Taking a page from The Brothers Grimm Sleepy Hollow presents the tale of Little Red Riding Hood but with Molly in the starring role. Jenny captures Jobe and keeps him prisoner while trying to figure out how to kill the demon.
Molly father gets a visit from her father; a Marine, and Diana, her mother is somewhat ambiguous about his unannounced appearance. Jenny learns that Jobe believes that Malcolm is alive and she attempts to make him tell her where Dreyfuss is.
Meanwhile a large wolf-like creature is attacking pre-pubescent girls and eating their hearts. It is called, Ichabod informs us helpfully, a Barghest. He also explains that Little Red Riding Hood was inspired by this Germanic wolf beast that takes on the form of those we love. “What big teeth you have, grandma…”
In this instance, it takes on the form of Mitch who is still off fighting in the war, and takes Molly off into the woods. The goal is not to attend a teddy bear picnic but to have a real “heart-to-heart” with the new witness the moment she turns 11.
Luckily, the kid is pretty canny about not only staying away from the monster but she susses out pretty quickly that Mitch is not the real deal. She mentions a bike that her father got her the year before for her birthday and when Mitch responds incorrectly, she tells “daddy” that she needs to pee…now.
Overall the episode was interesting and had a number of things going on. Diana finally admits that she has been attempting to witness for Molly. Jenny proves that while she may be pretty good demon hunter she is not all knowing and has to work at finding what will kill Jobe.
Apparently Malcolm’s becoming immortal has made him a bit mad and Crane obviously has no idea how to talk to 11 year-old girls. He tells the curly-headed moppets that King George was driven mad by syphilis and then hesitates when they ask for a definition.
Initially, when Diana brings Crane in on the Barghest case, they both believe that Malcolm is the werewolf clone that is attacking young girls in the park. It is only when Ichabod relates the origins of the beast, that Thomas makes the Mitch connection.
According to Crane, the Barghest came from Europe where it terrorized the locals. The creature came over on the Mayflower and its soul purpose in life is to eat the hearts of witnesses. (If one Googles the name “Barghest” it refers to a large black dog with big teeth from the north of England.)
Part of the Mayflower lore espoused by Crane includes the mention that Plymouth Rock was used to trap the original beast. They then use stone crossbow bolts, made from the rock, to kill the nasty thing.
Jobe helps them find Molly and Jenny allows him to leave her circle of salt. The demon gets back with Malcolm and the immortal billionaire tells him demon buddy that he will change the world.
Molly survives to celebrate her birthday with friends and cake and Diana realizes that she needs to let her witness daughter carry on with little interference.
Tom Mison got the funniest line of the entire episode with his heartfelt tale of a wooden hoop and a stick (apparently it was a woeful event if that stick broke…).
While the episode was a nice riff on the old Little Red Riding Hood tale it also lacked a little in the humor department. Mison did all the comedic bits in this one, the birthday party, the shopping for gifts and the hiding of presents made for some chuckle-worthy moments.
Sleepy Hollow airs Fridays on FOX. Tune in and see just how season four of this fantasy series plays out.
Cast:
- Tom Mison – Ichabod Crane
- Janina Gavankar – Diana Thomas
- Lyndie Greenwood – Jenny Mills
- Jerry MacKinnon – Jake Wells
- Rachel Melvin – Alex Norwood
- Oona Yaffe – Molly Thomas
- Jeremy Davies – Malcolm Dreyfuss
- Kamar de los Reyes as Jobe
Guest starring Bill Heck as Mitch Talbot
Mikes Film Talk 