Season 1 Episode 9 of Sleepy Hollow, titled Sanctuary, has Abbie and Crane venturing into a haunted house. We learn some more history about Crane and Katrina. We also learn something about Abbie’s history too. Josh provides this week’s episode recap for Sleepy Hollow, and Josh and Violet both comment on the episode after. Let’s get into this week’s episode recap of Sleepy Hollow episode titled Santuary!
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To see Violet’s thoughts on this week’s Sleepy Hollow episode, Sanctuary, click here to get directly there!
Sleepy Hollow, Season 1 Episode 9: Sanctuary Recap Overview
Need a quick Sleepy Hollow episode recap of Season 1 Episode 9, titled Sanctuary? Here is a summary of events for the episode. Each event is linked to the more detailed Sleepy Hollow episode recap for Sanctuary if you need more information!
- Lena Gilbert visits a rundown house she just bought and is taken by a tree-like monster in it. Captain Irving gets Abbie and Crane on the case after learning Katrina‘s name is on some of Gilbert‘s paperwork for the house.
- Looking at property records, Crane is able to figure the house out that Lena disappeared from. Abbie and Crane find the house, and it immediately traps them inside. They are able to locate Lena Gilbert though.
- The Captain and Jenny have a conversation, and then his ex-wife comes for a visit. She demands that he spend more time with his daughter, or she will file for full custody of the child.
- Lena explains Katrina was one of the last visitors to the mansion before it fell into ruin. Trying to flee, Abbie is separated from Crane, and Lena is taken again. Abbie is told by a “ghost” that Katrina had a son before fleeing the house. Abbie and Crane meet up, and find Lena being held hostage by the monster.
- Abbie discovers that the roots of the tree throughout the house cause the monster pain–and they use it to escape. Upon learning about his child from Abbie, Crane chops the tree monster down. Afterwards, they celebrate Thanksgiving together over a drink
Sleepy Hollow Episode Recap: Sanctuary, the Details
Lena Gilbert is Kidnapped–By a House
Season 1 Episode 9 of Sleepy Hollow, titled Sanctuary, a lady is being driven to a house, in a rustic setting. She wants to restore the house, she informs a person she is speaking on the phone with. It seems to be a house belonging to her family. Inside, she opens a closet door that has branches seemingly growing within it. Suddenly the branches grab her, and she screams.
Crane and Ichabod talk about celebrating, or lack of celebrating, Thanksgiving. Crane seems to be a little down for the holidays. Captain Irving comes in with a new case–regarding the disappearance of Lena Gilbert–the lady from the beginning of the episode. She apparently has ties going all the way back to the American Revolution. Irving tells them of her disappearance. Irving then tells them a surprise–Gilbert had “Katrina C.” written on a paper–the name of Crane’s wife. Abbie is not convinced that it is Katrina Crane, but Crane believes it is.
Locked In
Crane wants to look up landowners that Gilbert’s relatives had. They find one that makes sense, Frederick’s Manor. Crane is able to deduce where Gilbert went. They drive out to the house, and find her empty car there. Crane says it has changed dramatically since he last saw it. We get a flashback, seeing Katrina and Ichabod visiting the then owners of the house. We learn it was a “sanctuary” to protect anyone of any race.
They head into the house, and begin searching. Abbie spots someone sitting in a chair—Gilbert’s driver, who is dead. Abbie tries to call for back up, but the radio isn’t getting a signal–then the house begins to come alive, closing the doors, preventing Abbie and Crane from leaving.
Abbie and Crane begin looking for an exit. Abbie sees the image of a woman walk across the room, but Crane did not. Crane finds a copy of Gulliver’s Travels, and it seems to be Katrina’s exact copy of the book. Inside the book, there was a note–written by Crane, telling Katrina of his demise.
Another flashback shows Crane and Katrina meeting Lachlan Fredericks. Meanwhile, in the present, they continue the search, finding a bloody handprint. They move upstairs, and search a closet, finding Lena Gilbert tangled in the plants. They try breaking the branches, and outside, a tree monster comes into the house. Gilbert screams frantically, warning them that the house is alive.
Captain Irving’s Family
Another flashback shows Crane and Katrina meeting Lachlan Fredericks. Meanwhile, in the present, they continue the search, finding a bloody handprint. They move up stairs, and search a closet, finding Lena Gilbert tangled in the plants. They try breaking the branches, and outside, a tree monster comes into the house. Gilbert screams frantically, warning them that the house is alive.
Gilbert is freed. Back in town, Irving calls Abbie telling her that her sister is visiting. Jenny returns some guns she “borrowed” previously. Jenny tells Irving about her dinner plans, and wants to invite Irving to come over. Then, Irving’s family shows up and Jenny abruptly leaves.
Wandering the halls, Irving’s daughter stops Jenny. Her name is Macy. They have a family heart to heart talk. Irving talks with his ex-wife in private. She isn’t happy that he hasn’t seen their daughter enough. She doesn’t understand why his workload has increased so much. She then drops a bomb, that if he misses one more visitation with their daughter, she will file for full custody.
Separated and Together Again
Lena tells Crane about Katrina being the last visitor to that sanctuary, which she discovered in a registry. Gilbert tells Crane that her relative, Fredericks, may have been a warlock. Suddenly, they are being chased by a shadowy figure. They retreat into a secret passageway. Crane then busts a wall into another room, but Abbie is gone, and a tree monster emerges through the hole. Crane and Gilbert flee. Crane then loses Gilbert. Abbie is still lost within the walls, but kicks her way out, into another room. She then sees a lady who says, “It is time”, and Abbie tries to follow her. She disappears. She finds her again, and follows again. She sees a flashback, of a woman from the Revolution period giving birth. It is Katrina. A midwife helps her, which is the ghost that has been leading Abbie around. The baby is born, a son.
