- "Ladies and gentlemen, we cannot allow this man... to bear another child, to love another wife, to make another friend. We cannot allow Ichabod Crane to live another day."
- —Jeremy Crane/Sicarius Spei
"The People vs. Ichabod Crane" is the fourth episode of Season Four of Fox's Sleepy Hollow. It is written by Sam Chalsen and directed by Jim O'Hanlon. It is the fifty-third episode of the series overall, and debuted on January 27, 2017.
Synopsis[]
When a monster fashioned to make its victims live out their most personal and haunting memories hits D.C., the team must find its weakness to save one of their own. Meanwhile, Jenny forms an unlikely bond that could be important in saving the world. Can the group prevail against one of the most insidious monsters yet?[1]
Recap[]
Jenny visits Diana and Molly answers the door. The girl says that Diana told her not to talk to Jenny or her friends, just as Diana comes over. Jenny says she was supposed to meet Crane there, but Diana tells her that he never came. Diana insists that she is going to protect her daughter, and tells Jenny not come again.
Elsewhere, Malcolm tells Jobe that his doctor said that Malcolm's current life expectancy is 85 years. Malcolm hopes to live much longer for the world's benefit, and Jobe sarcastically asks if it has anything to do with what will happen to Malcolm's soul after his death. Malcolm asks where they are with the next talisman, and Jobe tells him that they're still tracking. Meanwhile, he has located a map of the ley lines.
Jenny breaks into Crane's apartment and finds black goo on the floor. She follows the trail to the closet and finds it full of a web-like substance. She takes a sample to the Vault, where Alex confirms that it is spider silk. Jenny tells them that Crane isn't returning her calls, but insists that they shouldn't call Diana. She wonders if they brought something back with them out of J Street.
Alex demonstrates that the goo reacts poorly to light. Jake checks Banneker's journals and finds a reference to a photophobic substance that colonists in Maryland found. A farmer went missing and was cocooned in the substance. A map shows the location as "The Cave of Despair" near Aberdeen, and Jenny prepares to head out, even though it's now a military proving ground. Jake offers to go with her, but Jenny says that it's out of their league. Once she leaves, Jake tells Alex that they can handle the supernatural since dealing with the Horseman. He points out that the creature in the cave, the Slayer of Despair, feeds on its victims misery until they kill themselves.
In the cave, Crane lies suspended in the webbing. In his mind, Crane finds himself chained in a colonial courtroom. The judge informs Crane that he is charged with murder. Crane demands to confront his accuser. Henry Parish enters the courtroom and greets his father. Crane realizes that the courtroom isn't real, but Henry assures him that it is as real as the guilt in Crane's heart. Crane speculates that he could be waiting limbo for eternal judgment, and Henry makes his accusation: that Ichabod Crane killed Abbie Mills.
Jenny breaks into the military base and two soldiers confront her, guns ready. She goes wide eyed, and claims that she got separated from her boyfriend and they take her bag. When the wire cutters she used fall out, the soldiers handcuff her. Jake and Alex are watching from outside the fence, and Jake says that he knows a way to free her.
In the courtroom, Henry tells the jury that Crane killed his former partner with senseless actions. Crane insists that Abbie sacrificed herself to stop the Apocalypse and there had been no other way. Henry says that "there's no other way" is the excuse that Crane uses for all of his friends' deaths.
As she sits in an interrogation room, Jenny works at her handcuffs. Diana enter and says that she's saving Jenny' ass, that Homeland Security has had Jenny released, and anything Jenny does now reflects on her. When Jenny asks, Diana tells her Jake and Alex called her. Jenny says that she would have soon escaped. As they leave, Diana says that she has the GPS for the Cave. Jenny explains that she and Abbie ran into something supernatural when they were Molly's age, and it messed them up for a long time. She tells Diana that she can try to deny what's happening, but warns that eventually it will catch up to her and Molly.
The women find a trail of someone dragged and follow it, and come to the cave. They enter and find the cocooned Crane. As Jenny tries to cut through the wrapping, the spider demon drops down behind them. Diana shoots it in the shoulder. In the courtroom, Crane clutches at his shoulder. The demon leaps away and Jenny sees the blood on Crane's shoulder. She tells Diana to stop because whatever she is doing is hurting Crane. Jenny thinks that Crane and the demon are psychically linked, and the demon screeches as it moves back. The two women have no choice but to leave for now. Henry's face flickers and the demon can be seen beneath it, and Crane realizes that his accuser is a demon and they are in an illusion. He deduces that the demon needs him to succumb willingly. Crane then stands and asks the jury if they will let him defend himself. The court agrees, but Henry says that Crane will only make things worse for himself.
When Jenny and Diana return to the Vault, Jake finds a reference to a freed slave who encountered the demon at Valley Forge. Jenny realizes that Grace Dixon wrote the coded entry and gives them the cipher. While they work, Jenny tells Diana that it's no coincidence that when Crane revived in the 21st century, he met Grace's descendant, Abbie. She warns Diana that they are part of each other's lives, and they can help Diana and Molly understand what is happening to them. Jake and Alex decipher the code and read the entry. Washington had called Grace to the camp to investigate the disquiet consuming the men. The British had unleashed a demon that fed on the soldiers' despair by capturing a single soldier and imprisoning his soul. The demon created the illusion of a spiritual trial and fed on its captive's despair, expanding its power to feed on others and drive them to suicide.The group realizes that Crane is going through the same thing, and if Crane dies, then all of the soldiers at the military base will affected as well and possibly be driven to suicide.
