- "I can feel it. The blood. The fear. The slaughter. The thrill of it. Armies clashing. Striving for conquest. I am become war."
- —Ichabod Crane
"The Way of the Gun" is the eleventh episode of Season Four of Fox's Sleepy Hollow. It was written by Bryan Q. Miller and directed by Russell Fine. It is the sixtieth episode of the series overall.
Synopsis[]
When a mysterious woman finds her way into the vault, the team struggles to understand who she is and with whom her allegiances lie. Meanwhile, Alex must come to terms with her complicated feelings when she finds herself in a tight spot.[1]
Recap[]
Diana and Crane attend a elementary school performance of the winter at Valley Forge, featuring Molly. Crane cheers loudly at Washington's speech, drawing stares from the parents. He then complains about the stiff choreography and goes back to applauding loudly. Afterward, Molly asks if they liked the play. Crane assures her that she is a natural actor, and Diana cuts him off when he starts complaining about her dancing. Molly's friend, Kendra, comes over and Molly asks if she can go to a sleepover at Kendra's, and Diana agrees. Once Molly leaves, Diana admits that it's hard to relax with a madman on the loose. Crane gets a call about Malcolm, and Diana briefly notices a woman in the back of the hall, but she disappears and Diana says that she felt like someone walked over her grave.
Jobe checks with Malcolm as he puts on fresh clothing, and the demon assures him that their avatars of Pestilence and Famine are resting comfortably. As for the Avatar of Death, he's working on it. Regarding the last Horseman, Jobe is attending to his acquisition personally. Malcolm suggests that they get a steak dinner. They are unaware that Alex has hacked into their laptop via Malcolm's secretary's cell phone, and the team is at the Vault watching via the laptop webcam. Eventually, she will figure out where Malcolm is. Jenny points out that in many mythologies, apocalypse is a precursor of rebirth.
Jake spots a painting of Malcolm's flag with a symbol and goes to the books. He is unaware that the woman, Lara, is watching from the balcony. She ducks out of sight as the others enter, and Jake explains that the symbol is Masonic. Crane recognizes the symbol as well, and explains that the Masonic offshoot, the Ama Mutatis, was going to change the world for the better. Meanwhile, Lara stealthily comes downstairs, takes a book, and ducks back. The Ama Mutatis believed that the Horseman were the symbol of change and sought to bind them to human hosts using powerful supernatural items. They surmise Malcolm will have to find the totem of War next, and there is a reference to a Weapon of Fire. The Ama Mutatis believed that it was hidden in America during the Revolutionary War.
A proximity alarm goes off and Alex spots Lara running through the tunnels. Lara shuts off the camera, while Diana and Crane go into the tunnels to search for her. She hides and lets Diana go by, but Jenny is waiting for her. Lara challenges her, and the two women fight. Lara finally gets Jenny in a choke hold, and she sees a tattoo on Lara's right wrist. She breaks free, but Lara takes her down and runs off.
Back at the Vault, Jenny tells Crane what happened and that Lara seemed to know what moves she was going to make before she made them. The tattoo was the same one that the other men on Malcolm's team had. Jake confirms that a book from 1780 is missing, and contained bills of lading and shipping logs. It also contained a log of a courier mission to Maryland that George Washington ordered. Crane remembers that he was on the mission and traveled with Benjamin Banneker, before he became one of Washington's men.
Crane and Banneker traveled behind enemy lines, and hid in a barn. Banneker assures Crane that the item is secure, and tells Crane that it can be used to spark a conflict beyond all others. He doesn't trust the Founders with the device, and disagrees with Crane that all voices will be heard. Crane insists that the future will be bright, just as someone tosses in a torch. The two men get outside as the British set the barn on fire, and Banneker figures that it's best that the box they were transporting was destroyed. He assures Crane that the items lost still live in his memory, and the two men leave.
Crane thinks that the item was the totem of War. Jenny stays with Alex and Jake to help them beat Malcolm's IP encryption and find out where he is, while Diana and Crane go to the site of the barn. When they arrive at the barn, Crane is surprised to see that the barn is intact. They enter and discover that the structure is now a restaurant. The hostess explains that she and her partner rebuilt in 2012, it exactly as it once was, and refuses to let them look around. Their next available reservation is six weeks out.
Jenny calls Donnie and tells him that she'll put together a team to recover the artifact. She warns him that she has some stuff in DC to finish up, and Donnie says that it's a few weeks out. Once Jenny hangs up, Alex says that she's narrowed down Malcolm's location and they head out to pinpoint it.
Crane and Diana sneak into the barn and find Lara waiting, holding the box. Lara tells them to get out, and Jobe appears and magically knocks Crane and Diana back. He then tells Lara that she's wasting her time trying to run from him. Lara takes out an Atlantean chronos crystal and the backlash knocks her out but teleports Jobe away. Crane opens the box and finds a flintlock pistol: the totem of War.
Diana takes Lara to a safe house and Crane suggests that Lara is part of the Ama Mutatis. Diana vaguely remembers seeing Lara's face before. Crane tells her that the pistol was forged from legendary blades on the anvil used by Ares. He turns on the intercom and asks Lara if she knows what the weapon is. Lara says that if they don't let her go then something terrible will happen.
Jenny, Jake, and Alex find a house and discover that he has security patrols all over the area. When Jenny asks what their plan is to get in, warning that she won't be there forever, Jake points out that they wouldn't be there except for her. She persists and Alex figures that they need to do recon. Jenny agrees and they split up with Jenny going one way and Jake and Alex the other.
