This week’s episode of Sleepy Hollow titled John Doe has a mysterious child show up that only speaks Middle English–a language spoke before Ichabod’s time. The other twist? The kid has a mysterious plague that begins to infect everyone he is in contact with. Who is this mysterious “John Doe”? Where did this disease come from? What can Ichabod and Abbie do to stop it? Josh provides this week’s Sleepy Hollow episode recap and both Violet and Josh share their thoughts. Let’s get into it!
Sleepy Hollow Episode 5: John Doe Recap Overview
Need a quick Sleepy Hollow episode recap of Episode 5 titled John Doe? Here is a summary of events for the episode. Each event is linked to the more detailed Sleepy Hollow episode recap for John Doe if you need more information!
- Ichabod Crane moves into Corbin‘s cabin, Abbie receives a message regarding a child, who winds up speaking Middle English.
- Ichabod talks with Thomas, the child found, who says he is from Roanoke–Ichabod thinks it is the lost U.S. colony from 1587, also the boy has a contagious disease….
- Abbie and Ichabod find a “portal” to Roanoke in 1587. After some time spent there, Ichabod believes getting Thomas to Roanoke is the way to save the kid and all infected people.
- Back in the present, Ichabod comes down with the disease. Abbie pleads with her Captain to get Ichabod and Thomas back to Roanoke, to which he finally allows.
- Abbie manages to get Ichabod and Thomas back to Roanoke, and the horseman Pestilence charges to Roanoke. As the two infected bathe in the Roanoke water, the horseman vanishes. Also, the Headless Horseman is making its comeback.
Sleepy Hollow Episode Recap: John Doe, the Details
Ichabod Crane Gets His Own House, Middle English Speaking Boy Shows Up
This episode of Sleepy Hollow begins with a female child who is playing in a forest. She sees a younger male child, and she asks him to play. They play, but then a horseman–not the headless horseman–begins to chase him. The child flees, then vanishes into thin air it seems.
Moving to Ichabod and Abbie, he has moved into Corbin’s cabin. Abbie thinks perhaps that it was “Fate” they found that cabin. Abbie receives a radio message for an unconscious child, and she and Ichabod head to the scene. The child from the beginning of the episode fleeing the horseman had been running and passed out. Ichabod spots blackened veins, which can’t be explained, while Abbie makes a reference to his “renaissance faire” clothes. The child awakens, and begins speaking a foreign language–Ichabod identifies it as Middle English.
Thomas is from Roanoke, From the Year 1587?
The child is taken to the hospital, and Abbie and Ichabod look through missing children, unable to figure out who he is. Ichabod then makes the suggestion that his language may mean he comes from far away. The Captain decides that Crane should interrogate the boy, to figure out what the child knows. Abbie and Crane head to the hospital, and via web cam and monitor, Crane speaks to the child in Middle English.
The boy reveals his name as Thomas, and that he is from Roanoke. Which Roanoke? Ichabod Crane suggest the Roanoke colony that disappeared long before even Ichabod’s home time, in 1587. Ichabod provides a history lesson for Abbie, with everyone disappearing from the colony. Abbie doesn’t want to believe it, while Ichabod thinks it is possible. The Captain gives them a call, and tells Ichabod and Abbie that the disease the child is suffering from has spread to an EMT and nurses. Abbie and Ichabod decide to visit the forest where the kid was found to see what they can turn up. Meanwhile, the infected EMT passes away after he has visions of the horseman.
Time To Visit Roanoke 1587
Abbie and Ichabod explore the forest, and they spot a footprint path. Soon they find what they think is the girl’s footprints, but they vanish. Back at the hospital, the disease is spreading further. The CDC seems to think that the boy is not from Sleepy Hollow or anywhere near due to him having no immunizations or similar antibodies to the population. Meanwhile, Ichabod thinks he is close to finding Roanoke. They find a lake, and walk across a shallow underwater bridge for stepping. Once across, they find the village of Roanoke. We see that all of the people of the colony have the black veins that the boy in the hospital had.
Ichabod and Abbie talk with the people of Roanoke, and learn that the illness is not debilitating their health despite showing physical symptoms. They talk with the sick boy’s father, who thanks them for taking care of his kid. The people of Roanoke also explain that they are kept safe in their village as long as they do not leave. Abbie thinks it is time to head back, and Ichabod seems to think the key to stopping the epidemic is to bring the boy back to Roanoke. As they plan to head back to Sleepy Hollow, Abbie sees the new horseman. Ichabod reveals that he is Pestilence, the horseman who cursed the Roanoke villagers.
Abbie Finds a Way
Abbie has no idea how to get the child back to Roanoke, and another bad turn of events comes: Ichabod is now infected. Abbie and Ichabod try to plea for the CDC to release Ichabod, but they will not allow him to leave, and they sedate him. While sedated, Ichabod has a vision of his wife Katrina. Katrina says that he must be dead if he is visiting her there without her being the cause. Katrina reveals it as a purgatory.
