vanarnd1

The way I would describe the episode is that it wasn't equal to the sum of it's parts. There were moments mixed in that I liked, but when Katrina is involved too heavily she takes over the whole show and impacts the whole dynamic. I think this has also made Crane very inconsistent. I feel the writers are still teasing Ichabbie with how Crane has acted torward Hawley and the succubus's comments about him denying his true feelings. At the same time though the writers have had Crane profess his love to Katrina constantly and even had them together in the opening scene that he would normally share with Abbie. I think as a result this has ruined a lot of the fun of the Crane/Abbie scenes that are the draw of the show. And Abbie is forced to spend the whole episode arguing about Henry just to have the ending scene where Katrina is fawning over Baby Moloch just seems pointless. I feel the show is spinning it's wheels with this storyline, and it is also contrived that Jenny was not present because she would have backed up Abbie when it comes to Henry and I think it is very intentional that she has been absent during those arguments. I am not really sure what to think of a Hawley/Abbie pairing yet, but as long as there is no drama that involves Jenny, I would like to see how it plays out. I think this episode was Hawley's best apperance so far. Overall this episode was an improvement over last week, but I am still concerned about the show's overall direction. I am looking forward to next week's ep though and hope it will mean a shift in the focus going forward.

I think it is a variety of things, like mentioned above it seems like there has been a greater focus on the characters from the past(Abraham, Katrina, and Henry) that has taken away screentime from the present day characters. This also has made the tone somewhat more serious and dramatic when there is a scene involving the Cranes I think it can take away from the more humorous supernatural element the show had in season 1. Also i think the show has fallen into more predictable patterns with Henry being the main villian( and the witnesses barely overcoming his obstacles week after week). It feels like things have stalled a little bit as they try to strech the story out over 18 episodes, that could be part of the reason we got an episode like last week's to keep the "redemption of Henry" theme going. i think to a certain extent it could just be an unavoidable sophmore slump, but the writers haven't helped by trying to fix something that wasn't broken to begin with.

Thinking about it I really felt for Abbie in the second to last scene. All she is trying to do is make a logical statement that now they know for sure that Henry is evil, and she can't convinve Crane at all and has to listen to him go on about his connection with his son. I wish John Cho could come back as Andy for an episode, mainly because I think he would be the person to call out Ichabod on all of this 'save and redeem Henry" nonense if he knew what what was going on. Truhfully Andy has been shown to have Abbie's best interests at heart more than Ichabod has and that has to change soon or else the appeal of the show(the Ichabbie scenes) will lose all meaning.

I don't understand how anyone in charge thinks its a good idea to base an episode around Katrina. She is a massive drain on the show and usually turn the channel when it is just Ichabod and Katrina talking about their "love". The best part of the episode(and it seems to be the case for others as well) was the scene at the voting booth. Why should the Ichabbie relationship be a footnote to the Crane family drama? Crane and Katrina vouching for Henry at all costs is a real turn off for me watching the show. Abbie risking herself for the Cranes is a unsettling parallel to the end of Season 1 and I fear at this point it will be a recurring theme in Season 2. Thankfully this show is on Fox so it has a margin for error when it comes to ratings, but the writers are losing viewers that are very hard to gain back. I hope it can be turned around because I really enjoy watching this show at times and don't want to it to end up looking back on it as a missed opportunity, but the show is heading in that direction.