(Spoiler warning: If you haven’t seen the episode that aired Monday, Feb. 9, bookmark this page and come back later.)
It would be a stretch to call Fox’s supernatural drama “Sleepy Hollow,” currently airing its second season Mondays at 9 p.m. ET, a faith-based show, but there’s a lot in it that people of faith can appreciate — including a character who’s a faithful Catholic.
At its core, “Sleepy Hollow” is about people with morals and ethics battling to prevent satanic forces from sweeping over the Earth. There are demons and creatures and magic spells, but, in this age of antiheroes, the protagonists here are actual heroes — flawed human beings, but heroes nonetheless.
A fantastical combination of the tales of Washington Irving, “National Treasure” and Revelation, the series centers on Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison), here portrayed as a former Oxford history professor turned Revolutionary War patriot and bosom friend of such luminaries as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.
After apparently dying in a battle with the Headless Horseman (from Irving’s original tale, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”), Crane slumbered beneath the earth for a couple of centuries or so, to be resurrected in modern-day Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., to do battle with the forces of darkness seeking to bring about the Apocalypse.
Along the way, Crane recruited local police Lt. Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) and her sister, Jenny (Lyndie Greenwood) to his cause, and eventually Abbie’s boss, Capt. Frank Irving (Orlando Jones). Like Jones, Irving is a Catholic who has been seen consulting with his priest. A tragedy which left his daughter in a wheelchair broke up Irving’s marriage, but he still cares deeply for his ex-wife and child.
Unfortunately for Frank, he died. But fortunately — or not, as the case may be — he didn’t quite stay that way.
As compelling as the Biblical story of Christ raising Lazarus from the dead is, it’s missing some vital elements. We are not told what Lazarus looked like when he came out of the tomb, nor what he said, nor what stories he told, if any, of where he’d been for the four days since he died.
There are a variety of traditions concerning Lazarus, but Scripture tells us nothing about his resurrection except that it happened, and that his continued existence was a cause of conversions and consternation, so the chief priests made plans to do him in.
So, while it’s a tempting idea to bring the dead back, it’s also profoundly disturbing. In literature and drama, from vampires to zombies to ghosts, it seldom bodes well, especially for the living.
This season, Irving became an active participant in the fight against the demon Moloch. But, while Irving was imprisoned on false charges and later held in a local psychiatric hospital, he made an unwitting deal with Henry Parrish (John Noble), an acolyte of Moloch (and Ichabod’s son — it’s complicated), and essentially sold his soul.
After Irving escaped from the hospital, his soulless condition allowed him to wield an ancient weapon, before he was ultimately slain by the Horseman of War. But then, he popped up at a grocery store, confused if he was in heaven or hell. The exact nature of Irving, what he’s up to, and even whether or not he’s actually alive (he apparently doesn’t see his reflection in glass) remains in flux.
In the episode that aired Monday, Feb. 9, he told Jenny that he came back from the dead in an altered form, with another, evil Frank Irving inside him. He found a magical way to keep that Irving at bay, long enough, he claimed, to find a way to provide funds for the safe escape of his family, but that soon the evil side will take him over completely.
Irving said, “This is reparations. I lost my job; I lost my soul; I lost my family. This is security for them. My time is running out.”
In conversation a a press event in January, Jones was cagey about his character’s situation.
“I would characterize myself as untrustworthy,” he says. “When someone is dead, and they come back … the question is, ‘How did that happen?’ I think that’s the question on everybody’s mind. … My soul is still in a precarious position. I wouldn’t characterize him as a zombie. I would characterize him as a disciple, a man still fighting for his faith, for his family, for his future.”
Asked if he was surprised by the strong reaction to his apparent demise (which included a “funeral” put on by fans in Wilmington, N.C., where the show films), Jones said, “Yes, I was. I figured there is a lot more story to tell. We exist in a strange time, and part of the joy of playing that character is … ‘Sleepy Hollow’ has a lot of diabolicals to it, a lot of evil.
“Irving very much represents a man of faith, a man of principle in a time when those characteristics don’t seem to be valued. So, to me, the ability to play someone like that during this time is an exciting process. I’m glad that Fox … agrees with that.”
I then asked Jones where Irving went while he was dead.
He replied, “That is a really interesting question. I would be excited to hear what the writers’ answer to that is. I can give you my answer to that. I think Irving refused to die. I think the concept of faith and the reality of faith are very different things. I believe he believes in the reality of it.
“The reality of it is, he has a family to protect, and he has been remiss in doing so. I feel he cannot leave them that way, and whatever he has to do for evil in order to have that last connection, that last moment, in the hope that he can stay. The hope that he can protect his family is what keeps him alive.
“At a lot of levels, hope and faith are very tenuous things that people talk about all the time, like, ‘You should give up hope; you should give up faith,’ and I love the fact that he doesn’t.”
But when I asked if Frank Irving’s soul was redeemable, Jones smiled and said, “As a good Catholic boy, all souls are redeemable. Every day you’re walking on this Earth, you get another shot to get it right.”
The fate of “Sleepy Hollow” remains unknown, with a third season in doubt. But, said Jones, “I would say the odds for renewal are high. I would say I am convinced it will happen.”
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