Saturday, March 19, 2016

Sleepy Hollow 3x15 Review: “Incommunicado” (Knowledge and Understanding) [Contributor: Hope]


"Incommunicado"
Original Airdate: March 18, 2016

Hello Sleepyheads! I’m filling in for Deb this week, and I’m really excited to get to discuss this episode. We finally got some facts about that symbol from the Catacombs. Pandora worked with the rest of Team Witness while Crane did some speed-reading with the Hidden One. We got two terrifying monsters this week, and Jenny and Joe were adorable (okay, that’s a weekly occurrence.) And to top it off: donuts, hugs, and fist bumps!

I’m not sure why we had to have a banshee in this episode at all (other than to bring in Irish folklore for St. Patrick’s Day), but it gave Sleepy Hollow the opportunity to explore some creative sound mixing, and it was cool. The silence was sometimes amplified by a ringing and sometimes completely empty, until the creature would let out its signature shriek. The joke was on you if you had turned up the volume of your television during the first period of silence, because WOW was that monster loud. The silent fight scenes were really well done and it was such a creative idea. The banshee was a little detour that allowed Jenny, Joe, and Sophie to work together. The FBI was put on the backburner in this episode, and the main drama was to happen in and around the archives.

Meanwhile, Crane used the Witness Tablet and the symbol from the Catacombs to spy on Abbie as she went out for breakfast, and once again these two are the literal best. You know, the creepy factor would have outweighed the cool factor for me on day one, had it not been for the dynamics between these two. I could just watch them argue about donuts for 43 minutes and be absolutely entertained (actually, I wish they’d do a web series of just funny little Ichabod vs. the 21st century episodes).

Anyway, Abbie left for FBI/banshee stuff and Ichabod soon had a visitor...

THE EMBLEM OF THURA


The Hidden One was angry that Wendigo-mode Joe had injured Pandora, which was entirely hypocritical of him. He doesn’t act like he cares all that much about hurting her, but if people he already hates hurt her, then he’ll care. He appeared in the archives to kill Crane, but not before explaining his plans for Abbie. Crane refused to tell him where Abbie was. He knew she’d be able to outsmart the Hidden One, and she’d have Jenny, Joe, and Sophie to help her. But as the Hidden One tried to kill him, the symbol flew out of Crane’s pocket and blasted some sort of force field around the archives, effectively stopping the Hidden One... and locking them in the room together. Which was also going to implode after an undesignated amount of time. I feel like the symbol isn’t quite as helpful as it’s made out to be.

As Crane tried to research how to use the symbol, the Hidden One revealed that he knew a lot about Crane (can you picture little Ichabod smuggling candles and books out to the stables to read? ADORABLE), and more than Crane knew about himself and his role as a witness. He was useful in explaining that the symbol is actually called the Emblem of Thura, and was created to imprison gods. He translated the cuneiform tablet Crane had smuggled into the country from Great Britain. And as it turns out, he revealed that being a witness is genetic. It wasn’t just that they were chosen to be the witnesses – it’s that they have been destined since ancient times. Does this mean one of each of their parents could have been a witness if the right circumstances had arisen (and if they had met)?

I’m not entirely sure what this means going forward, although I guess I had always assumed that because Ichabod and Abbie were destined to be the witnesses, their ancestors — like Grace — were integral to that journey. I don't know what part this will play in the rest of the season and their fight against Pandora and the Hidden One, but I am interested to find out.

So we now know what the symbol from the Catacombs is called, and that it can trap gods — making it more powerful than the Hidden One and therefore a really, really useful tool to have on their side. It also fits the Witness tablet and lets Abbie and Crane see what the other is doing. It’s a mystical multi-purpose tool. The downside is that it seemed to have blown into a million tiny pieces after the electric field was broken. Is it gone forever? Or did the Hidden One steal it? Why give them such a wonderful tool and then take it away?


TEMPORARY TRUST


Meanwhile, Pandora showed up in the tunnels, offered to work with Abbie to get both of their loved ones out of there, and proceeded to light approximately 593 candles. At first they planned to use the banshee, along with the Box fragments, to take the power from the room’s new supernatural security system. But when the creature had a showdown with Jenny, Joe, and Sophie in a stadium, Joe had to kill it in order to save Jenny’s life. That was sweet and also necessary, but unfortunate because they had to find another monster and fast.

Luckily they had a dormant Wendigo in their midst, and Joe offered to be the monster (more on that later). However, the plan wasn’t working because Pandora didn’t have quite enough of her box to function with. She would need the pieces of the box that Abbie had, and you can bet that Abbie wasn’t going to get those pieces back. Then followed a long moment where Abbie struggled to decide what to do. Nicole Beharie, Lyndie Greenwood, Zach Appelman, and Shannyn Sossamon were all amazing in these scenes. Each character had their own struggle, their own fears, and their own loved ones at risk — and that made for complex, compelling scenes. Pandora promised that she didn’t have ulterior motives, but it took a lot to trust her. Abbie finally gave in and handed over the pieces.

Speaking of Pandora, I’ve been feeling bad for her lately. She spent 4,000 years trying to free the Hidden One, and when she does, he treats her like crap. That would push anyone to their limit, not just someone with a penchant for evil and a magical box. She didn’t tell him that Abbie and Crane had the emblem, but her motives weren’t clear. If she knew they could use the symbol against him (purposely or not), she was giving them the chance to do something she, for her reasons, couldn’t do. She got truly emotional when they almost lost Joe and their mission, and I don’t think it was just because the Hidden One’s fate depended on their success. I think she has a heart, and her boyfriend/deity has stomped on it one too many times for her to trust him with it. She was civil toward Abbie and the gang, and maybe she now sees them not just as annoying little mortals, but as people who love other people. There has to be at least a shred of humanity left in her, otherwise she wouldn't be able to love the Hidden One.

Maybe she understands them just a bit more. However, when Ichabod used the tablet/emblem combo to see what Abbie was doing, both he and the Hidden One saw Pandora confessing to Abbie that she knew Team Witness had the emblem... which doesn’t bode well for her.

TRANSFORMATIONS


Joe decided that because the Wendigo is still inside of him, he and Jenny can never truly be happy. He doesn’t want to turn on her. He doesn’t want to be just another person who leaves her. He overlooks that Jenny is tough and isn't even freaked out by the fact that there's a monster inside her boyfriend. When they turn Joe back into the Wendigo and they almost lose control of him, Jenny has so much faith in him that she stands right up to him. She tells Joe that he won't hurt her, promises him the key to her trailer, and finally, tells him she loves him. Joe had told her when Abbie and Pandora were setting up, but she hadn't said it back, which was a little strange but still in character.

Jenny was angry two episodes ago that Joe tried to buy her a new trailer and move her belongings, but I think secretly, she loved him for it. She didn’t like him going behind her back and messing with her things — that much I believe is true. But not letting it go had been a method of keeping him at a little bit of a distance, because deep down, she knew it meant a lot. After turning back into a human (once and for all?), Joe revealed that he remembered what Jenny said when he was the Wendigo. She tried to deflect it with a joke, saying she offered the key to the Wendigo, not him. But at the end of the day, the episode showed character growth on both sides. They both know where the other stands now, and that has to be a good sign.

Notes:
  • Can Ichabod really not have known what oven mitts are? He cooked Abbie all those meals, and still refers to them as “tufted mittens”? 
  • “Lieutenant, you have my most solemn vow: this is a crime against pastries, nothing more.” “Do not get weird on me, Crane. Even a tiny lie of the donut variety can erode the trust between two people.”
  • “I don’t know what’s going on, but I just electrified by the front door.” 
  • “I take it you’re not a reader.” “Omnipotent.”
  • Crane likes jazz, “the sublime squiggles of Charles L. Schultz,” Emily Dickinson, and everything in between. He’s been doing a lot of catching up, and my only question is: why aren't we getting to see this on our screens?
  • “You may know everything, but you understand nothing.” 
  • “So who’s going to tell Mills we knocked off her monster? Not it.”
  • “Joe is like a brother to me. If you hurt him, there will be consequences.”
  • Ichabod’s “I’m eating my feelings!” and “I don’t know! I’m very hungry!” were so very relatable. Just give the guy a donut! 
  • That hug though, when Ichabod and Abbie realized they were both alive and safe. If I didn’t love their dynamic so much just as they are, I’d be begging the show to just make a decision already. It’s been three seasons — are we supposed to ship them or not?!

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