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[sc:wptop]Hello, SleepyHeads! This week on Witness Prophecies, we discuss Sleepy Hollow Season 4 Episode 13, entitled Freedom, which originally aired on March 31, 2017. In the season finale, Ichabod Crane and Team Witness defeat Malcolm Dreyfuss and save the United States.
Ichabod Crane and Henry Parrish are in a duel and both are shot and killed, but we quickly learn it is a mystical vision that Crane and Jenny Mills entered to learn what happened to Henry. They confirm that he has become the Horseman of War (played by Jeremy Owens).
Team Witness assembles in the Vault to determine their next steps in stopping Malcolm Dreyfuss and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They must find a way to make the immortal Dreyfuss mortal again and stop him from taking over the country. Lara (played by Seychelle Gabriel) summons Jobe (played by Kamar de los Reyes), and he tells them to travel to Hell. 
Lara and Crane are off to meet the Devil (played by Terrence Mann) – after Crane gets rid of The Cable Guy (played by Anthony S. Goolsby)! As they approach Hell, each sees their own version – Crane sees the terrible winter in Valley Forge, and Lara sees the orphanage where she was sent when her mother died. They meet the Devil, and strike a bargain to get the Philosopher’s Stone, which will cause Dreyfuss to lose his immortality.
Meanwhile, Jenny, Diana, Alex Norwood, and Jake Wells examine artifacts in the Vault, and learn that Benjamin Banneker (played by Edwin Hodge) and George Washington (played by Mark Campbell) were responsible for building the Archives in Sleepy Hollow. 
In a flashback, we see Samuel Nelson (played by Christopher Coakley) painting the replica of “George Washington Crossing the Delaware” on the Archive’s wall, and removing Betsy Ross – except for her tricorn hat! Banneker and Washington have created the Archives to hold artifacts and weaponry to fight the supernatural, and they discuss the meaning of “E Pluribus Unum.” Jake realizes that the weapons must follow Agency 355, and that they are in the Vault. The team finds the hidden weapons and leaves to fight the horsemen. Jake and Alex finally finish their talk when they arrive in the woods, and the “shippers” happy embraced their young romance.
Dreyfuss and Jobe captured the President at Camp David, and are waiting for a massive battle. Crane meets the Horseman of War (played by the incomparable John Noble) in the woods, and he and Henry agree that they both value freedom above all, and Henry calls a truce – for now. Crane and Diana rush find Dreyfuss, Jobe, and the captured US President. The Philosopher’s Stone takes Dreyfuss’s power, Diana shoots him, and Jobe becomes a free agent. The horsemen vanish. The President thanks the team, Agency 355, tells them they report directly to her, and makes Crane a US Citizen.
Lara says farewell to Crane. She is now another person out of time, and she needs to take some time for herself. Their fates are intertwined. They are Witnesses. 
Crane tells young Molly she is no longer a Witness, and Diana says she will continue fighting with Crane. She knows he made a deal with the Devil for the stone, and he shows her his mark. They will fight it together. Meanwhile, they have a Kraken to fight in the Potomac River! The team has their next mission, and with our team striding to the beat of “Highway to Hell” we close Season 4.
This episode provided closure (some might say freedom!) for Ichabod Crane, should FOX decide not to renew the series. Crane has found a new home in Washington, DC, he has a new family, a new team, and a new purpose – protecting the United States from supernatural threats. Happiest of all for SleepyHeads is that Crane became an American citizen – something he has been trying to do for several seasons. Tom Mison has again given fans an incredible performance as the strong, intelligent, quick witted Ichabod Crane. His charm is never-ending – like his genuflects to the special women with whom he has worked.
Jenny has found herself in the past four seasons. She is a strong, determined, and loyal team member, and has found freedom from her literal and figurative demons. We believe she decided to stay with Team Witness and become an official part of Agency 355. Lyndie Greenwood has played this character to perfection, and we adore Jenny!
