Once we dredge through some more tiresome ra-ra colonial
wankery which is getting beyond boring at this point, we’re reminded of the
current stakes: there’s a race on to find a totem to create the horsemen of
war. To confirm this, Alex has also successfully managed to hack into Malcolm’s
secret location to spy on him also looking for the totem
It’s also floated that the Apocalypse brought on by the
four horseman isn’t all about the end of the world but is actually about
recreating the world.
Well duh. I mean, really, you had to do research to discover
this? You didn’t think maybe that Malcolm doesn’t have a complete death wish,
maybe?
This research leads to lots of convenient memories from Jake
and Ichabod about how there was a split off branch of the Masons called the
Amata Mutata or something who wanted to use the four horsemen to change the
world. Eidetic memory Ichabod has just remembered this point which should have
been super obvious
It turns out that the super powerful totem of war was
actually in Revolutionary America (I am shocked, SHOCKED by this revelation.
Clearly it was kept next to Excalibur – complete with rock, under a stack of
the weapons of Durga but just before the Arc of the Covenant all of which will
no doubt also have been part of George Washington’s conversational dinner
pieces). And once Ichabod and Banneker were transporting it. We also get
another bit of nauseating rhetoric of Ichabod convincing a very suspicious
Banneker to trust to the new America where all men will be equal because he has
a total vision of how equal and democratic America will be if he’s just patient
enough.
Banneker, you better work on that patience because it’s going to be sorely tried. This is beyond annoying because Banneker was actually an excellent opportunity to offer a counter narrative to Ichabod’s endless flag waving and the whole general impression Sleepy Hollow has that the Founding Fathers were giants of nobility and power and were battling harpies and colossus and lamasu and who knows what else in righteous fury all in the name of freedom. His narrative helped to peel back a lot of the glossing over that comes with this ra-ra-Ichabod speech. But to have his every concern be hand waved by Ichabod’s “be patient” speech – especially without even modern Ichabod saying “well looks like I was just talking bullshit, sorry Banneker” is an issue
Diana also snarks that Ichabod seems to have been
everywhere during the Revolutionary war. Show you don’t get points for lamp
shading how utterly ridiculous your own concept is.
So they now have a rough idea where said item is.
But they’ve also got competition – a mysterious woman
steals one of their books; when Jenny chases her down and they fight – and Jenny
loses. As Jenny puts it, she seems to know her moves before she used them: they
make it clear that Jenny has some major skills.
For now Diana and Ichabod go to fetch where they think
the totem of war was hidden – and it’s now a very trendy restaurant and Ichabod
and Diana are most put out that the owner doesn’t just let them search and
ransack the place for funsies
