‘Sleepy Hollow’ episode 11 review: Captain Irving’s (and George Washington’s) story

“Sleepy Hollow” may only have a 13-episode first season, but there are also moments throughout it so far that we have been forced to ask an interesting question: Is there still enough that is really happening to get us from point A to point B?

What worked about Monday’s “The Vessel” was that it did give Orlando Jones, who has been absolutely fantastic, some of his best material as he had to contend with his daughter being possessed by the same demon that possessed Jenny so many years ago. This was a revelation in itself, especially since she felt for whatever reason that keeping it to herself was not really that big of a deal since the demon was now gone.

The entire process of how the demon got to the Irving family compound, where they were hiding from an impending threat, was fascinating, and through this we learned that he was holding guilt over his daughter’s accident, and refusing to let go that this entire ordeal that she has gone through was his fault. This was his way of finally getting a little bit of peace; it’s just unfortunate that he nearly lost his daughter in the process.

Now, we turn to the negative end of the spectrum. Save for finding some words written by George Washington after his supposed death, what did we really learn this week? This was more of a character study than something designed to push forward the plan to stop Moloch. There was also no appearance from Katrina this week, and considering what happened with Ichabod’s son the last time the show was on the air, that felt a little disjointed. Every episode is settling into what is at times a strange formula: Each episode starts with a joke about Crane getting used to modern times, there is a mystery, and at the very end of it, we see an epic battle that our characters somehow live through.

But with all this being said … we’re still addicted to “Sleepy Hollow.” It’s a strong enough show that we can overlook at times some of the individual flaws that hang us up, even on an episode where it felt like not much happened. Grade: B.

What do you want to see moving forward, and do you wish that there was something more in “The Vessel”? Let us know.