A lot of Sleepy Hollow somehow plays like a video game. I hate using that analogy for a television show, but "Magnum Opus" is the latest in a long line of episodes that indicate a loss of focus since the start of the season. There isn't a driving force that can sustain momentum into what happens in the following episode. Abbie and Crane research for another "weapon" that will guarantee the final defeat of Henry, Abraham, and Moloch. This has been one of the seemingly few times that a weapon will wholly benefit from use by the good guys.




Most of this season has been spent with Henry gathering up weapons and summoning monsters in order to do Moloch's bidding that there is little balance. There is little tension in the question of who is going to get the destructive sword so there should be a larger focus on how our heroes get from point A to point B. Unfortunately, that journey proved more clunky than anything else.


What kicks off the search for the magical sword is a rather inventive conceit: Katrina contacting both Abbie and Ichabod through a magical mirror inside the library. This is a surprise development because the mirror has never been seen before. This is the extent of Katrina's involvement in the episode, though. The writers still don't have any idea of what to do with her character. Putting her in the midst of the Moloch camp initially had some promise, then flamed out, so this episode was only able to show the extent of making that mistake once again. The cool factor in the magical mirror is then mitigated by the fact that Henry uses the same mirror to spy on Abbie and Ichabod's very activities. This includes hearing precisely what they're planning and what they're going after. Maintaining secrecy seems to be low on the list of priorities for everyone.




Henry isn't even able to turn the information he gained from the reconnaissance into an advantage. Somehow, the Headless Horseman is now vulnerable to sunlight, and so he has to urgently find the location of the sword before the burning sun comes up. His first attempt fails, which allows for some personal reflection time for Abbie and Ichabod. The episode fills these gaps within the plot with flashbacks that further cement how far former friends Abraham and Ichabod have fallen.



What's gleamed from the flashbacks is really nothing we haven't seen before. Ichabod followed Abraham to the New World, then Katrina got in between the two of them, and Abraham has spent over two centuries trying to win her back, thus breaking up the Crane marriage. Abbie and Ichabod do make a clever play in luring the Headless Horseman into the cave to fight the gorgon so that they can find the sword largely unimpeded by evil forces. This is where the video game level analogy would come about. The sword is taken by Crane and the stage is now set for some kind of big battle to go down in the future.





Moloch rapidly ages from a teenage boy (who didn't do much of anything but float around the house and sometimes menacing Katrina for no reason) back to his fully-grown monster state. Something is missing in between, as if the writers just couldn't come up with any decent material that could apply to what's happening in the Moloch-Henry-Abraham camp. It's a waste of John Noble, frankly, who has proven that he can bring some talent to the table when called upon to do so. Moloch, Abraham, and Henry are slowly losing their edge. There is little in their characters that can be considered terrifying when any of them come onscreen. That's a pity because the war and possibility of bringing about the end of the world held such promise in the past.