Crane and Abbie meet up again. Abbie tells Crane of the childbirth she witnessed. Crane doesn’t believe her. He does eventually though. Abbie then tells him about the crows which attacked after the birth, and that the tree creature came for the child. We then see Fredericks killed by the tree creature. Abbie doesn’t know what happened to the child however. Suddenly, they hear the scream of a woman, and they find Gilbert. The tree creature grabs her.
Crane is a Lumberjack?
Abbie begins shooting at the roots of the tree, which affects the monster. The midwife’s ghost comes again, leading Abbie and the crew through a secret passage. They make a run to the car, but Crane wants to do some more damage to the creature. He tells Abbie to keep Gilbert safe. Wielding an axe, Ichabod heads back into the house. He confronts the monster, and begins fighting. He chops at the various roots and then the monster itself, seemingly killing it. He leaves the house and rejoins Abbie.
Back at their office, Abbie asks him to come to Thanksgiving with her. He doesn’t want to go, but Abbie gives a heart to heart talk, convincing him to go. Crane then gives a package to Abbie from Lena Gilbert. Inside is a family tree of her family. They discover that Abbie is a descendent of the woman who helped deliver Crane’s child. They share a celebratory drink, and the episode ends.
Josh’s Thoughts: Sleepy Hollow, Season 1 Episode 9: Sanctuary
I actually am getting a little bored with Sleepy Hollow right now. For some reason, the story is not pulling me in like I had hoped it would. It was kind of interesting learning that Abbie’s relatives assisted Katrina with her childbirth. The haunted house, however, was a little cheesy and weak for me. I also didn’t really understand Crane’s necessity to put himself in danger to kill the monster. Considering that it didn’t look like he was planning to leave anytime soon, they could have easily come back at a later time.
I guess another thing that bothered me, which has been brought up before, is Crane’s constant one-liners about some piece of technology or change that has ruined society in his opinion. I just feel like many of these are jammed in the show to fill dialogue. It seems like no matter what is brought up–if it didn’t exist in 1776, Crane won’t like it. Except for the internet–when he needs it.
A quick side note, it was funny seeing Rue in the episode. Rue, for those not familiar, is from the first Hunger Games movie, and she made an appearance in this week’s episode as the Captain’s daughter.
Right now, I guess I am not sure what Abbie and Crane’s next move is. I guess they are trying to locate Katrina, but very little was accomplished this episode, I thought, in that endeavor. Hopefully we will get this moving along though. 20+ episode seasons are so long!
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 1 Episode 9 of Sleepy Hollow: Sanctuary
This was not one of the better Sleepy Hollow episodes, unfortunately. I felt that it just exacerbated one of the main problems that I find plagues the show, which is that of convenience. The Captain just happened to come across some paperwork of Lena Gilbert’s that just happened to have “Katrina C.” written on it, and decides to get Abbie and Crane in on it. Granted, the show does try to explain it away, as Crane says that nothing is a coincidence with them. But it doesn’t stop there. In a sea of books that look identical to each other, Crane just happens to look down and pick up Gulliver’s Travels – the very book that his wife owned, and which contained his letter to her. Again, I suppose we’re supposed to chalk it up to nothing being a coincidence, but I mean, come on, really? It’s not like the covers of the books had images on them that Crane would have been able to easily pick out Gulliver’s Travels – the book covers were all plain and looked the same as every other book in the pile!
It also bothered me how much the idea of a haunted house bothered Abbie. If anything, I would expect her scoff at the idea by now, after all that she and Crane have faced. But for some reason, she was really spooked by it, and said that it was crossing a line. Um, really? Demons and Horsemen of the Apocalypse are not crossing the line, but a haunted house is? Yeah, okay.
Anyway, so aside from this being one of the weaker Sleepy Hollow episodes, we did get a lot of useful background information, the most important being that Crane has a son – that he never knew about. The question is, why did Katrina keep their son a secret from him? The other interesting bit of information we learned was that Abbie’s ancestor was the midwife that helped Katrina deliver Crane’s son, bonding Abbie and Crane even further. It was also a surprise to get an insight into Captain Irving’s family life. I guess now that he’s going to be more involved with Abbie and Crane’s mission, the show figured it should do some character development for Irving so we can get to know him better, rather than just seeing him as Abbie’s boss. Looks like they may be hinting at a relationship developing between Irving and Jenny though. Hmm, which makes me wonder… Did Abbie and Crane ever actually make it to Thanksgiving dinner? Or were Jenny and Irving stuck having Thanksgiving with just the two of them, and happen to hit it off? We shall soon see!
So, what happens now that Crane knows he had a son? Are there descendants of the son? Will he track down his relatives? I’m thinking he’ll try to confront Katrina about it first chance he gets, and I for one am curious as to what explanation Katrina has.
Side Note: Were there any other fans of The Vampire Diaries watching this? What was up with that character’s name being Lena Gilbert?! Way too close to Elena Gilbert! And the house looked like one they’ve used on The Vampire Diaries before. Was this intentional? It just seemed really weird to me. If I take from the theme of this episode, I would say, there are no coincidences!
Scenes from Sleepy Hollow, Season 1 Episode 10: The Golem
Here are scenes from next week’s Sleepy Hollow episode, titled The Golem:
