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This week's episode of 'Sleepy Hollow' will test Abbie's faith.

(Fox)

“Sleepy Hollow” Episode 5, “John Doe” is a story of faith. The show itself requires a certain amount of faith to watch. As in, when you’re selling it to a friend, you’re usually saying something along these lines:

“There’s a 16th century headless horseman armed with modern guns, and there’s a lot of time travel. But you’re just going to have to have to trust me. As ridiculous as it sounds, you’ll like it.” I’d like to think that this week’s episode and its theme of faith, are a wink and a nod for all of us who have had that conversation. But even if it isn’t, it’s still very entertaining.

Abbie and Ichabod discuss the case with Captain Irving.

Much like last week, we begin in the past. We see a young boy chasing a girl of a similar age through the forest, which pretty much guarantees something awful is about to happen. The girl vanishes, and the boy is now being pursued by a fire-eyed horse and rider wearing what looks like samurai armor. The boy stumbles across a road, much like Ichabod once did, and the horse and rider vanish in a puff of smoke.

We catch up with Ichabod Crane and Lt. Abbie Mills, who are settling Ichabod into the late Sheriff Corbin’s cabin. Abbie must be feeling uncharacteristically sentimental.

"Maybe Corbin meant for us to find this place," she says.

"An act of faith? That's unusual coming from you," says Ichabod.

"That's true," says Abbie. "I've never been a big believer of what I can't see. … I'm not ready to abandon my better judgment outright."

Well, get ready Abbie.

While settling into the cabin, they two are called to the aid of a boy found collapsed downtown — the same boy from the opening scene. The boy has black veins, and speaks Middle English, which, quite conveniently, Ichabod knows, as any good 16th century Chaucer scholar would. The boy utters one phrase before blacking out again, and it translates to “evil girl.”

Back at the station, Detective Morales tries to strongarm Captain Irving about Ichabod’s involvement in the investigations. But Captain Irving won’t have any of it. Ichabod, being the resident expert in weirdness, is too valuable to the current cases, and besides, without him, well, we don’t have much of show. Morales gets the picture, and backs down.

At the hospital, the boy is quarantined. Ichabod talks to him, and learns that his name is Thomas, and he's from Roanoke — the same Roanoke where everybody vanished without a trace in the late 1500s. Ichabod raises the possibility that the colonists simply relocated to Sleepy Hollow, a possibility that Abbie won't believe. Meanwhile, Thomas is getting sicker, along with other members of the hospital staff. The EMT who revived Thomas, with his last breath, sees a vision of the samurai horse monster, and dies. Biological warfare of biblical proportions? Child's play for Ichabod and Abbie.

Abbie and Ichabod return to the forest where Thomas was first spotted. They learn that while Thomas’ footprints continue to the roadway, the girl’s seem to vanish. Back at the hospital, more people who initially responded to Thomas are getting sick, and deteriorating rapidly. The CDC acknowledges that they don’t have a clue, which I’m pretty sure is exactly what nobody wants to hear.

Abbie and Ichabod manage to find the Lost Colony, Roanoke.

Meanwhile, back in the forest, Ichabod and Abbie find a small island in the middle of a lake, which they cross over to on a hidden bridge. Seemingly, they are transported back in time to a bizarro world renaissance faire where everyone speaks Middle English and is covered in black veins, and nobody goes home with one of those delicious, jumbo turkey legs. The colonists tell Abbie and Ichabod that they were driven from the original colony by the Horseman of Pestilence — another of the four riders of the apocalypse. This Horseman brought disease to their colony, killing the firstborn on American soil, Virginia Dare. Virginia’s spirit led them to Sleepy Hollow, and protects the colonists. But if they move from their tiny island, all bets are off. The leader of the colony explains that the Horseman of Pestilence tricked the boy into unleashing a plague on Sleepy Hollow, and is trying to link up with the head horseman, meaning the one without a head. They must get Thomas back to the island in order to save the town.

Ichabod and Abbie return to the hospital to get Thomas. When they arrive, Ichabod discovers his veins are turning black. He’s subdued with a sedative and taken into quarantine. Under the ether, he finds Katrina, who explains to him that she’s being kept by Moloch in purgatory. She explains to Ichabod that the only reason he’s with her is because he’s dying, and he needs to fight for the both of them.

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As if Ichabod doesn’t have it bad enough with medieval ebola infection, Detective Morales didn’t take the captain’s hint about leaving Ichabod alone. We overhear his phone conversation with someone from the Oxford University history department, who confirms that yes, Ichabod is a tenured professor. And yes, he’s on loan while on sabbatical to the Sleepy Hollow PD. A 300-year sabbatical? Quite the job perk.

With Ichabod off in an altered state of consciousness, Abbie has to figure out how to get him and Thomas back to the island. She finds herself in the hospital chapel, where she pleads with God in vain for a sign of what to do — a rare display of faith. Turning to leave, a woman walks in, blessing herself with holy water. Abbie makes the connection: It’s the water that protects the colonists. Explaining what she’s learned to Captain Irving, he enables her to get Thomas and Ichabod back to the island.

Ichabod is practically dragging Thomas through the woods, when eventually the boy loses consciousness. As Ichabod stoops to revive him, he too loses the energy to continue, and seems to be dying. Clearly, Abbie is a “Pulp Fiction” fan. She revives Ichabod with an adrenaline shot, and just in time. The samurai, I mean, Horseman of Pestilence is closing in. They make it to Roanoke with Pestilence right behind, and Ichabod submerges himself and Thomas in a fountain. Emerging from the fountain, the Horseman of Pestilence is defeated, and vanishes into a puff of smoke once more.

Suddenly, in a flash of light, the colony vanishes, and Ichabod and Abbie see the colonists wandering off into the distance. They were never alive, Ichabod says. Abbie is immediately doubtful. All of the people in the town — they saw and experienced what she and Ichabod saw.The danger was real. Ichabod explains: “You stopped him by having faith.” And, he adds, “We will require much more than faith, if and when the horseman of death returns.”

And that might be sooner than we all thought. On the bank of a lake, we see a fire-eyed white horse, and rising from the murky water, an ax-toting horseman without a head.

QUESTIONS:

Am I imagining all this Ichabod/Abbie chemistry? I suppose there’s the problem of Katrina. But in a show with an ax-wielding horseman, I suppose that problem could be resolved.

Ichabod asks, “Do I look out of place in this century?” to which Abbie replies, “You look good for 200. But a change of clothes wouldn’t hurt.” Are we ever see that change of clothes?

How is it that Oxford confirmed Ichabod’s employment status? Maybe this was Katrina's doing.

And clearly, Morales is jealous. But will it cost him his head?

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