Sleepy Hollow: The Weeping Lady Recap

Sleepy Hollow: The Weeping Lady (2×05)

Synopsis: Henry takes matters into his own hands in order to shake Ichabod’s faith in Katrina by summoning a vengeful jealous spirit from his past, but he get’s more than he bargained for. Ichabod and Abbie fight the weeping lady and Katrina’s life hangs in the balance.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Ichabod has finally ditched his old clothes. Well, sort of. Ichabod gets new clothes fashioned for him, but don’t expect him to jump into modern garments quite yet. He has a young seamstress named Caroline fashion him new clothes for colonial reenactment scenes. Even in the 21^st century there are apparently diehard colonial fans desperate to reenact famous battles such as the Battle of Saratoga. Maybe Ichabod has found his true calling. Caroline, though, may have other personal reasons for helping Crane. I don’t blame her for her feelings, as any young woman would likely have a case of Crane on the brain, as Abbie elegantly puts it.

Katrina, still living with Abraham, busies herself with witchcraft. She manages to coerce a raven using magic and sends a letter to Ichabod. Abraham suspects Katrina has found a way around the wards Henry supposedly cast to keep Katrina from using witchcraft. He asks Henry to strengthen the wards, but Henry has other plans for Katrina. Abraham still pleads with Katrina to willingly choose to side with him and once more claims he will not wait forever.

Crane and Abbie stake out Caroline’s home, whose feelings Ichabod inadvertenly hurt earlier. After apologizing and bidding her good night, Caroline is set upon and killed by a mysterious woman in black. Her body washes up on the shore the next morning and Ichabod is distraught, demanding justice for her death. Traveling upstream Ichabod and Abbie discover clues to her death, which leads them to a high school, where the find a pair of teenagers who had been present the night before. The teens claim they heard and saw a weeping lady before high tailing it out of there. Ichabod and Abbie research the weeping lady, discovering that the lady dates back to the story of a ghost of a woman who drowned in the river because she was supposedly jilted by a lover. While researching the legend in the library, Katrina’s raven arrives and Ichabod reads her touching love letter. Really Katrina, you waste all that energy and jeopardize your life to send Ichabod a letter once more declaring your love?

It seems Hawley is also researching things that go bump in the night in the library. The camaraderie between Ichabod, Abbie and Hawley is still rough and frayed from last week’s betrayal and I hope the three soon repair whatever distrust lingers between them. Hawley claims forewarned is forearmed. Sounds reasonable to me. He offers his assistance to Abbie before seemingly departing.

While in the library, Abbie experiences a startling vision of the weeping lady herself shrouded in darkness. The lady is almost reminiscent of the girl from film The Ring. The lady reaches for Abbie, pulling her into the river through a gaping black hole in the ground. The weeping lady attempts to drag her down deeper, but Ichabod pulls her from the hole. Hawley arrives just in time, giving Abbie mouth to mouth and successfully resuscitating her. Ichabod is going to need to learn CPR pretty soon if he expects to be useful. Though shaken, the pair continue to research the weeping lady. It seems that during the struggle, Abbie had managed to rip a piece of fabric of from the lady’s shawl. Ichabod, of course, happens to recognize the fabric, claiming it belonged to a woman he once knew.

Through flashbacks we meet Mary Wells, a very emotionally intense lady who Ichabod had been promised to long ago. She, unfortunately, does not make a very good impression, strikingly jealous and possessive, but possesses perfect qualities for the weeping lady. While Mary had cared for Ichabod romantically, Ichabod only cared for Mary as a brother would for a sister. Now that has got to hurt. Mary gives Ichabod an ultimatum, but the following day he receives a letter releasing him from any promises of marriage and she claims she is returning home. Abbie surmises that maybe Mary never left that fateful day and instead is the spirit that has haunted Sleepy Hollow for over 200 years. Mary has attacked both Caroline and Abbie over her irrationally possessive jealousy, but historically the weeping lady has always been a benevolent neutral spirit. Now something has changed.

Ichabod then realizes that he has lost his letter from Katrina during the scuffle with the weeping lady. Katrina may have just become number one on the lady’s hit list. The two seek out Hawley, desperate to discover a weapon capable of vanquishing the weeping lady. Hawley lends them a crossbow with a solid iron bolt with a tip filled with Greek fire and basilisk venom apparently. Well that sounds real legit already… The two only have one shot with the crossbow though. The horseman leaves his home and Ichabod rushes inside, only to find that the lady has already taken Katrina. The two hastily scramble to the river, desperate to save Katrina. Using her witchcraft though, Katrina is able manipulate the seaweeds, buying her some time to reach the beach. Katrina claims that the tormented spirit of the weeping lady was given flesh and raised by dark magic, likely by Henry himself.

Katrina, with Abbie’s help, attempts to send the lady back where she was cast while Ichabod holds of the weeping lady with the bow. Ichabod fires the bolt at her, but it has no effect. Katrina’s enchantment takes hold and Mary’s spirit is then free to leave but not before naming Katrina as the reason for her predicament.

It seems Katrina is hiding secrets from Ichabod, as she knows why Mary’s spirit is haunting this place. Ichabod demands the truth and Katrina reveals that she had met with Mary in private but Mary, in her anger, fell and died on the riverbank. Katrina, in haste, penned the letter to Ichabod instead. The horseman arrives shortly after to take Katrina back with him and spares Ichabod’s life.

Later, Jenny visits Hawley, returning his dud crossbow, but it seems she’s also looking for something else and the two share a kiss that I did not see coming.

Back in Hell, Henry is paying for his mistake. Moloch claims Katrina is one of the hellfire shards (whatever that means) and Moloch needs her alive for his grand plan. Henry, though, is making plans of his own, which Moloch is none too happy to hear. Moloch claims Henry is but a solider who is meant to obey, not plan. Henry is not pleased by this either. While Henry continues to plot behind Moloch’s back, Henry’s success is revealed, as Ichabod is now reflecting on Katrina’s lies and even beginning to doubt their trust and marriage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvyxvGs-t6A