Warning: Spoiler Alert
Abbey attempts to redirect their attention by engaging in a mental exercise. A guessing game. Ichabod is not entertained. This rejection of technology to uncover some detail they have not as of yet found, was interrupted by Katrina’s call. Katrina was able to use a spell to communicate with Ichabod and Abbey with the use of a mirror. Not much was said, but the damage was done. Shortly thereafter, Henry was able to reopen the connection and hear everything the witnesses plan to do.
With Henry listening in, Abbey and Ichabod discover text that seemed cryptic in general. Until Ichabod discovered that it is anagram. By rearranging the letters, he is able to decipher the code. The ‘Chosen Words’ is an anagram for the Enoch’s Sword. A sword, legend has it, can kill any earthly creature. Moloch being reborn on Earth’s plane, makes him an earthly creature.
At the same time Jenny is attempting to sneak Irving across the Canadian border. Abbey gets a text alert from Sheriff Reyes. They are waging a manhunt for Irving. Jenny relays this message to Irving. Whose only response is, “no texting while driving”. Irving’s temperament is lacking optimism. Using an odd drawing and the reflection from a glass, Ichabod finds the depiction of a snake used in an early American political cartoon. The same exact image forms a river near Sleepy Hollow. Another message in the text that may present complications if they are to find this sword’s resting place.
“Know thyself, completely or Perish when you attempt to see.”
Jenny sees a roadblock checkpoint up ahead. She insists that she can talk her way out of it with Irving hiding in the back. Irving will not accept that. She slows down but doesn’t stop. Irving jumps out of the moving vehicle.
Abraham shows up to get the sword, kill the witnesses, or get the sword then kill the witnesses. The Horseman is able to knock off a plaque off the stone wall. What follows is a game of cat and mouse in an effort to delay the Horseman. It works wonderfully, as Ichabod was able to stay out of harm’s way until sunrise. Like a vampire, Abraham began to smoke under the sunlight.
Next we follow Ichabod and Abraham on a flashback. And a subtle glimpse into the enthusiasm and fervor from Abraham regarding the new world and Ichabod’s eventual place in it. Then Ichabod has an epiphany. Everything that has led him to this point, confirms that he and Abraham have been connected from the start.
Abbey was able to see what was on the plaque the Horseman knocked off and took. It was a snake eating its own body. One of the many symbols of meaning to the Knights Templar. “Above as is below”. And thus, they find the same symbol on the ground. Which in the vein of Indiana Jones or National Treasure leads to a hidden stair case. Down the winding stair case is an open, dark room. This room is filled with statues. Or more aptly, the bodies of people who have previously entered this cavernous room and were turned to stone. We have a Medusa situation.
The line in the journal that reads “or Perish when you attempt to see” is a direct reference to a “Gorgon”. A mythical serpent-like creature we most normally associate with Medusa. Abbey’s “women in my family cut down in their prime” speech notwithstanding, they need to attack this creature without gazing upon it. Enter Abraham. Sure, let’s invite the Horseman of death to dance because the lack of a head may prove beneficial. What could possibly go wrong?
Jenny waits for Irving on a bridge nearby. She receives a voice mail from a restricted number. The burner phone she gave him. He is ditching her for her own safety. He’s going to fight instead of run.
Katrina strolls in on Henry who is unwrapping something that looks like a ram’s horn. It is the trumpet from Mount Sinai. The one that brought down the Walls of Jericho. This is the instrument that Moloch will sound when the beginning of the end is to commence. Henry also shares with Katrina that he found the poison she made with the intention of killing Moloch. Then he decides now would be a good time to put an end to the visual charade. The farm-house begins to shed and break. Peeling away the facade of a comfortable home and revealing that it is not what it seems.
At the Gorgon site, the witnesses wait for Abraham to arrive. They then get him to chase them down into the Gorgon’s lair. There, Abraham begins chopping the heads off of stone statues of former people. Eventually the Gorgon approaches. Ichabod uses his camera feature on his phone to watch. This gives them enough of a distraction to find the sword’s location. In a room we will call the ‘sword room’, they find many swords. This feels like an updated version of the ‘Knights of the Holy Grail’ scene from Last Crusade.
While Abbey attempts to ‘choose wisely’, Ichabod stands watch outside. Long enough as it were to see Abraham decapitate the Gorgon. Abraham’s ax almost does the same to Ichabod before he runs. The lair is enchanted. Everyone will be seen as their true self. Ichabod can see Abraham and Abraham can speak. And what happens now is Abraham demanding justice for Ichabod’s betrayal and Ichabod illustrating that Abraham’s predicament is completely of his own doing. At this moment, Abbey decides on a sword. When she lifts it, they all transform into snakes.
Abraham forces his way into the sword room. Where there is no sword. At the moment when Ichabod begins to play up the idea that they like so many before them have come for not, Abraham decides that this would be a great opportunity to kill Ichabod. Just then the ‘horn of Jericho’ (I’m being extremely loose with the history) sounds. Abraham stops immediately. What happens next might be the best moment of dialogue of the series thus far.
Abraham: Moloch calls me to his side.
Ichabod: Then go. Run to serve your master. No matter what the outcome of today, you’ll always know the truth. You’re jealousy made you thus. Not I.
Abraham departs. After delivering a great and strong line, Ichabod begins to fall apart. Abbey is able to bring him back. Abbey says part of the prophecy again, and this time it clicks in Ichabod’s head as he gazes upon the water in the large chalice that made up the sword display that earlier became snakes. He sees his reflection. He can only see himself through Abbey’s eyes.
One problem. It’s not water. It’s oil. Ichabod takes his torch and attempts to light the oil. It doesn’t work. But why? What do they have that the others that failed did not? Each other. They light the oil together and it works. Revealing the hilt of a sword at the bottom of the chalice. In this great Indiana Jones meets Excalibur, Abbey insists that Ichabod have the honors. He reaches in and pulls out the sword as if he himself had pried the sword from the stone.
Ichabod: We shall not witness the Apocalypse on this night. Moloch shall not rise.
