Sleepy Hollow Season 2 Debut Recap ‘This is War’: The Key to Purgatory

Ichabod and Abbie fight to reunite while trying to stop the Horseman of war from finding a key that can open the door to purgatory thus freeing his master Moloch….

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

When we last left our heroes in Sleepy Hollow, Crane was an Ich-in-the-box, trapped underground by his son Jeremy aka Henry Parrish who was revealed to be the horseman of war. Abbie was locked away in purgatory, desperately trying to scratch her way to freedom. Her sister Jenny upon discovering Henry’s villainous alter ego had her car wrecked and trampled by the Headless Horsemen before he whisked Katrina away to be his prisoner where he’s rooting some Stockholm Syndrome kicks in if he keeps her captive long enough.

One Year Later

As things pick up in season two, Ichabod is still trapped, buried alive, but quickly he flashes into the cabin where Abbie is waiting for him with a red-white-and-blue cupcake adorned with a single candle to celebrate his birthday. In typical Ichabod fashion, he has no clue what this symbolizes and asks ‘when will this birthday madness ever end?”. He has to blow out a candle and make a silent wish that he knows will never come true. Ichabod questions the entire practice wondering why science hasn’t trumped superstition after 250 years (I ask this same question everyday).

It doesn’t take long before the dynamic duo is thrust back into action after Abbie receives a call from a professor who happens to be an expert on all things Benjamin Franklin and he’s requested their help specifically for a problem he’s dealing with currently. Ichabod knows if they are getting name-dropped things are about to get bad.

In the midst of the travel to the professor’s office, Ichabod and Abbie reveal that this is all taking place a year after the events where they were locked away and prisoners of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. In the time away, the Horsemen murdered Katrina and Abbie’s sister Jenny was killed as well. Are the famously plutonic friends about to become Ichabbie after all?!?

Not so fast.

The investigation and subsequent battle with the Horsemen lead them to interrogating Henry, who they’ve captured and are holding prisoner, to find out why this Benjamin Franklin disciple was targeted in the first place. It turns out the MacGuffin they are searching for in this episode is a mystical key that the father of invention created that serves as a portal to pull someone out of purgatory without that pesky rule getting in the way (for every soul that leaves purgatory, another must replace it). It seems Abbie’s sister Jenny saw the journal once a time with the information about where Franklin hid the key while she was doing an investigation for Sheriff Corbin. The other big revelation — this was all one big dream sequence conjured up by Henry to get the information from Ichabod and Abbie while they were both still trapped in present day.

Ichabod wakes up and he’s still trapped and Abbie is still tucked away in purgatory.

Breaking Out Is Easy to Do

Thankfully, Ichabod has some quick wits and he discovers that the soil where he’s buried is rife with sulfur and he can concoct a fuse to help burn or explode his way out of this dismal grave. Before he blows things up, Ichabod attempts to record a goodbye message to Abbie on her phone just in case he gets burned alive instead of escaping. Of course the memory is full and his heartfelt sendoff is lost. Damn you limited phone space!

Luckily the message is all for naught anyways because Ichabod’s trick works and he is free after blowing up the earth above him to get out of the casket. He’s quickly off to find Jenny since she is now the key to unraveling the mystery of Benjamin Franklin’s key. We also discover that before he was Ichabod, the right hand man to George Washington, he was Ichabod, lowly apprentice to Benjamin Franklin because this is Sleepy Hollow and why the hell not?

When he studied under Franklin he learned a few things. First off the guy playing Franklin is Poindexter from ‘Revenge of the Nerds’. Second, Franklin was an insufferable egomaniac who thought he was the smartest man in the room at all times. He also liked to take baths and air-dry naked. They also turn a bit of classic twistory (Sleepy Hollow’s twisted history) as they reveal that the famous key tied to a kite that helped Franklin discover electricity was actually this magical key they are searching for and when he got it struck by lightning it wasn’t to act as a conductor — it was his hope of destroying the damn thing. Oh one more thing — once upon a time, Franklin traveled back to merry old England where he infiltrated a notorious America hating group called The Hellfire Club. (these were real groups held during those days in England and in fact Franklin was known to visit them occasionally so this part of history is real. The Hellfire Clubs also were said to engage in anti-religious ceremonies and partake in whores so curious to see if that part pops up again considering Franklin will be in a few episodes this season).

