“Sleepy Hollow” is one of the most over the top shows on TV. Every episode there’s a new monster, more outrageous encounters and the re-writing of history in a much more supernatural realm. This writers room must smoke opium and do mushrooms to keep coming up with these ideas.
The second season of “Sleepy Hollow” premiered last night and you can read our review of the season premiere here. It’s too soon to say what the second season has in store for audiences. Luckily for us, there are some deliciously ludicrous moments in the first season of “Sleepy Hollow.” Whether it’s Andy Brooks (John Cho) being possessed by a demon (sweet!) or the Sandman infesting his victim’s dreams (knarly!), this show is jam packed with shocking, epic visual goodies. It helps that “Sleepy Hollow” has a budget big enough to let the writers’ imaginations run wild.
In no particular order of awesome-ness, here are 10 of the most insane moments from season one. We’ll work from the pilot to the last episode, just so there won’t be any spoilers if you’re behind. Some of them involve terrifying creatures and others juicy and dramatic plot twists.
10 Most Insane Moments From Sleepy Hollow Season 1
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10. The Headless Horseman
We can't make a list about the epic "Sleepy Hollow" moments without including the most infamous of them all: the decapitation.
In the first few moments of the pilot (literally a minute in), a masked man on horseback rides towards Ichabod Crane (Tom Milson) in battle. He slices at Crane’s chest, wounding him almost fatally. Before Crane falls, he whips a blade at the masked horseman, chopping off his head.
Awesome. It’s a moment we’ve all lived through literary history, but is done swiftly and rightfully so at the top of the series.
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9. Rise of The Witch
Just to show us that the horseman won’t be the only crazy villain in the series, episode two, “Blood Moon,” introduces us to Serilda of Abaddon (Monique Ganderton), a resurrected witch.
Crane and Lieutenant Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) hunt her down in an underground hiding spot, uncovering her surrounded by voodoo dolls and covered in slimy grime. She’s pretty nasty, until she sheds her rotting skin to reveal a super hot lady. Evil and sexy is always good.
But we don’t get to see her for long. As she walks through the tunnel, coming after Crane and Abbie, they throw a torch towards the witch, burning her alive. It’s the classic witch burned at the stake, but much more epic.
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8. Enter The Sandman
In episode three, “For the Triumph of Evil,” Abbie and Crane travel to a dream world to conquer the Mohawk dream spirit Ro'kenhronteys: the Sandman.
"Sleepy Hollow’s" version of the legendary entity is pretty terrifying. He’s a bony, pale man with sunken black holes for eyes and no mouth. He’s also has long, sharp fingernails and causes his victims to commit suicide through guilt-ridden memories.
When Abbie and Crane are trapped with him, she finally confesses to lying as a child about seeing a demon in the woods. At this, the Sandman begins to turn into ice and when Mills whacks him with a chair, shatters. He’s arguably the best monster in the series.
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7. A Late Delivery From Roanoke
This moment may not be one of the most over-the-top in the season, but it shows just how much disbelief the show is asking the audience to suspend.
In episode 5, “John Doe,” Abbie and Crane discover a boy with a strange disease. Crane realizes that he’s from the lost Roanoke Colony and that they must travel back in time to the village. A) Sleepy Hollow is playing with time travel. B) When they actually do find the portal in a swamp, they walk on water. C) They uncover the hidden village from centuries ago with a disease-infested population.
The combination of all three makes this incident pretty insane. The bar it set for the rest of the season when it comes to the mind-boggling abilities this crime-fighting duo has.
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6. Headless Goes Down
So far in the season, the Horseman has been pretty invincible. But in episode 7, “The Midnight Ride” we finally get to see him on his knees.
The sequence leading up to his capture is pretty impressive in itself. The horseman chases Crane on horseback through the forest with a giant blade in his hand. As Crane says, ‘that was terrifying.” But then the moment that proves most insane is how they catch the horseman.
They lead him with glowing skulls to a room where suddenly a bright white fog blasts and appears to be freezing him. Who knew? That’s how you catch a decapitated demon.
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5. My Neck Hurts Right Here
There’s something about seeing John Cho possessed by an evil spirit that’s just undeniably ludicrous.
In episode 8, “Necromancer,” the gang interrogates the chained Horseman. Out of nowhere, the Andy Brooks (played by Cho) cracks his head back, his eyes turn black, and he starts to speak.
”It belonged to Katrina. You took my head and death will not be silenced.” The moment is both super creepy and slightly hilarious because the dramatic stakes are raised in t-minus two seconds. The Horseman has possessed Brooks and revealed a love triangle between Crane, Katrina and the Horseman himself since he was her ex-fiancé.
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4. Moloch Skypes in
Episode 10, “The Golem” is already nuts without the final moments. Ichabod Crane defeats the green entity Golem, whose body is stitched eerily all the way up to his face.
But just when things start to calm, Crane looks into a mirror back at the office. He watches as It cracks and through it, he sees a forest and he is suddenly transported there.
A mysterious voice speaks to him about the “end of days.” Then, Moloch appears to Crane and tells him that he’ll possess his soul forever. This dude is even scarier than the Golem. The special effects team is really out-doing themselves at this point.
When Crane wakes, he tells Abbie, “He’s coming for your soul. I will deliver it to him.” Oh, snap!
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3. The Captain's Daughter
If we haven’t seen enough insane demon-possession moments yet, episode 11 is the kicker. In “The Vessel,” a minion of Moloch, Anticif, has returned to earth and starts embodying victims right and left.
About half way through the episode, Captain Frank Irving (Orlando Jones) comes home to find his daughter floating mid air. A priest shows up and wiggles his cross at her, but she twists his neck like a toothpick.
The little girl’s eyes turn white and body contorts (typical possession). She insists Irving take her to George Washington’s bible, which is valuable in defeating Moloch. She grabs her mother by the neck demanding, “Or is Mommy next?”
Always love a good Linda Blair throwback scene.
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2. Washington's Tomb
The show is pulling some National Treasure plot moves by episode 12, “The Indispensable Man.”
They’re re-writing history with a much more supernatural air. When Crane, Abbie and the Sin-eater, Henry Parish (John Noble) travel to George Washington’s tomb, it’s pretty ambitious, they even show the president’s dead body, white wig and all.
The real crazy sequence comes when Dead Andy Brooks flies into the tomb in a long black coat which is very Keanu Reeves in The Matrix. Andy sets the tomb on fire and before he can destroy them all, he asks Abbie to kill him.
She stabs him through his head, which is now hollow. Bye bye, Andy Brooks! Or maybe not? Andy rises again, as the tomb starts to crumble, but it’s too late. He’s crushed and the others escape.
Nice.
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1. The Son Also Rises
The last episode of the season delivers. That’s for sure.
Crane and Katrina are with Henry in the woods, discussing Abbie's fate in Purgatory when Henry suddenly summons the trees to entangle them.
And in a shocking twist…Henry is really their presumed dead son, Jeremy! No. This whole time? That’s insane! Not only is he Crane’s son, he’s also the Horseman of War and ultimately their mortal enemy.
Henry reveals that Moloch took him from the Earth and fathered him. Just to top off the insanity, Henry also states that he’s been seen once, before…by Abbie and her sister, Jenny. It looks like they’re all entwined now.
This final episode ends with Henry throwing Crane in a coffin and slamming it shut. And we had to wait nine months to see how Crane would get out of that one!
Thank Moloch it’s time for season 2.
