Following the shocking events of the mid-season finale, Ichabod and the gang return to find one element clearer than all the rest: dynamics are shifting. The plot picks ups exactly where it left off last: Ichabod awakes moments after Henry’s betrayal and murder of Moloch. It is now six weeks later and the Witnesses find themselves questioning life without conflict and their place in the world, with the apocalyptic threat supposedly gone and Henry having vanished in the night.
However, it isn’t long after a jolly trip to the farmers market that Abbie and Ichabod stumble upon trouble. In a derelict barn, they discover a trio of demons in the midst of a dark divination ritual. But before they can even attempt to intervene, a winged figure swoops in and slays one of the creatures as the other two flee.
This mysterious man introduces himself as not a man at all, but the angel Orion, who was able to escape purgatory the day Moloch was defeated, after being confined there for over two hundred years. He tells Abbie of the hordes of evil which were freed from purgatory the same time as his escape, and how he can be of help in cleansing the world of the Headless Horseman and others like him in the same moments as Katrina attempts to convince Ichabod to let her attempt a ritual which could potentially separate Abraham from the evil residing within.
A difficult decision lies within the hands of the Witnesses, but Katrina yanks it away from them and frees Abraham before they can decide one way or the other. Orion takes offense at this action and leaves in disgust, while Ichabod feels more betrayed by his wife than ever before.
Meanwhile, Jenny meets with Hawley at the bar in an attempt to use one of his magical relics to hunt down some of the dark creatures now lurking around Sleepy Hollow. After a brief spat over their conflicted feelings for one another, Hawley discovers the trick to using the item and is able to inform Abbie of the Headless Horseman’s location.
Using a totem given to her earlier by Orion, Abbie summons the angel to aid in her hunt for Abraham and attempts to explain the complicated relationship Ichabod, Katrina, and Abraham share. The very moment she is about to head off with Orion, however, she receives troubling news from Ichabod: Orion has had a checkered past, arriving days before great disasters in Earth’s history; ranging from biblical battles to the fires of Pompeii. Whether the angel showed up to attempt to prevent these disasters or to bring them to fruition is unclear, and Crane begs Abbie to tread carefully.
As this new duo closes in on Abraham, Orion’s true intentions come to light. Obsessed with the amount of evil residing in the world, he has taken it into his own hands to ‘cleanse’ humanity and wants to use his weapon to steal the Horseman’s power, with the intention to judge the world himself. Ichabod arrives in the nick of time to assist Abbie in aiding their former enemy. Using the Horseman’s axe, Crane destroys Orion’s weapon causing the zealous angel to flee in defeat.
Abraham charges forward with fury, but is abated by Katrina and his promise to her to not bring harm to anyone, as she searches for the method to separate him from the Avatar of Death. Alliances shift and everything seems in a state of flux as Katrina and Ichabod discuss their fractured marriage for the umpteenth time… They finally agree to take small steps at repairing their relationship, however, and despite the uncertainty of Orion’s allegiance, our heroes appear to have made it out on top for once.
It wouldn’t be a ‘Sleepy Hollow’ premiere without a big bang of an ending moment, however, and this episode does not disappoint. The closing scene flashes to a small gas station where a ragged, dirty figure is shown entering and a helpless clerk is oblivious to the goings-on, but this isn’t the next threat the Witnesses will have to face.
Frank Irving has returned to Sleepy Hollow.