Abbie heads to the hospital’s chapel, and has a “discussion” with God, asking what she should do. She asks for a sign, but seemingly gets no answer. She then has an epiphany though, realizing it must be the water in Roanoke that keeps everyone healthy.
Abbie pleads with her Captain, and tries to convince him that getting Ichabod and the boy Thomas to Roanoke is the only way to say their lives, and stop the plague. The Captain decides to help Abbie, and comes up with a plan to transfer Thomas and Ichabod to a different disease containment facility, but rather than them being transferred, Abbie will intercept the transporting vehicle, so she can take the two back to Roanoke.
Back to Roanoke Again
Ichabod and Abbie head back to the forest, with Thomas. Ichabod and Thomas are weakening, and visions of the horseman hit both of them. Ichabod is not sure he can go on, but Abbie has a solution–injecting Ichabod with adrenaline. The three make it to Raonoke, and the horseman pursues. Abbie yells for Ichabod and Thomas to head for the water, which causes the Horseman to disappear. A bright light comes, and Ichabod realizes that Thomas was dead all along, as the townspeople and their village disappear.
Back in town, the Captain called Abbie and lets her know all of the people have recovered from the illness. The two of them head home, and we get a scene of the Headless Horseman jumping onto his horse again, presumably heading back to Sleepy Hollow again.
Josh’s Thoughts: Sleepy Hollow Episode 5 John Doe
This was an interesting episode of Sleepy Hollow although I am not sure I understand the premise of it. In the end, Ichabod and Abbie determine that the boy was already dead. Was he a ghost infecting people then? I do not quite understand what exactly happened between Roanoke and the present time.
The story for this week’s episode of Sleepy Hollow was an interesting way to bring another horseman into the mix without it feeling like a rehash of the Headless Horseman. The “time travel” of the episode was kind of neat as well, even though it seems Ichabod and Abbie may not have been actually time traveling after all.
As the show progresses I am enjoying it more and more. There is one small thing that has begun to irritate me that the show seems to overly do. That one thing is having Ichabod have to make a surly comment regarding almost every aspect of present American culture that is brought up to him. It seems anytime Abbie brings up the reason something is the way it is now, Ichabod has some sarcastic comment/insult for it. Ok Ichabod, we get it! You do not like 2013. get over it! That is one thing I think that will have to change in the show, as the longer the show runs, the more desensitized Ichabod will be to the changes. I guess we will have to see how that plays out.
Overall, I am still really enjoying the show. Again, it is no Breaking Bad, but it certainly has been enjoyable so far. I guess we will soon figure out who the “Sin Eater” is!
Violet’s Thoughts on Episode 5 of Sleepy Hollow: John Doe
As I mentioned last week, I was pretty excited going into this episode, knowing that it was about a plague. What I did not know was that they were going to relate the story to the lost colony of Roanoke! I really like when time travel stories find a way to put themselves into historical moments, and Sleepy Hollow continues to do a good job of this, like last week when we discovered that Crane was the one responsible for the Boston Tea Party! It’s always fun to see what new version of historical events Sleepy Hollow comes up with each episode.
As I thought, the plague is attributed to the Pestilence Horseman of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, keeping the continuity of the storyline going. This episode’s story was a little convoluted and confusing though. At first, Abbie seems to think that the village just happened to stay secluded from the outside world for several hundreds of years, which didn’t seem likely. Then we find out they’re the lost colony of Roanoke. But how long were they there? Was it some sort of rift in time? Or was it all part of the Pestilence Horseman’s plan? Are Abbie and Crane the only ones who would have been able to find and enter Roanoke? Did they enter only on a spiritual, incorporeal level? Was anything ever actually there, or was it just a test for Abbie? Is this what really happened to the lost colony of Roanoke, that the Pestilence Horseman claimed it — and moved it several hundred years into the future? It’s not clear under what circumstances they found themselves there, and were able to come and go.
Again, the episode contained more of the “Why did that happen?” aspects. I mean, you know there’s a plague that’s killing people rather quickly, and appears to be airborne. Crane comes down with the plague right in front of them, and they take him to quarantine, but everyone around him who does not have black veins (yet) is free to go. I’m pretty sure with a contagious disease like that, everyone in that room would be quarantined, especially Abbie, who has been around Crane for a significant amount of time. If that’s how a deadly plague is handled in real life, I fear for the future of the world.
Overall, I did enjoy the episode, and its time travel aspect, even if it was a little hard to follow. I am also enjoying the camaraderie between Abbie and Crane, and really like both of their characters. I’m a little bummed that after 5 solid weeks of Sleepy Hollow, we have to suffer through two Mondays without it! Definitely looking forward to the next new episode, which isn’t until November 4.
Scenes from Sleepy Hollow, Episode 6: The Sin Eater
Here are scenes from the next Sleepy Hollow episode, titled The Sin Eater:
