BWW Recap: Abbie and Ichabod Find 'Santuary' on FOX's SLEEPY HOLLOW

It's Thanksgiving on FOX's SLEEPY HOLLOW and down at the precinct, Ichabod is getting huffy about McDonalds' failure to live up to its Scottish name, but really he's just upset that he can't spend the holidays with his wife, although he's quick to assure Abbie that he appreciates her company very much.

The Captain calls Abbie and Ichabod into his office and shows them a mysterious note with the name Katrina C on it, which belongs to billionaire Lena Gilbert, who went missing the night before. Abbie and Ichabod are sent to investigate the young woman's disappearance and figure out that Lena's lineage dates back to the Founding Fathers. Her mother's maiden name-Fredericks-rings a bell for Ichabod, who once visited Frederick's manor with his wife.

The duo head to Frederick's manor, where Lena disappeared. Ichabod mentions that the estate was previously a sanctuary for anyone who wished to live and work there, including freed slaves. Ichabod can't seem to wrap his head around how a place so beautiful could become so destitute; pointing out that the house looks nothing like it did two hundred years ago when he and Katrina visited. Apparently Ichabod doesn't understand how the passage of time works its evil magic on appearances.

The two explore the house, which really is incredibly rundown on the inside, and they come across Lena's bodyguard, who has been killed, and handprints made in blood. When Abbie tries to leave to get a cell phone signal in order to call in backup, the front door slams shut, followed by every other door in the house, trapping them inside.

Abbie is not happy with the situation they're in and tries to leave; she is not a haunted house person, and even though we're sitting on the other side of the screen and aren't actually inside the shadowy, creaky house, we're still unnerved, and definitely on Abbie's 'let's get the hell out of here' side.

Using the bloody handprints as a guide, they are led to a closet from which pounding sounds are emanating. Inside, they find Lena, who is ensnared in the branches of a tree. As Ichabod begins to cut her out, the tree starts gushing blood from where it was slashed and when they're finally able to cut her loose, she warns them that the house is alive. Outside, yet another tree becomes sentient and trudges forebodingly toward them.

Jenny, who is visiting the Captain to return the gun she stole during the latest showdown with the Horseman, confesses that she was thinking of having a Thanksgiving dinner as a thank you to Abbie for taking her in and invites the Captain along. Okay, we really want this to dinner to happen. We can already picture this motley crew sitting down to dinner, Ichabod snarkily remarking on the historical inaccuracies of the meal while Abbie rolls her eyes and tells him to shut up and eat his venison; Jenny poking her sister, telling her to be nice to her "boyfriend" and the Captain watching them all fondly, happy that there's no supernatural entity bursting through the door.

Macy, the captain's daughter, stops Jenny in the hallway as she's on her way out of the police department. Macy thinks Jenny is dating her dad but Jenny quickly shuts that down, letting Macy know she doesn't even really like her father. Jenny tells Macy that she should maybe give her father a chance and that he's not completely terrible. She brushes off the statement, calling it just some friendly advice, before turning and walking away, but it's so much more than that. It was touching to see a woman of color giving advice to a little girl, who also happened to be black, on network television.

SLEEPY HOLLOW is slaying its network competition and wracking up diversity points with a lead actress who is a woman of color, its diverse cast, and numerous scenes between people of color (the captain and Abbie, Abbie and Max, Abbie and Brooks, etc.). We wish this show-with its diverse cast to go with its kickass demons and monsters-had been around when we were younger.

Cynthia, the Captain's ex-wife, doesn't understand why, in this tiny precinct, he can't delegate so he has more time to spend with his daughter. The Captain's excuse, that it has to be him to handle these cases, seems feeble even to us and we're aware that what he's saying is legitimate. Unsurprisingly, Cynthia's not having it, and tells him she's filing for full custody of their daughter unless he makes a change and stops cancelling his planned weekends with Macy.

Back in the haunted house, Ichabod questions Lena about his wife's name that she had circled in her book, and she informs them that 'Katrina C.' was the last person to visit the house, according to the registry. Lena admits that the mythology behind her ancestral home spoke of the Frederick's estate as more than just a place of refuge, but a place of witchcraft as well, which leads Abbie to the conclusion that Frederick was a part of Katrina's coven.

The tree man has finally made it to the front door from the garden. He enters the house and chases the three of them around, which looks much more frightening than it sounds. They end up separated from each other, in completely different sections of the house, which is really the opposite of what you want to be-alone, separated from your friends, in a sentient house that locked you inside and now wants to kill you.

Abbie, who is searching for Crane and Lena, keeps turning around only to find the former mistress of the house behind her. Is she a ghost? Is she a witch? Is she simply a hallucination conjured by the haunted house? We're not really sure at this point, but this time she summons Abbie, telling her to hurry, something is coming. The mistress brings her into a vision where she is helping deliver Katrina and Ichabod's son.

Abbie and Ichabod reunite (yay!) except then it's up to Abbie to explain to Crane that his ex-wife was actually pregnant and gave birth to a baby the night she sought refuge at the Frederick's estate. According to Abbie's vision, the minute the baby was born, the tree creature, which was probably sent by Moloch, arose to go after the newborn. Crane demands to know what happened to his son, but Abbie claims her vision cut out before she could find out the baby's fate.

Lena's screams draw them to the basement where the tree man has captured Lena. It's incredibly difficult to tell what precisely happens next because there is so little light except for Abbie and Ichabod's flashlights and that combined with the jerky camera movements-a la the Blair Witch Project-causes an almost nauseating effect.

The former mistress of the house, Grace Dixon, beckons them to follow her, or technically she had beckoned Katrina hundreds of years ago and Abbie is now seeing the memory of that moment. Abbie shoots the roots of the tree monster, wounding it and freeing Lena, then ushers them through the passage shown to her by the mistress, out into the open air.

Though the immediate danger is over, Ichabod is not finished yet; he grabs an axe from the back of the van and heads back inside with vengeance for his child and wife in his heart and in a fit of rage chops the tree monster to pieces.

Abbie and Ichabod sit down for their post-monster fighting talk and reflection; Abbie brings rum because this was an especially rough one for Crane-he learned about and lost a son all in one night. Ichabod looks beautiful with his flowing hair let down, though he is the opposite of carefree at this moment, and Abbie, well Abbie always looks beautiful. Abbie raises a toast "to family" and Ichabod echoes it with "to finding family" and yes, Abbie may have found out she's related to Grace Dixon and Ichabod may have found out about his son, but that toast is also to them-Abbie and Ichabod-who were connected from the beginning; they are each other's family now.

SLEEPY HOLLOW airs Mondays at 9/8c on FOX.

Photo Credit: Brownie Harris/FOX

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