Crane admits that people around him die, but insists that it is the lot of the soldier; comrades die. And he is a soldier, a soldier engaged in a vital war. Abbie was a fellow soldier and his partner, and he would die a thousand times to give her one more hour of life. Abbie, however, made a choice to sacrifice herself for the good of mankind. Henry asks if he was a soldier as well, and summons the box he was trapped in for 200 years, and says that he was there because Crane failed to protect him. Crane snaps that he never knew that Henry existed, so Henry asks if anything would have changed if Crane had known. Crane admits that he failed in the first duty of a parent; to protect his child, however, Crane says the demon erred in its choice of advocate, and that he cherishes the opportunity to speak once more with his son and never gave up hope for him.
Diana calls Molly and says that she has work and won't be home. She says that she loves Molly and hangs up. Jenny says that her mother did everything to protect her daughters, but she couldn't do it alone. Jake interrupts to show them an entry about how Grace defeated the demon with the "Fire of Joy." She invented a flammable compound that would burn through the demon's webbing. Alex has all of the ingredients except for HMX, a high-grade military explosive. It's illegal but Jenny says that she can get it from one of her contacts. The projection device that Grace used is stored at the Smithsonian, and Jake says that they have a covert way in and can get it.
Jake and Alex take the tunnels to the Smithsonian, and Alex realizes that Jake is enjoying himself. He says that five weeks ago he was considering leaving the Vault because all he was doing was sitting around reading about amazing things. Now that Crane has come along, everything is real. Alex asks if some things should be left in the books, but Jake says that now he's ready for anything. They enter the Smithsonian through a vent and find the devices: a 12th century Chinese welding torch. A guard opens the door and they quickly hide. Jobe appears and casually suspends the guard in mid-air, choking him. He then opens the drawers with a gesture and finds the map he's looking for. Once he has it, Jobe gestures at the guard and he crumbles to dust. He looks back briefly, sensing something, but then leaves without investigating. Alex and Jake are stunned.
Jenny and Diana go to a bar to meet Jenny's contact, Bunker. Bunker is less than happy to see Jenny and draws a gun on her. Diana sees his Marine tattoo and tells Bunker to stand down. They share some Marine speak, and she then asks Bunker to cut Jenny some slack, and Bunker agrees. He sells them the HMX and Diana bumps fists with him before departing. As they drive back to the base, Jake tells Jenny what they saw at the Smithsonian. He says that Jobe is the head of Malcolm's security detail, and Jenny thinks they should deal with it later.
Henry asks Crane about Diana, has he moved on with a new partner? Henry asks why he didn't grieve for Abbie. He says that soon Cranes's new partner will be killed, and there is now a child involved. Henry asks how Crane will explain Molly's death to Diana, and shows Crane a vision of his allies dead in the cave. The jury disappears, and Henry tells Crane that he is guilty and always will be. A noose dangles from the ceiling, and Henry says that Crane knows what he has to do, the disappears.
The team enter the Cave and find Crane. Alex and Jake start cutting him free, and the demon attacks. It slams Diana back before ducking back into the shadows. Jenny and Diana go after it while the others free Crane. The two women split up and the demon attacks Diana. Jenny tries to get a clear shot, and Diana shoves it away long enough for Jenny to shoot it. When they return to the others, Crane is free but still unconscious, and cannot be revived. Jenny suggests that Crane is still trapped in the illusion - it is what is real to him now.
Crane approaches the noose. Diana realizes that Crane needs an anchor to find his way back, just as Jenny explained Abbie had been for him, and he her. She calls Molly and asks her to tell her what she can about Mr. Crane. Molly says that he's a good man but feels alone, that he has let down all of his friends. But he is not alone, he has many friends, to whom he gives hope. As Crane puts the noose around his neck, he hears Molly's words about hope. Diana tells Molly to tell Mr. Crane what he most needs to hear. Molly says that she would tell him to never give up hope. They were Abbie's last word's to him, but in Molly's voice and he is enveloped in light. He wakes up and says that he heard Abbie's words, and that he and Diana have much to discuss.
When Jake and Alex return to the Vault, Jake is thrilled with what they did and Alex admits that she is impressed. The goo in the jar seems inert, and Jake assumes that it died with the demon. Alex says that she'll dump it the next day and they leave. On the counter, the goo in the jar changes, forming Henry's face.
Cast[]
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Trivia[]
- When the Despair Creature was wearing the face of Jeremy Crane, the creature showed emotion towards Crane's arguments, suggesting that part of Jeremy was present, which would explain how the creature had Jeremy's memories, however, the creature might have created Jeremy in the image of his father'ss memories.
- It might have been possible that the Spider Demon could reproduce like a normal parasite would. There was a cocoon at Maryland, then one at Valley Forge.
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