Sleepy Hollow Review: Ancitif (You Know Him, Right?)

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Although I just sat through an hour of Sleepy Hollow Season 1 Episode 11, I find myself with relatively little to say. 

It seems to happen a lot with Sleepy Hollow. It's a fun show to watch, and the Ichabodisms bring a boatload of happy, but even with all of the mythology the series is striving to create, it's lacking in depth.

At its heart, Sleepy Hollow is really a procedural wearing a patchwork hat with apocalyptic squares sewn onto it. There are really interesting ones, to be sure.

The use of Ichabod Crane, first and foremost, is just brilliant. All of his connections to historical figures and the vignettes about George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin and what pieces of this hat they may have provided to make it whole are unique and heretofore never been used in the television medium.

Ichabod and Abby

And yet there aren't clues being dropped for viewers to track and put together to create a framework for where the show will be taking us. It's missing that X-Files or Fringe element of excitement where you talk to your friend and imagine their next move because there are so many different avenues that it's impossible to surmise.

For example, during this hour, the writers chose to utilize a little-known demon named Ancitif. Some research shows that this pertains specifically to the Louviers Witch Trials in Normandy, France in 1647 wherein nuns at the local convent were experiencing possession. One nun, Barbara of St. Michael was possessed by this Ancitif.

That's all well and good, but of all the demons who probably deal with possession in all the world, this was the one chosen for Sleepy Hollow.

How in the world would even the very best conspiracy theorist have come up with that? And since we can't imagine what teeny weeny demon is going to pop up next, there's not a lot to guess about and some of the air is taken out of the balloon.

Or, maybe it's just me and since I am tasked with writing about it, I would like to see pieces coming together. Instead, they seem to come out of left field and it feels easier to write about that than the actual episode.

Which, by the way threw at us that Jenny was possessed and forecast not only Corbin's death, but Abbie's impending death, as well. One more person in Sleepy Hollow has seen evidence of demonic activity and probably has an idea why Ichabod is sporting 18th century garb and an encampment holding relics knows the war of the Apocalypse is upon us. The good news is spreading.

Morales may be dead, and Irving's priest is definitely a goner. How is Irving going to explain to Macy that she killed the priest while she was possessed? Probably not at all. 

Like I said, I love watching, but I wonder what it is that you all want to see here when the show is over. So why don't you tell me?

Maybe that will help take some of the pressure off and I won't feel like I'm letting you down. Especially in light of the big season finale next week. Now that we know Washington might not have been dead when he said he was, or you need a special serum to see the writing of a ghost, who knows what else will happen during those two hours?

Until then... there is a very important question that needs to be answered.

How hot did Ichabod look in skinny jeans??

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Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.

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Sleepy Hollow Season 1 Episode 11 Quotes

Abbie: Have you ever heard of a boondoggle?
Ichagod: If it's another form of restrictive trouser, I'd rather not.

I don't understand your obsession with my finery. Demons threaten our very existence with the promise of Apocalypse...God's wounds! One sign of the impending Apocalypse is surely skinny jeans.

Ichabod