Escape the Hessians

Jenny wakes up tied to a chair, kidnapped by those loyal to the Hessian with Henry nearby. He found out that she knew where Franklin’s journal was hidden so Jenny was brought her so he could read her sins. After her car wreck, he took possession of the other Mills sister just in case she came in handy. Turns out she is!

He grabs her hands unwillingly and quickly finds out where the book is hidden. Once Henry goes, he leaves behind a garrison of soldiers to watch after Jenny. Anyone else shocked that she gets free about six seconds after he goes?

Meanwhile, Ichabod is hot on her trail and thanks to Jenny texting her sister’s phone (which he is in possession of at the time) he’s quick to rescue her from the warehouse where she’s being held just up the road from where he was buried alive. An ambulance crashing through the warehouse and a driving lesson later, and Jenny is free with Ichabod as they go on a mission to find the key and hopefully use it to save Abbie from purgatory.

When they recover the journal, Ichabod helps decipher the code since he knew Franklin’s secret alphabet and they are off to get the key.

Purgatory’s Dark and Full of Terrors

Abbie’s trip through purgatory is hell on Earth but she soon finds a friend nearby when Andy (John Cho) makes a guest appearance to guide her where she needs to go. It seems Moloch — the big bad and master of Purgatory — is raising a demon army to help him invade Earth once his minions find the key to open up a portal so they can escape without replacing souls in their absence. Andy warns Abbie that Moloch is looking for her, but she has to get a message to Ichabod. So he shows her how Katrina used to contact her husband while she was trapped there as well.

It seems Moloch is not only the ruler of Purgatory but he’s got a little love nest tucked away in a quiet corner complete with towering flames, a giant upside down pentagram and a mirror with an incantation that when read can help the person connect to somebody on the outside world. With limited time until Moloch returns home and finds her sleeping in his bed, she contacts Ichabod and gives him the message to help save her life.
While Abbie is locked away hoping to be rescued, Katrina wakes up in a random shack somewhere remote with old Headless roaming the halls. Apparently in his down time Headless has been pumping iron because there’s a random shirtless shot of him during the episode because even the undead soldiers of doom have to be buff right? She tries to revolt against him, but he thwarts her plan immediately.

Still, Headless can’t stay mad at Katrina too long and offers her a gift — the emerald necklace he gave her when he was still alive and had a head. When she wears it, something strange happens — Headless gets his head back! Yep, it’s Abraham in his full body walking and talking to the love of his life. The only problem is Katrina detests him and promises to never give up on Ichabod.

Rescue Me

While Katrina is somewhere with Headless doing god knows what to her, Ichabod has more important things to worry about, dammit. He has to find the key to open purgatory and save the real ying to his yang. Sure enough, Franklin’s clues lead Ichabod and Abby to the clocktower in the middle of Sleepy Hollow (because EVERYTHING in history is somewhere in Sleepy Hollow) and they find the key.

Ichabod reads the spell and a doorway opens and he’s quickly reunited with the love of his life errrr Abbie. They embrace but she’s parched so he offers her a drink. Oh but remember the rules of Purgatory — don’t eat or drink anything given to you and whatever you do don’t feed them after midnight and sunlight hurts them (sorry got this confused with Gremlins for a minute).

It turns out Purgatory offered up a fake Ichabod but just then the real deal shows up to dispatch of the imposter. They fight and Abbie can’t tell which one is which, but the winning Ichabod quickly runs to Abbie so they can escape and drops a lieutenant on her — she immediately knows this is the faker because he didn’t say leftenant and she lops his head off with one swipe of a sword.

The real Ichabod quickly grabs Abbie and they spirit away from Purgatory as Moloch spots them and tries to mount his army quick enough to follow them through the wormhole. Thankfully, the opening closes in the nick of time and Moloch is locked away in Purgatory and Franklin’s key crumbles in Ichabod’s hand after being used for the one and only time it will work. The whole team celebrates but back in the evil lair, Henry is confronted by his master as he apologizes for failing to retrieve the key in time. Instead of punishing his ward, Moloch gives Henry a gift — a living, breathing armor for the Horseman of war that he can command like a video game. He comes complete with fiery red eyes and a flaming sword! Now all the kids on the block are going to want one.

Henry’s mission is to snuff out his father and all those who aim to stop Moloch and now he’s got a weapon to help him complete his mission. Abbie knows trouble is coming and the war for eternity has already started.

Oh Sleepy Hollow, how I missed you terribly.

Sleepy Hollow returns next Monday at 9pm ET for a brand new episode.