Sleepy Hollow - Blood and Fear + The Sisters Mills - Double Review: "I'm Adorable"

3.03 - "BLOOD AND FEAR"

Directed by Kate Dennis
Written by Damian Kindler
Reviewed by Gavin Hetherington

3.04 - "THE SISTERS MILLS"

Directed by Guillermo Navarro
Written by Heather V. Regnier
Reviewed by Gavin Hetherington

I do apologise for not posting my review of 3.03 last week. I had a CT scan on the Friday when I was to watch and write my review of the episode so I couldn't post it. Here's the double review of episodes 3 and 4 of season 3.



3.01 - "I, Witness" (October 1, 2015) - Review / Advance Preview
3.02 - "Whispers in the Dark" (October 8, 2015) - Review
3.03 - "Blood and Fear" (October 15, 2015) - Review
3.04 - "The Sisters Mills" (October 22, 2015) - Review
3.05 - "Dead Men Tell No Tales" (October 29, 2015) - Review / Advance Preview
3.06 - "This Red Lady From Caribee" (November 5, 2015) - Review / Advance Preview
3.07 - "The Art of War" (November 12, 2015) - Review / Advance Preview

The first of a double episode review was quite a good episode! I absolutely loved the new take on the classic Jack the Ripper legend, one that I never thought of the way Sleepy Hollow has. A main reason why I still love the show is that it can still dig into classic history and make it unique to the show, which is something that is missing from a lot of current television shows. The episode opened with Pandora's next obstacle, revealing a dagger. I feel like this will be a recurring thing, beginning every episode with Pandora drawing something from her box. Not necessarily a bad thing as the show is dipping into procedural territory with its supernatural foes, as it allows us to come across different villains every episode, which I do love. It's immediately contrasted with the lighter scene of Ichabod giving a speech and quoting Jefferson (with an excellent exchange of "Here comes the Jefferson." "Quoth Jefferson."). I really hope Ichabod saves the Archives but I love this sort of side-storyline to keep the show going and his cute little friendship with that woman from the history society (so sorry I forgot her name, is it Zoe?).

So the villain of the episode was the infamous Jack the Ripper. As soon as Ichabod said it, I got chills. I've always been fascinated by the mystery of the Ripper so I was excited from that very reveal. The fact that the Ripper has actually emerged throughout history, not just the most famous Whitechapel time, was genius - and that it was the dagger that turned people into a Ripper. Would have been great if Abbie accidentally touched the dagger and been consumed to see her struggle, rather than just this random guy with a crush. But that was still good and I liked how it played out. The best part about it too was that it tied into Ichabod's childhood too, going to flashbacks of the time he was at school and his best friend died due to the Ripper. It was fascinating that this was Ichabod's first brush with evil and sort of echoed Abbie's first encounter with the darkness.

Loved Jenny's storyline too with Joe - they're becoming quite the tag team! What I love most about it is that Jenny is being given a nice chunk of screen time without distracting from the main action with the witnesses. Also the fact that it ties into August Corbin - who died the very first episode - makes it all the more fascinating. There are so many possibilities now for Jenny and what's to come with her and Joe and the other artefact hunters. We also had a really great, though brief, scene with Abbie and Jenny together discussing the Shard of Anubis. Love that they have this open communication and that Jenny can tell Abbie about her life and also seek some kind of guidance, though Abbie was very trusting of Jenny and allowed her to deal with Joe how she saw fit. Honestly one of the best sister bonds on television! Pandora wasn't really explored in this episode either as she just seduced the poor boy into becoming the Ripper, then watched as black flowers bloomed on the tree.

EPISODE VERDICT

A solid episode with a truly fascinating villain, offering a unique spin on the legendary mystery of Jack the Ripper. Some great developments character-wise with Ichabod and his flashbacks, and Jenny and Joe have a really good thing going on too. Very enjoyable, as all the episodes so far have been. As a brief note, loved the fist bump at the end too.

Another awesome episode to add to the Sleepy Hollow canon. It felt very much like the episode before - with the new take on a classic figure - as well as more character development, especially with Abbie and Jenny. I'm always for some sisterly love on this show, as I mentioned before, I feel like they're one of the best representation of sisters on television. They fight, they argue, but they love and respect one another and this episode embodied that perfectly. We finally address the father situation that we found out about a few episodes before, and turns out Jenny beat Abbie to the punch and found him FIVE years before. Jenny just impresses me every single episode with her talent. The discussion between them about their father was really good and made Abbie's hospitalisation have more of an emotional impact when Jenny tells the little girl about how great a sister Abbie is.

The villain, and this episode, reminded me of the horror film Darkness Falls. Anyone seen it? With the killer tooth fairy? I really liked this episode's take on her and how really creepy she looked. A lot of the villains so far have outright scared me, so this is one of them. Loved that the characters couldn't see her, only children can, which made it all the more difficult to fight her. The fight with Abbie and Jenny against the Tooth Fairy was really suspenseful, ending with Abbie being seriously hurt which I didn't expect. It removed her from the immediate action moving forward, but she did get a revealing scene with Pandora who tells her of her abusive father and being sold to slavery. Brings a new layer to our recurring villain, whom I really like. Anyway, the Tooth Fairy does meet her demise in a fight against Ichabod and Jenny, with Jenny being the ultimate victor in dispatching of her. Go Jenny!

And this episode was riddled with really amazing scenes, all featuring Ichabod Crane, of course. His first, when he tries to talk to the girl at the start and she sees right through his magic trick, but he starts acting silly to make her laugh - that was cute and brilliant. Also loved his trip to the classroom with Jenny and his talk about Paul Revere and George Washington's teeth. Anyone remember when Ichabod mentioned Paul in season one, saying something like you wouldn't want him poking around your mouth? Not sure of the entire context in which he said that, but I love that connection in mentioning people of the past. The best, best, best moment, though, comes at the end with Ichabod in the dentist's chair. He babbles and amuses, especially when Abbie is going through his texts to Zoe and sees the emoji he made. Ichabod saying "I'm adorable" while feeling his cheek finished me. I was floored!

EPISODE VERDICT

One episode after the other and they've both delivered. This one was another great one, further cementing the sisterly bond between Abbie and Jenny, all the while further challenging our heroes with Pandora's streak of mischief - this time bringing the wrath of a scary Tooth Fairy. I keep enjoying these episodes and seeing all these new monsters, so the show is doing something right for me right now. And I'll never get over how amazing the dentist scene with Ichabod is - I want to see what he'd be like with pot brownies.

I'll be doing a live Twitter Q&A as part of Wattpad's Horror Fright Week next Wednesday, 6pm UK time! Be sure to drop in on Twitter to ask me any questions you have!

What did you guys think about these episodes of Sleepy Hollow? Let me know in the comments and be sure to watch the next new episode - the Bones crossover event - on October 29th on FOX! Look out for my advance preview of the Sleepy Hollow portion of the crossover too!

About the Author - Gavin Hetherington

Award-winning author of the 'Abyssal Sanctuary' series. Gavin joined SpoilerTV in August 2014 and reviews 2 Broke Girls, Devious Maids, The Flash, Mistresses, Pretty Little Liars, Salem, Scream Queens and Sleepy Hollow. Gavin will write previews for Devious Maids and Shadowhunters, and backs-up Empire, iZombie, Once Upon a Time, Reign, Scandal and Supergirl. You can contact him at gavin@spoilertv.com.

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