats indoors! That shit will not stand. A fantastic scene.

Also, Ichabod questioning his decision to ‘allow’ Katrina to stay behind just as he’s met with a ‘did you really just say that?’ look from Abbie as she explains — She’s 1. a grown woman, 2. a witch, 3. a redhead. You couldn’t have stopped her if you tried. Pretty accurate, Abbie.

Make sure to return next Monday night for the new episode of Sleepy Hollow at 9pm ET on FOX and then visit here for our recap of the episode after it concludes!