Sleepy Hollow S1E4 - "The Lesser Key of Solomon" Recap

On December 16 1773, Ichabod Crane prepares to dump tea in the Boston Harbor. He and some others sneak on board a ship to retrieve an unidentified object. A guard they encounter utters a prayer before exploding, killing (or perhaps just injuring) everyone except Ichabod.

In present day, Ichabod tells the story about losing his wife to an OnStar operator named Yolanda who is moved by his words and has not only let him out of the locked car but shown him how to use the entertainment system. When Ichabod steps out, Abbie tells him that Jenny has escaped. Abbie and Ichabod convince Irving to allow Jenny to get a slight head's start, believing it will help them to get more information to stop the murders.

Jenny visits a bar to get some drinks and retrieve some of her belongings from the bartender. She tells him that the town is going to hell and that she hates being right about it. Cut to a German piano teacher who receives a mysterious call about Jenny's escape and how he must find and retrieve an object in her possession, prompting him to visit the bartender. The German questions him about Jenny and when he doesn't cooperate, he is tortured into telling the truth.

Ichabod and Abbie look through Jenny's arrest records, which span the globe. Jenny was shuffled around to various foster homes, and they decide to look at the last one she resided in. Meanwhile, Jenny preps some handguns in a truck stop restroom and looks over a newspaper clipping of Abbie. The police are called to the bar and Captain Irving sees that the bartender's head is on the pool table while his body is impaled on the wall.

At the foster home, Abbie can see that the foster mother is neglectful and milking the system for her own advantage. Abbie tells her if she doesn't give them some information that will help them find Jenny, she will call the authorities. After she reveals the location of one of Jenny's old hangouts, Abbie tells her she will still be calling family services to shut her down. Abbie and Ichabod reach the lakeside cabin and after picking the lock, Abbie ends up in a standoff with Jenny; both sisters hold guns pointed at one another. The two sisters argue and Ichabod becomes exasperated, convincing them to both lower their weapons.

Jenny tells them that she and Sheriff Corbin were close and she helped him to obtain rare objects around the world that would help him with his covert investigations into the paranormal. He also sensed that death was coming leading up to his demise. He had told Jenny to retrieve something from the cabin should he die and Jenny opens a secret compartment in the cabin to show it to them. Ichabod identifies the object as a sextant - a navigation device for 18th century ships. Ichabod reveals that the Boston Tea Party was set up as a cover so that this object could be retrieved. The man who blew himself up at the top of the episode was a Hessian. He flashes a light through the sextant, and a map of Sleepy Hollow is projected onto the cabin wall. The map leads to the location of a highly sought-after chest.

It is then that the German and his henchmen begin shooting into the cabin. The trio are able to avoid being injured but two of the men escape with the sextant. They manage to capture the other German and when Ichabod examines him, he finds he bears the same tattoo as the Hessian that became the headless horseman. The German reveals that the chest leads to a doorway to the seventh circle of Hell. When opened, 72 demons will be released. Jenny realises he is referring to the Lesser Key of Solomon. The German also reveals that there are Hessian spies all throughout Sleepy Hollow. He tells them they serve the demon Moloch and creepily enough, the German knows Jenny, Abbie, and Ichabod's name, along with the fact that Moloch is the demon that visited the girls when they were teenagers. After finishing his highly revealing speech, he takes a cyanide pill and it's lights out for the creepy German.

Though it would seem that all hope is lost, Ichabod swoops in and saves the day. Turns out Ichie has a photographic (or perhaps eidetic) memory and begins re-drawing the main points of the map. They figure out that the location of the Lesser Key is an old Church on the outer part of Sleepy Hollow. The bad guys locate the key and perform a ritual to begin opening the portal. The trio arrives and look on in horror as demons appear to be on the verge of escaping. They begin fighting the Hessians and it all culminates with Abbie throwing the key into the fire, stopping the ritual for now.

Abbie speaks with Jenny in an interrogation room and offers to be her legal guardian, saying she'll be able to get her out of the psychiatric hospital and they can get answers. Abbie also wants to make amends for the mistakes of her past. It's a touching scene as both highly guarded sisters see their steeled emotions waver. Later, Ichabod shows Abbie a photo of Moloch which he has found in a textbook. They now know whom they are fighting against.

Sleepy Hollow airs on Mondays on FOX at 9PM.