"And the Abyss Gazes Back"

"I wanted to apologize. The man who cursed you, Henry Parish, is my son. Needless to say, he's going through a rebellious phase."

—Ichabod Crane

"And the Abyss Gazes Back" is the sixth episode of Season Two of Fox's Sleepy Hollow. It was written by Heather V. Regnier and directed by Doug Aarniokoski. It is the nineteenth episode of the series overall, and debuted on October 27, 2014.

Synopsis[]

Sheriff Corbin's son returns from war, but his strange behavior leads Abbie and Crane to question his intentions.^[1]

Recap[]

Abbie learns that Joe Corbin has returned to town after being honorably discharged from the army. When she attempts to reach out to him, he rebuffs her, making it clear he resents her and even blames her for his father's death.

Abbie and Crane later respond to a noise complaint, and are attacked by a creature. Once it is driven off, they discover several dead bodies, all with their organs removed, and Joe, wounded but alive; he is the only survivor.

Meanwhile, Henry tells Irving that he will need to kill the man who crippled Macey in order to reclaim his soul, though tempted, Irving refuses.

Crane and Abbie learn that the creature responsible for the deaths is a Wendigo, a monster from Algonquian folklore, a beast that was feared by all. It is winter, famine, gluttony, and cannibalism incarnate. Crane discovers, "A skin-walker from Shawnee and Algonquian legend, which possesses both human and bestial attributes and partakes in the act of cannibalism...Once the appetite is triggered, the transformation begins. The beast can only return to human form after the consumption of human organs."

Believing Joe to be the Wendigo, they enlist Hawley's aide and manage to track Joe down in the woods. When he transforms into the Wendigo, they capture him and feed him organs to return him to normal. They learn that Joe was cursed by Henry, who had take the bone flute from the Pied Piper adventure and ground it to dust in order to enclose it in a letter he sent to Joe, which cursed him upon contact. Henry wants Joe to bring him a powerful poison, Jincan, in exchange for the cure.

Hawley manages to get Crane a meeting with some Shawnee who might help, but they had nothing but contempt for Hawley and turned away until Crane told Big Ash that Hawley would retrieve the mask he had sold if they would help with a Wendigo cure. When Big Ash was dismissive, Crane cagily said to Hawley, "the Shawnee could not help Squire Boone. What makes you think they would help us?" That caught their attention, and they allowed Crane to meet their shaman, Frank.

Abbie and Joe talk, and she assures him that his father thought him something special, that he loved Joe, having once said "He is Superman. He doesn't know it yet, but he's the kind of kid who'll do whatever he sets his mind to. There's gold in him, I swear it." They are then interrupted by Henry who calls Joe his servant, and demands the poison. Joe hands it to him, for the promise of a cure. Henry cuts his arm and he transforms again, saying his true curse is humanity.

When Crane returns with Hawley, Abbie tells him Henry had ambushed them and taken Joe. Crane has the talismans that will remove the Wendigo curse, but they must use it before Joe kills again or he will remain a Wendigo forever. Failing that, the obsidian knife talisman is capable of killing the wendigo. They tack Joe to an ally in town and effect the cure. Joe returns to his human form, the curse broken.

Irving calls Abbie to let her know what Henry had done to him, that his soul was not his own any more. When she told Crane, he said, "Henry has done unspeakable, horrible things, and no doubt there's more he has planned, but Katrina believes there is some good somewhere inside him....You never gave up on Joe Corbin, Lieutenant, even when he was a creature, cursed to the point of no return, when everyone believed he was beyond saving, you fought for him. And now, I must fight for my son." Who at that moment had turned the Jincan into a spider he then loosed on his sleeping mother. It crawled inside her mouth and she awoke in pain.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Tom Mison as Ichabod Crane
Nicole Beharie as Lieutenant Abbie Mills
Orlando Jones as Frank Irving
Katia Winter as Katrina Crane
Lyndie Greenwood as Jenny Mills
John Noble as Jeremy Crane

Guest Starring[]

Co-Starring[]

Robin Strasds as Daniel Boone
Arthur Bridgers as David
Michael Harding as Gil Everett
Marti Matulis as Wendigo
Dane Davenport as Rob
Scott Parks as Hessian #1
Devin McGee as Hessian #2
Kevin Patrick Murphy as Bartender

Trivia[]

Title[]

The US title is a quote mentioned by Henry to Frank upon revealing that the he had taken his soul. The Japanese title, on the other hand, refers to the Wendigo curse.
The gamer tag, ChiefWiggum49, is an allusion to The Simpsons character Chief Wiggum.
Ichabod's gaming username, IchabodCrane1749, suggests that he might have been born in 1749. This would make him 32 during his death in 1781, making him 264 years old when he was awakened in 2013.
Tom Mison appears to be a year younger than his character, 31 when cast as Ichabod Crane.