By: Kh Ishrar
Sanctuary
The episode begins with the Captain informing Ichabod and Abbie about a missing young woman named Lena Gilbert, whose last stop was at Sleepy Hollow. The girl is a decedent of one of the founding fathers of the town. So, all these, the name ‘Lena Gilbert,’ rhyming with another Gilbert name, the twist of the founding fathers, all reminds me of another certain supernatural show, if you know what I mean. Coincidence? Possibly.Well, Lena was in town, visiting her ancestor’s place but then she went missing. This concerns the witnesses because before Lena left a note on her desk where she scribbled down a number of names, including one of Katrina’s. Naturally, Ichabod and Abbie take up the case.
Abbie looks Lena up on the internet and researches her lineage, which connects her to one, Lachlan Fredericks, whom Ichabod recognized quite immediately. This allowed them to trace the place where Lena had vanished from. Ichabod, upon arriving, goes into a flashback to the time when he and Katrina visited this place, during the war. Katrina had insisted on visiting the manor, where everyone was free, irrespective of their race and they were all assured the protection of Lachlan. It was a sanctuary where many former slaves came to find liberty. At present day, when they get inside, they find Lena’s bodyguard on an armchair, dead. The door slams shut when Abbie tries to go outside for catching signal. Soon all the mediums leading outside the manor, shut themselves, trapping the witnesses inside the house.
Ichabod finds a book belonging to Katrina, with a letter in it, one which he had written to her on the same day he received a fatal wound from the horseman. This meant that Katrina had returned to this place when Ichabod was at war. On the other hand, Abbie keeps getting glimpse of a woman. In another flashback Ichabod has, we get to see the former owners of the manor who spoke of evil and Ichabod suspects that this place could have been refuge against supernatural danger and was later attacked by some demonic force. A while later they find Lena in a closet, wrapped in roots, living, moving and bleeding roots! As soon as Ichabod cuts one of the roots, a dormant creature awakens.
Lena looks deranged and paranoid and says that the house is alive. Ichabod and Abbie calm her down and upon the first opportunity he gets, Ichabod asks Lena where she had learnt about Katrina. Lena replies that she found Katrina’s name on a registry as the last person to come for sanctuary. Lena also mentions that she had heard a lot of rumors about this place and since it once belonged to her ancestors, she bought it to make some sense out of it. Apparently, rumors had it, that Lachlan Fredericks was involved in witchcraft. Ichabod makes deductions and concludes that Lachlan might have been a part of Katrina’s coven.
Before any further discussion, the manor is attacked by some malevolent creature and amidst all the panic, Abbie somehow breaks off from the group. And then appears the scarecrow! While Ichabod and Lena are getting chased by the scarecrow, Abbie gets a vision or so. A woman keeps saying that ‘it’s coming’ and then Abbie watches as Katrina gives birth to a baby boy. 
Then Ichabod and Abbie find each other but Lena is now taken away by the scarecrow. When Abbie tells Ichabod that Katrina had been back to this sanctuary to secretly give birth, he is surprised that she kept the news of the child hidden from him but she had to, in order to protect the child. However, not for long. Abbie saw more, she saw the demonic creature attacked right after Katrina gave birth and it was able to break through the supernatural barriers and get inside the house. But Katrina and her child managed to escape through the back and so did the three of them in the present day. Before leaving though, Ichabod makes it his business to terminate the scarecrow, once and for all.
Drenched in blood, Ichabod goes back with Abbie and Lena. The next day, on thanksgiving, Abbie and Ichabod realize that Lena had sent them her research that she had done thus far. 
It revealed that the manor’s house matron, Grace Dixon, was Abbie’s ancestor. They toast to Abbie’s ancestor bringing Ichabod’s child to this world.
On the other hand, Jenny was inviting Irving for thanksgiving when his wife and daughter, Macey, arrived at the station. While Macey and Jenny had a friendly chat, Cynthia, Irving’s wife, warned him that if he continued his act of not showing up for his daughter then she would file papers for full custody of Macey. These were all the events of this episode. See you in the next review!
