"The Lesser Key of Solomon"

This article is about the Season One episode, "The Lesser Key of Solomon".
For the book of the same name, see The Lesser Key of Solomon.

"You have one choice right now: that is to tell me something, anything, that will help me find her, or so help me, I will rain legal brimstone down on you so hard it will make God jealous."

—Abbie Mills

"The Lesser Key of Solomon" is the fourth episode of Season One of Fox's Sleepy Hollow. It was written by Damian Kindler and directed by Paul Edwards. It is the fourth episode of the series overall, and debuted on October 7, 2013.

Synopsis[]

Lt. Abbie Mills and Ichabod Crane search for Abbie's estranged sister, Jenny, who has escaped from a psychiatric hospital. In a game-changing episode, which includes flashbacks to the Boston Tea Party, Abbie and Ichabod discover more about the evil they are facing... and finally learn its name.^[1]

Recap[]

In a flashback, soldiers are being ordered to bring back a stone box and Crane alive. A German soldier begins chanting something and then there’s an explosion. Back in the present, Crane is on the phone with OnStar operator, Yolanda, with whom he shares his vies on love, making her weep. Abbie interrupts to tell him that Jenny has escaped the institution and she’s trying to get Captain Irving to let her have a head start on the search. It turns out that Jenny is far away in a bar, asking for her things from the bartender, Wendel, who takes them from a safe for her.

Elsewhere, a music teacher gets a phone call from a disguised voice telling him about Item 37. It informs the man that she has escaped and she knows where said Item is. He’s tasked with getting her and the item and told that a “clean-up crew” would assist him. Soon after, the man shows up in the bar to threaten Wendel Clark, who takes out a gun to defend himself, but is easily tossed over the bar. The men hold Wendel down and proceed to torture him for the information they are seeking. Captain Irving and the police are called later when Wendel’s tortured body is found – his head was cut off and his body hung up on the wall.

Meanwhile, Crane and Abbie are still trying to track down Jenny. She is still on the move, and shown at a truck stop with a big bag of guns. Abbie and Crane visit one of Jenny’s foster parents When she is less than helpful, Abbie threatens legal action against the woman, who is obviously not caring for the multiple children she has living with her for the state money she receives. The woman finally tells Abbie about a cabin at Trout Lake, where Jenny used to go. On their way out, Abbie tells the woman to expect a call from Family Services.

Up at the cabin, Abbie showcases some of her less than legal skills by picking the lock on the cabin, much to Cranes amusement, "How fortuitous. An officer of the law with a criminal past. Imagine the delinquency we could perpetrate if we really put our minds to it." When they look around, Crane realizes the cabin belonged to Corbin and Abbie realizes that Corbin stayed in Jenny’s life, just as he had for her. Jenny comes out of hiding and points a gun at Abbie, and Abbie points one back at her and Crane stuck in the middle of their snapping. Finally he shouts them down, "Enough! If your familial ties meant so little to you, you'd spend far less effort baiting her into a fight just to stoke your misguided pride. And you. Do make some effort not to be such an easy target. Now drop your weapons, both of you."

Jenny tells them that the night before Corbin died, he visited her and explained to her that he felt Death coming for him and that if that turned out to be true, she had to come to the cabin and get something out of the safe. She pulls a sextant out of its hiding place. Crane recognizes it as something from his past. He explains that the Redcoats had acquired a weapon that would have turned the war in their favor. Crane had come up with the Boston Tea Party in an attempt to get the device. But there was a Hessian soldier guarding it and he took his own life to keep them from the weapon. Only Crane survived and he went to make sure the stone box was safely passed on to Washington. When they set up the sextant as a projector, it shows an old map of Sleepy Hollow, and the presumed hiding place of the stone box.