Diana and Molly Thomas, played by Janina Gavankar and Oona Yaffee, have found a new family member in Crane. Molly is no longer wears the mantle of Witness, and is free to live her childhood and her life, as her older alter ego has assumed the title in this new time. Diana has found her calling and is an official part of Agency 355. The final scene, when she and Crane strike off after seeing the Kraken, was pure magic. She is alive, engaged, and has two daughters, in a sense – one she will watch grow to adulthood and the other which she is beginning to know. They both have the freedom to live their lives. Lara has left to find her way as a person out of time, just like Crane. They will always have a connection, and she will never be alone.
Rachel Melvin and Jerry MacKinnon were delightful adds to the team this year. They brought youth and enthusiasm to Team Witness as Alex and Jake. Whether they develop further into a couple is to be seen, but their enthusiasm and complementary skills added humor and intelligence to Sleepy Hollow. Who couldn’t just adore Jake’s sweet puppy like character – which was a parallel to his incredible intelligence and problem solving skills!
We do believe Sleepy Hollow will be back for a fifth season, with the long story arc as the plan to rescue Crane from the Devil’s clutches. Thanks to all the producers, writers, directors, cast, crew (and our special “monster man,” Corey Castellano!) for an amazing season of Sleepy Hollow! This was invigorating, refreshing, intelligent, tightly written and pure television fun. We enjoyed the ride!
Here are a few links to the M. Raven Metzner interviews which we discussed on the podcast! Enjoy!
http://screenertv.com/television/does-sleepy-hollow-deserve-season-5-ichabod-crane-tom-mison/
http://ew.com/tv/2017/03/31/sleepy-hollow-season-4-finale-interview/
https://www.tvinsider.com/151033/sleepy-hollow-season-4-finale-freedom-spoilers-ichabod-deal/
History Lesson of the Week – E Pluribus Unum
E Pluribus Unum is Latin for “Out of one, many,” and is the traditional motto of the United States of America. It appears on the Great Seal of the United States, along with two other phrases, Annuit Coeptis (“He approves the undertaking”) and Novus Ordo Seclorum (“New order of the ages”) (S3E8 for SleepyHeads!).
The motto was suggested in 1776 by Pierre Eugene du Simitiere to the committee responsible for developing the seal. At the time of the American Revolution, the exact phrase appeared prominently on the title page of every issue of a popular periodical, The Gentleman’s Magazine, which collected articles from many sources into one “magazine”. This in turn can be traced back to the London-based Huguenot Peter Anthony Motteux, who used the adage for his The Gentleman’s Journal, or the Monthly Miscellany (1692-1694). But it seems more likely that the phrase refers to Cicero’s paraphrase of Pythagoras in his De Officiis, as part of his discussion of basic family and social bonds as the origin of societies and states: “When each person loves the other as much as himself, it makes one out of many (unus fiat ex pluribus), as Pythagoras wishes things to be in friendship.
E Pluribus Unum was selected by Charles Thomson in 1782 when he created the final Great Seal whose centerpiece is the American bald Eagle. Thomson explained that the motto E pluribus unum alludes to the union between the states and federal government, as symbolized by the shield on the eagle’s breast. The thirteen stripes “represent the several states all joined in one solid compact entire, supporting a Chief, which unites the whole & represents Congress.”
The motto was first printed on a New Jersey coin in 1786, and was added to US coinage in 1795, when it appeared on the reverse of the half-eagle $5 gold coin. An Act in 1873 made the inscription a requirement, to be placed on all US coins.
Never codified by law, E Pluribus Unum was considered a de facto motto of the United States until 1956 when the United States Congress passed an act, adopting “In God We Trust” as the official motto.
Link to E Pluribus Unum in Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_pluribus_unum
Link to E Pluribus Unum in GreatSeal.com:
http://www.greatseal.com/mottoes/unum.html
SleepyHeads! Sign those petitions, send notes to Fox, thank the advertisers, and we’ll see you for Season 5!
And SleepyHeads – don’t forget about the book, Sleepy Hollow – Creating Heroes, Demons & Monsters, by Tara Bennett and Paul Terry. You can order it on Amazon, by using the Golden Spiral Media link.
SleepyHeads! We will be here and ready to let you know what we hear about our beloved show!. You can use our Feedback page to type an email, record a voicemail, or upload an audio file, or call 304-837-2278. We’d love to hear from you! And while you’re at it, why not take a few minutes to leave a rating and review in iTunes?
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