"The Golem"

"Our lives are a tapestry. Each moment is a thread upon which the next thread is woven. When you reach beyond this existence, as you're about to, you are tempting fate. I cannot say what consequences will befall you."

—Henry Parish

"The Golem" is the tenth episode of Season One of Fox's Sleepy Hollow. It was written by Alex Kurtzman and the teleplay by Mark Goffman & Jose Molina and directed by J. Miller Tobin. It is the tenth episode of the series overall, and debuted on December 9, 2013.

Synopsis[]

Crane needs Henry's help to communicate with Katrina, but their contact releases a monster from Purgatory.^[1]

Recap[]

Still reeling from the events of Sanctuary, Crane is not feeling very Christmas-y. Abbie is there to sympathize with him and to help him find some answers about Katrina and his son. Seeking the reason that Moloch went after his son, they call Henry Parish, the Sin Eater, to help them get in touch with Katrina. While Henry denies his ability to do anything more than read and remove sins, Crane reminds him that he brought Arthur Bernard across realms to speak to him and convinces Henry to try. He agrees to make an attempt to reach Katrina in Purgatory, but warns that Crane’s life will be in danger.

Crane accepts that, and though Henry isn’t convinced that he knows the risks, he instructs Abbie that she is not to interfere. He tells Crane to summon Katrina with all of his heart before strangling him close to death. It works, and Crane finds near an empty bassinet, but for a doll, and Katrina lighting a candle. She warns him about Moloch, and with tightly controlled anger he asks if they have a son. She tells him she would have told him about their son if she had known she was pregnant when he fell. He was named Jeremy, after Crane’s grandfather. She gave birth at Fredericks Manor because she knew he would be safe there from her coven. The doll Crane found was the doll she gave to their son before giving him to Grace and Joseph for safe keeping at Trinity Church.

She tells him that the Four Who Speak as One banished her to Purgatory and he promises to find out what happened to their son and free her. As he releases his will to be there and returns to Henry and Abbie, he tells them that Grace took his son to keep him safe.

With his job done, Henry wants to leave for his train, but he is asked for further assistance. With some prodding, they get him to agree to a later train and head to the library. Crane ask the librarian where the records they want might be. Henry finds the papers that show that Grace Dixon died in a fire, and that the townspeople were afraid of Jeremy Crane – who had apparently inherited his mother’s powers. When he cried, he started fires, yet remained unhurt, leading people to believe he was a monster. He was ultimately sent to an orphanage. Crane is torn up that he was not there for his son. When they realize that the librarian knew more than she was telling it was too late, she had fled and been crushed inside her car.

Captain Irving visits a church and asks about what happens to the people who follow the Witnesses and is told they usually die, just as the Witnesses will eventually. He laments his circumstances in life – his daughter's accident, his wife leaving him, and God’s plan for him, before storming out of the church. He goes on to pick up Macey, apologizing to Cynthia for making things hard on her.

After collecting the librarian’s things from her office, Abbie and Crane begin going through it, and one box in particular draws Henry’s attention. The box has a Sisterhood of the Radiant Heart mark on it. When they open the box, Henry can feel the anger, pain, and death on the book that shows drawings of the same doll that Katrina gave to Jeremy. They realize that the pain and misery from the box is Jeremy's.

At the orphanage where he was sent, the priest who governed it beat Jeremy to purge him of his sins. One drop of blood from his nose, combined with his powers, awakened the doll, creating a golem, which killed the priest and continued to protect Jeremy throughout his life. All of Jeremy’s rage and grief went into the doll, and they realize that the doll may be the cause of the violence they are seeing; it may have followed Crane back from Purgatory.

Meanwhile, Macey is explaining Vine to Irving and tries to reassure him that, despite her current physical challenges, they’re going to be fine. However, when he goes to get them hot chocolate, a demon possesses a nearby man and asks Irving how strong his daughter is. Surprised, Irving attacks the man, only to have the demon jump into a woman nearby and continue to taunt him.

Crane continues to be troubled by his son's fate, left without a family. When Henry tries to reassure him by telling him that he was molded from Crane’s clay, they realize that the doll may be a golem. Carnival ticket stubs from the last 100 years in the librarian’s possessions lead them to the Four Who Speak as One – most likely the golem’s next target.

While Abbie isn’t happy to let Crane speak to the women alone, she lets him enter their tent alone. When they realize they are speaking to Ichabod Crane, his arrival has sealed their fate – death. He demands they release Katrina from Purgatory, but they decline. They tell him he is repeating his wife’s mistakes and reveal that Jeremy was offered help and a place in the coven. He denied it and them. When they came to fear him, they trapped the creature in Purgatory, and hexed Jeremy to stop his heart before burying him, leading Crane to believe they murdered his son. They tell him only his son’s blood can stop the golem.

He leaves the tent, leaving them to their fates, and rejoins Abbie and Henry, hoping they can find a way to stop the golem. After the golem attack, they discover Crane has been stabbed with a shard of mirror. Henry points out that his blood is his son’s blood and that Crane can stop the golem. Crane apologizes to the creature, "You exist because I did not. If there was any way I could go back and change this, believe me, with all my heart, I would. But fate bestowed this task on you; his only friend, his guardian, and in many ways, a father to him. For that, I owe you my life, but now I'm begging you to stop. Jeremy is gone. There's nothing left for you to protect. You have to let him go. We both have to let him go. You've endured enough pain. Bear it no more, my son, be at peace." He stabs the golem with the bloody shard, holding its hand as it dies. In the end, Henry admits that Crane was right about him being called to help them on their mission.

In the aftermath, Abbie gives Ichabod a stocking to try to cheer him up, but he’s only confused by the "oversized hosiery." When she leaves to get food, Crane sees a crack in the window reform and finds himself in Purgatory. Moloch is there, telling him that his death is assured and that Crane will give Abbie’s soul over to him. When he comes to, Abbie is there, and he looks horrified by what he was told, "Moloch. He's coming for your soul. He says I will deliver it to him."

Cast[]

Starring[]

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

Guest Starring[]

Co-Starring[]

D.J. Mifflin as Moloch
Onira Tarés as Grace Dixon
Braden Fitzgerald as Jeremy (12 years old)
Danny Rawley as Jeremy (17 years old)
Katrina Despain as Isa
Carrie Anne Hunt as Jer
Arin Logan as Nahum
Rya Meyers as Mal
Joe Knezevich as Father Daniel
Karen Beyer as Woman
Judd Lormand as Vendor
Mike Whaley as Police Officer
Mitch Humphrey as Police Officer

Trivia[]

This is the first Christmas themed episode.

Cultural References[]

Abbie calls Ichabod a "Scrooge", due to his grumpy demeanor about Christmas. This is a reference to Ebenezer Scrooge, the main character from the 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol. Abbie also says "Bah, humbug", Scrooge's catchphrase from the novel.