Sleepy Hollow Series 2 - 'The Kindred' and 'Root of All Evil'

And he's the good guy.

Following on from 'This is War', Abbie and Ichabod's campaign against the end times is dealt a blow with the arrival of the new sheriff, whose skepticism sees Captain Irving (series 1 regular Orlando Jones) moved to the local psychiatric hellhole and Ichabod and Jenny removed from active involvement in investigations. Meanwhile, Henry Parrish makes his presence felt and Katrina plays a dangerous game with the two horsemen; her ex-fiance and her vengeful son.

In their attempts to rescue Katrina from the Horseman of Death, Ichabod and Abbie clash over the former's decision to summon the titular monster in 'The Kindred', a Frankensteinish construct created by Benjamin Franklin, completed with the head of the Horseman and empowered with a spell which begins 'That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die.'

Lovecraft FTW.

There's what? About thirty of those pieces of silver?

In episode 3, 'The Root of All Evil', Parrish deploys another weapon against the Witnesses; a Tyrean scheckel which invokes seething feelings of betrayal. Interestingly (I thought) although the characters believe that it causes people to become traitors, what is actually shown is that those affected perceive themselves as the victims of betrayal. This may or may not become relevant, especially as Katrina seems to be working some he said, she said mojo on the Horsemen.

A minor subplot involves Captain Irving being manipulated by his new lawyer, Henry Parrish, while a larger one revolves around his replacement. Sheriff Reyes has history with the Mills sisters, having been responsible for sending their mother to everyone's favourite Arkham-esque asylum, and is not convinced by claims that the end times are upon us. Whether her aim to restore sanity to Sleepy Hollow is reasonable yet misguided, or part of Moloch's plan B remains to be seen.

Sleepy Hollow is a little predictable in parts ('The Root of All Evil' opens with an uncharacteristic spat between the Mills Sisters which belongs in mid-Season 1 and exists only to set Jenny up as a target for the coin), but continues to be suspenseful. It's drama is effective, and the humour - primarily in Ichabod's continuing fish out of water stance - works. Highlights of the latter include his rant against the credit culture and the following from 'The Root of All Evil':

Crane: Is that considered acceptable now?
Abbie follows his gaze to see two men in a cafe, holding hands
Abbie: Oh... lots of attitudes have changed since your day. Not everyone's, but the Supreme Court has upheld the Constitutional right of same-sex couples. And more and more states are even legalizing gay marriage. 

beat
Crane: I meant gentlemen wearing hats indoors. I know about homosexuals, thank you. I trained under Baron von Steuben. His affections for his own sex were well known. Also, I watched the finale of Glee.