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‘Sleepy Hollow’ Recap: Ben Franklin Taps His Inner Frankenstein

By NEIL GENZINGLER / The New York Times

Nicole Beharie and Tom Mison, as Abbie and Ichabod, in “The Kindred” episode of “Sleepy Hollow” on Monday. Fred Norris/Fox

Season 2, Episode 2, “The Kindred”

Franklin; Frankenstein — it seems so obvious now. The second episode of “Sleepy Hollow” on Monday night brought Mary Shelley’s monster into the show’s mythology, giving Ben Franklin the role of Victor Frankenstein. The resulting creature was something to see, and the leap connecting the two “Franks” isn’t even that far. Mary Shelley, the author of that famous bit of early science fiction, was born in 1797. Franklin died in 1790. Hey, they practically knew each other.

“Sleepy Hollow” is building a quirky collection of supernatural references. We’ve seen the biblical horsemen, of course, but also the ancient god Moloch and assorted others, either directly or by reference. Was that a shout out to the Codex Tchacos that zipped by in this episode? I had a chat Thursday night with Tom Mison, who plays Ichabod Crane and was in New York doing publicity, and we talked about the wide net being cast by the show’s writers.

“When you’ve got a show that can delve into the Book of Revelation, the Masons, the Hessians — there’s so much mythology we’ll never run out,” he said. Anyone care to hazard a guess as to which malevolent being will be name-checked next? Erebus? Sakarabru? The guy in the hockey mask from the “Friday the 13th” movies?

That chat, incidentally, took place at — wait for it — the Headless Horseman, a bar on East 15th Street, because where else would it take place? Orlando Jones was there too, and, more to the point, he was in Monday night’s episode.

Frank Irving, his character, was back, after being absent from the season premiere, and fans of Frank (what is it with the Franks in this show?) were no doubt glad to see him. Seems as if we’re going to be seeing more of him, given that little pen-prick at the end, but will it be the same Frank we know and love? When blood flows or even just trickles in this show, bad things happen. Any guesses as to what was going on there?

But never mind Frank. Am I the only one who thinks Abbie and Ichabod weren’t concerned nearly enough about the aftermath of the Franklinstein battle? THEY LOST THE GOL DARN HEAD! Hello? The Headless Horseman’s head is the key body part in this entire series. Convene a search party ASAP. We’ve got to find that thing.

And another head-related musing: When Frank told Abbie that the head was stored in a safe-deposit box at a bank, I had a brief image of some future “Storage Wars”-like reality TV show. Abandoned safe-deposit boxes go up for auction. Some unsuspecting schmo buys the one containing the Headless Horseman’s bean. All hell breaks loose, possibly literally. …

Anyway, are we all agreed that the best scene in the episode was Ichabod’s encounter with the bank’s chained-down pen? Speaking of which, you all have a chance to ask Ichabod directly about the perplexities of 21st-century life, courtesy of Alex Irvine, who channeled Crane in a delightful book just published by Three Rivers Press as a companion to the TV series. It’s called “The Secret Journal of Ichabod Crane,” and it’s full of Ichabod’s droll observations as he struggles with the transition from the 1700s to the 2000s.

Mr. Irvine acted as stenographer for Ichabod (or, if you want to be literal, he wrote the book), and he has agreed to have his version of Crane answer a few questions about modern phenomena, what he most misses about the 18th century, and so forth. Me, I’m eager to hear what Crane thinks of the iPhone 6 and all the hoopla over this guy Derek Jeter. If you have questions of your own, post them here and I’ll pass the best along. Answers will come next week.

Reference: The New York Times