Diana asks Lara why she want the pistol, and Lara warns that "they" will be there any moment to get the gun. Lara knows all about Jobe and Malcolm, and warns that Malcolm won't rest until he gets the gun. She explains that when the gun is fired, it raises the Horseman of War, and she's trying to help them. Diana introduces herself and Crane, and Lara gives her name. Crane enters and points out that Lara has magic, and she warns that the crystal only nudges Jobe outside of time for a bit. Crane says that the magic is risky, and Lara admits that she used it as a last resort. When he returns, Jobe will find the gun, Malcolm will find it, and the gun will fall to pieces. Lara insists that they have to destroy the gun, and warns that the clock is ticking.
As they recon, Jake points out Jenny saying she won't be around forever was weird. Alex notes Jake's life has gone all 'Missy-centric' and Jake tells her that he'd like his best friend and his girlfriend to get along. As Alex starts to complain Missy is Jake's girlfriend, they find four sealed coffins. Death's ax is there but not the Horseman. Jobe speaks from the shadows, saying the Horseman is running late, and tells them Malcolm has some questions about the gun's location.
The next day, Malcolm questions Alex and Jake. Jake claims the rest of their team will be there shortly, but Malcolm is unimpressed. He knows who they are and tells them the others are out of their league. Alex realizes Malcolm knew they tapped his feed, and he admits that he doesn't know where Crane has taken the gun.
Diana frees Lara as a gesture of trust, and Lara explains they have to take the gun to a nexus of primal energy to destroy it. They go to an abandoned factory where Lara says the ley lines cross.
Jake tells Malcolm that they don't know where Crane is, and Jobe burns him with his touch. He then breaks Alex's neck, and then snaps his finger and reveals he projected an illusion into Jake's mind. Malcolm asks Jake if he wants to experience it for real, and Jake begs him to stop. Jobe realizes that Alex is the one they need to concentrate because her feelings are closer to the surface. Jake agrees to tell Malcolm what he knows if Malcolm has Jobe back off, and Malcolm agrees. The researcher says that Ichabod got his information from a reference book on the history of the gun and the society.
Crane, Diana, and Lara go to the nexus and as they move the objects in the way, Lara says that she's seen Malcolm's work first-hand. Malcolm raised her when she was orphaned, and she knows what he wants to achieve. She then grabs the gun and locks Crane and Diana in. She tells them that she can't let Malcolm win, and runs off. Crane realizes that Lara lives in the warehouse. The stolen book is stored there along with a belt containing enchanted crystals. Diana suggests that she climb out the window, work her away along the ledge, and let Crane out. She says that she secretly put a tracer on Lara and smashes the window open.
At Malcolm's house after Malcolm and Jobe leave, Jake tells Alex that he couldn't bear to see Alex die. He explains that Jobe burned him to his soul and projected the illusion that he killed Alex. Alex tells Jake that he was really brave, and starts to tell him her true feelings. However, Jenny drops down and takes out the guard watching them.
Once they escape, Diana follows the tracer on Lara and come to a nexus in the woods. The Flame of the Eternals is burning there, and Crane explains that it is an offshoot of Hephaestus' forge. Lara arrives at the Flame and calls on the Flame to destroy the gun. When the Flame burns brighter, Lara throws the gun in. Jobe telekinetically snatches it from the air, and gives it to Malcolm. Lara tells Malcolm not to do it. He's surprised to see her, and says that she's a bit ahead of schedule.
Diana and Crane arrive, and Diana orders Malcolm to drop the gun. Crane threatens Jobe with one of Lara's crystals, and Lara tells them both to leave. Malcolm tries to fire the gun, and Diana shoots him. When Lara leaps forward, Jobe smashes her aside. Malcolm laughs as his bullet wounds heal, and Lara grabs the crystal from Crane and tells them to run. She then throws the crystal at the ground and it explodes.
Jenny, Jake, and Alex run to the coffins where the avatars lie, and see the President's helicopters flying overhead. They realize that Malcolm is going to use the totem of War to take out the President.
Lara flees with Crane and Diana, and warns that the crystal won't hold Jobe and Malcolm for long. Jobe and Malcolm catch up to them, and Malcolm says that if he doesn't kill Crane and Diana, then Lara will never be. He tells her that he's seen the future he wants and Lara is part of it. Crane realizes that Lara knows other time magic, and Malcolm explains that Lara is from the future that he is about to create. Lara says that a different Crane helped her come back so that she could destroy the gun so that Malcolm wouldn't turn Diana into the Horseman of War. Diana realizes that Lara is her daughter Molly, and Lara tells her that after the Valley Forge play, she went to the sleepover and in the morning they told her that Diana was dead.
Malcolm interrupts and asks if the Cubs ever make it to the World Series. Lara tells him to choose someone else as War, but Malcolm says that Diana is a perfect fit for the job. The girl points out that Malcolm was kind and generous when he first took her in, and taught her to fight for what she believed. Lara says that he can be so much more than a tyrant, but Malcolm ignores her and shoots at Diana. Crane leaps in the way and takes the bullet. Diana goes to him as his chest glows red. Crane writes as he says that he can feel it the blood, fear, the slotter, the thrill of it, armies clashing striving for conquest. I am his become eyes glow yellow War, and disappears in a burst of flame.
Cast[]
Starring[]
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Guest Starring[] |
Multimedia[]
Trivia[]
- It's revealed that Crane is a big fan of theatre, even if performed by kids.
- Ichabod Crane becomes the new Horseman of War; but only temporarily, before Henry reprises his role.
- If Laura had explained that she was trying to destroy the War totem, Crane and Diana would have helped