Within minutes a laser site appears on the map and someone begins shooting at them. It’s the Hessian music teacher, who had tortured and killed Wendel. In the fire fight, someone steals the sextant, and Jenny stops one man from leaving with the rest. Disarming him, she notes it an Uzi pistol with military specs. When he doesn’t answer Abbie’s questions, Crane checks the man and finds a tattoo. He recognizes the symbol and the man as being part of the Reinhesses, of the 5th Batallion, better known as a Shadow Warrior. Crane reveals another talent of his – an ability to speak German – and speaks to the man about The Lesser Key of Solomon. It’s a book of black magic, filled with rituals to conjure up 72 demons, that was found by the Knights Templar of the Crusades.

The Hessian appreciates Crane's efforts in German and explains that his "brothers" have ingratiated themselves into Sleepy Hollow – he himself is a music teacher. He tells Crane that even he is unsure about how many there are, being a part of a sleeper cell, but that he knows who Abbie, Jenny, and Crane are. His name is Gunther and he talks about the demon that Abbie and Jenny saw in the woods. He tells them that his brothers now have the map; that the doorway will open and he’s completed his task. He breaks a cyanide pill concealed in his mouth, killing him. Before he dies, he tells them, “Moloch shall rise.”

Elsewhere, Irving identified the music teacher and is searching through his home. Down in the basement, Irving and his men find a chamber of horrors, but no Gunther.

Jenny and Abbie bicker about what to do next while Crane is busy drawing a crude copy of the map they briefly saw earlier. The Hessians are hunting down The Lesser Key of Solomon while armoring up and going to the same location as Jenny, Abbie, and Crane. In the car, Crane asks Jenny where she learned to fight, complimenting her skills. When she explains, Crane is impressed. Abbie isn’t the only Mills sister he likes.

In a de-sanctified church, Hessians begin the process of summoning Moloch when Abbie, Jenny, and Crane interrupt them. When Abbie makes herself known, the men try to kill her and Jenny jumps to her defense. Meanwhile, the summoned demons are trying to get out of the molten portal spilling over onto the floor. Crane saves Jenny from being thrown to the demons, and then is attacked by a Hessian. When a Hessian grabs Jenny and threatens her, Abbie closes The Lesser Key of Solomon and throws the book into the demon pit, where it burns. The pit closes, the Hessians have failed.

That evening, Jenny is sitting in an empty room at a table, handcuffed. Abbie enters and uncuffs her as Jenny questions her relationship with Crane. Abbie explains by quoting Revelations, "And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days..." Trying to make amends for past mistakes, Abbie tells her that they lost everything that day in the forest, but that she sees Jenny for who she really is and she’s proud of her. She offers Jenny a conservatorship, where they might be able to get Jenny out of the psychiatric facility in less than six months. Abbie thinks that together they can find answers. Jenny tells her that Corbin said she’d be back when she was ready and looking for forgiveness.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Tom Mison as Ichabod Crane
Nicole Beharie as Lieutenant Abbie Mills
Orlando Jones as Captain Frank Irving
Katia Winter as Katrina Crane (credit only)

Guest Starring[]

Lyndie Greenwood as Jenny Mills
Nicholas Gonzalez as Detective Luke Morales
Carsten Norgaard as Gunther

Co-Starring[]

Kevin Cassidy as Armin
Phillip DeVona as Wendel Clark
Lars Gerhard as Hagen
Susan Shalhoub Larkin as Luanne Harley
Patrick Hogan as Colonial Soldier
Paul B. Johnson as Forensic Tech
William Neenan as Doxford
Michael Roark as Devon Jones
Lance Tafelski as Hessian Soldier

Uncredited[]

Unknown as George Washington

Trivia[]

Body Count[]

Wendel Clark - Killed by the The Shadow Warriors.
Gunther - Suicide via cyanite pill.
Armin - Thrown into Hell by Ichabod Crane.
Hagen - Shot by Jenny Mills.

Goofs[]

The Hessian mispronounces the line "Moloch wird auferstehen".
Ichabod Crane states that he read about Moloch in a theological treatise, namely 'Paradise Lost' by Milton. 'Paradise Lost' is a poetical work of fiction, not a theological text.