'Sleepy Hollow' Recap: 'Spellcaster'

Courtesy Fox
BY DAWN FEAKES 

Sigh. This is going to be a Katrina-centric episode, isn't it? Dammit.

Last week Hawley was guilt-tripped then betrayed by foster-mama and Crane and Abbie made far greater strides in fixing their relationship then Crane and Katrina have. Irving is free and all hell is about to break loose. Let's do this.

Opening in a museum or auction house or anything place old rarely leads to anything good and the streak continues. A dirty, hat-wearing stranger appears, steals a book, and cuts himself to do the blood magic force choke on the unlucky employees still around. Surely there are easier ways...like waiting until everyone's gone. Oh, evil. So impatient

It's House Hunters: Hellmouth as Crane is looking for a house that is not the catacombs. His attempts at playing it cool are sabotaged by the baked goods. Real estate agent - 1, Crane - 0. Though you might want to, you know, establish some credit or something. Anyways, there was a double murder at the auction house and a book was stolen! Not just any book, (of course) a grimoire that belonged to John Dee, noted Elizabethan scholar and student of the occult. Hm, whom to consult with on this? I hope she won't be too useless. The expert in question is currently changing flower petals and throwing rocks. No, not useless at all. Sigh.

Henry's having a crisis of faith so the new lord of the dark is self medicating with infomercials at a motel. I self medicate with with too much coffee. To each their own.

Our mystery baddie uses blood magic which is like steroids for the magic set. So that's how Criss Angel does it. Thanks to the magic of pixels. Pixels? Pixels. they get a good look at him and of course Katrina knows him - it's Solomon Kent who was one of the leaders of the town of Salem until he became infatuated with one of the townsladies who didn't reciprocate and we all know how this story is going to end. He killed her, used blood magic to make her look like a demon, then blamed the witches for it. You know, that old story. Katrina's mother and grandmother lived in Salem during this time and after Solomon killed Sarah, Katrina's grandmother tried to convince him to come clean when he (rightly) accused her of being a witch and had her executed. One would think that this would excite some sort of revenge in Katrina but one would be wrong. Can we just send her back to Purgatory and be done with her? Please? Abbie's not going to limit herself to side-eye much longer.

Our history lesson continues; Kent survived the trials but not unscathed. The coven hunted him down and sent him to Purgatory but now he's back and cast a spell that drew the grimoire to him. Alas it's not whole so it won't work and boy is he gonna be pissed. A quest!

Irving lets Abbie know that he doesn't blame her for not trusting him but Katrina read him and declared him 'clean.' You'll excuse Abbie if she doesn't take that as gospel, right? Anyway, just wanted you to know so we're cool now. Henry's sink is being serviced by the motel manager's barely legal son and he seems to take a liking to the lad. Well, isn't overtly hostile at any rate. Jeebus Henry, pull it together man.

What is Kent up to? He's had 400 years to think on his mistakes and clearly can't let go. Stalker much? He must be looking for the resurrection spell to bring Sarah back from the dead. This will have disastrous consequences as the world of the living would be overwhelmed by the dead because no one is able to close a door anymore.

Creeping through the archives looking for the lost pages of the grimoire, Crane gives a moving speech about fighting the good fight - for truth, justice, and all that is pre-shrunk and cottony. You know who's not concerned with stealth? Solomon as he makes an unholy racket. Crane and Abbie get themselves trounced but good because really guys, how did you plan to fight against blood magic? Certainly not with Katrina the Nature Girl.  Solomon taunts her that she's not at one with herself then ignores her so she responds with...pollen? Dammit Katrina. You got yourself knocked out and he unleashed his unholy minions. Way to go Nature Girl.

Kent is clearly not concerned with Katrina as she has little power unless she gives in to the darkness as being a force of good is holding her back. Bets on whether she shares this little tidbit with Crane? Oh, who are we kidding. She pleads exhaustion in not being able to sense the grimoire anymore. Yes, your allergy storm took a lot out of you. Eff you Katrina, Crane will do it himself.

Irving and Abbie meet up at the bar as they are soon to have an undead problem and he's the closest thing they have to an expert. Katrina's out of commission (she said with a massive eyeroll) and we're at a loss. You do the only thing you can do Mills: don't back down, don't make excuses *coughKatrinacough* and never give up. Good pep talk Captain.

Henry sees the maintenance kid getting picked on and Henry don't like that. I'd watch yourself man, looks like the fire is returning to Henry Parrish. Big question now is how to defeat Kent without Katrina's 'magic.' Well, you see Crane, we bested the supernatural baddies before without her so this isn't much different. No zombies wandering the streets so Kent hasn't done it yet or they're wrong about what he's doing. Whoa Crane, that's 0-2 in consecutive weeks. Kent's a Traveler so he's not going to bring her here, he's going back to then to change the past and history so no more dynamic duo. Aw hell no!

For Solomon to pull this off, he'll need a convergence of mystical fields at midnight for powerful magic. Eh, we'll make our own. Captain, we'll need a generator, a fire hose and some flash-bang grenades. Leftenant, I will confront Kent to prove my commitment to our cause. Down boy, no need to flex. Kent opens the time portal when Crane tosses his grenade. Now for the poison darts of ginseng weed to make him lose focus. You know what happens to sorcerers struck by lightning? The same thing as happens to everything else. With Kent disoriented, Crane proceeds to throw a beat-down of epic proportions on him. Alas, they seem to have misplaced Irving who appears out of the woods to snap Kent's neck, sending him back to the fiery chasm from whence he came and pockets the grimoire. Captain, what are you up to? Eh, it was a good win. It was indeed but for whom? You'll excuse me if I don't necessarily believe an undead with Katrina's seal of approval

After Crane's Rambo display, Abbie feels they've earned some beers. The delicate missus is still resting so she won't be joining in. Clearly we have very different definitions of resting as Katrina starts playing with her dark magic. Might this have something to do with her necklace? Oh look, another secret from Crane. And here we are thinking they were making some progress on that front.

Henry is in a much better mood this morning which means the day will end badly for someone. In this case, the gang that was giving Doogie Howser a hard time. Henry Parrish: Evil Badass is back in business. Thus refreshed he meets up with Irving in the woods who gives him the grimoire, assuring Henry that the Witnesses trust him again. Oh Captain.... Henry's found his renewed purpose as he's no longer the Horseman of War - he will bend destiny to his will. Hope you and Crane enjoyed those beers Leftenant; I have a feeling those will be the last for a while. .

Only three episodes left in this season! Next week features psychedelic dough boys and Thomas Jefferson so tune in to Fox on Monday, February 9 at 9 p.m. ET for 'What Lies Beneath.'