Sleepy Hollow‘s season three finale Ragnarok bid a sad farewell to Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) and the death of two “big bad’s.” While Abbie may be dead, she definitely will not be forgotten as the pairing of Mills with Tom Mison‘s Ichabod Crane was magical to say the least. It has been hinted that Beharie may return in some capacity if the series comes back for another season.
Admittedly, after the death of Henry Parrish (John Noble‘s character) and Katrina (Katia Winter), as well as Moloch’s demise, things just never seemed quite the same in Sleepy Hollow-land. Even the addition of a new “big bad” in the shape of Pandora (played by Shannyn Sossamon) could not make up for the departure of so many favorites.
Granted, the story needed to move on leaving outdated characters behind. Some would show back up, like Orlando Jones‘ Frank Irving and Clancy Brown‘s Sheriff Corbin so while these two moved back on the back burners per se, there was still a presence…sometimes.
In this season finale of Sleepy Hollow Pandora’s alliance with Crane and Abbie results in the death of her husband “The Hidden One” (played by the superb actor Peter Mensah), although it is Jenny (Lyndie Greenwood) who puts the final bullet in the creature’s brain. Pandora being a baddy herself; double-crosses Crane and Jenny.
Abbie’s soul is consumed by the newly remade box and after some reluctance to give up, Mills then allows her essence to be absorbed and she dies also.
The leftenant bumps into Corbin, in the Sleepy Hollow “green room,” where we have been before, the waiting room of death where the occupants do not “move on.” Crane pulls out all the stops to rescue Abbie from the box and even summons his old nemesis the headless horseman to help him defeat Pandora.
The vast amount of time is spent following Crane’s attempt to get Abbie back and her “transition” to the other side, or the other side’s anteroom. There are hints that Mills is not gone so much as re-imagined (like the Phoenix). As a witness her journey is not over and never will be.
A great deal of time is also spent with Ichabod and Mills talking and making peace with the death of Abbie. Crane believes it is a dream only to learn later on it was not.
His champion, the headless horseman, defeats Pandora, with a little help and it is this event that triggers the “dream” as the box explodes when Pandora dies.
As Crane visits Abbie’s grave her father Ezra Mills (James McDaniel) turns up and drops off a message from George Washington. It makes Crane the commander of a paranormal militia group that has, somehow gotten out of hand (one feels), and a fleet of black cars approach the cemetery.
Ezra also explains that there must always be two witnesses, as Abbie told Crane in the anteroom, and Mills tells him that the soul of Abbie will manifest itself in a distant relative. Female, apparently, and Crane must find her.
The Sleepy Hollow finale ends with Ichabod Crane being taken in for questioning with Ezra departing quickly. He tells Crane to “forgive them for they know not what they do.” With the Rolling Stones classic “Sympathy for the Devil,” covered by Gail Swanson, playing over the end moments, even those who have not followed the last season devoutly were moved to tears.
Apparently the finale pulled up viewing numbers and while this may bode well for the show, it is hard to see a season four without Abbie Mills. Granted, the last plot device of the Washington letter allows the show to follow a different direction but will it go over with current fans?
It was difficult to maintain interest in the show’s third season; mainly because of the sing-song type rhymes or songs that Pandora spouted and that annoying accent that Sossamon was using. (This is in no way a negative reflection on Shannyn it was just jarring.)
Still, as fervent fans deal with the loss of Abbie Mills (a personal favorite) all will await the news of a new season. Sleepy Hollow has a tradition of serving up small screen thrills with a tongue in cheek delivery, sometimes, and a great chemistry between the two leads always.
May it return in a year’s time and bring back Abbie in a different form as has been hinted at in this last episode of season three.
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Hated it, I somehow didn’t think the ride was going to end like this. We deserve better.