Sleepy Hollow: The Sin Eater

"The Sin Eater" is the title to the sixth episode from season one of the supernatural drama television series Sleepy Hollow and is the sixth episode in the series overall. It was directed by Ken Olin and written by Alex Kurtzman and Mark Goffman based on a story treatment by Aaron Rahsaan Thomas. It first aired on the FOX Network on Monday, November 4th, 2013 at 9:00 pm.

Synopsis
Abbie Mills takes Ichabod Crane out to see a baseball game and tries to explain to him the merits of America's favorite pastime. Afterward, Ichabod goes to visit the grave of his wife, Katrina. While lost in thought, he is shot in the neck with a tranquilizer dart and abducted.

Day turns to night and Abbie is driving home. She suddenly experiences a vision where she finds herself inside the home once shared by Ichabod and Katrina. The spirit of Katrina Crane comes to her and tells her that Ichabod has been kidnapped. She explains that Ichabod is bound to the Headless Horseman through a curse of blood and that the only way the curse can be removed is through something called a Sin Eater. Abbie awakens from the dream and nearly gets into a collision with an oncoming truck.

She goes to the police station where she tells Captain Frank Irving that Ichabod is in trouble because the ghost of her wife told her so. As always, Irving is skeptical of anything Mills say with regards to Crane, but gives her enough latitude to explore the mystery on her own.

Abbie knows that she needs her sister's help in this matter. She goes to the state mental facility where Jenny has been staying and asks for her help. Jenny is reluctant to give it, but both sisters make an effort to smooth over their rocky relationship. Crane meanwhile, awakens in an underground cavern. He is bound to a chair in front of a table and his abductor, a man named Rutledge, sits before him attended by several black-suited gentlemen. He is reading from an old journal, which chronicles the life of Ichabod Crane - a journal written by Ichabod's wife. Using his sharp deduction skills, Crane recognizes Rutledge as a member of the Freemasons - the same august body that Crane himself once belonged to. Rutledge is skeptical that Ichabod Crane is in fact the man that he says he is, so he interrogates him at length.

Crane reveals the tale of how he was once serving the British Army during the American Revolution. He was charged with questioning a free black man named Arthur Bernard, who was believed to have committed acts of treason under the alias Cicero. During this affair, Crane met Katrina van Tassel for the first time and discovered that his commanding officer was actually a demon.

Elsewhere, Abbie and Jenny learn that a Sin Eater is a being who literally pulls the sins of others free from their bodies and consumes them. They hope that doing so will sever the connection that Crane shares with the Headless Horseman. They track the Sin Eater to an apartment in Hartford, Connecticut, but the nervous older man is reluctant to help them. After a great deal of prodding, they convince him to return with them to help them find Crane. Ichabod meanwhile, convinces Rutledge and his associates that he is the real Ichabod Crane and Rutledge welcomes him back as a member of the Freemasons. There is still the pressing matter of the Headless Horseman however, who is once again loose upon the Earth. So long as one of them lives, the other will always be present. To rid the world of the Horseman for good, Ichabod decides that the only solution is to take his own life.

Abbie and Jenny return to Sleepy Hollow and manage to track Ichabod down. Crane brings her up to speed on everything that has happened and tells her that he is going to drink a glass of poison before the Horseman has a chance to claim any more victims. He tells Abbie that she should go, but she refuses. She understands Crane's choice, but assures him that she will be there until the bitter end. Crane drinks the poison and Abbie holds his hand.

Suddenly, the Sin Eater appears. He recognizes that Crane and Mills are witnesses to the Apocalypse and reconsiders saving Crane. Before the poison has a chance to run through his system, the Sin Eater uses his power to draw blood from Ichabod's body, separating the sin of the Horseman from Crane. He then consumes the blood, thus sanctifying Crane's body. Ichabod is healed not only of the poison, but also of the curse of the Headless Horseman.

Notes & Trivia

 * This episode is rated TV-14.


 * Production code number: 1AWL05.


 * This is the first episode of the show following a brief, mid-season break.


 * This is the third appearance of the Headless Horseman.


 * This is the fourth appearance of the adult Jenny Mills.

Allusions

 * Reference is made to Sheriff August Corbin in this episode. Corbin, played by Clancy Brown, was the one who guided Abbie Mills, inspiring her to become a detective. He was decapitated by the Headless Horseman in the pilot episode of the series.